Savage Playground.... About the production

I finally recevied my cd yesterday and listened a few times then and then again a few times today.
My following comments don't relate so much about the songs on the album but more the production qualities, and i'm just wondering what all your thoughts are... yes, even yours LONDON.
Maybe i look to much into this sorta stuff, but i;m just wondering what others think, or if they have thought about this at all.

Before reading my comments please note that i haven't been reading any reviews, hardly any interviews, haven';t downloaded any tracks ... the first spin was my definite first listen. I wanted it to be a total surprise and virginal experience.

I also dont' want the following comments to be taken negative, cos after all i'm not sure what the intention of the band was in regards to the production, but soon after putting the cd on the first thing that jumped out at me was the production. I had to check that someone hadn't been playing around with the settings on my stereo, becasue it was definitely not what i was expecting.

I'm not sure if it's my ears or just my cd but to me the dynamic range and clarity of the album seems very low.
Distinguishing between instruments sometimes seems very difficult, like there is a tidal wave of sound coming at me but through a think fog. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but i thought the prodcution would have been a bit more crisp and definded.

I know sleaze can sometimes benefit from a dirty sound but i feel this is different. I am wondering if the album has suffered from excessive compression that some modern producers like to enforce these days.

To me, the top end of the sound seems to be missing (ie cymbals, rides, high hats in the drumming), to the point where i want to raise the treble level, but then when i do this the guitars and vocals become distorted and too high and grating.

Now i dont expect a band like crashdiet to have the pure production of someone like chrils laney, or sound like a HEAT album, as i dont think that sound would suit them, but at times i find the production detracting from the album. Sometime si'm getitng the feeling i'm listening to an analogue recording from the early 80s.

Keen to know all your thoughts, or whether you think i am just imagining things.
... and LONDON, i'd be interested to know if these were the prodcution values you guys were after, of this was more driven by the production team.

As metioned, I'm not trying to be critical or negative but just really interested to knwo a bit more about the aim of the production, and the opinions of others.... so please be gentle with me.

Actually, I thought it was just me. I totally agree. The first thing I checked was all my cables on the stereo. When you turn the record louder, you get all those inputs from all the instruments. The drums sometimes seemed to be too high mixed, I don´t know. But otherwise you kinda become pretty crazy if you have too much to do with somethink like the perfect sound. And you listen to a result over and over again, and it never really suits. It´s like the sound on stage, but it´s much harder with mixing a record. The producer shows you the result and you think "It´s already mastered?", but yeah, something is kinda missing, although the album is amazing. After a while you habituate to the sound, but my first expression was, the mids (fuck, I don´t know the right word in english) are not mixed up that well.

Agree here too. Sometimes, especially on some songs and different bits it's a bit annoying. It's like certain things get hidden behind other noises and stuff.
Basically, sometimes I think it sounds a bit too "dirty" or well "bad quality" like.

I would also like to know what someone like Peter thinks about it all

Hmmm... i defenitly agree with all of you... everything i was thinkin about the album is already writin above...

I agree.
Was hoping for a more greasy production.

Wow... I thought I would be shot down for posting that but glad to see I'm not the only one who sees a few issues with the production.

I'm not intending it to be a put down of the album but just something I wanted to raise. After all, it coulda been the sound the band were aiming for, just not what some of us were expecting.

Gen wild, and even the ep that billion dollar babies released last year, showed us that sleaze can be successful with a slick and dynamic production, but it seems the production team has gone with a production style more consistant with some dirty punk or early 80s metal, or even that or a live studio session.

I think all of these previous comments have summed up my thoughts and questions to the t..

The production is definitely different. I'm stuck wondering if this is because of the guys desire and deliberate want for the dirty sleazy sound or if it is just a by product of new production techniques. Everything just sounds kind of muddy. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a concern or comment about it. I'm all for rough and raw sounding sleazy songs, but to me this just has a different sound. Not a necessarily bad sound but a different sound. It is one of the few times that I have actually cared enough about the song quality of an mp3 to desire the actual cd to have a better sounding product.

mrs v. viper wrote: i am curious about how it wil sound on vinyl.

I'm really excited to hear this as well

The production of the album interests me as well, I know they wanted to do a raw sounding album and I hear that in the instruments but as for all the big vocals and other stuff it's almost like a big production album. They bridged a gap here that I haven't heard before it's a great album and I think the production sometimes adds a bit of a mystique to the sound...

Of course I might be the only one thinking this way...

I think that as usual we get hear demos soon and their demos rocks too!

I dont really have any strong opinions about it. I think it sounds great the way it does, but I can see what you mean about the "bad sound". The drums sounds like they are in a closet some times. But I'm not so picky about it, as long as the music is good. And I dont really know much about the whole production thing, so I guess I'm kinda "untrained" in hearing that kind of stuff.

