Quaristice.. Only one complaint

I don't know if this has been discussed. Searching can be a bit tedious. If this has been discussed then move on.

Does anyone else feel the mastering job thats been done on it isn't up to par with the other albums? Some of the tracks sound so fucking muddy.

Don't get me wrong I still love Quaristice nearly and dearly but rale, 90101|-|, Tankakern, and others could really be a lot better mastering wise.

i think this has been discussed and people generally agree that it was engineered poorly. low end too loud in certain tracks and stuff like that. i personally don't remember tracks being "so fucking muddy" and mastered shitty that i had to make a thread about it, know what i mean?

Eeehe. I suppose I exaggerated slightly. But its annoying sometimes. Thats all.

Nah, you're right. A lot of tracks have pretty insufficient low end. The PLC could certainly do with a bit of beefing up. And the tracks you mention, especially tankakern. Chenc9 is one that sometimes sounds particularly bad if you're listening to it on earphones.

i think that autechre could have done a way better job mastering quaristice. it's not really bad compared to other electronic artists, but a lot of the ambient chords are really really muddy, especially at a high volume. again, it's not bad but i expect nothing but perfect mixing/mastering from sean and rob, as they are clearly capable as every other album they've made is mixed perfect (IMO).

  On 7/1/2009 at 5:45 PM, theSun said:

i think that autechre could have done a way better job mastering quaristice. it's not really bad compared to other electronic artists, but a lot of the ambient chords are really really muddy, especially at a high volume. again, it's not bad but i expect nothing but perfect mixing/mastering from sean and rob, as they are clearly capable as every other album they've made is mixed perfect (IMO).

noel summerville mastered quaristice, not sean and rob

http://www.discogs.com/Autechre-Quaristice/release/1255104

i'm assuming that they listened to it though. not like they wrote it and just sent it to her then she sent it to warp.

right, if it was a bad job they shouldn't have approved it, but i'm just pointing out that they didn't actually master it

and i'm just pointing out that i expect Ae mastering to be perfect, in line with all their other releases.

I actually like the muddiness... I kinda think it was intentional. Generally a mastering guys job is to keep the sound quality kind of even throughout the album right? Because Simmm sounds the opposite to tracks like Tankakern, in terms of muddiness anyway. It's crystal clear. Anyway, I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I still liked it. Plus it fits with the more freeform live-ish nature of Quaristice.

  On 7/1/2009 at 10:32 PM, Obel said:

I kinda think it was intentional.

Read the Wire magazine interview and you'll know why...

What I notice is there is a lot of reverb on the bass. This often leads to muddy sounds on smaller sound systems, especially headphones. But when I listen to it on a big sound system it comes through clear a bell.

It's totally intentional.

i don't think tankakern or any of its bastard children is (too) muddy, i'm talking more the chords on notwo(two) and a few other ambient tracks i can't think of the names of atm. i actually really like the way tank sounds on my decent speakers, the bass drum drowning in reverb is really nice. i can't imagine even listening to this album and hearing anything at all on shitty speakers though

Sounds great on my monitors.

I find Autechre's material especially the two recent Elektronish albums sound totally different on a proper system than on crappy headphones or Argos hi-fi's.

anyone who hasn't heard Ae on a decent system or decent headphones at a loudish volume hasn't heard Ae at all.

quaristice + grado rs-1 = well mixed album

my problem with quaristice is that it's poo

  On 7/10/2009 at 5:40 PM, lumpenprol said:

my problem with quaristice is that it's poo

except for altibzz - quite

  On 7/10/2009 at 5:40 PM, lumpenprol said:

my problem with quaristice is that it's poo

At the beginning, I thought your countless hateful statements about Quaristice were pointless and based on nothing. As I re-listen to Quaristice more than one year following its release date, I become aware of how this album gets old really fast. Of course it hasn't reached the poo level yet (I don't think it is going to happen in my opinion), but I lost much interest in Autechre's latest album.

i find that i enjoy a lot of tracks, but i rarely listen to the whole album. totally different than every other ae release where i'm in the mood for an entire album (perhaps minus 1 or 2 odd tracks).

I haven't liked an Autechre release since EP7... although songs on Quaristice like Rale and Tankakern gave me hope when I first heard them, they ended up being the ONLY songs that I felt were listenable on the album.

I know there are die-hard AE fans who appreciate the direction they've gone in since EP7, but I still yearn for the Incunabula/Amber days where they made awesome melodies AND wicked beats - now it seems like they're just trying to see how abstract they can make songs before they lose all semblance of melody and rhythm. That's just my opinion, of course.

you are 50% of ae fans

  On 7/10/2009 at 8:43 PM, Joyrex said:

I haven't liked an Autechre release since EP7... although songs on Quaristice like Rale and Tankakern gave me hope when I first heard them, they ended up being the ONLY songs that I felt were listenable on the album.

 

I know there are die-hard AE fans who appreciate the direction they've gone in since EP7, but I still yearn for the Incunabula/Amber days where they made awesome melodies AND wicked beats - now it seems like they're just trying to see how abstract they can make songs before they lose all semblance of melody and rhythm. That's just my opinion, of course.

I love all their post-2000 releases, differently than the way I love their earlier stuff, but possibly moreso. Confield is a near masterpiece, the first four tracks of Untilted are godly (my favorite 4-track string on any album of theirs), and Quaristice was an exciting step into what the future may hold- I love the dabble into ambient with tracks like Altibzz and Notwo, though admittedly am not fond of the seemingly hundreds of versions of perlence and 90101 released.

If they were to 'return' to any previous style I'd personally like to see more Chiastic Slide era. Beat crunching mastery but with delicious late-emerging or 'icing on the cake' type melodies ala Nuana, Cipater

  On 7/10/2009 at 10:48 PM, Marked x 0ne said:

I love all their post-2000 releases, differently than the way I love their earlier stuff, but possibly moreso. Confield is a near masterpiece, the first four tracks of Untilted are godly (my favorite 4-track string on any album of theirs), and Quaristice was an exciting step into what the future may hold- I love the dabble into ambient with tracks like Altibzz and Notwo, though admittedly am not fond of the seemingly hundreds of versions of perlence and 90101 released.

 

If they were to 'return' to any previous style I'd personally like to see more Chiastic Slide era. Beat crunching mastery but with delicious late-emerging or 'icing on the cake' type melodies ala Nuana, Cipater

Thanks for sharing

  On 7/11/2009 at 1:40 AM, Rabid said:

Thanks for sharing

lol

twas fairly irrelevant to the thread, more just what I was thinking and a response to what Joyrex said