Dir en grey

[Seelentau 884]

I recognise some of those words.

[Nowhere Girl 189]

Reading all your posts about the original UROBOROS, I really, really need to throw that thing on again. I haven't listened to it since the remaster.

 

One thing about Tue Madsen's mixing that hasn't been mentioned is that he seems to love throwing reverb over absolutely everything. That may contribute to the 'muddy' mix people are talking about. UROBOROS Remastered, DSS, and THE UNRAVELING all suffer from this. It does add to the depth of the music but it all just ends up sounding very similar as a result (at least, in my opinion).

Edited August 19, 2018 by Nowhere Girl

[Kelrya 145]

I can’t really listen to the old version of Uroboros since the vocals are nearly inaudable half the time.

[Rosner 35]

25 minutes ago, Nowhere Girl said:

One thing about Tue Madsen's mixing that hasn't been mentioned is that he seems to love throwing reverb over absolutely everything. That may contribute to the 'muddy' mix people are talking about. UROBOROS Remastered, DSS, and THE UNRAVELING all suffer from this. It does add to the depth of the music but it all just ends up sounding very similar as a result (at least, in my opinion).

I agree! I remembered about this:

 

 

Personally I wouldn't do it (for me, reverb on distorted guitars is a no-no, excpet when working on black metal or shoegaze), but every producer has it's own style and sometimes their unorthodox methods surprisingly work. When it comes to music and mixing, there are no writteng rules (except for a couple of obvious ones). 

 

By the way, I just noticed Arche was mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen! Wouldn't have guessed it: it sounds over-processed but has an unpolished sound that I've never heard on any of Tue Madsen most recent works.

 

I also checked out who mixed/mastered the 'Utafumi' and 'Ningen...' singles out of curiosity: it coul give a hint on the sound 'The Insulated World' may have. 'Utafumi' was mixed by Madsen, but it was mastered by Tsubasa Yamazaki (seems like a frequent collaborator of the band, mostly on live releases). Can't find any good info on 'Ningen...', though its Japanese wikipedia entry seems to have some interesting info about it's composition. Too bad Google translate is not very good... but for what I understand, it was mixed either by Dan Lancaster or Jay Ruston and mastered by Brian Gardner (interesting choice!).

[blacktooth 227]

@Rosner back in April there was a Yahoo.jp article that's since been taken down, but here's a snippet:

Quote

For their 25th release, Ningen Wo Kaburu, Dir en grey has hired Brian Gardner from the United States of America, who was the mastering engineer of such big artists as Madonna, Eminem, Katy Perry, Linkin Park and Michael Jackson. 

 

In addition to Brian, they have also enlisted the British engineer Dan Lancaster, who has previously worked on the rock band BMTH. He emphasises to make songs with a worldwide popularity. 

 

[Rosner 35]

13 minutes ago, blacktooth said:

@Rosner back in April there was a Yahoo.jp article that's since been taken down, but here's a snippet:

 

Thank you!!! I wonder why Jay Ruston was named too. Did some checking on Lancaster's background: he seems mostly an alternative rock/pop producer, and has worked with BMTH on their 'Live At The Royal Albert Hall' album. Interesting to see the band picking more pop oriented producers: hope it reflects well on the final mix (and also hope it doesn't sound totally brickwalled!).

 

By the way, is there any good site where I can read the band's translated news or interviews? I remember stunbling upon a blog some time ago, but it was more focused on each member's personal life (especially on Kyo's); I'm looking for something that contemplates all factors. 

[Saishu 1589]

Overall, the original mix of Uroboros reminds me of Macabre a lot. 

 

Oh yeah, Jay Ruston mixed the Ash remake. 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Saishu

[Nowhere Girl 189]

4 minutes ago, Rosner said:

I remember stunbling upon a blog some time ago, but it was more focused on each member's personal life (especially on Kyo's); I'm looking for something that contemplates all factors. 

You probably found... uh.... *that person's* tumblr. (Please don't say her name in here.)

 

Either that or Seelentau's lol

Edited August 19, 2018 by Nowhere Girl

[Seelentau 884]

Na, I don't do news stuff. The only person I know who translates news and info is kyotakumrau on tumblr.

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Seelentau

[kuyashii 124]

@Rosner I really like drum panning too! DSS does that specially well, you can actually "set up" the drums in your head (as if you were sitting on the stool) from the sound of each individual piece of the kit. I think my description doesn't make much sense though :P. I don't recall that effect on Arche tough, but I haven't listened to that album in a good while, even less while wearing headphones.

[Saishu 1589]

Arche just sounds like you’re sitting in the room while the band is playing. 

[saiko 429]

21 hours ago, Seelentau said:

Na, I don't do news stuff. The only person I know who translates news and info is kyotakumrau on tumblr.

 

Did Dir actually sent a sake bottle with a a deluxe edition of something? lol

[Seelentau 884]

No, it's a special sake created by someone else to commemorate the band's 20th anniversary. :]

[Rosner 35]

8 hours ago, kuyashii said:

@Rosner I really like drum panning too! DSS does that specially well, you can actually "set up" the drums in your head (as if you were sitting on the stool) from the sound of each individual piece of the kit. I think my description doesn't make much sense though . I don't recall that effect on Arche tough, but I haven't listened to that album in a good while, even less while wearing headphones.

'Arche' has that wide drum panning too! I just remebered the intro fill from 'Soshaku' (the one where Shinya uses his whole tom setup while the groovy riff plays before Kyo starts singing) and it reminded me of the cringe worthy drum samples the toms have. There's a lot of toms on the verses too, and the panning really shines. Too bad they sound so fake and clicky... Rinkaku has some beautiful tom arrangements too, and they really shine with the panning (what a beautiful song, I can't get enough of it!). 'DSS' samples sound way better! They sound deeper and less fake. I think the mix also benefits the drums.

[Saishu 1589]

I want to live in Die’s hair. 

 

 

[blacktooth 227]

Everyone's looking pretty spot on in that concert, even Kyo and his Colonel Sanders tie.

[Saishu 1589]

I like how Shinya’s look hasn’t changed in like ten years 

[Kelrya 145]

Die has changed even less imo.

[Saishu 1589]

Die at least has varying hair lengths and dyes it red once in a while. Shinya has had the same Yoshiki hair cut for as long as I can remember. 

[emmny 4139]

i cant believe kyo went as hard as he did during the freakout section

 

mode of ___ is the best deg footage ever, there's no way they'll out-do the emotion, live sound, and visuals of the series. I wish they could re-do gauze and not look like they were in pain the whole time.

[Seelentau 884]

I wish they'd do MISSA...

Maybe with B-sides so the live isn't only 30 minutes long though^^

Edited August 21, 2018 by Seelentau

[Saishu 1589]

They’d probably break up rather than play Garden again. 

[blacktooth 227]

Love the disco ball. Zakuro's one of my favorite lives of theirs.

Where are the tear-your-heart-out emotional ballads in the new material, DEG?

Edited August 21, 2018 by blacktooth
Kyo's pants are really big.

[Saishu 1589]

21 minutes ago, blacktooth said:

Love the disco ball. Zakuro's one of my favorite lives of theirs.

Where are the tear-your-heart-out emotional ballads in the new material, DEG?

Tousei and Kaishun?

[Seelentau 884]

3 hours ago, blacktooth said:

Love the disco ball. Zakuro's one of my favorite lives of theirs.

Where are the tear-your-heart-out emotional ballads in the new material, DEG?

I have a feeling that you'll like Ranunculus.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Seelentau