Seriously, does Heavy Metal ever sound better on better speakers?

[q3cpma]

I've never been able to get into "Electronic" music. Probably just never had the right gateway drug, as you say, but I hope to someday.

Although I had an introduction with synthpop/new wave (Alphaville, Peter Schilling, Cocteau Twins, The Sisters of Mercy), eurobeat, industrial/no wave (Godflesh, Foetus, Thorns, Mysticum, Fenris, Blut aus Nord, Swans) and video game OSTs, this was my first "completely" electronic music album that clicked, I suggest you check it out: https://iceages.bandcamp.com/album/strike-the-ground
After that, I really got into old school EBM like Nitzer Ebb's early stuff or The Neon Judgment.

 

[win]

The best electronic is the original - Kraftwerk !

 

[q3cpma]

The best electronic is the original - Kraftwerk !

Ehhhhh, I only liked "The Man-Machine", the earlier stuff just sounds like pretentious nothing to me.

 

[tw99]

Ehhhhh, I only liked "The Man-Machine", the earlier stuff just sounds like pretentious nothing to me.

Sacrilege!

 

[win]

Well that is their best album, I can't deny that.

 

[q3cpma]

Sacrilege!

Well, that was my memory. Tried listening to Autobahn again, and I like it much more; still, nothing gets your body moving like The Robots.

 

[stevenswall]

Not really. They'd have to smear the music less in recording and production so that you could hear small details in each note instead of smashing the harmonics and reverb with the next crashing fundamental that masks it.

 

[dasdoing]

The best electronic is the original - Kraftwerk !

 

[win]

nothing gets your body moving like The Robots.

Indeed, I'd also check out "Radioactivitat", that's one of my favorite tracks from them. I also recommend the German version for all their stuff, it's just better.

 

[win]

One more electronic recommendation, especially if you like Bach - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Synthesizer

You might recognize some of his/her other tracks from the Clockwork Orange soundtrack.

 

[dfuller]

Not really. They'd have to smear the music less in recording and production so that you could hear small details in each note instead of smashing the harmonics and reverb with the next crashing fundamental that masks it.

Clear proof you haven't actually listened to anything posted in this thread. But for your sake:

 

[win]

for some reason reminded me of this

 

[stevenswall]

Clear proof you haven't actually listened to anything posted in this thread. But for your sake:

First one is about the softest I've heard. Second is hardly better. Good job with the third, that's about right with the smeared Drumming with bleh guitar and no reverb decay details that I can hear over the muddy noise floor. Sure, I can hear the attack... Just missing a ton of the details I'm used to hearing and the drumming often sounds thunky.

 

[Gabs]

is it good sounding ?

 

[Wortifer]

Interested to see if we can get this back on topic. I think there was a lot of good, content in the first page and a half, but its digressed into "hey, tell me what you think of this song".

I think the most important/difficult part about metal is the ability to sonically reproduce/replicate accurately what you're "meant" to be hearing. Instrument separation is critical. There are more notes in a single metal track than on entire albums from different genres. I think this is why it's easier to find good headphones to listen to metal than it is speakers.

Metal is just like every other genre where it's garbage in garbage out. Just like most things audio, your files and your source are the most important thing and it's very difficult to improve from there.

 

[DJBonoBobo]

Devin Townsend is an interesting case because he has a strong "vision" for the sound he wants to achieve and therefore considers himself the only one who can mix his music correctly. At the same time, he is not a trained sound engineer and therefore takes a very unconventional approach (but is learning).
This had the effect that, for example, his album Infinity (song: Truth) became a complete fail in his opinion, because he put two mixes on top of each other at the end and he didn't think that it would turn partly into mono... I always thought that the effect was intended in the song, but it wasn't. That´s why he re-recorded the song a few years later.

And on the latest album "Empath" it worked much better. Although now he did a 5.1 mix afterwards, because he thinks that he can't get everything between two speakers.

There are some interesting videos of him in which you can watch him juggling hundreds of tracks.

Edit: Here he describes e.g. at one point (about 6:15) how he looks for a "slot" between voice, keyboard and cymbals to equalize a reverb-effect into the mix.

 

[LDKTA]

Animals as Leaders >

 

[NDC]

First one is about the softest I've heard. Second is hardly better. Good job with the third, that's about right with the smeared Drumming with bleh guitar and no reverb decay details that I can hear over the muddy noise floor. Sure, I can hear the attack... Just missing a ton of the details I'm used to hearing and the drumming often sounds thunky.

Not sure what you mean by 'smeared' - can you elaborate?

Keep in mind a lot of metal production is stylistic and attempts to achieve a certain feel - e.g. some death metal bands try and obtain a subterranean feel by adding a very specific type of reverb to vocals and really crushing and muting the guitar tone. That doesn't mean you can't hear the detail - it's just a very specific artistic choice. One example might be Vassafors' latest album:

I'm not a fan of that specific production style, but I can still appreciate the riffage and the artistic vision they were going for.

 

[NDC]

And just to give you a production counter-point for death metal, here's Faceless Burial's teaser for the latest album, which I've been quite enjoying: