Im a big fan of production i think albums need good production to produce the right sound... But what happens when an album is over-produced (I find this with alot of roadrunner album... and im not saying this to bash Roadrunner, god knows they get it enough elsewhere) But iv noticed over recent months the negative effect of over-producing an album...
I find it takes away from atmosphere esspecially, And in extreme cases it makes albums sound almost robotic and unhuman... I'll offer examples of this so you can decide for yourself... Feel free to add your own

Nightwish - Once (Its a great album and i love it start to finnish, But its just so perfect, it almost sounds robotic, the stmosphere on this album was quite good though so i cant really offer alot of negatives on it.

Opeth - Ghost Reveries (Another album i love... But once again its lost alot of atmosphere compared to the likes of Still Life and earlier opeth albums. And once again, the musicianship sounds so robotic, perfectly performed, with no noticable flaws)

Satyricon - Now Diabolicle (This is not to bash Satyricon at all, i like this album dispite it being a bm sellout... But compare to every other Satyricon album this has by far the worst atmospere to it... However i must admit the vocals were very catchy)

So production is important IMO, but producer need to find the ballance...
Other reasons for critisising over-production is that it covers up how good a band really is...

What do you guys think?
Are there any other instances where over-production has damaged what is otherwise a brilliant album?

In my opinion it's not wrong to make an album sound perfect. There may be some rough edges, but to me the songwriting is what matters most. The only thing that bothers me is over-producing of the vocals. I really get the creeps from vocals with special sound effects and stuff. In the other way, I like the productions nowadays because they give most albums a modern sound. I didn't hear any album lately where I thought the production was over the top. Well at least this is my opinion. I'm sure there are many others. I just like the modern sound...

A lot of progressive metal bands take the raw edge out of metal wih the slick production...a lot of them don't hold up too well live...

i love well-produced albums, in fact i hate badly produced ones, i just seem to be inable to love bands whose cds arent well produced, i need to be able to hear every tone and every note,

however like stoemp i dont like overproduction on vocals, on all other instruments i love it, but vocals... it takes away all the passion IMO

and like Kap'N Korrupt said, somtimes such bands are highly disapointing live...

its not a matter of "well-produced" and "badly produced". darkthrones transylvanian hunger usually gets described as badly produced but the fact is that they specifically chose that production value because it suits the album perfectly.

the production value dramatically affects how an album sounds. the fact that most people care so little about this is baffling. presumably its because people tend to dismiss a lot of stuff as low production quality for the sake of being "kvlt". this over-production on so many albums really annoys me. the exact same production value is used for so many albums. it just shows a complete disregard for how important it is and how much it affects the album. are trivium similar to newer cryptopsy? no, so why do they both get the same horrible production

the really polished over-produced sound rarely works in favour of the album. the only time ive thought it suits the music is the new ministry album.

The way I see it, every album needs some good production, it definitley helps it out a little.... but sometimes with certain bands it actually makes them sound worse, Like Iron Maidens first ablum. If you compare songs From Live at the rainbow and studio songs, they actually sounded way better live. That's because the producer took away many of the vocal harmonies as well as various other elements Steve wanted on the Album. So I think it's different in every case.

It depends on the artist and how they want their music to sound, so they might want it to sound flawless, or like some BM bands how they want it to be "underproduced" and sound older and more atmospheric. But how \Frost/bitten said Ghost Reveries was overproduced, I disagree, I think it was produced perfectly, and it sounds amazing. The music isn't quite as good as older shit BUT the production got me into that album... The only album I can think of that was severly overproduced to the point where it sounds like crap is Iced Earth's Horror Show.

i generally like well produced albums that are nice and clear and all the rest of it, but sometimes over-production can affect the music a little
like Lamb Of God album from 'Ashes Of The Wake' onwards just dont have the raw guitar they had on 'As The Palaces Burn' also Cradle Of Filth's 'Damneation And A Day' which is a good album if you give it time - but the production makes it sound so crisp and clean and perfect and it does sound a little wrong

good production is always needed though in my opinion. i mean the main thing i have against Emperor's 'In The Nightside Eclipse' is its production

Well produced albums are fine but when it's totally over done like Blind Guardian's 'A Night At The Opera', it becomes too clinical I think and becomes a chore to listen to. I was going to say that Satyricon's Now, Diabolical album's production does kill it a bit. It's odd listening to them when their Dark Medieval Times stuff was so roughened in production. The contrast is great. As for the lack of atmosphere with that album, I don't think it's to do with their production but more to do with their change to black 'n' roll.