Sounds as raw as Lady Gagas latest album.

now that i am reading reviews and other people opinions about the cd it seems that there are a lot of people worried about the production of the cd....
(as mentioned i wasn't reading any reviews and stuff from before i got the cd so i've only managed to see this since)

From facebook (on crashdiets page)
Pedro Pablo Mendoza
I received this by mail. My name is even on the back cover since I was an early contributor. I have every CD you guys have released, and I was hoping for a production similar to "Generation Wild". Boy, was I wrong... The music is awesome, don't get me wrong. Simon even sounds like Dave at times. But the production sucks big time. It is all muddy, and it seems a kid was behind the board instead of an experienced producer. A shame. The whole production ruined an otherwise great CD. Whatever happened?

From Heavy Harmonies
Everything about this disc stinks. The drums sounds terrible. There is no bite in the guitars. The backing vocals are awful. The lead vocals aren't much better. Whoever produced this needs to be kicked in the balls.

Also from Heavy Harmonies
The production really caught me off guard. It is by no means "bad" at all, but I find it really quite muddy, and you notice it heavily when you put it on after any well produced, crisp sounding CD. Guitars and vocals need to be higher in the mix and although the rhythm section sounds good, it just needs a bigger (for lack of a better word) presence. That said, once it's playing a few songs in, it sounds good.


Now don't kick me for posting negative reviews, but it looks like the production is a bit of an issue to the listening public out there.

To me It sounds old in a new way if that makes any sence xD I think it sounds more like a band playing the songs and more live and real and that suits the material. Yeah I find mixing strange at times but the feel and rawnes they bring through I think would not come out as clear on a glossy production Don't get me wrong I love a good H.e.a.t production also but I don't think that would have suited this album

No. it sounds more cut togheter than ever before. The live feeling is Gone.

Do you seriously think this sounds more polished and "cut together" then Generation Wild?
You and I must have very different ears.

GunsNCrüeSWE wrote: No. it sounds more cut togheter than ever before. The live feeling is Gone.

wow... the band seem to think the exact opposite. In this interview with Sweet he says they were going for a live feeling and a rougher sound.

I think this interview gives us trhe best insight so far as to why the album sounds like it does:

this from a blabbermouth interview ...

"The Savage Playground", the fourth album from Swedish rockers CRASHDÏET, has entered the official chart in the band's home country at position No. 2. The CD was released on January 25 in Europe (excluding Scandinavia) and January 22 in North America via Frontiers Records.

With "The Savage Playground" recorded during summer/autumn 2012 at Kingside Studios outside Stockholm with producer Otto Wellton, the band has their minds set to break through on a worldwide basis with a tour that will see the band going back to the U.S. as well as going to Japan for the first time.

The new album sees CRASHDÏET going in a heavier and direction. "'The Savage Playground' is our playground, it's the beginning and the end, it's the place where we eat and breed," says guitarist Martin Sweet. "We thought the time was right for us to do a edgier and not-so-polished-sounding album, kinda like what we sound like live. It's more organic and rough-sounding. And, of course, we're always evolving as musicians and like to try new ways of expressing ourselves, and that can most definitely be heard this album."

Actually yes, it sounds very similar to their live sound, but I wouldn´t say that it´s rougher (harder) than Generation Wild. I would say they are still doing the same rough sound (from the composition point of view) The production is actually rougher (my example is probably the production of Chemical… it sounds pretty different (and better?!) when they play it live, than on record)… As said before, firstly I checked every cable on my stereo, but after the second run, I totally fell into it and I was able to ignore that sound… respectively didn´t even attract attention to it… Is it just my point of view or are you with me?

riKki reKkless wrote: it´s rougher (harder)

when they say "rougher" i don't think they mean rougher as in terms of being "harder", but more likely "less polished".

for example, listen to something like HEAT or Dynazty from 2012 and their production is very "pure", very "crisp", very "clean", whereas i think what Sweet means by "rough" production is not harder, but just less polished, less over produced and less pure.... but more organic. .. as you would get if the band played it live in the studio (not on stage) without passing it through computers and filters and layering samples etc.

I totally know what you mean, but I just wanted to point it out, even if it´s not exactly the topic, we're discusing right now. Actually, we´re the same opinion. I hope you didn´t just pick that one line out, 'cause the other thinkings I´ve wrote down are exactly in the same meaning as yours.

mrs v. viper wrote:

Kraljosovina wrote: Do you seriously think this sounds more polished and "cut together" then Generation Wild?
You and I must have very different ears.

he didn't say it sounds more polished, only cut together and not live.

Yes, that's why I only put quotations marks on "cut together". The "polished" was more of a question because I think it sounds like that's what he means when he says that it "Sounds as raw as Lady Gagas latest album." and that it "sounds more cut togheter than ever before. The live feeling is Gone".
I would like to know