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  1. Thought it would be fun to give some remarks on the recording and mixing of the album. Things you only hear when listening closely (like with headphones or good monitors) where you also have the possibility to listen to one channel on both ears and switch between left and right channel.

    No Line On The Horizon:
    - two drumlayers right and left. This is really *fantastic* work by Larry.
    - I don't like the "dead" mix though. It is sounding way flatter than the rest of the album.

    Magnificent
    - A zillion sounds in this one
    - They did something very special with eq-ing in this song: The right channel has a "gap" in the mid range. It gives a very spatial feel to the song. Nice If you want to fully understand what that means to your ears: play the Beatles "I am the Walrus". They did the same thing in that one, but more extreme. Compare the left and right channel from 2.10 and further

    Moment Of Surrender
    - Many Eno pads/sounds for sure
    - Yamaha CP-70
    - some pretty false guitar chords in the left channel! (4.43, 4.49)
    - Hihats panned fully right
    - many different guitarsounds left and right after the main solo.

    Unknown Caller
    - Nice how Edge is playing the main guitar part at the start twice: both left and right with slight differences.
    - Yamaha CP-70
    - Funny guitar stroke at 5.28-5.29 in the left channel

    I'll Go Crazy tonight
    - A very little moment of backwards recorded guitar at 0.06 in the right channel
    - Yamaha CP-70
    - A few notes of the Yamaha CP-70 recorded backwards from 2.40-2.43 in the right channel
    - Lovely acoustic guitar track in the left channel!

    Get On Your Boots
    - There is acoustic guitar all over the place (right channel)
    - Unbelievable nice kickdrum part in the “let me in the sound” part
    - single package states there are keyboards on the track. Can't really recognize any. Maybe it's the high pitched sound that starts on 0.26 and can be heard to 0.36. First thought it was guitar, but probably not.

    Stand Up Comedy
    - Simplest track from the album in terms of mix and sounds.
    - No keys spotted yet. I think this is the only guitar/bass/drums/voice song on the album.

    Fez
    - Yamaha CP-70
    - Funny distorted last three notes at 1.02 just before the transition to the second part of the song.

    White as Snow
    - I personally absolutely love the intro. Very White Album-esque (Beatles)
    - Backwards recorded guitar in the intro.
    - That horn at 2.11? Would that be a sample or played for real? It’s a nice twist anyway.
    - Singing from Lanois

    Breathe
    - The start of this song reminded me immediately to the start of Midnight Oil’s “Sins of Omission”. Guess what the album name is where that song is on... Right: “Breathe”! It’s even more clear on the live version of this song on the DVD “20.000 Watts”. Coincidence? I don't think so.
    I can recommand the album “Breathe” to any U2-lover. To my opinion one of the best albums ever.
    - the cello part is fantastic. And real. Not sampled (as we can tell from the little movie on U2.com).
    - Yamaha CP-70
    - No synthesizers on this tune as far as I can tell.

    Cedars Of Lebanon
    - There is nasty distortion on my version of this song at the start (First 40 seconds). Maybe due to the mp3 conversion? Will have to wait for the real album to find out.
    - This one is again full with Eno’s synths.

    Overall impressions: Edge’s delays are out of sync many times. I like that. It gives more life to his guitar lines. There is by the way no song without delayed guitars on this album. Surprise

    Mixes are very warm compared to the last two albums. I wonder what they used in terms of compressor/limiters, mixing desk, tape saturation etc.

    I can hardly find any cuts in the mixes. Compare that to POP...

    Thank goodness they left out the effect of doubling Bono’s voice one octave down like on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. (All because of You, Crumbs, Yahweh). His voice doesn't need that artificial "improvement"...

    I would have loved to post sample mp3s for some of the above findings but I don't want U2's lawyers at my front door...
  2. Nice detailed review. Surely it could go into one of the existing album or song topics though.
  3. Thanks. Would that be necessairy for some reason then?? I thought it might be nice to have a thread to discuss the more technical things of the album.
  4. Originally posted by scd:

    Cedars Of Lebanon
    - There is nasty distortion on my version of this song at the start (First 40 seconds). Maybe due to the mp3 conversion? Will have to wait for the real album to find out.



