Animals As Leaders MEGATHREAD

[Ralyks]

Only backing track I heard was for the electronic sections. I heard literally no bass. There's no bass on Weightless, it's a pitch-shifted guitar.

I thought the Bass on the s/t was a pitch-shifted guitar as well...?

 

[baptizedinblood]

I thought the Bass on the s/t was a pitch-shifted guitar as well...?

You could be right, I'm not 100% sure though.

 

[Rational Gaze]

I would kill to hear an AAL record without the programmed drums for once. While the albums sound decent, there definitely is a proper polish missing to the sound. Tosin's music would be served so well with some bass playing and Matt playing drums. As much as I love it, it tends to sound fairly lifeless without. That's why the AAL show was so great. Having the live playing did so much for the music.

 

[Khoi]

Saw AAL last Friday, here's my report on their performance:

Matt is absolutely killing it, and to be honest, I prefer him in the band over Navene. Very clean/tight performance from him. Tosin and Javier played great as always, but after seeing them 5+ times, I'm starting to realize how 'weak' they sound live. Their playing isn't exactly weak, but I don't get that 'oomph' feel that I usually get with seeing bands live. I felt my organs shaking during Meshuggah (but then again it is Meshuggah so... ) but I didn't really feel much other than the drumming for AAL. IMO, they REALLY could use a bassist to beef up their live sound. Also, those Ionizer pickups...very brittle sounding. Not sure if I dig 'em. I wasn't even that close to stage and some of Tosin's clean sections were hurting my ears because the sound was so brittle and 'clicky'

Also, they played Do Not Go Gently. Nearly shit myself when I heard the electronic intro to it. Pretty sure this is the first tour that they have played the song on.

Overall, amazing show, but I've seen them a shit ton and really think they need a bassist.

it could be the venue.. I saw them in Orlando a few weeks ago, and they had much more "oomph" than Meshuggah, which I think was due to the sound guy

 

[MF_Kitten]

Only backing track I heard was for the electronic sections. I heard literally no bass. There's no bass on Weightless, it's a pitch-shifted guitar.

I know, reread my post.

I'm pretty sure they have that track in there with the electronic elements and stuff. I've seen live videos where it was pretty obvious that it was in there. It depends on how much low end the sound guy mixes in there from that track probably.

edit: listen to the solo section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lHd33m_QM84#t=292s

and when the guitars and stuff come in here, Tosin is playing the lead melody stuff, while Javier is playing the chords over it, so you can hear that the bass track is indeed separate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lHd33m_QM84#t=70s

 

[JosephAOI]

They definitely have bass on their backing track, I'm 100% sure of it cause I could hear it perfectly during songs like CAFO and Earth Departure.

 

[reau]

This month we have some nice chord voicing and Tosin ends the vid with a little Point to Point

 

[WildBroskiAppears]

My guess is that the bass on Weightless was some sort of sine honestly. Listen to the way it fades in in the middle section of Odessa. Same bass as the rest of the album, but it sounds very synthy there.

 

[animalsasleader]

Only backing track I heard was for the electronic sections. I heard literally no bass. There's no bass on Weightless, it's a pitch-shifted guitar.

You sir, are incorrect. We have a bass track throughout every song. There is also "bass" on "Weightless" provided from a Native Instruments plug-in called Massive. It's basically a sine wave, so it doesn't have much articulation but is very full and round in it's timbre.
It's interesting that you mention a lack of low end, because Fredrik was actively admiring the fullness of the low end we were achieving during a sound check and wanted to know exactly what we were doing to produce it. Also, Misha has started using Omnisphere for midi bass in his newer pre-production stuff, instead of an actual bass guitar (for convenience mostly). I personally love the sound of "real" bass, but this is simply another means of providing low end to a mix .
Your thoughts concerning the "brittle" sound of the ionizers may be slightly off base.... My preference for bright cleans doesn't mean the Ionizers inherently are brittle. Javier is using the exact same pickup as me and has a pretty different tone simply based off of his preference in EQ. Also, depending on the room, you may be hearing the sound guy add frequencies to get things to "cut" more in the mix. The tone, i've crafted with my rig may sound a fair bit different by the time it's eq'd to sit with everything else.
Ideally, you'll get a chance to play the pickups in a situation you are familiar with as opposed to trying to judge them from afar. There is so much to a good pickup, like how it actually "feels' when you're playing, etc..
Sorry to rant but you've made some definitive statements that simply aren't true.

 

[glassmoon0fo]

See, that's why I love this site. Members go on to be famous, then come back and set our shit straight

I'd also say that the ionizers arent brittle at all, as a matter of fact one of my favorite things about them is how easy it is to control the high end. They're riiiiiight there as far as brightness, but not so much that you have to dial out any of the highs to keep your eardrums from seizing up. You can push them there though, if you want. Great pickups IMO, and very versitile. If they had the same mid-bassy vibe that the DAs seem to have, I'd probably say I've found my favorite overall set.

