That sound's pretty much ruined the last few SY and Dino Jr albums for me.

It's plain awful - SYR9 was such a breath of fresh air, I could finally appreciate what Steve was playing again. It's not only the drums, the entire mix on The Eternal sounds as though the treble is shaved off - the guitars don't have any bite at all.

It's a shame.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not alone! For what it's worth, I think Lee's is the least affected of all the albums mentioned - and while this might sound insane, it feels clearer to me listening to the free mp3 download w/ headphones compared to my turntable at moderate volume.

Still loving the songs, by the way!

Yeah, Syr9 music is just great but also sounding is very great! I wonder why they haven´t recorded most of their "official" material with Aaron Mullan?

After I had written that, I watched the discography-page and noticed Aaron has been also in both Rather Ripped and the Eternal recordings. But maybe Agnello really have the last word in sounds? Because in my opinion all Syr-material that is recorded by Wharton or Aaron is just sounding great! By the way why name of Wharton hasn´t been anywhere in SY-recordings nowdays?

not sure. SY has been known to go from producer to producer. i think they wanted/needed a new direction.
i can't even imagine what Eternal would sound like if it were produced just by SY and Wharton.

SY9 is fantastic sound wise. Steve is always the stand out performer in most SYRs.

Aaron did fantastic work on Nurse and SYR9.

Yes, I love the way Nurse sounds.

You're certainly not alone - I'm only surprised I don't see more comments in regards to the sound of the last two SY albums. The Eternal, particularly, seemed to suffer from it to the point where I find it quite a tough listen.

I agree that Lee's album is much less a victim that either of the last two SY LPs proper, but that same thuddy Agnello signature is still present.

I wonder how much more favourably I'd think of The Eternal if I enjoyed the way it sounded - as it stands, it's one of my least favourite SY albums.

That Pitchfork video session they did to promote The Eternal sounded phenomenal. I wonder if Aaron engineered it...

I really love also the Eternal (music) and I think guitars sound ok in it. But I really also hope if they will make some new material, they will search somebody other producer. One album with those "pro-tools drum sounds" are ok, but another one will be boring.

I don't hear any obvious signs of Pro Tools, I'm not sure what you're getting at there. Pro Tools is just a tool, in any case; a multi-track recorder. There's nothing inherently wrong with it.

I've never heard anything artificial about the drum or guitar tones - it's literally just a lack of treble. The whole album (The Eternal) sounds as though there's a blanket over the speakers.

Check out the pitchfork session, the guitars just scream...

I agree about everything except the Dino thing. Farm was lacking, but Beyond sounded fantastic. I was just plain stunned at how invigorating they sounded.

The songs are good on Beyond (better than on Farm, I thought, though the latter seemed to get all the glowing reviews) but it still has that same muffled sound.

I agree. That version of Calming the Snake blows me away. I think it sounds much better than what's on the album.

Just watching this now, you're right. Too bad the album doesn't sound like this!

I finally bought Lee's new album yesterday. At first I was surprised how conventional it sounds and then how much it reminds of Neil Young.

I've listened album couple of times now and I like it. It's nice and easy going, and most of the songs are good. At this time my favorite is album starter, "Waiting on a Dream".

Me too. I love three songs off it, the rest I never want to listen to again. I agree with the people saying John Agnello's production is awful, but I wouldn't put the blame on him; most of the songs are mediocre at best. I also agree with those who say that LR's voice sounds a bit like Michael Stipe's. I have always thought that ever since I've played ''Mote'' for the first time. Anyway, off to listen to records with better imagination. This one is for the hardcore fans, I suppose.

Well, I don´t know almost anything about pro-tools. But when my band recorded demo many years ago with pro-tools, the drums sounded like in Eternal. Also many my friends demos drums in total different music styles have sounded like it. Of course I know you can make with it very different drum sounds, but I have thought that maybe there is some kind of basic adjustements in protools, so if you don´t pay enough attention to fix them, there will come some kind of "pro-tools" sounds.

By the way Agnello´s production I really like Trees Outside Academy sounds, they are totally different than any other Agnello made sounds.

hello there, you're not alone. Agree 100%.

I'm very sorry to say, but this album sucks major ass.
Wait, I'm not even sorry.

Everyone who can't stomach the pop/rock/folk accessibility present should just download a live set, make a playlist with Xtina & Waiting on a Dream, and pretend he just put out a single. Of course then you'd be missing the awesome midsections of Lost, Shouts, Hammer Blows, etc...