[kj] Pylon

[Jim Harper]

Just to weigh in the mastering dispute. Obviously it's all very subjective, so I'm not offering grand pronouncements or saying anyone's a dribbling idiot. Put the knives away, please!

I was actually impressed by how much clearer the sound was on Pylon, particularly with the vocals (for reference, I'm basing my assessment on the iTunes version, and listening to it almost exclusively on my iPod through a mid-priced pair of headphones that aren't the best on the market but are substantially better than the tinny £2-a-pair monstrosities). As far as compared to previous KJ albums, I thought it was sharper than the last four. Not as muddy or as thudding as KJ2003 or Hosannas, and a little sharper than the AD tracks I sampled a few days ago. I was actually glad they didn't mute it so heavily in pursuit of 'heaviness'. Jaz's vocals sound better than they have in a while too, and pretty clear. 

Obviously most of that can be put down to different versions, different equipment and the much-welcomed reduction in cookie monster vocals. I hope there haven't been some problems in mastering or printing of some versions that are reducing some people's enjoyment of this album.

Jim.

On Mon, 26/10/15, wessidetempest . <wessidetempest at hotmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [kj] Pylon
 To: "The Gathering" <gathering at misera.net>
 Date: Monday, 26 October, 2015, 17:12
 
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 #yiv7418818554 You know
 what I can hear that.  I always pre-order through iTunes
 also and the digital copy from there is clearer. Or better
 defined.  I don't think it's Youth I think it is
 the mastering.
 But with all
 of this being said it is a great album
 And I am glad I held off on ordering
 a vinyl copy
 Chris
 
 > From:
 planetary at socal.rr.com
 > To:
 gathering at misera.net
 > Date: Mon, 26 Oct
 2015 08:58:21 -0700
 > Subject: Re: [kj]
 Pylon
 > 
 > Neil Perry
 wrote:
 > 
 > Just read
 these comments on the FB page. I haven't got a proper
 copy yet, but any thoughts? 
 >
 _________
 > Daren Rasmussen: Got mine a
 day early. Killer f'ing stuff guys, but why do you
 continue to offer such outstanding performances... with
 absolutely horrible mastering? It's so bad it makes my
 hears hurt at times. Like someone scratching their nails on
 a chalkboard. Half the time the vocals are obstructed and
 indecipherable due to the sheer amount of clipping going on.
 C'mon. Fuck, I'll even master your next one for
 free. Can we please get some digital re-releases of the last
 4 albums with much less hot mastering? Like I said, you
 always deliver KILLER songs and albums. There's no doubt
 about that. But they really do sound like shit.
 > 
 > 
 > James Lollobrigida: Totally agree. I got
 the limited vinyl and it's mastered very flat and
 compressed. Sounds bloody awful frankly. The Pressing is
 terrible too, my Decca won't even track it at all, skips
 about all over the place. This is the ONLY RECORD out of a
 collection of over 1000 that it does this on. It'll play
 on my other turntable but still sounds like shit.
 > 
 > +++++++++++++++
 > 
 > I've mentioned
 this before but my biggest problem with the otherwise solid
 album is the production, specifically the huge amount of
 echo and reverb with a decent bit of autotune slathered on
 Jaz's vocals on most of the songs making it almost
 impossible to understand what he's singing.  That and
 the way Geordie's guitar tone is made to sound as fairly
 generic metal on a lot of tracks.  A good comparison is the
 studio vs live version of Autonomous Zone - the live
 version, Geordie's classic tone really cuts through, the
 album, it sounds like he's playing a Les Paul copy
 through a cheap Boss amp modeling peddleboard straight into
 pro-tools.  "Big Buzz" is probably the biggest
 exception to this - that sound couldn't come from anyone
 else than Geordie.
 > 
 > I will say, at least on the CD the album
 is nowhere near brickwalled as Absolute Dissent and to a
 lesser extent MMXII was.  I'll still awaiting my LPs
 from Pledge so I can't comment on what it sounds like on
 vinyl yet.
 > 
 >
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