fthesoundguy
Senior Member
I have to start by saying that while I am a huge Rush fan, this release has never been a favorite of mine to listen to. Nothing has ever really made an impact on me like all the other albums have. I flipped a lot between the stereo and multichannel. It enhanced it a lot (which I think was Chycki’s goal?), but still not groundbreaking by any means.
‘Anthem’ had some cool moments. Doubled vocals in the surrounds and the echo going from surround left to center to surround right. A really, really great moment. The second part of the guitar solo seemed weird to me. Felt like it went from the center in the first part to then mostly being in the right and surround left for me. A little off-putting.
‘Best I Can’, ‘Beneath, Between & Behind’, ’Fly By Night’ and ‘In The End’ all feel like enhanced stereo tracks, especially ‘FBN’. Nothing really good or bad to say about them. The Phaser on the vocal in ‘FBN’ were the standout moments from those. ‘In The End’ also had that phasey high-hat going between the surround left and right as well as another cool echo moment like in ‘Anthem’.
‘By-Tor and the Snowdog' also had a lot of cool moments. Loved the echo swirling around and the guitar / bass solo “fight” was great. There were a couple of moments that were weird however. When the snare and its reverb come into play in the middle section, it sounds off because the chimes are in the surround left, which make the reverb go from the center to mostly the surround right (even though its also in the surround left) because there’s nothing really else in it at that moment. A moment like that comes up in Rivendell too.
‘Making Memories’ was a nice surprise. The acoustic in the center then going to the surrounds at the start was awesome! It makes it really nicely balanced when the electric solo comes up in the fronts. I should listen to this track a little more often.
‘Rivendell’ still sucks. 5 minutes of my life I wish I could get back every time I listen to it. Do SOMETHING with the mix…. I would have done vocal in the center, acoustic in the front and electric in the rears. Something to just let this track breathe and balance it out. The surround left really gets let out of this track since the guitar is in both the front and rear right. It feels like my head is tilted. I know it’s like that in the stereo mix, but the surround really points out what a flaw that really is.
I appreciate Chycki putting the crash/ride cymbals in the surrounds, but it feels weird with all of Neil’s drums up front and then some random cymbals coming from behind you. Not really a cohesive unit to me. Sometimes it was hard to figure out where guitars were coming from sometimes. Usually that meant I could go up to every speaker and hear a bit of it. It made it feel really cluttered and a little exhausting to listen to.
Highlights: Anthem, By-Tor and the Snowdog, Making Memories, In The End.
It’s probably an 7.5, but i’ll bump it up to a 8 for now because By-Tor was pretty damn great. Made me appreciate it a hell of a lot more. Maybe i’ll come back and change it when I hear some of Chycki’s other Rush mixes. This just did not excite me at all like AFTK (SW mix) did. If this is Chycki’s best, then I guess its ok. Still glad to have it, and its a big improvement on the stereo mix for me. It's a fun album to just crank up and enjoy for the most part. I’ve already replayed this album more in the past week than I have in probably the last 10 years.
‘Anthem’ had some cool moments. Doubled vocals in the surrounds and the echo going from surround left to center to surround right. A really, really great moment. The second part of the guitar solo seemed weird to me. Felt like it went from the center in the first part to then mostly being in the right and surround left for me. A little off-putting.
‘Best I Can’, ‘Beneath, Between & Behind’, ’Fly By Night’ and ‘In The End’ all feel like enhanced stereo tracks, especially ‘FBN’. Nothing really good or bad to say about them. The Phaser on the vocal in ‘FBN’ were the standout moments from those. ‘In The End’ also had that phasey high-hat going between the surround left and right as well as another cool echo moment like in ‘Anthem’.
‘By-Tor and the Snowdog' also had a lot of cool moments. Loved the echo swirling around and the guitar / bass solo “fight” was great. There were a couple of moments that were weird however. When the snare and its reverb come into play in the middle section, it sounds off because the chimes are in the surround left, which make the reverb go from the center to mostly the surround right (even though its also in the surround left) because there’s nothing really else in it at that moment. A moment like that comes up in Rivendell too.
‘Making Memories’ was a nice surprise. The acoustic in the center then going to the surrounds at the start was awesome! It makes it really nicely balanced when the electric solo comes up in the fronts. I should listen to this track a little more often.
‘Rivendell’ still sucks. 5 minutes of my life I wish I could get back every time I listen to it. Do SOMETHING with the mix…. I would have done vocal in the center, acoustic in the front and electric in the rears. Something to just let this track breathe and balance it out. The surround left really gets let out of this track since the guitar is in both the front and rear right. It feels like my head is tilted. I know it’s like that in the stereo mix, but the surround really points out what a flaw that really is.
I appreciate Chycki putting the crash/ride cymbals in the surrounds, but it feels weird with all of Neil’s drums up front and then some random cymbals coming from behind you. Not really a cohesive unit to me. Sometimes it was hard to figure out where guitars were coming from sometimes. Usually that meant I could go up to every speaker and hear a bit of it. It made it feel really cluttered and a little exhausting to listen to.
Highlights: Anthem, By-Tor and the Snowdog, Making Memories, In The End.
It’s probably an 7.5, but i’ll bump it up to a 8 for now because By-Tor was pretty damn great. Made me appreciate it a hell of a lot more. Maybe i’ll come back and change it when I hear some of Chycki’s other Rush mixes. This just did not excite me at all like AFTK (SW mix) did. If this is Chycki’s best, then I guess its ok. Still glad to have it, and its a big improvement on the stereo mix for me. It's a fun album to just crank up and enjoy for the most part. I’ve already replayed this album more in the past week than I have in probably the last 10 years.