Opeth's latest album's production was prefectly suited to it. I wouldn't say it was so overproduced that it sounded too sharp. The production was good enough to hear the little peals of ambience in the interludes and stuff like that. Sometimes clean production reduces that.

In short, I think that the level of production should be suited to the band's music. For example, Opeth's earlier albums like Orchid and Morningrise have roughened production that really is tailored to the music as far as I'm concerned. If Ghost Reveries was done with the same production it would fall flat on its face.

I don't see how Ghost Reveries was over produced either...if anything, a lot of their older work was under produced and it is only in recent years that they are putting out albums that are better produced

What do people think about the production on Meshuggah albums? Especially on Catch 33...does the production value on Meshuggah albums hurt that band?

The re-recorded Stormblast by Dimmu Borgir is the perfect example of an album ruined by over-production.

Written by Dangerboner on 01.09.2006 at 02:05

The re-recorded Stormblast by Dimmu Borgir is the perfect example of an album ruined by over-production.

My thoughts exactly! A masterpiece ruined! it sounds like Mozart or Beethoven trying to appeal to Fake Gothic Kids.

Written by Baz Anderson on 31.08.2006 at 15:17

i generally like well produced albums that are nice and clear and all the rest of it, but sometimes over-production can affect the music a little
like Lamb Of God album from 'Ashes Of The Wake' onwards just dont have the raw guitar they had on 'As The Palaces Burn' also Cradle Of Filth's 'Damneation And A Day' which is a good album if you give it time - but the production makes it sound so crisp and clean and perfect and it does sound a little wrong

good production is always needed though in my opinion. i mean the main thing i have against Emperor's 'In The Nightside Eclipse' is its production

I do agree with Nightside eclipse. great songs, but the production dose really ruin the album alot, especially with the drumming.

Written by Dangerboner on 01.09.2006 at 02:05

The re-recorded Stormblast by Dimmu Borgir is the perfect example of an album ruined by over-production.

I have mixed views about the remake of stormblast. In my opinion its something they should have left on the shelf for a few more years. Because they arnt untouchable in BM circles as some think. But in saying that, if it were a new album and the material were origional, i think i would have enjoyed it alot more. But because i had heard the origional (IMO the origional had so much more atmosphere to it, and i loved it) it kind of ruined it. Hellhammer didn't bring alot new to the album either which was a disappointment for me... Anyway moving on...

I think it depends on the songs. sometimes I like low production, even in power metal, but usualy being able to hear allt he isntruments clearly is the best.
Good over production - Orphaned Land - Mabool
Good under production - Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth, maybe the bass is too quiet though

I think over production is pretty cool! Take the Roadrunner United disc: I only like two songs from it - "Dawn of a Golden Age" and "Anihilation by the hands...". These two songs are kind of simple and with normal production values they would have sounded average but wit the aid of Roadrunner's awesome recording studios it gave them some edge!

I think you can overproduce an album but for the most part I like albums with crisp clean production when I listen to older albums I like the older sound though. I'm not to fond of alot of remakes because the new production usually ruins the whole vibe of the album. Now days though there is no reason to have an album sound shitty with all of the stuff they have out there. The only time over production bugs me is when the bands can't back up live what they did in the studio.

I can agree with what some people are saying in the other extreme of production is probably worse. Esspecially in the case of alot of early BM. And also the 1st Nightwish album. I love Beauty an the Beast, it is my favorite NW song, but the production and performance kill it.

Written by [user id=5431] on 01.09.2006 at 11:50

Good under production - Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth, maybe the bass is too quiet though

YES! I love the production of NiME (and most early Blind Guardian, for that matter). This sounds a bit ridiculous, but it makes me feel like I'm sitting next to a fireplace.

And I agree with Frost-Bitten when he said that the 'Angels Fall First' production kills 'Beauty and the Beast'.

I cant vote because for me it all depends on the type of music. For example, Venom, there sloppy, there loud, there vicious, and the raw production fit the music very well, Venom with good recording quality sort of made it lose alot of its heart. On the other hand top notch production is a must for bands that include orchestrations in there music, like the new Turisas album for example, top notch production values were necissary (sorry I had to bring up the new Turisas album again).

