interview with Brendan O'Brien on Springsteens's new record

tragibigzanda

Not really about PJ, but I thought you might enjoy some words from a guy we know very little about, plus a recent photo.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20057685_20057687_20152429,00.html

~Alex

dreamweaver

is it me? or does Brendan use alot of compression on his records??

chris05

Good article...I always wondered what Brendan O' Brien looked like..Thanks.

tragibigzanda

dreamweaver wrote:

is it me? or does Brendan use alot of compression on his records??

I'm not sure, but I would say that the overuse of compression on his more recent records is probably a decision made by the record company, who then pass it on to the mastering engineer. A lot of Brendan's older stuff has a more natural dynamic range, and it's definitely in vogue right now to smash everything to hell (especially with the major labels). I hope the next PJ album doesn't sound like "Magic." Great songs, but everything is so up front. But all the other B.O.B. produced PJ records have a real good balance on all the levels, and you can really get lost in all the corners of sound available...

dreamweaver

alexmac11 wrote:

I'm not sure, but I would say that the overuse of compression on his more recent records is probably a decision made by the record company, who then pass it on to the mastering engineer. A lot of Brendan's older stuff has a more natural dynamic range, and it's definitely in vogue right now to smash everything to hell (especially with the major labels). I hope the next PJ album doesn't sound like "Magic." Great songs, but everything is so up front. But all the other B.O.B. produced PJ records have a real good balance on all the levels, and you can really get lost in all the corners of sound available...

i think your very right.. I'm especially looking foward to hearing the first BOB produced record with cameron behind the drums.

suns rival

thanks!!! finally seeing what BoB looks like.

SomethingCreative

dreamweaver wrote:

i think your very right.. I'm especially looking foward to hearing the first BOB produced record with cameron behind the drums.

WORD...should be amazing

dreamweaver

here's an interesting tidbit.
He played keys for one of the pj bridge school benifits. and his picture is in the liner notes of Vitalogy. (I wonder what him and dave were discussing)

bootlegger10

I'm excited for this next album. I don't think Brendan could stear them wrong!

Trailer

alexmac11 wrote:

I'm not sure, but I would say that the overuse of compression on his more recent records is probably a decision made by the record company, who then pass it on to the mastering engineer.

Yeah, it's hard to tell who's to blame. On one hand, Brendan and his engineers could be compressing the stereo bus and sending it already squashed to the mastering engineer. Or.. the mastering engineer could be the one compressing the shit out of it.

One of O'Brien's more recent albums, Velvet Revolver's Libertad... sounds WAY too compressed and ruins an otherwise good album for me. That example is probably due to the record company like you said.

I think the record companies are definitely involved in getting most of the recent hard rock albums as compressed and loud as they can, thus sounding more competitive and marketable to their ears (eg. Death Magnetic). Then they are left with a loud, one dimensional record, that most people who appreciate good dynamic music tend to hate.

dreamweaver

i dont know about the mastering having as much of an effect as you think.. pretty much every record he has worked out has a compressed sound to it. Death Magnetic doesn't really have his sound IMO. I've listened to that record and I think it's just the way metallica plays and the arrangments which makes it sound up front and loud. I think it's Brendan

Trailer

dreamweaver wrote:

i dont know about the mastering having as much of an effect as you think.. pretty much every record he has worked out has a compressed sound to it. Death Magnetic doesn't really have his sound IMO. I've listened to that record and I think it's just the way metallica plays and the arrangments which makes it sound up front and loud. I think it's Brendan

Trust me, mastering can completely alter the sound of a record. I've been in the studio with bands after the mixdown, and their music sounds dynamic and airy. Then when they get it back from mastering, it is completely squashed.

It is a good possibility that Brendan's engineers are the ones compressing the 2 bus though.. thus why all his records would have that compressed sound.

Death Magnetic's sound is not just the way Metallica plays, but rather an overusage of compression. In that case, it wasn't the mastering engineer, Ted Jensen's fault at all. It was Rick Rubin's engineers who compressed the shit out of the 2 bus and sent it to Ted totally brickwalled with no head room to play with.
Just look at these sound wave pictures from that cd.
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/67110-death-magnetic-wave-form-analysis.html
The first picture is what the engineers sent to Ted.. and the second is what Ted did after mastering it. It was already almost completely compressed when he got it. It's just loud.. with no dynamics what so ever. My ears get fatigued after listening to that album for too long.

DOSW

I don't think compression is always a bad thing... for instance I really love the sound of the VR song "She Builds Quick Machines" - very layered and dense, but it has a really cool smooth but hard rocking sound to it.

But on the other hand, the production on a record like Magic was awful. You gotta know when to produce, overproduce, and underproduce... there's a time for each.

Jimmydean55

I really really really hope the PJ album isn't compressed to shit. The new Metallica album is a great example of what NOT to do....

Yielded

Trailer wrote:

In that case, it wasn't the mastering engineer, Ted Jensen's fault at all. It was Rick Rubin's engineers who compressed the shit out of the 2 bus and sent it to Ted totally brickwalled with no head room to play with.
[...] It was already almost completely compressed when he got it. It's just loud.. with no dynamics what so ever.

I was very surprised (not to mention disappointed) when I first saw this. It is considered very bad practice to send a squashed mix to a mastering engineer, because that gives him virtually no room to do his work. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of people mix as loud as possible nowadays. Personally, I tend to mix with plenty of headroom, as this leaves more options at the mastering stage and generally gives a more dynamic sound.

Brendan's earlier records are among my favourites in terms of production. I believe that most his newer records sound they way they do because of excessive mastering. I am hopeful that Pearl Jam will have their say in what is done to the new record at mastering stage.

gusturtle

dreamweaver wrote:

his picture is in the liner notes of Vitalogy. (I wonder what him and dave were discussing)

possible future career opportunities.

MakeMeCry43

Thanks for the article! Lol, great also to a picture of the BOB finally the man behind it all! And nice to know that the "Boss" has a new album, wonder how it's gonna sound.

Trailer

Yielded wrote:

I was very surprised (not to mention disappointed) when I first saw this. It is considered very bad practice to send a squashed mix to a mastering engineer, because that gives him virtually no room to do his work. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of people mix as loud as possible nowadays. Personally, I tend to mix with plenty of headroom, as this leaves more options at the mastering stage and generally gives a more dynamic sound.

Yeah.. I think the whole engineering community was surprised and disappointed when they heard the new Metallica album. If you listen to the album on a good set of monitors you can hear all the clipping and digital distortion.:eek:

Trailer

MakeMeCry43 wrote:

Thanks for the article! Lol, great also to a picture of the BOB finally the man behind it all! And nice to know that the "Boss" has a new album, wonder how it's gonna sound.

What's up MakeMeCry43! I just read that they found a new pyramid in Cairo... that must be some huge news over there!!!:D