Adele 25

[853guy]

Thanks. I had read this but as you see, it says "released" and not recorded there. Check out this recording she did at Church Studios which seems like a very proper recording studio:

http://thechurchstudios.com/

21 was recorded in a bunch of different studios, but not XL’s one. “Rolling in the Deep” for instance was tracked as a demo at Paul Epworth’s studio, before being re-recorded with Rick Rubin in Malibu. However, everyone loved the rawness of the orginal demo, so Epworth moved to Eastcote Studios to “upgrade” the basic tracks, keeping Adele’s vocals from the demo, which ended up on the final track, mixed by Elmhirst at Metropolis’ Studio C.

 

[wisnon]

A pal is gonna hook me up with a vinyl rip to compare to the CD I just bought for my wife….I will report if there is a big difference.

 

[Blue58]

A pal is gonna hook me up with a vinyl rip to compare to the CD I just bought for my wife….I will report if there is a big difference.

Hi Wisnon,

Just played the vinyl and expected at least some semblance of a decent recording. Unfortunately it's abysmal. God only knows how bad the CD is by comparison.
Never liked the vinyl of 19or 21, the live at RAH was not much better.
I had the pleasure of seeing Adele at the Union Chapel with Damien Rice as support in the early days and as a Dalston/Hackney boy love Adele.
However her voice is now much higher in pitch and relentless. She used to have depth, now just wails.

By comparison, listening to Justin Bieber in 44/24 and the production is tight, clear and modern with great expansive soundstage. Just shows what a producer can bring to the party. It really is a great modern pop record.

So disappointed in 25.

Blue58

 

[NorthStar]

Hater's gonna hate, right?

Personally, I celebrate any artist who is the primary writer, plays instruments and has ultimate creative control over their musical legacy, who shuns endorsements, celebrity co-labs and tabloid gossip for more "exposure", who will scrap half an album's worth of songs because they're not authentic enough, and remain vulnerable enough to sing with soul on material that is clearly personally-inspired.

Not only do I find that incredibly refreshing and encouraging in this day and age of manufactured, ephemeral pop-music, I'm encouraged that at least 2.433 million other people in the US think it's worth listening to also - actually buying the album (25 is responsible for 42% of all music sales, only half-way through its first-week release) - in spite of its obviously mass-marketed sonics.

Perhaps that suggests the desire for authentic artistry remains greater than the desire for pristine and beautifully mastered sonics.

I disagree with the first line of your quote above; it's all in your own head...you cannot get inside the head of others and judge by your own standards.
To hate someone or something is a vast continent, so I disagree with your line. ...None personal, just sharing a thought.

The rest; I agree with what you said. People are free to like the music and the singers they like, and if some they like less...them too are free to speak their heart. It is not a contest or a religion; it's only an opinion by the people for what the music and the words and the delivery mean to them.

Adele's main audience is probably for the people young @ heart, with a large portion being the younger generation.
It's great that she can reach them; it's peaceful for the soul of many men, women and children.

Hate is not part of the picture, only in the head of the interpreters. Adele is fine, she's a star among many other pop stars, with her own unique touch.
...Not rockin' my world though, that's all. ...From her previous three albums and the sampling of this latest one, her fourth.

 

[Orb]

BTW, do we know who did the recording and mastering? I looked up XL records and it says they have a garage shop in the back more or less to produce music or something to that effect . Did they actually do the recording and mastering?

Some reference info:
Adele 21:
Design – Adele (3), Phil Lee (5)
Mastered By – Tom Coyne
Photography By – Lauren Dukoff
Vocals – Adele
Recorded At – Shangri La
Recorded At – Eastcote Studios
Recorded At – Sphere Studios
Recorded At – MyAudiotonic Studios
Recorded At – Angel Studios
Recorded At – Metropolis Studios
Recorded At – Harmony Studios
Recorded At – Serenity Sound
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Mixed At – Punkerpad West
Pressed By – Arvato Digital Services – 54410944

Adele 25:
Mastered By – Randy Merrill, Tom Coyne
Mixed By – Serban Ghenea (tracks: 2, 6), Tom Elmhirst (tracks: 1, 3 to 5, 7 to 11)
Recorded At – Metropolis Studios
Recorded At – MXM Studios
Recorded At – The Church Studios
Recorded At – Dean Street Studios
Recorded At – Air Studios
Recorded At – British Grove
Recorded At – West Point Studios
Recorded At – Sam's Studio
Recorded At – Smecky Music Studios
Recorded At – Glenwood Studios (2)

Cheers
Orb

 

[NorthStar]

Oh that is perfectly fine Bob. We all have different tastes and I often run into strong recommendations for music that is not to my liking. Sorry that the strong tone of my note sounded otherwise.

