The Enemy Inside Discussion Thread

[noxon]

Now i regret not taking my beer analogy into "Black hole" territory.

[soulburner]

BTW any of you heard the new Avenged Sevenfold single Hail to the king? While it is not a busy song arrangement wise like TEI I think it makes a good comparison because of the modern production. I really wasn't expecting a dynamic sound on it but I was pleasantly surprised. And it really doesn't take an expensive audio system to hear the difference. Put that song on and crank it up and then listen to TEI with same volume setting and tell me what you hear.

I've heard it and I confirm - sounds very good and I can hear it's not overcompressed even on cheap 2.1 computer speakers. I really hope the final album sounds the same and if it does, I will definitely buy it. I was never a fan of Avenged Sevenfold but I like this song a lot.

[Zook]

After listening several times:

The snare drum doesn't bother me.
The production isn't very good.

Overall a good song, but being 2013 and being a pretty successful prog band, DT's 12th studio album shouldn't sound so muddied and faded. Less successful and even some unknown bands have better production qualities.

[seasonsinthesky]

really not understanding a lot of the critical comments about the production — this is clearly miles ahead of ADTOE (which i realize a lot of people are saying as well), especially in terms of clarity and the drum mix, but also is a return to the Octavarium, SDOIT and BC&SL mixing styles, which have basically become an integral part of the band's sound. Mangini sounds massive and crisp, and Petrucci's tone is back to BC&SL levels of sharp awesomeness. the guitar solo is amazing and James is applying some of his solo record singing tropes in excellent ways. definitely in agreement with the people saying this is the best pre-album single in a very long time; after the first listen, i was just left with that fuck yes feeling of satisfaction.

also loving the new avenues they've taken the metal-oriented songwriting on this one; if TOT had all been like this, i'd enjoy it much more.

[dongringo]

if TOT had all been like this, i'd enjoy it much more.

This ^

[Lucidity]

if TOT had all been like this, i'd enjoy it much more.

This ^

First I was thinking Trial of Tears, then I realised "no, that's not right..."

[Bolsters]

It really sucks that everything is pretty much mastered for ipods. If you want to blame anything, blame those. Since no one listens to cds anymore...that's why the masters are loud to be played loud enough to cancel out outside noise, yet itssad most turn it up loud and destroy their ears.

The loudness war has absolutely nothing to do with portable players, least of all exclusively because of iPods. The overcompression of music began with CDs in the 90s before MP3 players existed.

[mabowe]

The Lyric video sounds better than the original stream.

[Viking of the Sagas]

You know, the more and more I listen to the song, I start getting a Scenes from a Memory type of feel from it.

[BlobVanDam]

You know, the more and more I listen to the song, I start getting a Scenes from a Memory type of feel from it.

I don't get that vibe from the song overall, but definitely from the instrumental section. Perhaps a little reminiscent of Fatal Tragedy's solo section. That's probably why I like it so much.

[aprilethereal]

inb4 "we're getting Metropolis 3" posts

[Zydar]

We're getting Metropolis 3.

[Onno]

We're getting Metropolis 3.

Oh no, not this again...

Although a songname like "The Enemy Inside" would fit rather well on a Metropolis Pt. 3: Necropolis album.

[aprilethereal]

surely seems like a concept album to me

[noxon]

surely seems like a concept album to me

I wouldn't be so quick to mock that notion ... What is a concept album anyways? It's not necessarily stuck to "telling a story". It can be a themed album as well.

[hefdaddy42]

Okay, well, on that note, from some analyses I've read, most DT albums, including SDOIT and FII aren't really all that dynamic, relatively speaking. So if they can still sound like eargasm, then clearly some compression is okay.

Where did you hear that?  Because, relatively speaking, compared to the rest of DT's output, those 2 (along with I&W and Awake) are by far the most dynamic.  Not even close.

[aprilethereal]

surely seems like a concept album to me

I wouldn't be so quick to mock that notion ... What is a concept album anyways? It's not necessarily stuck to "telling a story". It can be a themed album as well.

Guess why the text is green

[noxon]

Uhm, a sarcastic remark about it being a concept album seems to indicate that you think it is not...

[ArchVile]

i dunno why green colour represents sarcasm lulz

[aprilethereal]

Uhm, a sarcastic remark about it being a concept album seems to indicate that you think it is not...

