Best produced melvins album.

[meezer]

Great stuff, aA!  I can't find any info on mastering in the CD packaging for Stoner Witch. On Stag, it says:mastered at precision mastering by Stephen Marcussen & Ron Boustead. 

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

Lots of great insight, Amazon.

[Dumpster D]

I dont mind the Triggered snare thing, Its more goof-proof of course, saved Lysol on a quick fix, cutting corners..Working smart not hard seems to be the new trend now at any rate, everything Is digital now anyway...So the 90s was the real Analog-digital Transitonary phase where Analog sound was at its peak best, and digital was still wearing diapers. 

Meshuggah Blended a nice Trigger sound with the Drum mics on Koloss and I think that gives the best of both worlds on a record.

But Drum Triggering in heavy metal has been standardized and crossed right on over into post and pop punk all too easy.

it was inevitable. too many morons in the control booths.

[(the) Razor]

Nah, I don't think we're talking about the actual one guitar here. I mean he could always get one every 5 or 6 years!

I mean this is completely 100% subjective and Buzz can do whatever he wants obviously, but to me, the EGC sounds "thin" and "twangy" and "metallic" but the Gibson sounds warm and full. I think the EGC sounds great with someone like Duane Denison's kind of style, really suits him, but I miss the warm fat tone of the Gibson with Melvins. That's all! Not having a crack at Buzz or the guitar brands but there is a huge difference and it's all opinion

Have you heard it live?... There is nothing "Thin" about that sound

Didn't see this post a year ago but got an email today. So may as well.....

I've seen Melvins and the EGC twice, but live it generally doesn't matter what gear the band uses in a gig. Oranges, Marshalls - distortion usually ends up sounding the same live at 100 decibels! I spend most of the time listening to their records, which is where the EGC does sound different.

Just listen to Tres Cabrones (American Cow, Psychedelic Haze) then compare back to the 1983 records and Les Paul days. The "Thin" or "Tinny" sound of the EGC is not bad, but it sounds very different and takes some getting used to. Buzz sounds like he plays a solid state amp these days even.

GREAT POST - Amazon! I think Stoner Witch is also the best sounding and mixed 'rock' album I've ever heard sonically.

[black stallion]

I DIDN'T REALIZE SO MANY MELVINS FANS WERE DEAF TO SONIC PROPERTIES...

Stoner Witch and Stag are among the best produced albums I own (and that's well into the ten thousands).

There was a time that now has passed. A time when a big five record company could throw $100,000 or more at an album from a "developing artist" and send them to the best studios, hook them up with a killer producer, spare no expense on recording equipment and engineers.

"Stoner Witch" is where the Melvins were able to really nail their heavy sound (especially the first four songs). The stars had aligned. They got through their growing pains in recording Houdini. They were with Gggarth's supervision (his other records from around this time were all also great sounding). As noted elsewhere, the engineer Joe Baressi was on board and he was genius. They had enough budget for two assistant engineers. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys end up doing something ridiculous like holding a $20,000 microphone on an isolated boom mic a precise 7" away from Dale's dirty splash. Or maybe they stood out back and smoked cigarettes. Who knows? But Joe and Gggarth were on board. Also remember Mark D was an experienced recording engineer at this time, too, which may have been relevant. SToner WItch has many of my favorite Melvins bass moments.

On Stoner Witch you also have gems like "June Bug" and "Goose Freight Train" where you get clean tones, lots of air, mood. This record is amazing. Everything is on point. You could listen to this album on repeat for a week straight and your ears would never fatigue. You would catch a new nuance on Sunday.

Stag goes even further, taking basically the same team and letting them get a little freakier with the sonics and techniques. There's some demo-ey experimental stuff on there that goes pretty far out and might hinder repeat listenability. But if you look at the core of the Melvins setlist songs on there ("The Bit," "Bar X," "Skin Horse," Captain Pungent," "Tipping the Lion,'" "The Bloat" and a few others) you'll hear that same kind of excellent heaviness that worked on Stoner Witch and is evident here on even more unconventional material.

I don't have the liner notes in front of me, but the mixing and mastering on these records was ace. You only had a couple in-demand mastering gurus at this time (I want to say Howie Weinberg, Grundman, Ludwig, Tom Baker, and a few more) and if they weren't on this record, then whoever did master it was at least competent enough to not screw anything up (which is the real danger of good mastering). I want to say Tom Baker did Stag but I could be wrong.

Honky seemed to have much of the same approach, but probably cut some corners due to budget. The sound is still excellent.

I think (A) Senile Animal is the best sounding record they did after that, although as mentioned elsewhere Pigs of the Roman Empire has the band sounding supreme. We'll leave the soundscapes out of this discussion as it's not really relevant to comparing albums.

I've heard Buzz on numerous occasions defending against blanket attacks on the major label system. There is/was a lot wrong with it, but that system allowed the band to make three amazing albums with mostly their own creative freedom. Buzz has found various outlets to explain what didn't work about the relationship with Atlantic (bad touring demands, music video hassles, marketing budgets and possibly misrepresentation) but I've never heard him express regrets about the recording/mixing/final product of those three records especially Stoner Witch and Stag.

I also want to say that Bulls & Bees sounded great (listening to the CD). Tres Cabrones sounds pretty awesome in most places. Sausages is all over the place (the Melvins Lite songs and the Bowie song are the ones I really dig sonically). Bride Screamed sounds great.

In reference to sample replacement on snare... this is so common among sound engineers you would be amazed. Probably 80% of rock albums in the past two decades have used this. People commonly pull Bonham or Grohl or a few other butt naked snare sounds from exceptional recording sessions. I worked with a producer who had a coveted collection of them. If you got rid of all records that had a sample beefing up the snare, you'd probably lose half your favorite records.

i agree with every single word you just said

I think Stoner Witch is also the best sounding and mixed 'rock' album I've ever heard sonically.

no doubt about that! Stag and Stoner Witch are some of the best produced albums in rock music

[surfling]

I DIDN'T REALIZE SO MANY MELVINS FANS WERE DEAF TO SONIC PROPERTIES...

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