dekker87
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 109
|
Post by dekker87 on Nov 20, 2017 16:42:42 GMT -5
Thought I'd update my thoughts on the album now its been over a week. Im still loving it. My favourite tracks are still NGB and EOD which before Synthesis were at the bottom in my list of favourite Ev songs. Im reading a lot of comments from people about the "unpolished" tone of the album. I think this is intentonal to be honest guys, and I happen to like it, it sounds more "real", natural and its artistic choice I think, and if you're one of those fans like me who was so bloody familiar with Amy's voice it borders on obsessive from watching just about every live or acoustic video/recording out there then there shouldn't be anything off-putting about Synthesis at all. Its worth noting also, that if you're listening with a rubbish pair of headphones from a streaming app like Spotify or Amazon, you are not getting the best experience. Listen to the CD on your laptop and crank up you're bass a little, you can do this on your volume controls, and it will sound a lot fuller and heavier, for lack of a better word. Having somewhat worked in audio alongside my husband who is a producer/mixing engineer, I think, really, if anything, the issue is not in her performance. Her performance is incredible. It is in the fact that the vocals are overcompressed and dry, and what is unnatural about it is the lack of reverb. That’s why we are hearing every mouth noise, scoop, imperfection, etc, overly emphasized. So, in this album, we have an imagery of her singing in front of an orchestra. The thing is, when our brains think orchestra, we expect huge chamber room with lots of reverb, so in order to have Amy’s vocal sit correctly in the mix, we expect to hear her vocal with the same reverb parameters. Having it be so dry makes it blatantly obvious that she sang it in a different setting and the mixing engineer plopped it in the middle of the instrumental track - almost like she sang karaoke to it in a dry booth. And of couse, the vocal volume is a little too high, so it’s hot in the mix. Does this make sense? I'm an amateur producer so this makes perfect sense.
|
|
shaun
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 85
|
Post by shaun on Nov 20, 2017 17:26:44 GMT -5
Having somewhat worked in audio alongside my husband who is a producer/mixing engineer, I think, really, if anything, the issue is not in her performance. Her performance is incredible. It is in the fact that the vocals are overcompressed and dry, and what is unnatural about it is the lack of reverb. That’s why we are hearing every mouth noise, scoop, imperfection, etc, overly emphasized. So, in this album, we have an imagery of her singing in front of an orchestra. The thing is, when our brains think orchestra, we expect huge chamber room with lots of reverb, so in order to have Amy’s vocal sit correctly in the mix, we expect to hear her vocal with the same reverb parameters. Having it be so dry makes it blatantly obvious that she sang it in a different setting and the mixing engineer plopped it in the middle of the instrumental track - almost like she sang karaoke to it in a dry booth. And of couse, the vocal volume is a little too high, so it’s hot in the mix. Does this make sense? I'm an amateur producer so this makes perfect sense. I kinda know what you mean, if you compare it to The Open Door, there were effects on Amy's voice left right and centre. But she did say that she wanted Synthesis to really focus on the vocals, so it wouldn't have made sense to put loads of effects over them.
|
|
clambats
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 9
|
Post by clambats on Nov 20, 2017 21:08:48 GMT -5
Thought I'd update my thoughts on the album now its been over a week. Im still loving it. My favourite tracks are still NGB and EOD which before Synthesis were at the bottom in my list of favourite Ev songs. Im reading a lot of comments from people about the "unpolished" tone of the album. I think this is intentonal to be honest guys, and I happen to like it, it sounds more "real", natural and its artistic choice I think, and if you're one of those fans like me who was so bloody familiar with Amy's voice it borders on obsessive from watching just about every live or acoustic video/recording out there then there shouldn't be anything off-putting about Synthesis at all. Its worth noting also, that if you're listening with a rubbish pair of headphones from a streaming app like Spotify or Amazon, you are not getting the best experience. Listen to the CD on your laptop and crank up you're bass a little, you can do this on your volume controls, and it will sound a lot fuller and heavier, for lack of a better word. Having somewhat worked in audio alongside my husband who is a producer/mixing engineer, I think, really, if anything, the issue is not in her performance. Her