All-Encompassing Van Halen New Album / Interscope Thread

[Headly1984]

"it’s the killing side of Van Halen "

I give Hogarth credit for getting my attention. This description does raise my expectations

Yes - if killing means doesn't sound pussified- but rather gritty mean ole or loud sun-n-fun ole VH then yeah..Boo Yah!!!

and it would be great if they did a cover song again!

[SunisinuS]

Quoting one's self while drunk posting tractor accidents with Amish involved in Main... damn Martha, see something new every day!!!

I will neither confirm no deny those accusations....nor will I send a Wiener your way....check your phone. But I was still citing the coincidence of the reference. Wiki the timeline.

[SunisinuS]

Quoting one's self while drunk posting tractor accidents with Amish involved in Main... damn Martha, see something new every day!!!

Army dupe.

[Diamondjimi]

and it would be great if they did a cover song again!

I hope they don't. I want nothing but VH song on it. After all these fuckin years...

[Nitro Express]

That's a part of it. You are essentially boosting up the good parts of the song so everything sounds sonically acceptable. Think of it as making a pot of soup. You start by cooking down the vegetables in butter or oil, add seasoning and stock, then the meat. You keep simmering it, adding a bit more seasoning until the whole thing is edible. The thing is, you have to use quality ingredients or the process is a complete waste of time. In cooking, you can not get rid of the taste of a crappy ingredient completely, but you can sort of disguise it by adding more seasoning. When mixing a tune, pretty much the same applies: you can hide or eliminate a flubbed note or vocal by burying it or removing it altogether.

Then comes the presentation. Shortly before you serve the soup, you put it in a nice looking bowl and add some crackers and/or a topping to make it palatable to the eye. In music, this is known as mastering, where you make things palatable to the ear. Then you chuck it out on the table and hope people enjoy the fruits of your labor without returning it and demanding a refund or worse yet, vowing never to dine/listen to your music ever again.

I loved it when Anthony Bourdaine said the job of the chef is to find the best ingreadients and not fuck it up. I've seen people take a perfect rib eye steak and fuck it up to the point of where you thought it wasn't humanly possible to do.

[ZahZoo]

I will neither confirm no deny those accusations....nor will I send a Wiener your way....check your phone.

Wise choice... you'd quickly learn I don't ride side-saddle in that goat rodeo cowboy...

[Coyote]

They better NOT fuck up the final mix... Rather not have VH do a "Deaf Magnetic"...

[chefcraig]

They better NOT fuck up the final mix... Rather not have VH do a "Deaf Magnetic"...

Can you imagine people having to wait until Activision gets around to releasing the next version of "Van Halen - Guitar Hero" in order to get listenable copies of the tracks? Given the way this band has repeatedly stepped on it's crank over the years, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

[Headly1984]

I absolutely do hope they cover a song for any new album.. covers that the boys have done have all worked for them ..they have been ez hits for them to put together,and maybe a nice pressure release from burden of producing material,maybe even a source of inspiration to hone a sound.. take a gem and over bore it / punch the fock out of it ! Oh,Pretty Woman/Intruder.. Happy Trails, Ice Cream Man.. many ways to use a cover song.. all of em worked, so far ! (yes - I know the cover songs caused Ed great pain back when - but back when they were prodigious)

.. you may not like the MIX of Death Magnetic - but Rick Rubin helped Metallica find the Metallica sound that they themselves lost - ie: St. Anger ..

Anyone else know a well established band that might be self producing a record that might need some help 'finding' their signature sound ???

Rick Rubin would be a good choice for a DLR/VH record imho - He could probably help the stones find the Stones again too .. another band with too much pride to seek production input -

Mick/Keith = Eddie / Alex

[chefcraig]

.. you may not like the MIX of Death Magnetic - but Rick Rubin helped Metallica find the Metallica sound that they themselves lost - ie: St. Anger

Rubin did get a good recording on Death Magnetic, but it was the mastering that did it in, pushing the levels up to absurd levels.

...He could probably help the stones find the Stones again too .. another band with too much pride to seek production input -

The Stones have been using Don Was to produce their albums since sometime in 1994. It isn't the sound of the albums, it's the material itself that is less than inspired.

[Headly1984]

Waas or Rubin - those brothers should bring in a ringer - if the fragile egg shell ego of Ed's could take criticism .. that is ..

[chefcraig]

Waas or Rubin - those brothers should bring in a ringer - if the fragile egg shell ego of Ed's could take criticism .. that is ..

Umm...what are you talking about? Supposedly, they have brought in two producers to help with the album, John Shanks and Ross Hogarth.

[jhale667]

I'd just like to HEAR SOMETHING from them already....

[FORD]

Well, not to get too far off the topic or anything, but that album really did live up to the name "Soup", in the sense that soup is often made up of the leftovers of previous meals. The Stones used all new recordings for that record, but some of the songs had been around for years. Silver Train was first recorded for Sticky Fingers and Johnny Winter based his cover more on that version than the one the Stones eventually released.

And speaking of "Winter", that particular song dates way back to 1968. Considerably evolved from this little studio performance. I don't know exactly what substance Mick was on in this particular session, but it sounds like he was having one Hell of a good time.......

.....and given the indications from Hogarth that VH brought back some older demos for "inspiration" in creating the new album, then perhaps "Soup" would be an accurate title after all..

[Diamondjimi]

Rubin did get a good recording on Death Magnetic, but it was the mastering that did it in, pushing the levels up to absurd levels.

True. But it also could've been the fact that Rubin did his final mixes too loud and didn't leave much headroom for mastering enhancements.
I'm in the process of mixing my bands latest album. I was reminded (by my mastering guru) to mix to a maximum of -3db in order to leave him
room to do his magic. Mastering will always add db. to a recording, so you're doing yourself a favour by leaving him room to do his craft.
I have my suspicion that that was indeed the case with Death Magnetic, coupled with the sad fact that producers are mixing everything louder for
the inevitable conversion to the inferior MP3 format. (For the mp3 generation)