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Old 05-14-2018, 06:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Netter75 View Post
Save Me and Freedom are great songs that would have been greater if done differently. These two suffer hard from the muddled production bwboy was inquiring about. I don't know what the term "muddled" means to other people, but I can explain my take on it. The actual mixing of these songs leaves much to be desires. The instruments don't sound like they have any life, there doesn't seem to be a lot of space in the mix to hear what they're doing. It all sort of blends together into this uninteresting mass, which is a shame because many of the songs are good at their core. There are also random guitar licks and keyboard stamps that are thrown in with little rhythm, further distracting from the vocals and actually decent main instrumentation. Affairs of the Heart is similar, making an already mediocre song forgettable because none of the music on it is at all distinct.

I have no idea if I'm explaining this correctly, but for a concrete example listen to Rick Vito's solo version of "Love is Dangerous" and compare it to the BTM version. The instrumentation isn't necessarily better but those instruments and vocals are far more distinct sounding. There also aren't layers of nonsense licks and flourishes to distract from the riff. I guarantee you that if you separated Stevie's vocals from the BTM version they would sound much more passionate and arresting simply by separating them from that production style. For further comparison listen to any of good songs from SYW and decide which ones have more memorable instrumentation. That album may not be a masterpiece but you can't say it's boring to listen to, unlike a good portion of this album (unfortunately).
Netter, thanks so much for taking the time to explain those concepts to me, I definitely have a better understanding now. I'm curious- do you think some of the issues on BTM you referred to would be fixed, or sound better, if the album were on a dvd audio, like most of the Deluxe Editions were? Or would the dvd audio just amplify the poor sound quality? Also, where would you say the fault lies- with the production by Greg Ladanyi? Again, thanks for taking the time, and I'd love to hear what others think of the sound quality of BTM.
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