More Ignorant Questions

[AAAAAAAAAA]

1. What exactly is the purpose of recording a demo? I was listening to the Elysium demos today and they sound almost as good (and in some ways better) than the final versions. What's the point of recording a demo which is basically complete, and then throwing it away and re-recording? Isn't it a waste of time?

2. Mixing, and mastering. What exactly do these two steps involve, and why are they typically done by different people? What are the major challenges in each of these steps? What is an example of a badly "mixed" or "mastered" album, vs. a good one? And why?

3. I love Elysium...many classic Strato songs there. My favorites at the moment are Lifetime in a Moment, Darkest Hours, Move the Mountain...but something about the sound seems a bit "off" to my ears. Anyone else noticed it has a really "muddy" sound, compared to Polaris which was really crisp and clear? Was this a conscious decision? Or does this relate to question #2?

[adrian9]

1.- recording a demo.
there are many purposes for a demo, because you hear one thing in your mind and you think this is awesome, but then you put it in a tape and is not so cool anymore, also you do a bunch of demos just to get all of your ideas out and give them to band members to see what they think , they might see something you missed and make the song even better.
also useful if the band members live far from each other , they practice hearing the demo tape

2.- mixing is big concept but in a nutshell is giving all the instruments the right volumen and shape into a song, in the old motown days the mixing was basically putting and instrument above each other, like a sandwich. just layers of instrument and that was it.
today you cut , paste, add effects into each instruments and vocals to make them sound bigger, closer, tiny, whatever you want. computers are cool to duplicate things like doing 50 voices with just one vocalist.
mastering involves acoustic equipment ,calibrated for the sole purpose of mastering, you can do pre-master with pro tools but its not really that professional.

some people heavily critiziced Death magnetic for not being a good mastered album, rush albums on the other hand are always and started trends in the mastering area.

3. who knows?

[AAAAAAAAAA]

Thanks a lot!

As promised...

[robocop656]

Don't demo your bass here. That's my job.

3. I love Elysium...many classic Strato songs there. My favorites at the moment are Lifetime in a Moment, Darkest Hours, Move the Mountain...but something about the sound seems a bit "off" to my ears. Anyone else noticed it has a really "muddy" sound, compared to Polaris which was really crisp and clear? Was this a conscious decision? Or does this relate to question #2?

There is way too much goddamn low end. I hate bass... And 1 more thing, the tuning of the guitar is not drop D or standard tuning. That is what makes it deepy muddy Finland mud. At least I don't think. Do whatever you want. EQ the song yourself.

[robocop656]

P.S.

I DON'T HATE BASS.

[AGAG]

P.S.

I DON'T HATE BASS.

What do you think of kentucky fried chicken?

This deserves a thread.