Music is so much a personal taste, like films; that if we don't agree or disagree with some people, it's almost like the end of the world. :b

I learned that giving our free opinion in our free world is not so free after all; it will disrupt some minds.

It's impossible to please everyone with our taste and musical preferences. I like Adele, I don't adore her, and I will put many other female singers in my disc drawer before her, pop singer (I previously mentioned 22 of them real quick out of my head).

If I like something and someone else dislike it; I'm so happy that we are all unique on what we like and like less in life. That makes us all real "special". :b
I lost @ backgammon, I lost @ scrabble, I lost @ chess, yesterday and today and tomorrow, and I won @ living it all.

I use a strong tone myself sometimes to express my opinion; and few others often they don't shy to make me aware of it. I feel deeply guilty of not being the gentle person everyone would love, and it makes me a better person in the long run because I try to be less direct and more superficial. ...Yes, it's ironic a bit, but the truth a bit nonetheless.

The people we like, the music we like...it is always best to sample them first, before we buy and commit. :b

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I would like to see her dig down deep and maybe do something with a blues artist like Buddy Guy. I really think she has some great blues in her.

 

[853guy]

I disagree with the first line of your quote above; it's all in your own head...you cannot get inside the head of others and judge by your own standards.
To hate someone or something is a vast continent, so I disagree with your line. ...None personal, just sharing a thought.

The rest; I agree with what you said. People are free to like the music and the singers they like, and if some they like less...them too are free to speak their heart. It is not a contest or a religion; it's only an opinion by the people for what the music and the words and the delivery mean to them.

Adele's main audience is probably for the people young @ heart, with a large portion being the younger generation.
It's great that she can reach them; it's peaceful for the soul of many men, women and children.

Hate is not part of the picture, only in the head of the interpreters. Adele is fine, she's a star among many other pop stars, with her own unique touch.
...Not rockin' my world though, that's all. ...From her previous three albums and the sampling of this latest one, her fourth.

Hey Northstar,

Sorry, I should have perhaps been more clear... For context the "hater's gonna hate" line is a Taylor Swift lyric from "Shake It Off". Sometimes, no matter what you do, or how hard you try, or how much of a genuine artist you are, someone, somewhere, often anonymously, online, will criticise you for something, sometimes anything, no matter how petty, or how slight. Given the nature of the thread, I thought pop fans may have caught that one, but it's not specifically directed toward anyone here.

We're a very privileged bunch in general. And a lot of our systems, even some of the more humble ones, are so far removed from what the rest of the world can comprehend as being justifiable given the state of the world's least-fortunate and the increasing gap between rich and poor that it's easy to occasionally adopt an entitled perspective in which it becomes difficult to see that the world just doesn't revolve around our ever-increasing expectations for "perfection", even when those decisions where never ours to make, like how an album is produced, mixed and mastered. Our context here is such that for all of those who would have been happy for 25 to have been recorded direct to two-track tape at 15 IPS with no EQ, compression or reverb, someone would have eventually lamented the fact it hadn't been recorded to DSD. (And then, inevitably, that it hadn't been done at 2x DSD...).

Me? I'm just glad she put out another album.

 

[NorthStar]

Thanks. I had read this but as you see, it says "released" and not recorded there. Check out this recording she did at Church Studios which seems like a very proper recording studio:

http://thechurchstudios.com/

They used reverb in that recording; destroying the essence in the process.

Her voice range is also limited and she simply "yell" too much and stay too long on those yells.
The entire process is clinical, pre-fabricated, not natural...

Someone's previously mentioned that she might be @ best when she's live; I strongly tend to agree. Adele "live" would be @ her best.

* I played bingo the other day, and I lost, but it was fun. :b
What's less funny is that the SNL video is not available outside the USA. ...It's like only the privileged ones are allow to view it.
...Those barriers as a world citizen...only on planet earth. ;-)

If Canada doesn't want to make their entertainment shows available to our friends south of the border, clips of youtube videos, it would make me real sad. Saturday Night Live is a fun show, for all people to enjoy. ...Methinks. :b

 

[still-one]

Sometimes you get a nice track when you do not overproduce it. Just use classroom instruments and a single mike.