I wanted to make a reference to some people in the DT12 thread who were constantly discussing that it's a concept album and what the concept is about, although there is absolutely no evidence DT12 will have a concept.

[ariich]

i dunno why green colour represents sarcasm lulz

It's a DTF tradition.

[snapple]

i dunno why green colour represents sarcasm lulz

It's a DTF tradition.

It's a different () website tradition.

[ariich]

May well be, but it's one that caught on here.

[Viking of the Sagas]

Interesting topic guys.

[Zook]

I revise my original statement about the production being bad. What bothers me is that LaBrie is too low in the mix. Even on the better quality download... That I bought... from Amazon.

[Thoughtspart3]

Even I am among those who think the over compression really hurts the sound there are things that were improvements.  I agree that Mangini is much more audible which is a real plus.  Labrie is a little low, but it doesn't bother me that much.  Overall the mixing, which is the balancing of each instrument and vocals relative to one another, is better overall to my ears. 

However, the compression during the mastering phase raises everything to the maximum loudness that a CD can handles before everything gets distorted.   This leads to whatever was mixed the loudest to be even louder in the final cut.  That is why the guitars sound so loud and Labrie, who probably was mixed a little bit lower sounds too low compared to everything else.  It is also why most base guitars are inaudible on today's albums.

[Laich21DT]

The Lyric video sounds better than the original stream.

This. I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned more often.

Also, folks who have pre-ordered the album and thus downloaded The Enemy Inside, how does that sound compared to the original stream?

[johncal]

The Lyric video sounds better than the original stream.

This. I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned more often.

Also, folks who have pre-ordered the album and thus downloaded The Enemy Inside, how does that sound compared to the original stream?

Sounds fine to me. You can hear James much better.

[wolven74]

I bought the single from iTunes and while being much more compressed than other DT songs, it really doesn't get to me. Each DT album sounds unique among the others to me, and this song--and presumably this album--is really no different.

[The Boomr]

I'll try not to make this another huge complaint post about the song...I just want to say that I own all of DT's albums and have listened to all of them extensively, and while yes I have always been able to hear the differences in production quality on them, it has almost never bothered me in any big way. the biggest gripe I've ever had about production was the level of MM's bass drums specifically throughout ADTOE. Other things that people mention about any of the albums, I will usually think ohhh yeah I could see that, but then it doesn't actually bother me.

With TEI, I instantly noticed and thought about the production quality. That's never happened before. I don't think anything about me or my knowledge in the past two years has changed significantly enough to cause me to only now have that reaction to a new single, which means that the production for the new album (or single, at least) did change in a negative way. I honestly do like the track, and still have decently high hopes for the rest of the album (although reading Noxon's comment about an onslaught of sound for 6 tracks isn't heartening), but I have a few specific problems with the mix. The snare drum sounds like it's clipping. The guitar is slightly too loud, mostly and especially during JR's solo. Actually, production-wise those are my only real complaints.

The download version, which I got from Xbox Music, definitely sounds better than the stream did. The lyric video also sounded much better than the stream. I haven't compared the video to the downloaded track yet, can anyone say whether the quality between those two is of any noticeable difference?

[seasonsinthesky]

The biggest gripe I've ever had about production was the level of MM's bass drums specifically throughout ADTOE.

were you listening to the standard release or the HDtracks version?

[rush-signals]

After listening to it a zillions times (50)............... well I like it. I like the drum sound. I like the heavy guitar sound. I hear the bass just fine. JR is not over-powering as he has been in the past. I love the riffs and as usual everything is more technical than one can imagine.  I also love JLB vocals, they fit the song so well. The mix sounds fine to me as does the mastering for an internet release, I'm sure it'll be less compressed on the CD.

I've been playing guitar since 1977 and have been in the studio with bands many times and I have NO problem with this. I'm just happy to hear new energetic music from the band.

[The Boomr]

Standard release CD. I really need to get my hands on the HDTracks version.

[Polis]

Am I the only one finding the vocals way too quiet? Labrie is almost burried in the mix.
Also he still has that strange chorus-ish effect on his voice, same as on ADTOE...

My thoughts exactly. Layered Labries = No more soaring operatic awesomeness :< and the guitar just blankets right over him.

[SystematicThought]

I guess I am just more confused why LaBrie is low in the mix considering who mixed it. One of LaBrie's best friends and the guy who did vocal production for ADTOE and Elements of Persuasion