Can't wait to hear this album!

These guys have got to be the most REAL and down to Earth musicians on the planet. What a fucking life they all must lead. I too cannot wait to hear this album.

and iron maiden are good to :D

I'm a maiden fan but man I don't to see old farts playing like they're still 20 yrs old, it's pathetic...


Fuck it. Bring Max back!!!

The this is Cloudy, they write and play much better than a lot of 20 years in the business who won't even last 2-3 albums. Maiden is legendary, and it was proven on Brave New World that they can still write great songs even if they indeed are rehashing the same rythmn lines in them. The melody and words change each time, and that's what keeps them great.

*I don't like

Can someone enlighten me as to the recording process? What is different about the mixing phase as opposed to the recording phase? Based on Kevin's previous diary entries it would seem as if he mixed the songs just after the recordings. This entry makes it sound as if they are only halfway there (ie as in the movies they shot the film but now must edit it).

Basically, in a modern recording studio, they might have up to 64 separate tracks. Some bands will record every instrument individually--so there might be a track for bass, several for drums, a separate track for every guitar part, plus lead and backing vox, keyboards, sound effects, etc. After recording everything, you have to mix it--you have to play all the tracks together, and adjust the volume so that you have the best-sounding "mix" on a normal, two track tape or disc. (because what we usually listen to at home is two track--left and right speaker).

Engineers will also adjust the balance--maybe one guitar track will be mixed more on the left, the other more on the right, because this makes it sound more like a real band playing live--not all the sounds are in the same place, but they aren't completely separated, either.

In Maiden's case, it sounds like the "basic tracks" are being recorded live (which is great for getting a rocking, live-sounding album), but if everything is miked properly, they can still get all the instruments on different tracks--usually, there will be a bunch of tracks for the various drums, actually, plus at least one each for the bass and (in Maiden's case) three guitars.

After recording the basic tracks, they might do a "rough mix," which gives the band and producer a chance to hear how it came out. If they like that particular "take," then they will usually overdub it--usually lead and backing vocals are recorded on separate tracks later, and often guitar solos, extra keyboard bits, sound effects, etc. are overdubbed on separate tracks as well.

When all that's done, then the real mixing phrase will begin: the band/producer/engineer will try adjusting the volume and left/right balance of all the various tracks, in order to come up with the best-sounding mix.

Yes, it's a lot like the movies: you have to shoot it first, but then you have to edit it. In the mixing process, they could even cut out parts of the song, or edit two takes together. It sounds like Maiden have done a little of this: maybe they recorded one take that started out great, and another which finished great, they can combine the takes so that you get the best of both worlds.

Anyway, how an album is mixed/edited can drastically affect how it comes out. Actually, after it's all mixed/edited, there is another phase, called "Mastering," but i know less about that, so I won't try to explain.

That's a bit rambling, but hope it helps!

Recording and mixing is something I love to do.. Protools and Logic are amazing and can be so awesome to use when creating an album...Hopefully this album kicks some ass...

He also produced another band called DREAM THEATER which is another progressive band which is the same as Iron Maiden, but with a more Rush feal with it and a tad of Metallica thrown in as well.