Collected Animals

The record is definitely like "on the grid" or whatever compared to them doing it together but I really have a hard time believing anyone on here could listen and immediately know they recorded it remotely without having known going in.

i just keep coming back to cherokee. inching up my overall anco song rankings. that "stoop that you love" refrain is just so powerful to me. and i love the slinky vibe of the verses and overall structure. that "drop" is not quite "in the flowers" or level but is a top 5 anco drop (i initially put top 3 but then realized they have quite a few amazing song shifts that you could term "drops"). even if it's not, like, heavy on the percussion and more of a build - it feels like a drop and hits emotively like one.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a hard time

(In all honesty its less about the timing––although that it in fact noticeable––but the isolation each sound has. It was mixed in such a way that kept the isolation present; the mix didn't solve for it)

lhtd wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a hard time

(In all honesty its less about the timing––although that it in fact noticeable––but the isolation each sound has. It was mixed in such a way that kept the isolation present; the mix didn't solve for it)

I get what you're saying but I don't hear it. In my personal recording experience this reason is why I like to record stuff live because I've definitely tracked things and been like "this sounds like everyone is playing 5 rooms apart" but TS doesn't have that at all to me(and it shouldn't these people are pros). It's clean and crisp yeah but it's a studio recording not a live show. Like Dio said above I don't think this sounds any less live than any of their other records. I do think the live shows give these songs more energy but I feel like that kind of thing could happen in any studio environment remote or not.

Realizing today that Time Skiffs would remain ‘truer’ to its aesthetic if they elected to release it as a proper Dolby Atmos mix (not the Atmos that you hear some song converted into but instead mixed for Atmos).

Funny enough i just re-checked Reset on Apple Music and holy shit. I had previously jammed the Atmos mix while wearing AirPods, which made the mix sound stuffy and unlistenable. I’m listening now though with regular Apple earbuds and wow… it sounds like a whole new record. Very elevated. Sounds like they remixed the entire record for Atmos. Surprised there hasn’t been more of an announcement about this. And I wonder if there’s a way to download the Atmos mix or if it can only play through Apple Music…

lhtd wrote:

Funny enough i just re-checked Reset on Apple Music and holy shit. I had previously jammed the Atmos mix while wearing AirPods, which made the mix sound stuffy and unlistenable. I’m listening now though with regular Apple earbuds and wow… it sounds like a whole new record. Very elevated. Sounds like they remixed the entire record for Atmos. Surprised there hasn’t been more of an announcement about this. And I wonder if there’s a way to download the Atmos mix or if it can only play through Apple Music…

Oooh interesting! I don't have apple music and can't seem to find much info. Is there any way to tell if it's a real mix or if it's just the stereo mix run through an atmos effect?
I've never listened to an atmos mix on headphones either, but I feel like it would be tough to tell the difference unless you were listening on a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker set up

It was mixed in such a way that kept the isolation present; the mix didn't solve for it

the way avey gently sings "enemies change their miiiiiiind..." on the studio dragon slayer keeps popping up in my head. he usually adds some zest to it in the live versions but there's something really sweet about his delivery on the album, it's like a lullaby

captainlunatic wrote:

the way avey gently sings "enemies change their miiiiiiind..." on the studio dragon slayer keeps popping up in my head. he usually adds some zest to it in the live versions but there's something really sweet about his delivery on the album, it's like a lullaby

Cool take. Far and away my favorite song on the record. “Focusing on design / from learning stairs.” Is that right? Makes me think Avey’s commenting on our upside down cultural priorities…? What the hell is this song about?

oo that's a good guess!
i didn't see it in there (but there's a lot to see!) ... what an awesome video.
is deak in there somewhere? i see the other 3 but haven't spotted him yet. such a (truly) trippy ride
ty for the ~excuse to watch it again

strung with everything is coming back for me in a big way

Dragon Slayer is the only track on here that I feel might be mixed weirdly to my ears. I'm no audio scientist but that song specifically just sounds a little... blurry? Rest of the album is golden though. Super crystal, even in the more chaotic moments of Strung and Cherokee.

Q:I also listened to Time Skiffs by Animal Collective. I imagine you had rough mixes that had that gauzy reverb presence on the vocals, where they are sort of separate from the music. Is that correct?

Marta: With that, I spoke mostly with Brian [Weitz, a.k.a. “Geologist”]. We were always in touch about how elements in the mix should sound, and what the intent with the music was. I’m a huge fan of their music, and so I felt I had these songs I used to dance to as a teenager ingrained in me. When I was mixing it, I felt, “It needs to feel like Animal Collective,” because they have such a huge span of work. But I would also think, “Maybe the bass could have a little bit more definition.” There are so many elements to their tracks. They’re so rich. I wanted everything to have its own space, and everything to be very defined. I wanted the group vocals to have that quality of feeling like one vocal.

Q:True, right.

Marta: Gel them together and have the percussion all around it. When I mix, I almost feel like I try and visualize it in a 3D depth and height. One of my favorite things I learned when I was studying sound was the phantom center of the two speakers. It truly feels like I can create these prisms of 3D moving within stereo. That’s how I see it in my head. I want the bass to be the foundation. Sometimes it can be mono and sometimes it can be stereo, as long as it feels good in mono. Then I can build upon that. Here’s where I put the beat: The kick drum, and then I put the snare across it, the vocals round it up, and the percussion is a little bit on top of the vocals. Everything needs to feel focused and cohesive. That’s how I approached that. I wanted the experience for the listeners and the band to be immersive and to tip the hat to all their previous records, but also to have mixes that would feel like a step forward.