performance is incredible. It is in the fact that the vocals are overcompressed and dry, and what is unnatural about it is the lack of reverb. That’s why we are hearing every mouth noise, scoop, imperfection, etc, overly emphasized. So, in this album, we have an imagery of her singing in front of an orchestra. The thing is, when our brains think orchestra, we expect huge chamber room with lots of reverb, so in order to have Amy’s vocal sit correctly in the mix, we expect to hear her vocal with the same reverb parameters. Having it be so dry makes it blatantly obvious that she sang it in a different setting and the mixing engineer plopped it in the middle of the instrumental track - almost like she sang karaoke to it in a dry booth. And of couse, the vocal volume is a little too high, so it’s hot in the mix. Does this make sense? This also varies a lot from song to song as well, and even in different parts of the song. Her voice sits really unevenly in the mix across the board. It's entirely unnoticeable in certain speakers (like my car), but in my studio headphones it sounds like her voice is given a completely different treatment than everything else. It's like the orchestra has its natural reverb, the electronics are completely dry, and Amy's voice is in a weird middle ground. That would be fine if they didn't do something tacky by adding echoes in place of natural sounding reverb. A good example is "Can't break free until I let it go, let me goooooooooooooo" in Lithium. Instead of the lengthy power note of "go" becoming more powerful through good acoustics and tactful use of reverb, there's these uneven echoes that just kinda show up, then cut out and it just doesn't sound good. Or after the big build in Your Star where she sings "All in PARTS and pieces" then two seconds later you just hear her squawking "POTS!" again in the background. All that said, she still sounds great. Special mention to Hi-Lo 'cause that's the one song where I think her voice is mixed perfectly.
|
|
|
Post by The_Sacrificed on Nov 21, 2017 3:48:51 GMT -5
I just noticed that they don't do Lindsey's part when they play Hi-Lo live. That makes me sad.
|
|
|
Post by Rarkphoenix on Nov 21, 2017 4:32:55 GMT -5
I love being an Evanescence fan sometimes. I swear if we were the fanbase of a certain well known pop singer, for example, the analysis from the point of the fans would predominantly be restricted to "OMG I LOVE IT" or "OMG IT'S AWFUL". We're taking apart everything. I guess that's the sign of a fanbase that really 'listens' to music though. I almost feel sorry for the band sometimes because they must know that every time they release anything, they've got hundreds of diehard fans that will notice every single flaw. That's pressure right there.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 12:53:00 GMT -5
King’s Road messaged me back saying everything would be delivered together, so I requested that they ship the box set separately.
|
|
|
Post by imnotbroken118 on Nov 21, 2017 18:19:34 GMT -5
King’s Road messaged me back saying everything would be delivered together, so I requested that they ship the box set separately. Hopefully they work with you. They wouldn't break apart the order for me. They cancelled the vinyl off my order and refunded the money and then I had to place a separate order for the vinyl and ended up paying shipping twice which is ridiculous. Their initial rollout listed the vinyl as being released the same day as everything else and didn't include the "we don't ship order items separately" warning text. Not sure why I should be punished because they can't figure their mess out. Between that, originally posting incorrect product descriptions, giving wrong information to e-mailed questions, and not shipping orders until after the release date with no communication to purchasers, I hope Ev never goes through them again. What a joke.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 18:55:15 GMT -5
King’s Road messaged me back saying everything would be delivered together, so I requested that they ship the box set separately. Hopefully they work with you. They wouldn't break apart the order for me. They cancelled the vinyl off my order and refunded the money and then I had to place a separate order for the vinyl and ended up paying shipping twice which is ridiculous. Their initial rollout listed the vinyl as being released the same day as everything else and didn't include the "we don't ship order items separately" warning text. Not sure why I should be punished because they can't figure their mess out. Between that, originally posting incorrect product descriptions, giving wrong information to e-mailed questions, and not shipping orders until after the release date with no communication to purchasers, I hope Ev never goes through them again. What a joke. Funny, they actually asked me in the email if I wanted the box set shipped separately.
