What's Your opinion on the Sonic Aspects of ADTOE?

[darkshade]

I personally think everything sounds great except that during certain sections when JP is playing any high notes, especially when sustaining them, I find them hard to hear, especially when I listen to the album in the car. Headphones are fine, and through my room speakers it's generally good (for the most part), but in the car I seem to have this problem. And of course I fee like the drums could have been mixed just a tad higher.

How do you guys feel about it?

[FretMuppet]

Listening with headphones seems to be the only way to fully hear and appreciate everything that's going on. There's so much intricacy and little bits going on in the thick textures that average speakers aren't good enough. That's not necessarily a bad thing though

[coffees for closers]

I feel it is slighly busy with Jordan's background coral effects. For me that is filler that distracts me from the clarity of the song. I have felt this about all their albums since Paul Northfiled was hired a few albums ago. I know I have heard the opposite abut the album but I amost feel the sound is a little muddied, not much but just enough to annoy me and I find myself constanly trying to adjust my equalizer to get the clarity I want. Maybe it is all related to the drums being more in the back of the mix that could lead to what I am speaking of as well. MP's drums were always so clear.

[ResultsMayVary]

I think the album sounds fantastic. 

[johncal]

Sounds to me like your speakers in your car aren't real good in certain frequency ranges.

I'm very fortunate. My home stereo uses a microphone and computer processing to balance the EQ's and the speakers themselves. Just put the mic where you sit, hit set-up and it sends test tones all over from all the different speakers. It bandlessly EQ's each individual speaker, adjusts the speakers balance and volume and changes the phasing where necessary to the signals all get to your head at the right time. Saying all that just to say that the album sounds just friggin' perfect on it. Amazing what they can do nowdays with amlifiers that don't even cost that much. I can hear stuff that I can't in my car or with the Bose headphones.

BTW, is it just me or are Outcry, BAI and BTS much punchier and cleaner than the rest of the songs. It's like somebody threw a switch.

[kirksnosehair]

I am not crazy about the sonic aspects if I'm being honest. I don't think it's  "Bad" by any stretch, but it could have been better.  There could be more high end and it almost feels like the whole thing is pinched into the middle frequencies a bit too much.  I actually ripped the album to WAV files and remastered it in Sonar and scooped most of the mids and that really seemed to improve it quite a bit.

I haven't been a big fan of the sound of a Dream Theater album since Six Degrees. 

Try this experiment:  Listen to Images & Words,  then listen to A Dramatic Turn of Events

The difference is gigantic and extremely noticeable and I'm not just referring to the triggered snare drum.

[E.S.]

It's definitely a great sounding album, but there are things I would do differently. Being a studio geek can be a curse when listening to music, unless the mix and master is exactly what I want. I would brighten some of the drums more, and take it easy on the reverbs, as that can clutter up the mix a lot. Maybe even compress the snare mics even more to make it hit harder. I'm just a fan of that sound.
But the mix is very well done, obviously. Everything can be heard.

[PixelDream]

I'd like to say this:

Every instrument can be heard clearly and you can hear the intention of the music everywhere. In that case, it's a good mix.

But I don't think it sounds good. Doesn't have any MOJO at all. Six Degrees for example has a 'sound' to it that makes it really attractive to listen to.

[LTE3]

I am not crazy about the sonic aspects if I'm being honest. I don't think it's  "Bad" by any stretch, but it could have been better.  There could be more high end and it almost feels like the whole thing is pinched into the middle frequencies a bit too much.  I actually ripped the album to WAV files and remastered it in Sonar and scooped most of the mids and that really seemed to improve it quite a bit.

I haven't been a big fan of the sound of a Dream Theater album since Six Degrees. 

Try this experiment:  Listen to Images & Words,  then listen to A Dramatic Turn of Events

The difference is gigantic and extremely noticeable and I'm not just referring to the triggered snare drum.

We seem to be on the same page about the sound, can you elaborate on what you did to correct it. Is Sonar free. How can I do this?