    The Walmart-clip had it, this leak has it...and I surely hope the album-one doesn't have it.
  5. impressive
  6. Very nice work - you must have a good ear for all these little details. Personally, I can't wait to get the CD and listen to all those layers that are surely missing from the mp3 version at the moment through PC speakers etc.
  7. Originally posted by scd:Thanks. Would that be necessairy for some reason then?? I thought it might be nice to have a thread to discuss the more technical things of the album.


    we'l let it tun then. But keep it on the technical side then
  8. Great little analysis. When you get the lossless you can figure everything out I guess.
  9. Some thoughts on the overall used compression/limiting on this album:

    Compression: electronically bring up levels in a sound recording to a defined level. In essence it turns up the level of soft parts in a song. It is most of the time used together with another effect: limiting

    Limiting: bringing down the peaks in an audio recording to a defined level.

    The effect of using compression and limiting in music (and voice) is to make things sound "louder".
    About every FM station's most expensive piece of gear is the compressor/limiter. When done too much you get this "pumping" experience in the sound: soft parts sound loud but when a loud part gets in the softer part gets "pushed down" again giving that pump sound.

    Advertising on television is making use of it as well, to draw our attention because the sound of voices and music in the advertisement sounds much louder than the movie you're watching.

    To visualize this:
    First two pics of all songs the NLOTH album. As you can see there are many "spikes" of level changes visable. Get On Your Boots, Stand Up Comedy and Breathe are the "loudest" songs which makes sense if you listen to them.

    http://www.synthmusic.info/files/compression.jpg
    http://www.synthmusic.info/files/compression2.jpg

    Now compare this with a few tunes from Atomic Bomb:
    http://www.synthmusic.info/files/compression3.jpg

    As you can see, on that album certain songs are compressed much more, like Vertigo and All because of You. Not necessairely wrong, but it also dramatically changes the "feel" and the "mood" of a tune (it's hard to describe sound in words :-))

    Now, it doesn't say all, but one of the negative things of compression is the loss of "detail" and "depth" and "dynamics" in the recording. Our ears are very sensitive to sound and the slightest change in for instance the compression can make or break our love for a tune.

    Compare to for instance this (songs from Depeche Mode's - Playing the Angel album)
    http://www.synthmusic.info/files/compression4.jpg

    Even more compression/limiting going on on this album. To my opinion over compressed. But it surely has been the goal of the guy doing the mixing/mastering of the album. These songs come through on car radio's etc.

    Now you can also understand why kickdrums in dance/trance music sounds so "loud".

    My personal opinion is that U2 did hit the right spot on this particular subject with No Line on the Horizon.

    There is a good balance between dynamic and detail on the one hand and "loudness" on the other hand.
  11. Originally posted by scd:

    My personal opinion is that U2 did hit the right spot on this particular subject with No Line on the Horizon.

    There is a good balance between dynamic and detail on the one hand and "loudness" on the other hand.


    I think the album is mastered way too loud. Also the bass is way too prominent and too compressed. Barely any dynamics audible.
    Here's hoping for the vinyls...
  12. Originally posted by nowiamthemaster:Very nice work - you must have a good ear for all these little details. Personally, I can't wait to get the CD and listen to all those layers that are surely missing from the mp3 version at the moment through PC speakers etc.


    MP3 is the killer invention for sound since it's introduction.

    Our technology could bring us 24 bits/192 recordings, but because of internet and it's limited bandwidth we are "forced" by the industry to go down in audio quality over the last years. Isn't that weird?

    I personally *hate* mp3. It does compress the audio in a bad way, it mangles the stereo field of a recording, it removes bass in a ugly way...

    And even bands like U2 are forced to sell their music in that format.

    On the positive side: they also put out a vinyl version of the album which will give the best audio experience if you are after that (assuming you have some good gear to play it).
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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.