This ultra-geeky thread will conver the sound quality of Dev's releases. I'm a damned audiophile and, no matter how much I love Dev's songwriting skills (I love almost everything the man has put out), I have some minor quibbles with the sound quality on most of his releases (except for the experimental stuff like Devlab and The Hummer, of course).

SYL's City and Alien are two of his best sounding early releases (though the 2007 remaster of City was not that good). HAARHT and The New Black had some clipping issues, while the self-titled album was incredibly compressed. Troy Glessner did some great work on The Complete Works (as far as I can tell, as I've only listened to the digital vinyl rips). There's an interview with Troy Glessner regarding the Complete Works boxset, where he says that he had all the headroom and dynamics he needed.

As we all know, there was a flood in 2004 that destroyed much of Dev's stuff, including his master recordings. Which brings me to his solo releases. Ocean Machines: Biomech was pretty good for what he could do at the time, but Infinity sounds disappointingly ugly in some tracks, especially for an album of complex and rich music as this one. Devin has been doing the mixing himself for quite some time, though some of his early stuff like Physicist were mixed by others (most of them badly). The DTB albums still sound a bit flat. Synchestra really needed a deeper mix.

Ziltoid was completely made on Dev's computer, so he could basically tweak everything he wanted. It doesn't sound bad at all, and Ki is even better (Dev once said "we put the hat on the loudness war"). However, Addicted and Deconstruction, while expertly produced and mixed, comply to the standards of today's loud metal masters. The 24-bit/48kHz multitracks of Bend it like Bender! and Juular provided with the Contain Us box set revealed quite a lot of details. Contain Us had different masters of Decon and Ghost, though Decon was only slightly altered, and Ghost was a bit louder.

...which brings us to Epicloud, a record that was, well, fairly loud. There were so many layers of elements in the mix, and it's kind of a shame that they were all turned up to 11. Some of the choir and synth parts felt too smashed together with the drums and guitars. Of course, Casualties of Cool blew everything away, and is one of Dev's most excellent masters to date. Turn it up, and you'll listen to so many tiny details in the mix. Unfortunately, Dev didn't follow suit with Z2. Though the final version was mixed better than the promo, it suffered from some very loud mastering that, again, sacrificed the details in some incredibly layered tracks, especially those with the awesome Universal Choir. Dev said that "the album has been re-mixed so you can crank it up", but... I still don't turn it up that much.

About the live albums: I haven't listened to SYL's old live stuff that much, so I'll focus on the DTP ones. By a Thread was highly compressed (except for Ghost, which sounded wonderful). I know, I've been repeating myself quite a lot in this text, but, again, it's a pity, since Ki's true power was demonstrated on that concert. It sounded more alive than ever. The sound on the DVD's was 24-48 PCM, yet it could have sounded better. The Retinal Circus also suffered from some compression, and (I don't know if anyone else has this issue) the Blu-ray has some fairly noticeable clipping in tracks such as Detox and Bend it like Bender! The CD version did not have this issue, although it was derived from the same mix. In recent months, there has been one unlikely "savior" of Dev's concert sound: the live streams. The 2014 Wacken webcast sounded fairly good, and so did the EMG TV solo performances.

Dev has been crazy busy for the past few years (and, really, when wasn't he?), and he obviously puts incredible amount of effort in his releases within all those time constraints. He obviously can't please everyone, and has to focus on the crowds which don't mind the loud and compressed audio. We audiophiles are a pesky little bunch. I just wish he could do some more dynamic releases of his heavier stuff, so that we can appreciate his intricate compositions and lovely sound design in full.

Then, of course, there's his greatest song ever.

I have listened to Dev's commentary on several albums and he keeps pointing to things that I cannot hear even with fairly decent equipment. It's interesting to hear him talk about this sort of thing and yet it still drives me nuts.

I'll be honest, I'm not as knowledgeable in the audio field as some but I do agree about a few of Dev's albums having noticeable compression, and that Casualties has the best sound of his releases.
I think Physicist may have been better received if the production mix wasn't as fuzzy as the final product turned out to be. That's pretty much the only album of Dev's where I noticed the production value before the music.
At first I was a bit disappointed that Contain Us didn't have a remastered Ki and Addicted to go with the latter two albums, but really Addicted is fine (may have benefited from a slightly louder mix) and Ki is perfect the way it is, so ultimately it's just a small gripe on my part.

Sky Blue is a flipping masterpiece. Best production for SQ. Monster album!

i think there are a lot of problems trying to deal with the wall of sound. in the end, it's simply difficult to put emphasis on all the primary elements and still maintain the approach, and it's the ratio of primary:everything that determines how good it sounds. for example, Addicted is one of the clearest mixes across his whole career: drums, guitar and vox are always where they need to be, and the backing synths/etc. are pushed under; meanwhile, the SYL self-titled is barebones, all guitar/drums/vox with the atmosphere almost non-existent. OM, still my favourite musically, is almost totally lost underneath all the atmosphere.

i would like Decon and Ghost in surround sound (and on vinyl!).

