Mr. Drumdude, where's the snare?
OK, I started downloading "Synchestra" while reading Devin's *sigh*-thread, felt sorry, decided to stop the downloads and deleted the already finished files from my PC.
Prior deleting the files, I listened to the first couple of songs for once and one of the first things I noticed was something unusual concerning a Devin production/mix:
Where is the snare?
On Accelerated Evolution the snare is very upfront, so maybe The Dev and Drumdude decided to mix it not as loud this time.
Besides being relatively low in the mix the snare itself sounds quite thin, actually I think it's the "weakest" or least powerful snare on any Devin Townsend (DTB) album and it is drowned out by the massive wall of sound quite often.
Was that intentional? Or is it just the subpar quality of a compressed 192 kbps sound file played on WinAmp (but with my PC plugged into a very good amplifier)? Maybe the snare will be more upfront on the later tracks?
Anyway; after just one listen to the first part of "Synchestra", I know what to expect production-wise on January 27th. Musically, luckily I forgot everything apart from the fact that the album starts off with a "mono" sounding acoustic piece that sonically unfoldes step by step. This opus will take some time to really sink into, no doubt about that.
But the mix of the snare - I find a bit odd. Let's see how the final and complete product will sound on January 27th. And it will be a quasi-first listen of the album; the whole way through, in CD quality. Can't wait
À propos final product: