Contained herein are six audio samples that contain (roughly) the first minute of three tracks from the two different versions of Meshuggah’s Nothing album. While originally released in 2002, Nothing was re-released in 2006 with re-recorded guitars, triggered drums, and other notable fidelity changes/enhancements. It’s my understanding that Meshuggah was rushed to complete Nothing in conjuncton with touring back in 2002, and the band felt that the engineering and mixing suffered.
From the official Meshuggah forums, here’s what Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah guitarist) had to say regarding the 2006 version (oft referred to as “Re-Nothing” or “Nothing Re-Mix):
“The only thing I’ve done is I re-recorded all the rhythm guitars cause they pretty much sucked IMO, re-recorded the guitarline-thing at the end of CEV, put a new crash cymbal on top of one of the old ones that was broken and sounded like shit, triggered the kick, snare and toms and mixed the whole thing from scratch and I also timestretched Nebulous before I recorded the guitars cause I thought it was way too fast on the old Nothing…”
The samples below are from two different sources – Nuclear Blast CD 542-2 (2002) and Nuclear Blast CD 1729-2 (2006). Aside from fade in/out, absolutely no signal processing has been performed. 24-bit graphical waveform views courtesy Adobe Audition and Microsoft Paint (click on image to open high-resolution version in a new window).
Which version do you think sounds best? For my thoughts, see my comments below the samples.
Perpetual Black Second
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 542-2 LC 07027) 2002
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Perpetual Black Second
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 1729-2 LC 07027) 2006
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Glints Collide
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 542-2 LC 07027) 2002
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Glints Collide
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 1729-2 LC 07027) 2006
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Straws Pulled At Random
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 542-2 LC 07027) 2002
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Straws Pulled At Random
Source: Nuclear Blast CD (NB 1729-2 LC 07027) 2006
Resolution = 44kHz, 16-bit Stereo PCM Wave file
Thoughts:
The original version of Nothing is extremely fatiguing and overtly bright. The high end (particularly the cymbals) makes for a harsh listen, indeed! It’s also less dynamic overall than the 2006 version, and is pretty much obliterated by compression (arguably par for the course).
The 2006 remix is much more tame, subdued, and low-end colored. Immediately noticeable is the thickness and definition of the re-recorded guitars, the drastic change in overall volume of the drums (again, especially the cymbals), and the use of some kind of chorus or flanger on Jens Kidman’s vocal track.
I really like the original Nothing’s drum sound, and am not a fan of triggered drums*. I also prefer Kidman’s direct, blunt vocal tracks on the original release over the DSP’ed version prevalent in the remix. That said, the guitars on the remix are outstanding, and they easily better those of the original release in terms of both width and definition. Finally, I tend to appreciate the overall sound/mix of the remix over the original, especially when listening to Nothing in it’s entirety.
My preference? Actually, if at all possible, I would prefer the culminaton of the two! I can say that if I’m listening to Nothing via my iPod on the train (i.e. not the entire album front-to-back), I prefer the original version. For stereo listening at home or via studio monitors, I prefer the remix.
Notes:
*Programmed drums, such as those used on Catch 33, are a different story.
Thordendal quote – http://www.tandjent.com/meshforum/showthread.php?t=14654
Purchase Nothing (2002):
Purchase Nothing (2006):
