I don't think the tone resembles anything close to the 6-pack classic brown sound. Those albums had a very organic sound that I have not heard since 1984. I remember listening to Best of Both Worlds after a CVH song and was amazed at how bad it sounded. Those mixes had much more reverb and the instruments had great separation.
What I've noticed with this album is that the distortion sounds overblown... I did not notice this until I hooked it up to my studio monitors. It has the blown sound with clipping pops cleaned up. A very compressed sound.
The bass always influences the guitar sound, and this album is no exception. The bass (understandably) is the highest in the mix that it's ever been. I think there's actually too much low end here to the point of being hard to hear some of the instrument separation. I hate to say it, but the mix is a little muddy in some places.
Finally, the production feels a lot like Balance to me (never listened to vhIII). The guitar is heavier, the low end of the mix is way heavier, but the overall tone is very similar (especially with You and Your Blues). I would have preferred the use of more reverb and echo with a crunchier guitar tone, but what we got is pretty good. It's really the performances that makes this album so great and the production is good enough. Although, if I had my hand at mixing this album I would have done it much differently.
Edit: I'm comparing this production and tone to the original six-pack sans Diver Down. Those are some of the best produced albums I've ever heard (VHII being my favorite). ADKOT is a great (modern) production, but it just does't compare to those 5 albums.
What I've noticed with this album is that the distortion sounds overblown... I did not notice this until I hooked it up to my studio monitors. It has the blown sound with clipping pops cleaned up. A very compressed sound.
The bass always influences the guitar sound, and this album is no exception. The bass (understandably) is the highest in the mix that it's ever been. I think there's actually too much low end here to the point of being hard to hear some of the instrument separation. I hate to say it, but the mix is a little muddy in some places.
Finally, the production feels a lot like Balance to me (never listened to vhIII). The guitar is heavier, the low end of the mix is way heavier, but the overall tone is very similar (especially with You and Your Blues). I would have preferred the use of more reverb and echo with a crunchier guitar tone, but what we got is pretty good. It's really the performances that makes this album so great and the production is good enough. Although, if I had my hand at mixing this album I would have done it much differently.
Edit: I'm comparing this production and tone to the original six-pack sans Diver Down. Those are some of the best produced albums I've ever heard (VHII being my favorite). ADKOT is a great (modern) production, but it just does't compare to those 5 albums.
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