Jump to content

Should Muse produce their albums or not..??


Dudge

Recommended Posts

Like the rest of you we have been eagerly awaiting the new album. We (Hypermused) get a lot of people asking our opinions on new stuff..which songs are more fun to play..which are the hardest....what do you reckon to the Olympic song....can you get us standing tickets to the O2 in Oct...(Really we only just got some ourselves and can't wait..:LOL:) etc...and like the rest of you we are huge fans of the band..it's why we tribute them.:D But we saw and heard a lot of negative comments around the UK after the release of The Resistance with the direction of the music and the use of further electronic music being added. This seems to be compounding itself hugely with the songs that have made it into the public arena off the 2nd law.

 

We have watched the band go through producers and the way their input has moulded the sound and by the end of Absolution and Black Holes I thought they had really hit on something special with regards to quality of writing and uniqueness of sound, I think largely due to Costeys influence. I totally understood that the band wanted to self produce an album...as a musician having someone constantly over your shoulder putting the brakes on stuff can be infuriating at times. With Matt wanting to get his Exo Genesis work on an album I think it was important that they did their own production..to my mind something so personal needed to not be held back in anyway. So we forgave them for the over bombastic, and tongue in cheek, super harmonies on the like of United States of Eurasia...but as a band and fans we were hoping that this nod to Queen had been thrashed out of the system. Clearly not with the arrival of Survival and now Madness. The thing that I think is a real shame is that, despite me not particularly liking Madness (the song not the band) I actually think the vocals are superb and the melody line is great...it's just the backing track that lets it down with a huge thump of "I want to break free" and "Found what I'm looking for"...I fear this is all part of the problem of self production. Sometime you need someone sat on your shoulder going "really..you really want to sound like that!" It could be that Muse want to acknowledge great acts in their music and tip them the nod but I can't help but think that if they had had Mr Costey or similar in there shoving the brakes on and guiding them back to their own sound, which is epic enough, that the two new songs, and some of Resistance..could really have been unique and outstanding prog rock/pop that we have come to love from the guys.

 

I wonder if you guys feel the same or not? Maybe they should get back to a named producer on their albums or do you think that the new direction the band has taken enhances them as song writers and gives them a new and exciting take on their music?

 

Love to know what you think and whether Survival and Madness has you screaming for the new album or will have you potentially screaming at the new album?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think people greatly overestimate the influence a producer will have on them.

 

I agree. I think they should keep going without a producer, keep getting more experience at it and see where it takes them. I would rather have their music come through with as little outside influence as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what a producer will do for them. If they need one to reign in the ideas I'm sure they'll seek one out like they did for Follow Me but otherwise I think they're pretty confident in sorting their own music out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what a producer will do for them. If they need one to reign in the ideas I'm sure they'll seek one out like they did for Follow Me but otherwise I think they're pretty confident in sorting their own music out.

 

I'm actually looking forward to Follow Me for that exact reason. It will be interesting to see what Nero brought to the table.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, BH&R needs more oomph in a fair few places- the drum rolls in Take A Bow suffer a lot, and Assassin's impact is reduced.

 

Whether "a producer" would make it better depends on the producer- I can think of a fair few producers who would make no difference at best. As far as sound goes it's often just as important who handles the mixing. I'd be quite interested to see what would come of Muse working with Ross Robinson, particularly for a more focused and heavier album- that he's worked on Iowa, Relationship of Command, Roots and similarly aggressive albums would bode quite well for that sort of approach. The kind of mix Andy Wallace did for those albums would certainly have helped Black Holes and Revelations- and, for that matter, Absolution and the more guitar-driven cuts on The Resistance. The closest they've come to that sound is Origin.

 

I don't know who else I'd want to see them work with though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on the producer. As far as sound goes it's often just as important who handles the mixing. I'd be quite interested to see what would come of Muse working with Ross Robinson, particularly for a more focused and heavier album- that he's worked on Iowa, Relationship of Command, Roots and similarly aggressive albums would bode quite well for that sort of approach. The kind of mix Andy Wallace did for those albums would certainly have helped Black Holes and Revelations- and, for that matter, Absolution and the more guitar-driven cuts on The Resistance. The closest they've come to that sound is Origin.

 

I don't know who else I'd want to see them work with though.

 

I agree the whole is bigger than the individual. I have just seen a lot of bands fall into the trap of mimicking other influences and styles too closely when left to their own devices. I listened to Madness again and still think the melody and vocals are great but feel they could have done with some outside input into the backing track. Too much U2 guitar and queen harmonies. I know chord progressions are always going to get copied through time but the breakdown into the guitar solo and the sound of the guitar is "I want to break free" and unless they really were aiming at a blatant Homage to Queen, I think this is where a good producer comes in to steer the ship back, give different options and keep the sound inescapably Muse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree the whole is bigger than the individual. I have just seen a lot of bands fall into the trap of mimicking other influences and styles too closely when left to their own devices. I listened to Madness again and still think the melody and vocals are great but feel they could have done with some outside input into the backing track. Too much U2 guitar and queen harmonies. I know chord progressions are always going to get copied through time but the breakdown into the guitar solo and the sound of the guitar is "I want to break free" and unless they really were aiming at a blatant Homage to Queen, I think this is where a good producer comes in to steer the ship back, give different options and keep the sound inescapably Muse.

 

I think the key thing would be what direction the album would be taking. I've heard few people tossing Eno and Flood's names around- for my money they'd have Muse doing exactly what they're doing now. Rick Rubin doesn't seem to push artists much now- the Chilli Peppers haven't changed their sound at all since Californication, just mining the same patch with diminishing returns, while I think Linkin Park's style changes have largely come from the band. I can see someone like Robinson having a tangible affect on the band's direction.

 

I don't think they need one at this stage. I think they've reached the point where what they put out kinda has to be all them.

Maybe, but I'd like a short album or an EP where the attack setting has been left on for the entire album.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as mixing and sound-layering goes they're doing a better job by themselves than they did with a producer on BHaR.

 

But some producers, for better or worse, are capable of adding a bit of their own signature to an album, even if that signature is making the band sound "like themselves", like Steve Albini does.

 

I think that's what Muse might need the next time around, someone to keep them in check, someone to hold up a mirror and nudge them in the right direction every now and then. Maybe even someone to make sure they color within the lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as mixing and sound-layering goes they're doing a better job by themselves than they did with a producer on BHaR.

 

But some producers, for better or worse, are capable of adding a bit of their own signature to an album, even if that signature is making the band sound "like themselves", like Steve Albini does.

 

I think that's what Muse might need the next time around, someone to keep them in check, someone to hold up a mirror and nudge them in the right direction every now and then. Maybe even someone to make sure they color within the lines.

 

This. 1000 times, this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...