Album Club: Week 53: Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings (2009)

[John]

Hi Andrew
I know you a big fan of Dream Theater.
Which track do you think is Mike best work, for this album is a lot about the consitency of Mike drumming and what is fav torture track for the 1210

[MartinT]

I must hear you sons band sometime Martin

Some samples from Clockwork (Simon's band) here:
http://soundcloud.com/moose-clockwork

An article about them:
http://www.onslaughtradio.com/unsigned/band/clockwork/

[synsei]

I've given this a 5 (It's ok actually) because I may play the album occasionally when I'm in the right mood for it

[Welder]

I’ve got the double CD set of this.

If there are any outstanding examples of how to completely feck up a recording of what imo are a bunch of talented and imaginative musicians, this has got to be on the list.

Dream Theatre does dynamics in bucketfuls and the tosser that mixed this successfully managed to not only wipe out the dynamics but also present as near to a one dimensional sound stage as is possible. Everything is too far forward in the mix.
Despite this being a terrible recording I really like a lot of what Dream Theatre produces and marking for talent, energy, content etc, I would have this around 8.
My problem with this is, surely they must have listened to this mess of a recording and it seems they let it go. If they’re happy with this, fair enough but as a recorded representation of their work it’s rubbish.

I like the band, like lots of what they do, but this album is a great example of bad recording.

3/10

[John]

Glad you kind of enjoyed it Dave

[John]

I’ve got the double CD set of this.

If there are any outstanding examples of how to completely feck up a recording of what imo are a bunch of talented and imaginative musicians, this has got to be on the list.

Dream Theatre does dynamics in bucketfuls and the tosser that mixed this successfully managed to not only wipe out the dynamics but also present as near to a one dimensional sound stage as is possible. Everything is too far forward in the mix.
Despite this being a terrible recording I really like a lot of what Dream Theatre produces and marking for talent, energy, content etc, I would have this around 8.
My problem with this is, surely they must have listened to this mess of a recording and it seems they let it go. If they’re happy with this, fair enough but as a recorded representation of their work it’s rubbish.

I like the band, like lots of what they do, but this album is a great example of bad recording.

3/10

Shock horror John (Welder) is a Audiophile
I get lots of dynamics on my system and can really hear into the recording. Yes it is a bit compressed but I heard so much worse

[Welder]

Shock horror John (Welder) is a Audiophile
I get lots of dynamics on my system and can really hear into the recording. Yes it is a bit compressed but I heard so much worse

Fair enough John.
Using foobars dynamic range tester I get 5 as lowest and 6 as highest, not that one needs to measure it; you can hear the compression to the point that it's offensive to the ears.
I may run it through Tau later.

[John]

Lol

[Tim]

Lol, what about the musical composition and lyrics though John (W)?

[Welder]

Lol, what about the musical composition and lyrics though John (W)?

.
When I listen to this and most of their other albums come to that, the very first thing that strikes me is how appalling the recording is.
It’s very hard to get past this point because it really is that bad given the music’s/bands potential.
With some bands/whatever it doesn’t matter so much, you know you’re listening to a product. These products aren’t really meant to represent the music as such; it’s an entertainment genre meant for playing to chickens in battery farms to keep the eggs flowing. However, I’ve got plenty of that sort of music on my hard drive and most of it sounds better than this.

Dream Theatre deserve better. They do some really interesting theater style heavy rock that really would benefit from sympathetic recording. I mean, who wants to dream in black and white in one dimension.

Imo you need to be deaf if you can think that this even gets on the bottom rung of the audiophiles dream of reproducing the sound of a live event.
The band is great imo; the album is rubbish. It wouldn’t matter if angels with harps were singing.
I suppose I should be surprised that no one else has mentioned the compression and general recording quality, but I’m not.

So, when you get the album, have a listen then come back and tell me I’m wrong, or that you agree with me.