I’ve done home studio overdubs for my own projects for guitars and such - it’s not uncommon, and yes technically speaking, you are the engineer in that scenario!
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This is also not uncommon these days - I remember the same thing happened on Whoosh! but there were like three engineers plus Bob and I was like, “Holy fuck, how many mix engineers do you need?!”
I always thought Whoosh suffered for a very imbalanced mix so I guess the answer is, not that many!
Just because it’s been a trend doesn’t make it right/good.
Uwe, how do you find the compression to be a good thing?
I’ve been wondering when the a certain German lawyer will enter the discussion - let’s hope your summoning ritual worked 
Yes. Uwe has previously referred to Ezrin’s productions/mixes as being ”cinematic”. But compressed cinema can never be a good thing?
I think it really depends on how much compression you prefer in a mix and master - for me, I prefer a minimum use, you do need some of it, and at the same time, I can hang with a more overly compressed sound even though it’s not what I prefer.
I don’t experience Ezrin’s mixes as cinematic and I’d be really curious to hear more on how Uwe experiences the mixes - I think it would be worthwhile to hear his perspective, I might learn something!
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Is it a classic case of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’? It makes us think back to the days when an engineer/producer spent forever on the drums. But in this day and age? It sounds like the drums are getting limited time spent on them, unless these engineers etc are not up to the job, as in what it use to entail. The microphones and their placement and also the room these days would be different we would think, or at least some of those things may be. Newer technology, people who are into todays ‘sound’. Has that like many other things these days, been ‘dumbed down’, so to speak. I listened to Eddie Kramer’s recent interview at Beato a few weeks ago, and of course the drum sound query and comments were there. From my memory Eddie said he uses 10% analogue, various analogue ‘plug ins’ and the rest is modern state of the art technology. I went and found online a recent song of Eddie’s work and of course it had the ‘modern’ sound, the drums dead and buried, muffled muddy over all sound to it. His ears wouldn’t be the best either I could imagine. A combination of various things, today’s way of doing it all, alas. I am a dinosaur in regard to this aspect of modern day recordings of rock and pop music and I am glad to be one, living in the past. Cheers.
Be very careful with who you summon Mike, he he he. He is an Ezrin acolyte and dare I say it, ‘living in the past’ in that regard. Ezrin was a very good producer back in the analogue days, like all of the very good producers were. Times have changed and unfortunately technology good or bad has become the norm, as it always does, eventually. Cheers.
I have been holding my opinion back, but I think it is time. I checked back and apparently two years ago I had a pretty glowing opinion of =1. I must say I was pleasantly surprised then, but as two years have gone by, it has landed somewhere not very much above Whoosh.
The same way I was somewhat excited to hear Splat! the first time, I will have to be realistic. Yes, it is a better album than I expected; some of the songs actually stick and Sacred Land I actually have listened on its own.
The honest question to ask is this: when Splat! ceases to be the “current” Deep Purple album, will I be going back to it, or will I choose something else? And as with =1, the answer will be “something else”. It’s not that the songs are bad, or that the production would be uninviting or that the chops wouldn’t be there. As with =1, some of the songs have decent choruses this time around.
What is not there is the, for want of a better word, exquisite mastery, that sets the earlier post-Blackmore Deep Purple albums apart from whatever else has been made over the past 20-30 years. Splat!, similarly to its immediate precedessors, is in that sense a pedestrian album. It is made by competent people with agreeable ideas and occasionally even clever lyrics.
All of this, of course, is to be expected. The main motors of the group are around 80 years old. It’s not like they have something to prove. Their desire to explore musical territory is limited - be it new or old territory. Deep Purple know they are to be saluted from just existing at this point, and they are enjoying every moment of it while this existence lasts. It just doesn’t make their new music very exciting or particularly interesting - especially when contrasted to the several periods in the history of the band, where it was both.
For what it is, Splat! is a nice record. And, I really like the cover art!
I’m glad it came out and I bought it.
Without at least some compression, pretty much all rock recordings would be unlistenable. The cymbals (particularly crash) are loud. No, not loud, but LOUD. Like, up to +130dBa loud. And it’s not like one can isolate them from all the other mikes, as the rest of the kit is right there. So it bleeds everywhere. Compression is the only way to make it palatable.
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With the emphasis on some.