 

[ddk]

I just watched the video Amir. She simply doesn't ring my chords.

I'm with you Bob, she doesn't do it for me either. They market her as a phony modern day Piaff, she neither has her voice nor her life, its all canned and pre-packaged including her songs… . Of course this is only my opinion according to my tastes!


david

 

[NorthStar]

Hey Hi-Fi Guy,

There'll always be artists that for a million reasons we never "get", or we "get" but never "love". It's completely a matter of preference, I totally agree.

And that absolutely extends to creative decisions made during the producing, tracking, mixing and mastering sessions too. There's a thread on Gearslutz right now with dudes arguing over the mix of "Hello", with a near 50/50 split on how awesome, modern, present/horrible, auto-tuned, compressed it is. That is, there's a bunch of dudes who have significantly large opinions on how they would have done it differently - y'know, had they actually been asked to mix the project, which they weren't. Sound familiar?

Sometimes our opinions are disproportionate to their influence. That's the power of the internet for you.

For those who'd like to know, "Hello" was mixed at Capitol's Studio C by Tom Elmhirst on a Neve VRS, who has previously mixed "Skyfall", "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You".

Do you like Judas Priest, Uriah Heep, Yello, Black Sabbath, Rush, ... do you hate RAP music? ...Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, all these young pop stars selling tons of albums?
Adele versus Amy Winehouse (RIP); Amy anytime. ...Raw and unedited. ...Very sad that she left so soon; she would have lift that house of its foundations.

 

[NorthStar]

Hey Northstar,

Sorry, I should have perhaps been more clear... For context the "hater's gonna hate" line is a Taylor Swift lyric from "Shake It Off". Sometimes, no matter what you do, or how hard you try, or how much of a genuine artist you are, someone, somewhere, often anonymously, online, will criticise you for something, sometimes anything, no matter how petty, or how slight. Given the nature of the thread, I thought pop fans may have caught that one, but it's not specifically directed toward anyone here.

We're a very privileged bunch in general. And a lot of our systems, even some of the more humble ones, are so far removed from what the rest of the world can comprehend as being justifiable given the state of the world's least-fortunate and the increasing gap between rich and poor that it's easy to occasionally adopt an entitled perspective in which it becomes difficult to see that the world just doesn't revolve around our ever-increasing expectations for "perfection", even when those decisions where never ours to make, like how an album is produced, mixed and mastered. Our context here is such that for all of those who would have been happy for 25 to have been recorded direct to two-track tape at 15 IPS with no EQ, compression or reverb, someone would have eventually lamented the fact it hadn't been recorded to DSD. (And then, inevitably, that it hadn't been done at 2x DSD...).

Me? I'm just glad she put out another album.

Thank you for clarifying that line; I did not know. Now it's much better. ...Would have been nice that you mentioned it in the first place though, because I was sure that you typed it yourself on your post. It was impossible for me, @ least, to guess.
And I knew that it was a general line; I simply took the opportunity to respond, that's all. Because I was thinking @ other circumstances of the past when members expressed their dislike towards some music recordings and artist's voices. ...While others they like very much so, according to what they typed in their posts. It contrasts the two different perspectives of opinion, of music preferences; and it gives the illusion of conflicting interpretation of emotional discomfort...some illusive human complexities of natural life.

Words are more powerful in people's own interpretation than in people's own writing. Two million years later we are still trying to communicate our state-of-mind.
And, outside our lovely hobby, things are much much worse. ...Often there is no communication, or it goes nowhere but one-way only.

* If Adele was produced better, that would help, I think. But still for me; her entire aura is not vibrating my deep emotional chords. Her range is limited, her emotional impact restricted, and she simply "yell" to much, and that I cannot get over with...it leaves me "cold" and saturated. ...The voice, not Adele the young lady. ...But that voice is still hers, and it reflects her inside, with the sung words from her lungs and all. The songwriting is another important element; who wrote the words and how they are interpreted.

Adele on hi-res audio downloads, audio/files, MP3, CDs, LPs, Tapes, Cassettes, ...it don't matter much if the music and the artist's voice aren't vibrating us emotionally deep down in the crevasses of our soul and @ the precipice of emancipation.