And y'know, I was at a Coheed concert the other night and we decided to walk around the joint to see if we could find a sweet spot to enjoy the show, and indeed we did. The way the house sound is done, you kind of have to find sound "lobes" out in the audience that have a good mix of everything you're looking for. I have a decent deal of faith in most sound guys to get it close to right, they do their job for a living afterall, but they cant make the band sound killer in every corner of the venue. That's why I facepalm everytime somebody talks about the mix on these boards, you'd think we should be more concerned with the playing haha.

This isn't calling out anybody at all here, but occurs to me at this moment, that for a genre that's supposed to be one of the more accepting and diverse musical audiences out there, metalheads can get kinda take an elitist tone about things sometimes huh? Just ask tosin about his girl shorts

 

[asher]

I've always been kinda curious about what you guys have been doing for bass. Thanks for clearing that up Tosin!

I remember you guys being a bit shrill in Oakland a couple years ago on some of the cleans and meedlies (but crushingly heavy, oh god), but I've always chalked that kinda thing up to sound guy/venue/where I'm standing. The demos of the Ionizers sound pretty awesome but I see how they could get pushed out to brittleness.

 

[JosephAOI]

So Matt is definitely one of my favorite drummers now. He and Halpern are just the absolute best.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I saw them in Cleveland a few weeks back, and it was phenomenal! I noticed a few slip-ups, and I've got to admit that it's a great feeling to know that musicians you admire make mistakes too. Matt lost a few sticks, and there was a moment where the whole band seemed to be off, but only for a brief moment and then they got right back into the groove. It all happened so quick, and it seemed that at the next beat they were back on.

Not only was it a great show, but I learned that professions make mistakes, and when you do just smile, laugh, and keep going!

 

[MF_Kitten]

My guess is that the bass on Weightless was some sort of sine honestly. Listen to the way it fades in in the middle section of Odessa. Same bass as the rest of the album, but it sounds very synthy there.

Aaaaand, the post right beneath yours confirmed it!

 

[MF_Kitten]

You sir, are incorrect. We have a bass track throughout every song. There is also "bass" on "Weightless" provided from a Native Instruments plug-in called Massive. It's basically a sine wave, so it doesn't have much articulation but is very full and round in it's timbre.
It's interesting that you mention a lack of low end, because Fredrik was actively admiring the fullness of the low end we were achieving during a sound check and wanted to know exactly what we were doing to produce it.

I'm guessing it's a matter of where you stand in the room, and what the sound guy did for that room.

 

[DiegusMaximus32]

Saw AAL at the March 2nd show at the Wiltern in LA. Of course, goddamned LA traffic forced me to catch literally the LAST note of Intronaut's set AGAIN (I caught the last seconds of their last song when I saw Cynic in San Fran a couple years back).

It was strange seeing them play such a massive venue to a 2-3,000 person crowd after hanging out with them and learning from them on such a personal level at Camping With Animals. I mean, the last time I saw them perform before that was a private concert with like 30 people, during which I was moshing alongside Evan Brewer. The visuals really added a lot to the show, which were absent the first time I saw them. The new rigs (Axe FX into Port City Pearls) sounded awesome live. Were they playing different sets though? I've seen live videos where they played New Eden live, and they didn't play it during this show. Regardless, killer set from some of the coolest guys on the face of the earth. As for complaints about the mix, it was perfect from what I heard. Ultra heavy, and the bass was most certainly present.

Now, Meshuggah. I've seen these guys live once before and it was the greatest show I had ever seen. This time topped it by a huge margin. The light show was just unbelievable. On a side note, there's videos of the light guy playing the lights live along with the music! It's a spectacle for sure.

I didn't really enjoy Koloss as an album until I saw them play songs from it live. Swarm was just a tribal experience, with everyone just going ape-shit to the drums. I turned around and literally everyone is just spazzing out in their seats with their eyes rolled back in their heads (I was in the seated upper section, BTW.) The highlight for me was the ultra intense buildup to In Death is Life. I had goosebumps when the lights starting going along with the single note guitar theme.

All in all, one of the best shows I've ever seen, and definitely the longest set I've ever seen. Those Meshuggah guys could've played a three hour set no problem and I would have sat there entranced. If you can, catch this tour!

 

[froghawk]

I've created another piano transcription due to a request, this time of David:

Download the sheet music here.
Download the audio here.

 

[Jonathan20022]

 

[IAMLORDVADER]

I'll just leave this here

Rig Rundown - Animals As Leaders' Javier Reyes & Tosin Abasi - YouTube

 

[durangokid]

I'll just leave this here

Rig Rundown - Animals As Leaders' Javier Reyes & Tosin Abasi - YouTube

Did you guys see the metal covered emg on Javier RGA8QM? I want those on my DC800!!!