I do like nice, clean production however over-production certainly can be horrible. As mentioned already, a lot of black metal requires a bit of raw production to set the mood and create some atmosphere so usually when I hear a very clean produced black metal album, it tends to put me off it a bit. As for other over-produced albums, I find that the album just tends to sound too perfect. And then when it comes to some of the live shows, some bands sound terrible simple because the production on their albums is so perfect and they just can't match the sound. I think it also just depends to what degree it's produced. And while over-production can be rather horrible, really raw production that's trying to create atmospheric sounds can also sometimes just sound far too messy.

Some potentially great albums are destroyed by overproduction, like the last by Keep Of Kalessin... and here's our good old Marcel will agree with me

Written by Baz Anderson on 31.08.2006 at 15:17

good production is always needed though in my opinion. i mean the main thing i have against Emperor's 'In The Nightside Eclipse' is its production

I find it hard to imagine ITNE without that raw and chaotic production, I think the album would loose much of its unique touch if it was produced more hifi.

Written by Dangerboner on 01.09.2006 at 02:05

The re-recorded Stormblast by Dimmu Borgir is the perfect example of an album ruined by over-production.

I agree to 100%. But tbh its more than just the production they changed hehe,

Stormblast is a great example, I felt it was a bit sterile. I feel the same way with Immortals 'Sons of northern darkness' in comparison to the older albums which were more raw. Then I also think that way about Decapitated Nihility, IMO contrasted winds of creations production which I didnt prefer as usual, but I can still enjoy albums with good production...when theres grainy production, or 'bad production' it makes the atmosphere of the music alot more intense. Which is also, in a way, just another element of music.

For me, it all depends of band and music they're playing. Production is important for overall sound almost as music, and overproduction can definetely destroy sound of some band (best example Helloween's production on Pink Bubbles Go Ape, totally unnessecary fancy mainstream sound). Production can also help a lot to some band's sound, but not nessecary over-production or some ultra fancy production, like Stormblast remastered. Somehow, I prefer a little better production even in Black Metal (for me Mayhem's Mysteriies Des Sathanas had perfect production, Bishpop Of Hexen and Night Conquers Day also have perfect sound for their type of music), but again, as long as they know where to stop. In Power metal I really enjoy over-production, but not crystal sound like some new HammerFall or Helloween, but like Gamma Ray or similar. In the end as long as the music good, production can harm it, but can't make it unlistenable.

Written by APOHAKC on 01.07.2007 at 14:49

Somehow, I prefer a little better production even in Black Metal (for me Mayhem's Mysteriies Des Sathanas had perfect production, Bishpop Of Hexen and Night Conquers Day also have perfect sound for their type of music), but again, as long as they know where to stop.

True, there are exceptions...for me those were for melecheshs sphynx and djinn after their very grainy production of Al intisar, but those followups also sounded more mature and well produced and it sorta compensated for the bad production or atmospere with their first production.

Written by [user id=5080] on 01.07.2007 at 10:12

Some potentially great albums are destroyed by overproduction, like the last by Keep Of Kalessin... and here's our good old Marcel will agree with me

Yes, I totally agree with you on this one. the latest KoK is potentially a great album but is totally ruined by the overproduction. Seeing KoK live opening for Satyricon really made me realise that since the new songs came across much better in the live environment.

i voted "production makes music flawless", as i disagree with the concept of "overproduction ruins the album". a perfect production helps the album a lot, if manowar's "heart of steel" wouldn't be as well-produced as it is, i wouldn't be able to hear the awesome bass riff during the heavy part, or i wouldn't be able to hear the other great bass riff in nightwish's "feel for you", or imagine what iced earth's last EP would have been with a fuller guitar tone...

that was for good production, which, anyone will agree, makes the album sound better.

as for overproduction, i still think it's good, like listen to maiden's latest works. they just plain fucking sound great!

In my opinion, "over-producing" can only help an album. The better the production, the more of a chance I'll listen to it. Don't get me wrong, some bands sound great with their raw production, but you can still sound perfectly produced and still sound raw and unforgiving.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.07.2007 at 16:38

Written by [user id=5080] on 01.07.2007 at 10:12

Some potentially great albums are destroyed by overproduction, like the last by Keep Of Kalessin... and here's our good old Marcel will agree with me

Yes, I totally agree with you on this one. the latest KoK is potentially a great album but is totally ruined by the overproduction. Seeing KoK live opening for Satyricon really made me realise that since the new songs came across much better in the live environment.

I can see where your coming from about the over production of that album, but I wouldnt go as far as saying it was destroyed or ruined by over-production, possibly hindered it a bit but not destroyed, the songs can still be enjoyable.