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.
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.