[swervedriver]

Interesting discussion! I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, but I have found myself not being a huge fan of the everything-should-be-epic approach on the recent releases (Z2, particularly Dark Matters, and Epicloud). In a nutshell: if everything is epic, nothing is epic. If I listen to an album where there's never a moment for my ears to rest a little bit in the sense that there's a bit less going on in the background (choir, synth and guitar layers), I get tired really quick. So in my case, that's why I find myself gravitating towards CoC, Ghost and Ki of the more recent releases because they are so much more dynamic. Even the heavier/denser albums (although Ki features some of the heaviest moments) like ZTO, Accelerated Evolution and Ocean Machine have enough moments where it gives me enough time to 'recover'. In that regard, it's probably part of the reason why I never connected with Epicloud or Dark Matters.

Or maybe the issue I'm having is that there always was a wall-of-sound, but just more mixed in the background, and the current approach is to mix in such a way to bring everything forward. When I have to pay more attention to follow where a song is actually going, it just comes across as slightly messy to me. I guess a production can be lacking sonically and still allow me to enjoy the songs themselves (eg. Physicist), but when something is over-produced (for lack of a better term) and every detail demands my attention I get lost so easily. The weird thing here is that for example Deconstruction and Alien are incredibly full and dense and yet I'm fine listening to those. I don't think I understand the difference there...

Of course, since this is music we're talking about, everything here is subjective.

The weird thing here is that for example Deconstruction and Alien are incredibly full and dense and yet I'm fine listening to those. I don't think I understand the difference there...

Great point, there! For all their craziness and density, Deconstruction and Alien actually had a pretty tight and controlled (and, at times, pretty fucking impressive) mix, as opposed to the "going all out" approach of Epicloud and Z2, which harmed their loud, layered songs (even some quiet tracks from Sky Blue could have been quieter).

Both Decon and Alien are my favorite heavy releases from the man, and that's because you can find tons of crazy little details jumping out of the wall-of-sound. For example, a part I really love on Juular: During the second verse ("Lady of mine, you know I'm trying..."), there's a subtle and beautiful musical addition: a soft, bright instrument - I think it's a bell - that compliments the dark, heavy atmosphere in an almost whimsical, cartoonish way. I think it's a bit harder to hear in the Contain Us version, but I confirmed its presence by listening to the multitracks. Actually, the multitracks reveal tons of shit you'd never think was there in the first place! Dev, please, give us more multitracks orrrr whateverrrr!

i definitely found Dark Matters tough to get through on the first few listens because of the constant wall of sound. once everyone kicks in after the narrator intro, you basically don't get a break in volume until the segue into "War Princess." it's a LOT to take in.

same goes for Epicloud, really – everything is full blast until "Save Our Now," which is where it starts getting really good, imo.

I like Strapping Young Lad in general when it comes to production actually. As for the solo albums I would go for Ocean Machine, Infinity, Terria, Physicist and Accelerated Evolution. I guess it's due to my preference for slightly rawer guitar sounds, more reverb and a dense, coherent wall of sound.

With the Devin Townsend Project the production is extremely well executed but the guitars and drums sound slightly more "tamed". A bit more controlled so to speak and the guitars often seem to have less "air" on top. I don't know what gear Devin is using but it gives of a digital vibe somehow. Or maybe it's Mesa Boogies being very processed?

In any case, his production work is beyond what I do myself and also inspired me to get better at mixing and mastering music. So I'm not really criticizing, just stating some personal preference.
But generally I don't focus that much on sound when I listen to albums. I listen to a lot of black/death metal or 80'ies/90'ies metal where the sound isn't always that great objectively. But it can still fit the music perfectly.

PS sesameseedbun, what bothered you about Infinity? Personally, I find it to be one of the best production jobs that I have heard. The sound is crystal clear and wide/open. But at the same time very heavy, huge and dense.

he used the AxeFX for Deconstruction, so that explains that one — i hear the 'cleanliness' that comes from digital but i dunno, it's pretty deep, like the right mic on a Mesa cab (presumably part of his patch choices).

also, he used a legit tiny cab, country-style setup for Casualties, and i find it just as clean and deep as Decon, save the obvious difference in tone. so it's pretty much constant, save egregious examples like AE, SYL, or TNB.

Didnt read all the responses fully, but Epicloud, Z2 and Casualties of Cool all have different masters for the vinyl version, which are a lot more dynamic. If you think Casualties of Cool sounded good on CD, wait until you hear the vinyl version (I have 1000 + records in my collection, so I think I know what Im talking about). Z2 on vinyl is weird on vinyl because it doesnt have the huge "bass-drops", but the overall dynamic range is a lot bigger. Epicloud has a different master, its not a lot better, but enought to notice right away.