Why did they stop recording live in the studio?

[GlidingAbove]

The same friend from college I mentioned before, who was a huge Coroner fan as well, told me that starting on the "Mental Vortex" album, the band started recording "direct" in the studio instead of live. For those that don't know, this means that instead of setting up microphones in front of the amplifiers to record the sound, they would take the signal directly from the amplifiers and run it into the studio's mixing board. As a result, you'll often get a different sound than recording "live", or with mics. If you compare the guitar sound on the first three albums with the rest of their material and you'll hear what I mean.

Anyway, does anyone know why they switched? I don't remember if my friend ever told me the reason (he read about this in an interview way back when) but I'd like to know why.

[GlidingAbove]

I guess no one knows then?

[rolgat]

I don't know, but I think the guitar sounds great from Mental Vortex on. I suppose it's easier than miking up a guitar, and maybe his neighbours couldn't take any more. The sound is certainly punchier and the riffs far more audible than No More Color and before.

[Sirius13]

Yes, I think I do!

I think your friend is referring to the SPARS code which is displayed on a CD. Definitions are as follows:

DDD
Digital tape recorder used during session recording, mixing and/or editing, and mastering (transcription).
ADD
Analog tape recorder used during session recording; digital tape recorder used during subsequent mixing and/or editing, and mastering (transcription).
AAD
Analog tape recorder used during session recording and subsequent mixing and/or editing; digital tape recorder used during mastering (transcription).

This changed, not on Mental Vortex, but actually on Grin. Up to and including MV, the CDs are AAD, Grin is ADD.

This does not mean they stopped 'playing live' in the studio though. All it means is that on Grin the editing/mixing was done digitally, whereas on all previous releases this stage was analog.

I suspect that this is the change to which your friend referred, and I believe that he was mistaken in his understanding of what it meant in terms of the recording process, but to some extent I think it does show through in the final published material.

...Personally I find that Mental Vortex has a nice warm analog feel (especially on vinyl!). But I do think that Grin has a slightly colder digital feel.

Hope that helps!