The Enemy Inside Discussion Thread

[EdenHazard]

I like the song, but the mix is just not working for me at all. I hope that's not final or that it is a problem of file compression.

[DeanTheater]

I went to bed around 5am. I have the forum set to 50 posts per page. I was on page 10 of this thread. I wake up at 12pm... There's now 24 pages in this thread... YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING INSANE!


Song's awesome, but dare I say.... James is mixed a tad too low?

LOL,  this Board is insane.  I cant keep up with it.  As far as JLB's mix is concerned.  Could it be the stream has screwed with the mix?  I have noticed what you and others have picked up (slightly).  I wonder if the stream is just not up to snuff

[The Boomr]

Is it weird that I am content to not listen to the single again until after work, but I eagerly refresh this thread every few minutes to gobble up more opinions from people who've listened to the track??

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

With a band like DT, there's often a lot going on, and having more breathing room in the mixing and mastering lets you actually hear all of the nuances and subtleties. If you don't care about the mix, that's fine, but it seems weird to be critical of people who just want the song to sound as good as possible.

IMO i'm pretty certain DT are happy with the mix therefor I feel it a bit unecessary for myself to be critical of something that is a personal statement. I mean the odds that they will satisfy everyone with their mix is close to nothing. Therefor I like to focus more on the songs and what they play. Of course I will always have a opinion about the sound quality I just don't focus to much on it.

And that's fine.
I'm just saying that, for me, when the mix is that loud, it's almost difficult to keep focused on it. My ears almost instinctively want to zone out even if I like the song itself. It's less that I make a point of analyzing the sound quality, and more that it's something that is jumping out at me.

Overall, if the record is good, I'll get past it and enjoy the music anyway. I mean, I love Rush's Clockwork Angels, and that album has a pretty flat mix at times.

Fair enough. 

[aXygnus]

I can see why people are saying LaBrie is wayy too low. I think he and Myung should be somewhat higher in the mix. Especially Myung, I can barely hear the bass.

[Dark Castle]

I can see why people are saying LaBrie is wayy too low. I think he and Myung should be somewhat higher in the mix. Especially Myung, I can barely hear the bass.

After putting in my headphones, everything jumped out much more.

[noxon]

The mix for the "real thing" doesn't sound good on my car, pc or laptop speakers, but when played on big speakers in the living room it sounds a lot better. Mind you, it's still fairly compressed and loud, but both james and myung is a lot clearer when you have speakers that can manage the "wall of sound" that this track consists of

[RMGadelha]

I can see why people are saying LaBrie is wayy too low. I think he and Myung should be somewhat higher in the mix. Especially Myung, I can barely hear the bass.

After putting in my headphones, everything jumped out much more.

It was the opposite with me, but that's because my headset sucks ass and balls 

[Deve]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

[YtseCullen]

I can see why people are saying LaBrie is wayy too low. I think he and Myung should be somewhat higher in the mix. Especially Myung, I can barely hear the bass.

After putting in my headphones, everything jumped out much more.

My thoughts exactly

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Is anyone else no longer allowed to listen to it?

"The owner of this track has not made this sound available for streaming in your location."

[KevShmev]

The problem with hearing Myung, especially in heavy songs like this, is it seems like he often is double tracking the guitar riff, and Petrucci's tone is naturally gonna be more powerful, so we simply aren't gonna hear Myung very well.  Which is disappointing, as Myung has such killer chops, that you think he'd be able to come up with some totally bad ass bass lines for songs like this, but it's like he is content just playing along with the guitar lines.

[aprilethereal]

I went to bed around 5am. I have the forum set to 50 posts per page. I was on page 10 of this thread. I wake up at 12pm... There's now 24 pages in this thread... YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING INSANE!


Song's awesome, but dare I say.... James is mixed a tad too low?

LOL,  this Board is insane.  I cant keep up with it.  As far as JLB's mix is concerned.  Could it be the stream has screwed with the mix?  I have noticed what you and others have picked up (slightly).  I wonder if the stream is just not up to snuff

I can't imagine that honestly. A low quality stream might influence the dynamic range by compressing it, but the mix? I don't think so.

