The Recording - The Sound

[Fletch]

I'm blown away by just how good the 'sounds' are - for example the acoustic guitar in Privateering is the warmest, loveliest thing. You can really hear Marks fingers snapping at the strings with that special 'popping' that his fingerpicking does. It sounds nicer (to me) than the studio Marbletown recording.

All round, some brilliant sounds, looking forward to Guys diary updates about this.

[Eddie Fox]

It's crazy how you can hear the guitar so clearly on this album. You don't usually get it unless you put the guitar volumes up there which ruins the mixing and it's definetely not the case here! British Grove must be the best studio in this planet. Mixing and mastering are superb. I wish I could express myself in English as well as I do in Portuguese, that would be lots of fun to discuss technical stuff here.

[Pottel]

Your English is well above average!

[Eddie Fox]

Your English is well above average!

Obrigado, Pottel:) My English is ok but I do have some difficulties to get the message across when it comes to technical stuff... If someone else gets it started I may take the risk lol

[another brother]

the recording is state of art

i am listening with high end loudspeakers and this album is it

i have the feeling they needed 1-2 albums to achieve this sound in the "new" studio, now they got it.

[Fletch]

Any ideas what makes the high squeal noise in Blood and Water ? Synth ?

[dmg]

In Blood and  Water I love the bits that make it sound like it's lifted straight from a 70s Blaxploitation film!  Do you guys know the little bits am talkin' 'bout man?

[foma]

I think it's Paul Franklin defying laws of physics with wah wah

[dmg]

I think it's Paul Franklin defeating laws of physics with wah wah

Ah, that's it.  Thanks.  I think it's just so cool!   In fact it's sub zero!

[Rail King]

Great sounds all around, yes. But am I the only one who thinks that the sound quality varies too much from song to song? I mean, you have things like "Gator Blood", which sounds like it was recorded in a barn somewhere, one band playing it all together, and done. And then you have things like "The Dream of the Drowned Submariner", with all its synth-soaked deep water atmosphere.

Sometimes I'd prefer a more consistent album, sound wise, like the old Dire Straits albums, or like Bob Dylan's recent ones. Or like Shangri-La and Kill to Get Crimson, in fact. Your opinions?

[JF]

I think it's Paul Franklin defying laws of physics with wah wah

Yes I think so too, first time I hear lap steel or pedal steel with wha-wha though

[foma]

You can find examples on youtube, sounds just the same.

Sometimes I'd prefer a more consistent album, sound wise, like the old Dire Straits albums, or like Bob Dylan's recent ones. Or like Shangri-La and Kill to Get Crimson, in fact. Your opinions?

Agreed. Also I don't like Mark's "first take" principle with "I'm a h-, I'm a hot or what. Oh, take one!", strange ending of Don't Forget Your Hat, "Chuck, take one", etc. I know it's blues, but A Place Where We Used To Live was a "first take" too. Album of first takes released in more than year after recording.

[MisterYES]

Sometimes I'd prefer a more consistent album, sound wise, like the old Dire Straits albums, or like Bob Dylan's recent ones. Or like Shangri-La and Kill to Get Crimson, in fact. Your opinions?

True, but Gator and Submariner are miles away, style wise. Im not sure that I'd love to hear polished Gator, and vice versa
After all, album with 20 + songs will probably sounded quite a boring if they were all similar in sound.

[Rail King]

Mark often mentions Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" as one if his all-time favourite albums. That was a double album too, very long, with a nice diversity of songs. BUT Dylan was  looking to create what he famously called a "thin mercury sound", and that sound runs through the whole album, weaving the songs together. That's what I like, and what I think would work for Mark's albums, too. It seems that Mark, too, likes albums that are done that way, but obviously he's not aiming for it with his own records.

[Love Expresso]

Agreed. Also I don't like Mark's "first take" principle with "I'm a h-, I'm a hot or what. Oh, take one!", strange ending of Don't Forget Your Hat, "Chuck, take one", etc. I know it's blues, but A Place Where We Used To Live was a "first take" too. Album of first takes released in more than year after recording.

Don't know if you have another version of the album?  I had a listen again, but have not heard none of the two mentioned things. In "Don't Forget Your Hat" though I says "Take one, Kim..." to start the harmonica solo... And the "take one" in Hot Or What might refer "I take a(nother) card"...
Sometimes songs that sound like first takes have been more worked on as one would think on the first sight. I once asked Guy about "Secondary Waltz" (album version). I would say that one sounds like a typical "take one", but in fact it had a lot of work...

LE