|
|
|
Post by AeternusAmatorius on Nov 21, 2017 22:06:57 GMT -5
Thought I'd update my thoughts on the album now its been over a week. Im still loving it. My favourite tracks are still NGB and EOD which before Synthesis were at the bottom in my list of favourite Ev songs. Im reading a lot of comments from people about the "unpolished" tone of the album. I think this is intentonal to be honest guys, and I happen to like it, it sounds more "real", natural and its artistic choice I think, and if you're one of those fans like me who was so bloody familiar with Amy's voice it borders on obsessive from watching just about every live or acoustic video/recording out there then there shouldn't be anything off-putting about Synthesis at all. Its worth noting also, that if you're listening with a rubbish pair of headphones from a streaming app like Spotify or Amazon, you are not getting the best experience. Listen to the CD on your laptop and crank up you're bass a little, you can do this on your volume controls, and it will sound a lot fuller and heavier, for lack of a better word. Having somewhat worked in audio alongside my husband who is a producer/mixing engineer, I think, really, if anything, the issue is not in her performance. Her performance is incredible. It is in the fact that the vocals are overcompressed and dry, and what is unnatural about it is the lack of reverb. That’s why we are hearing every mouth noise, scoop, imperfection, etc, overly emphasized. So, in this album, we have an imagery of her singing in front of an orchestra. The thing is, when our brains think orchestra, we expect huge chamber room with lots of reverb, so in order to have Amy’s vocal sit correctly in the mix, we expect to hear her vocal with the same reverb parameters. Having it be so dry makes it blatantly obvious that she sang it in a different setting and the mixing engineer plopped it in the middle of the instrumental track - almost like she sang karaoke to it in a dry booth. And of couse, the vocal volume is a little too high, so it’s hot in the mix. Does this make sense? This makes perfect sense and I have no producing/mixing experience under by belt except the experience I have with fiddling around in Audacity or Goldwave. King’s Road messaged me back saying everything would be delivered together, so I requested that they ship the box set separately. Hopefully they work with you. They wouldn't break apart the order for me. They cancelled the vinyl off my order and refunded the money and then I had to place a separate order for the vinyl and ended up paying shipping twice which is ridiculous. Their initial rollout listed the vinyl as being released the same day as everything else and didn't include the "we don't ship order items separately" warning text. Not sure why I should be punished because they can't figure their mess out. Between that, originally posting incorrect product descriptions, giving wrong information to e-mailed questions, and not shipping orders until after the release date with no communication to purchasers, I hope Ev never goes through them again. What a joke. I remember earlier back in this thread, or maybe it was even on twitter, saying that they were disappointed that Ev was using Kings Road as Kings Road had bad reviews from other fans of other bands who have used them previously.
|
|
|
Post by princeofpersia on Nov 25, 2017 12:43:03 GMT -5
Damn! this is getting exciting! 😍 😍 😍
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2017 13:42:59 GMT -5
My box set arrived just now!
|
|
fishbowl
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 205
|
Post by fishbowl on Nov 25, 2017 14:21:48 GMT -5
I have a rather dumb question but I just had to ask! I'm really liking the look of the box set however I don't play piano and I can't actually read sheet music so what I want to know is what does the box set has over the deluxe edition other than the sheet music book? does the box even contain the instrumental version of Synthesis? does the deluxe edition contain the photo gallery booklet? I just don't know which one I should get
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2017 14:38:23 GMT -5
I have a rather dumb question but I just had to ask! I'm really liking the look of the box set however I don't play piano and I can't actually read sheet music so what I want to know is what does the box set has over the deluxe edition other than the sheet music book? does the box even contain the instrumental version of Synthesis? does the deluxe edition contain the photo gallery booklet? I just don't know which one I should get The DVD has: Inside Synthesis documentary, 5.1 Surround Sound album, instrumentals, photo gallery. The scorebook and CD are also included in the box set.o
|
|
|
Post by AeternusAmatorius on Nov 25, 2017 16:40:52 GMT -5
I have a rather dumb question but I just had to ask! I'm really liking the look of the box set however I don't play piano and I can't actually read sheet music so what I want to know is what does the box set has over the deluxe edition other than the sheet music book? does the box even contain the instrumental version of Synthesis? does the deluxe edition contain the photo gallery booklet? I just don't know which one I should get Differences between Deluxe Edition and Limited Box Set. Deluxe Edition is a digipack containing both cd and dvd. The dvd includes the documentary, 5.1 surround mix of the album, the instrumental version of the album, photo gallery, the full score. Limited Box Set: includes the standard edition of the CD, the dvd inside the scorebook selection of Bring Me to Life, The In-Between and Imperfection. The Dvd includes the same thing as above. This is all included inside an awesome box. This is more so for collectors but still a nice thing to have even if you aren't a collector.
|
|
ahoyhoy
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 62
|
Post by ahoyhoy on Nov 26, 2017 2:27:18 GMT -5
The vinyl has been delayed another fortnight.
|
|