[Whatsername]

Is it weird that I am content to not listen to the single again until after work, but I eagerly refresh this thread every few minutes to gobble up more opinions from people who've listened to the track??

[Meatrose]

The mix for the "real thing" doesn't sound good on my car, pc or laptop speakers, but when played on big speakers in the living room it sounds a lot better. Mind you, it's still fairly compressed and loud, but both james and myung is a lot clearer when you have speakers that can manage the "wall of sound" that this track consists of

Just curious, what kind of speakers do you have in that living room of yours?

I have only listened to the song on my pc speakers and in my pc headphones so far, I don't want to use my real speakers until I get my hands on "the real deal".

[RMGadelha]

If you want an opinion from a person completely ignorant about how mixing should be done and how drums should sound, like I am, I can say that my ears enjoyed the drums in this A LOT more than in ADTOE. Not only the sound, but the performance too.

[Full Speed]

Didn't like the song too much, but it sounded like the norm for a RR-era second-track DT song. Still hyped for the CD, but I can see this one being near the bottom of my list.

[JPX]

Definitely way underwhelmed here.

I can't believe the lack of new ideas on the band's part. Absolutely nothing new. Also very weak melodically - nothing to latch on to! I understand that it's probably the "shortish, easy to take in, single-worthy" song from the album, and the really good stuff will be in the "epic" songs, but come on, this song is just pure recycling. On the Backs of Angels wasn't exactly the most innovative song, but still had some creative new vibes and super strong melodies

Then there's the recording... really don't like how the drums are mixed or the tone of the snare drum. Super cluttered - not much clarity.. none of that "pop" (listen to Blind Faith for pretty much the best drum mixing DT has done -- incredibly crisp and clear and the balance in the mix is beautiful). Also, the vocals are way too low in the mix, which is especially bad with such weak melodic material.

Agreed on all your points. I also 100% concur with Blind Faith - just a perfect mix of both drums and overall sound.

[sueño]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Can you guys really not hear the bottom notes?   

I could, even thru my very lame office-issued computer headset.

[Thematt202]

I've listened to it twice now and I love it!  The drums are fantastic, so good to have that chunky bass drum sound in DT.  The riffs and the instrumental wackiness are also fantastic!

Only criticism is that the vocal melody in the chorus isn't as catchy as some of their other stuff.  All in all, a fantastic song and I seriously cannot wait until September.   

[Dellers]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Not unless they let me do the mix, which sadly ain't gonna happen. I wouldn't bury him, that's for certain. I feel that it's kinda JP's fault though, as I've heard mixes done by Rick where the bass was loud and clear. Having a band's own guitarist in the studio during the mixing is never a good thing IMO.

[RMGadelha]

I've listened to it twice now and I love it!  The drums are fantastic, so good to have that chunky bass drum sound in DT.  The riffs and the instrumental wackiness are also fantastic!

Only criticism is that the vocal melody in the chorus isn't as catchy as some of their other stuff.  All in all, a fantastic song and I seriously cannot wait until September.   

Exactly. I liked the chorus in OTBoA more, but I liked the parts surrounding the chorus more in TEI.

[Laich21DT]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Um, no. Listen to WDADU-FII, or ToT.

Currently on listen no. 2. Each time I've tried to listen I've ran into a problem, where I press the play button, and the song queues but remains on 0:00. Anyone else have this problem?

I agree that guitar is a bit too loud, and that JM and JLB are too low in the mix. I have a feeling that things will sound a lot more balanced on the album. However, as someone who hasn't ever been a big fan of Jordan's more cartoon-y patches, I actually really liked the keys on this song. I feel that with ADTOE, JR started to pull back on the cheesy stuff, and I hear more of this in the Enemy Inside.

[Meatrose]

Definitely way underwhelmed here.

