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Chinese Democracy

Slice

Slice

Member
Anyone else notice the flubs in Chinese Democracy production? I’ve been a recording musician for 20+ years. You can hear the cut and paste in Scraped a lot, and from what I can tell there’s a lot of autotune throughout the record on some songs. Obviously we all know with The General has the weird master EQ highs and clipping kick drum. So crazy that a band this caliber wouldn’t pay some proper engineers to mix things and clean things up properly. Then again this is the same band that wouldn’t let Steven Wilson’s Dolby Atmos mixes get released.
 
Slice said:
Anyone else notice the flubs in Chinese Democracy production? I’ve been a recording musician for 20+ years. You can hear the cut and paste in Scraped a lot, and from what I can tell there’s a lot of autotune throughout the record on some songs. Obviously we all know with The General has the weird master EQ highs and clipping kick drum. So crazy that a band this caliber wouldn’t pay some proper engineers to mix things and clean things up properly. Then again this is the same band that wouldn’t let Steven Wilson’s Dolby Atmos mixes get released.
Click to expand...

No fucking flubs!
 
It's why many of us are convinced either Axl is partially deaf or is just the biggest troll in Rock & Roll history.

A argument can be made for the second option if it's Axl response to the labels interference. Axl makes the most expensive album of all time with sloppy copy pasted layers and production fuck ups to give a middle finger to the music industry and laugh about eating late night Taco Bell with Paul Tobias.
GIF by Giphy QA
 
Bill Brasky said:
It's why many of us are convinced either Axl is partially deaf or is just the biggest troll in Rock & Roll history.

A argument can be made for the second option if it's Axl response to the labels interference. Axl makes the most expensive album of all time with sloppy copy pasted layers and production fuck ups to give a middle finger to the music industry and laugh about eating late night Taco Bell with Paul Tobias.
GIF by Giphy QA
Click to expand...

It could be just an easy way to fix the recordings or you can see it as a digital playground Axl dived in and went crazy with it and it proved hard to pull it all together in a nice package for consumers.

I don't think Axl used the pro tools stuff like Trent Reznor to make elegantly crafted soundscapes. Or other artists to knock up tracks quickly and cheaply.

Axl may have been more into the creative possibilities of mixing different styles together using the technology gave him free reign.

I still think he has a rock n roll or punk attitude to it, it's more about the energy and emotion, not whether it's the perfect. It's punk rock pro tools. CD has an manic edge to it like it was thrown together a week before release.

"We took these risks of mixing these elements and parts together but here the levels don't work, there's a obvious beep there, but overall it sounds great. I can live with it. We'll lower the volume in the mix."
 
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C
Slice said:
Anyone else notice the flubs in Chinese Democracy production? I’ve been a recording musician for 20+ years. You can hear the cut and paste in Scraped a lot, and from what I can tell there’s a lot of autotune throughout the record on some songs. Obviously we all know with The General has the weird master EQ highs and clipping kick drum. So crazy that a band this caliber wouldn’t pay some proper engineers to mix things and clean things up properly. Then again this is the same band that wouldn’t let Steven Wilson’s Dolby Atmos mixes get released.
Click to expand...
Caram mixed it.
He mixed Absurd and you can hear clipping right on the 5 second mark.
One of the biggest audible fuckups on CD is no bass.
The end CD result didnt need the multiple layers, orchestras and other recorded shit.
The 2000 village recordings required no further work.
Axl was right, the final disk he handed in during 99 needed to be mixed and released.
 
"I've had enough of your endless bureaucracy
Now is the time for CHINESE DEMOCRACY
CHI-nese democracy
CHI-nese democracy
CHI-nese democracy YEAA AHH!"

Those were the fake lyrics I dreamed up back in 1999 when I was imagining what the song could possibly sound like.

I still like my imaginary version better than the real thing.
 
Sydney Fan said:
C

Caram mixed it.
He mixed Absurd and you can hear clipping right on the 5 second mark.
One of the biggest audible fuckups on CD is no bass.
The end CD result didnt need the multiple layers, orchestras and other recorded shit.
The 2000 village recordings required no further work.
Axl was right, the final disk he handed in during 99 needed to be mixed and released.
Click to expand...
I think both the Beavan and RTB could've worked.

The Beavan record would've been a raw, punk industrial, Finck Tommy based album, but it would be like a new band's aggressive debut album and not sound much like GNR. Chidem, IRS and The Blues might've been enough for singles. But the rec comp said there was No single and were trying to sell 20 mil copies. Let's get the Queen producer in!

And for sure Ezrin was wrong about the RTB album, Axl says he's "ready to mix" you just do it. Chidem, IRS, The Blues, TWAT, Catcher, Madagascar are enough for a GNR album with filler like Riad and Silkworms to spice it up. Maybe Shackler's, Better weren't finished so Ezrin thought not enough commercial appeal for the Nu metal market. But to me, GNR fans don't care that much about commercial songs. songs like Paradise City, Nov Rain, Estranged, Coma, It's so Easy and all the album tracks like Bad O or Perfect Crime aren't obviously commercial - a GNR album isn't full of obvious commercial hits wall to wall. Ezrin didn't understand GNR, he was trying to force them into the nu metal formula. CD does end up sounding like an album of it's time, with Ron's prog rock solos making more contemporary sounding than just a 90s retro alt rock album - which I think might've been better.

Main problem on CD is Axl's vocals are on same level as rest of instruments. In other words it's not classic hard rock mix, where a pocket is created for vocalist to be heard, it's more like nu metal where the studio enhanced vocals fight the heavy riffs. Axl only wins vocally on ITW, Sorry, TIL and these should've been the singles.

Isn't Clipping used in rock punk to add rougher, grittier sound to a song. On Absurd I can see them wanting it choppy and chaotic, imperfect like a punk collage. It's hard to know, but I think they were going for chaotic energy more than Trent Reznor or Korn or even Maiden do.
 
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Slice said:
Anyone else notice the flubs in Chinese Democracy production? I’ve been a recording musician for 20+ years. You can hear the cut and paste in Scraped a lot, and from what I can tell there’s a lot of autotune throughout the record on some songs. Obviously we all know with The General has the weird master EQ highs and clipping kick drum. So crazy that a band this caliber wouldn’t pay some proper engineers to mix things and clean things up properly. Then again this is the same band that wouldn’t let Steven Wilson’s Dolby Atmos mixes get released.
Click to expand...

Steven Wilson ruined November Rain. He is super talented, but maybe he just isn't a good fit for GNR. Cuz he destroyed that song.

Particularly the outro
 
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