 

[NorthStar]

Sometimes you get a nice track when you do not overproduce it. Just use classroom instruments and a single mike.

Again, she keeps yelling, and it's "irritating" to my ears. I just can't cope, it breaks my soul smooth's rhythm.

 

[NorthStar]

I'm with you Bob, she doesn't do it for me either. They market her as a phony modern day Piaff, she neither has her voice nor her life, its all canned and pre-packaged including her songs… . Of course this is only my opinion according to my tastes!

david

David, we should go out downtown and check who's playing. :b

 

[853guy]

Do you like Judas Priest, Uriah Heep, Yello, Black Sabbath, Rush, ... do you hate RAP music? ...Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, all these young pop stars selling tons of albums?
Adele versus Amy Winehouse (RIP); Amy anytime. ...Raw and unedited. ...Very sad that she left so soon; she would have lift that house of its foundations.

Judas Priest and Uriah Heep... no.

Yello, Black Sabbath and Rush... hell yes. Deiter Meier and Boris Blank are the godfathers of sampling. Without Sabbath there would be no Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Soundgarden or Smashing Pumpkins, all of whom I love and still listen to. I had every single Rush album up to and including Test for Echo, but admittedly haven't bought anything of theirs since. Huge Public Enemy fan (Fear of a Black Planet is the definition of hip hop), think the first two Jurassic 5 albums are genius, consider Solesides (and latterly, Quannum Projects and Blackalicious) to be hugely underrated, and just the other day listened to Kendrick Lamar and Run the Jewels on Spotify.

I didn't love Amy, but mainly because my tastes in woman singer-songwriters had moved towards more indie and experimental artists like Bjork, P.J. Harvey, Diamanda Galas, Nina Nastasia, Cat Power, Feist, etc. Those and Emmylou Harris, who breaks my heart with every word.

*Honestly, I can't even hum a Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus song, I'm just not familiar enough with their work. Oh actually, I can. Cyrus lent her voice to the movie Bolt, and sang a duet with John Travolta called "I Thought I Lost You". Our kids love that movie.

 

[ddk]

David, we should go out downtown and check who's playing. :b

One of these days Bob, one of these days…..

 

[Orb]

They used reverb in that recording; destroying the essence in the process.

Her voice range is also limited and she simply "yell" too much and stay too long on those yells.
The entire process is clinical, pre-fabricated, not natural...

Someone's previously mentioned that she might be @ best when she's live; I strongly tend to agree. Adele "live" would be @ her best.

* I played bingo the other day, and I lost, but it was fun. :b
What's less funny is that the SNL video is not available outside the USA. ...It's like only the privileged ones are allow to view it.
...Those barriers as a world citizen...only on planet earth. ;-)

If Canada doesn't want to make their entertainment shows available to our friends south of the border, clips of youtube videos, it would make me real sad. Saturday Night Live is a fun show, for all people to enjoy. ...Methinks. :b

Part of that limited voice to me is more about a vocal tightness that restricts her vocal range openness and so suffers constriction-tension , and further exacerbated by her natural voice that seems to have greater energy in upper frequency, so can be perceived more shouty.
This then becomes an issue in how it is mixed-mastered IMO, same could be seen with the Welsh singer Duffy (voice and similar annoyance of how her music is mixed-mastered).
It is a good voice but in a more unusual way with certain limitations (as most singers do), but then not everyone has a Freddy Mercury voice

Cheers
Orb

 

[853guy]

If Adele was produced better, that would help, I think.

Could Michelangelo's "David" been sculpted better had he used better marble or better tools? Could Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin been better had he used better lenses and better film stock? Could Robert Johnson's "Kindhearted Woman Blues" been recorded better had it not been for the fact they used a hotel room in San Antonio and he faced into a corner?

Probably. But when it comes to art - and especially, art in which I do not bear the burden of creation or production - I'm just grateful for whatever I get.

 

[Ron Party]

If you like Adele, the person, and/or like her music, beautiful.

If you don't, so be it.

Live and let live. No need to justify.

I will state this, however. If you've posted you don't like her and/or her music, is there a reason why you believe/feel you need to repeat it? Does it make you feel better? Does it make your opinion more valid? Did you think others didn't hear you the first time? These are rhetorical questions; those who feel the need to answer need not apply.

As an aside, if you don't purchase this album because it is not mixed/mastered to your personal satisfaction, you're lost. Capital A Audiophiles are something else.