I can't believe the lack of new ideas on the band's part. Absolutely nothing new. Also very weak melodically - nothing to latch on to! I understand that it's probably the "shortish, easy to take in, single-worthy" song from the album, and the really good stuff will be in the "epic" songs, but come on, this song is just pure recycling. On the Backs of Angels wasn't exactly the most innovative song, but still had some creative new vibes and super strong melodies

While I do agree that OTBOA had more going on melodically (and that's the most important aspect of any song in my book) I don't think that this is the OTBOA of DT12, I think that this is the BMU,BMD of DT12 which is why I'm really excited right now. If I listened to ADTOE for the first time ever and didn't know that OTBOA had been released as a single I would have instantly assumed that BMU,BMD was "the single".

[The Boomr]

Definitely way underwhelmed here.

I can't believe the lack of new ideas on the band's part. Absolutely nothing new. Also very weak melodically - nothing to latch on to! I understand that it's probably the "shortish, easy to take in, single-worthy" song from the album, and the really good stuff will be in the "epic" songs, but come on, this song is just pure recycling. On the Backs of Angels wasn't exactly the most innovative song, but still had some creative new vibes and super strong melodies

While I do agree that OTBOA had more going on melodically (and that's the most important aspect of any song in my book) I don't think that this is the OTBOA of DT12, I think that this is the BMU,BMD of DT12 which is why I'm really excited right now. If I listened to ADTOE for the first time ever and didn't know that OTBOA had been released as a single I would have instantly assumed that BMU,BMD was "the single".

I agree--well, more like hope, that this is the truth of the matter.

[Virtualman64]

Simply love it.Can't wait for the album.Very heavy!Still I agree with others that the vocals,and bass are a little low in the mix.But,then again I've always felt that JM's bass has always been a little low in the overall mix for my taste.Again though it may be just the sample version who knows?

[Scard]

Bass player here. With a pair of generic like $40 headphones I can hear the bass pretty well the entire song. It's heavily distorted, but a pretty separate entity from the guitars.

[Dark Castle]

Yeah, the bass stands out just fine for me, I think it'd be pretty interesting though to get the guy/people who does Obscura's albums. Their bassist stands out so well, amongst the ensuing calculated insanity that is Obscura.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Um, no. Listen to WDADU-FII, or ToT.

Currently on listen no. 2. Each time I've tried to listen I've ran into a problem, where I press the play button, and the song queues but remains on 0:00. Anyone else have this problem?

I agree that guitar is a bit too loud, and that JM and JLB are too low in the mix. I have a feeling that things will sound a lot more balanced on the album. However, as someone who hasn't ever been a big fan of Jordan's more cartoon-y patches, I actually really liked the keys on this song. I feel that with ADTOE, JR started to pull back on the cheesy stuff, and I hear more of this in the Enemy Inside.

Try this: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F103119258%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-S9l3K

[JPX]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Not unless they let me do the mix, which sadly ain't gonna happen. I wouldn't bury him, that's for certain. I feel that it's kinda JP's fault though, as I've heard mixes done by Rick where the bass was loud and clear. Having a band's own guitarist in the studio during the mixing is never a good thing IMO.

Agreed. While JP's playing is getting somewhat predictable, so is his production. I would be curious what a Ken Shirley production with a Doug Oberkircher mix would sound like for current DT.

[Laich21DT]

Try this: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F103119258%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-S9l3K

Thanks, didn't work though. 

[Deve]

Face it guys - we're never gonna be able to hear Myung unless it's a bass solo 

Um, no. Listen to WDADU-FII, or ToT.

I was just kidding! I didn't mean that in literally every song DT have done you can't hear Myung, just meant that nowadays he's generally pretty damn low in the mix.


So I'm listening again, and the only thing I don't dig is the lack of a strong melody in the vocals. I'm such a huge sucker for a fantastic, soaring melody that this song just doesn't have. But it makes sense that the melody is kind of lacking when you look at DT's single history. I keep getting more and more excited for the album on every listen! 

[Whatsername]

Am I the only one who really enjoyed James's high note? I thought it sounded great, and it made my fan-girl heart beat quickly.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Try this: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F103119258%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-S9l3K

Thanks, didn't work though. 

How weird, i'm listening and i'm not from the US. 

[JRuless]

try to filter the crappy compression; a lot is going on in this song (intro!!)! Like it a lot after a few listens!!