Heartland

Sitting here listening to @Eggi1 's excellent boot of the Groningen 2022 show and it sounds to me like the live sound has been tweaked.

A lot of the backing tracks sound like they've been tidied up a bit, am I imagining it? Von's vocals sound good - he's no longer reaching for the yelps and squeals of the 1990s, but . . . the levels seems better. He's clearer in the mix, and that's not something that's always been the case. The bass seems to have been reprogrammed to me, or possibly a new sample installed? It's clearer than usual

In particular Black Sail and I was Wrong. Also the beginning of Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard sounds reprogrammed to me.

At the same time, Don't Drive on Ice and Here both have quite a bit going on in the background in terms of synths etc, I wonder if writing and mixing those backing tracks inspired a bit of a spring clean of the set in general?

I definitely agree, Von probably sounds the best that he has in those recordings than he has in the last couple years. These recordings also reinforce my belief that he most definitely can still sing, just probably can't hit the higher notes anymore which is perfectly understandable at his age. The production and arrangements also feel greatly improved. Here's to hoping it's due to some progress on the recording front, but I know I should keep my expectations in check.

Absolutely, here's some stuff that changed:


More:
Bass VST changed, removed the second voice (which was a pet peeve of mine, when More was added back to the setlist I was both happy to see it back and somewhat annoyed with this additional/overly-loud second voice) from the intro.

Ribbons:
I'm inclined to say it's using the new Bass VST too, but I'm not sure if it's a brand new VST or just some EQ adjustment on the old one, I can hear each note being played now, while in the past it would often get muddy and merge 8th notes in a single blob, somewhat like using a bow in an upright bass.

Jeep/Det:
They are using the OG Bass riff here, until now they were using a simplified bass riff, just doubling the guitars (G-A-G-A-G-A -- C-D), now it's using the OG one, you can hear the very same riff being played loudly in the 90s back when we still had a human bassist.
- The guitars are actually playing the bass riff now too, which is cool.
- during jeep's chorus we got our soft keyboard voices back, way more faithful to the album version

Time to cry:
I can't say for sure about this one, but here's my theory:
- Chris would just double the bass using palm mute, it seems Dylan is playing open chords with some embellishments on his 12 string guitar.
- the OG chorus riff is back too, but we got to hear it being played on and off in 2011 too, so no biggie.

I Will call you:
Reworked bass, it's not even a question of VST here, the bass is choppy, no space to resonate, no dynamics, like an old-school DX-7, not trying to emulate a real bass, just straight up going for the faux-bass alà tears for fears/duran duran/a-ha.
I dig it, it brings a bit more character to this tune.

Alice:
Some embellishment and additional voicings in the drum's intro.
New bass VST, which makes it sound way closer to the way it was played in the 90s, and reassemble quite a lot the 90's studio version.

Genevive:
Bass VST, arguably cleaner guitars but that could just be accidental, some songs seem to be played with whatever the last preset was used (I'm looking at you Suzanne);

FALAA:
- 12 string guitar!
- something something bass

Marian:
- Adjusted BPM (just like in 2020);
- 12 string guitar / bass

Show me:
- Dylan is no longer overplaying his part and is playing it in the same way the song was debuted.

Instrumental 86:
- I wanna say new bass, but honestly sounds just like the old one but louder on the mix.

I was Wrong:
- Some embellishment in the intro.

Something Fast:
- Bass /mixing, ben's guitar is cutting through the chorus quite loudly now.

Corrosion:
- Bass
- this one changed quite a lot in the last 10 years, so there's no clear mark of 'what's the regular version and what have changed'.

Thanks a lot for the summary, Husek
Very interesting and valuable for us non-musicians!

Dylan is cleaner than Chris with some parts buuuut when he plays a Chris style part he adds very little cos his part is too low in the mix and little more than a muted one or two strings.

It was really obvious when his wireless pack gave out at the Roundhouse and the sound didn't change at all. Which makes me think they're putting a little extra gain/distortion on a few bass parts.

I don't think Ben has ever been as trebly and up front since his 2006 tour debut when he was adding all kinds of widdly stuff.

czuczu wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 21:20 I don't think Ben has ever been as trebly and up front since his 2006 tour debut when he was adding all kinds of widdly stuff.

I feel like they've gone back and listened to some of those old 2006 recordings for this tour. Ben's Giving Ground intro has some similar tones, and vons use of the word "surrender" when it drops is very reminicent of one of those recordings, IIRC. It feels, for the first time in a while, that they're really willing to go back and correct some things which possibly were not doing them the justice they deserve, and they are all the better for it. Self-reflections a bastard but it pays off.