Early Avex Nightmare had decent mixing but later on the mixing got lazy. Look at Rakuen form 2015. But then they locked in for Awakening. And since hiatus the mixing has been pretty good. I actually liked Nox Lux. If Nightmare somehow got independent that could explain the poor mixing since presumably the labels would be doing the mixing. Going independent would make it harder without the proper backing. But speculating isn’t useful. All we know is that these songs needed better mixing.
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Their producers are still from the Avex sublabel and their studio staff crosses over with other projects that don’t usually have issues (cali≠gari, Morrie…) but since this are digital I can’t look at the credits on these specific 2 songs in case anything changed.
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Yes right, this is why I didn’t even mention at first but edited to say maybe Avex - felt weird about letting Avex out of it but at the same time I wasn’t really feeling the production every time. I like Nox:Lux - but I did delete RAD DREAM to avoid hurting my eardrums with the sudden transition lolol. Its small stuff like this. Minor details that mae me go ehh IDK about this production every other single.
But again there could be so many factors at play. For instance since I got into the band during VAP era it’s possible that’s what I unconsciously want. There’s the fact that VAP era was peak not just Nightmare but jrock and vk generally so the trends that caught up then maybe are what we want in terms of producing (and maybe not even what the band wants) . Again, sound equipments could play a part. It’s really pointless to just guess … I don’t think there’s anything WRONG even. I mentioned in another thread my issue with metal is that you can’t distinguish the instruments sometimes and I like when each instrument is crystal clear and it’s not “too much” but it could be A Choice too. If I listen to it at a normal volume it sounds good anyways, it’s just not how I like it, and I’m blaming this feeling on earphones/ears now.
I honestly have read complaints about their mixing here and elsewhere during all their label phases except the post reunion era (and I suppose that’s because nobody bothers to comment much on them in general anymore). But I remember MH threads about clipping in Anima and the self titled and everything being both clipped and smashed in Scums although I don’t remember if that was said in MH.
I personally don’t notice the clipping all that and can usually hear each instrument in most of their songs except in very edge cases like some loud Scums songs or Awakening - that single peaks like crazy in the beginning for example.
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Ohh there was some clipping in the pre VAP era that I remember for sure. I don’t remember anything specifically in SCUMS but that’s Avex so lol maybe?
While part of me wants to say there is nothing wrong I keep bothered listening to it 
And that’s when a bit of an absurd theory came to me - aren’t at least some Nightmare bandmen … lefties? One of the things bothering me is that I keep wanting to turn the right earphone’s volume UP but I’m acutely aware of lateralization due to neurological issues. So if there’s an unusual (not even bad just uncommon) left-side bias I would be bothered. Can anyone check?
Clipped ? As in reusing snippets for choruses and prechoruses ? Every vk (and music in general) act does that. Even the older ones like Morrie and X Japan. It’d be disingenuous to criticize that alone. But the musicians are still generally expected to be able to play/sing their parts fluidly so excessive clipping is generally discouraged. Generally speaking it’s only parts that are repeated like choruses.
Once you get “producer ears” you hear all the little nuances that most people miss like clipping, and live pitch correction or lip sync in some cases
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Clipped as in all instruments are so loud they bleed into each other making them hard to make out. Like of you were listening to a shoegaze song but the effect not being intended and detrimental to the record.
There might be some confusion of clipping vs compression here - ever since 32bit float was introduced, clipping’s all but eliminated expect when going from mic to input, or being used purposefully. But accidental clipping, afaik, isn’t really a thing.
It’s much more likely someone was mixing multiple parts loud, either enjoyed the sound of the compressor responding as it does, or couldn’t compromise on where to lose gain and opted for harsh compression instead. But that’s not the same as clipping, where bits of information are lost bc they exceed the data range that can be passed around.
More modern is generally more compressed, and more noticably compressed, as overall speaking that’s the more preferred sound.
But distortion, like guitar distortion in an amp, is a sort of compression, as is autotune, as is reverb and delay.
So overall it’s hard to point at one stage of the process & think “that’s where it went wrong”, bc modern (like, since 2000s) music depends on a lot of applications of multilayered compressions. But straight clipping, like sending an 11 to a receiver that can do a -10 - 10, is way less of a thing than this
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Oh. But when you said “clipping” I really thought “this was clipped (ie cut and then replaced) but not neatly so it’s possible to hear it was clipped” . Like indies albums are prone to having. (cough if DEG - Yokan gets a pass I think everyone else with less powerful patrons is excused)
But about the issue of instruments bleeding into eachother I don’t think it was exactly an issue in that era. SCUMS has a more … dirty/messy sound that I remember but in an intentional way with like synthetizers and stuff - it’s okay to dislike that but doesn’t seem to be a mistake. I feel more of an issue with this in these two releases? Still hoping for someone to check if I’m crazy about the lateralization or not. Songs almost sound better when I distance my left earbud from my ear 
I would like for the instruments on the right to be heard clearly, well they are when I turn the volume super up but I don’t like to hurt my ears to listen to anything. Anyways, having said this I really do like both a lot <3
I don’t know exactlyyy what you mean by this, and it’s a bit hard for me to talk subjectively on Naitomea’s mixes - bc i grew up on their music, so what sounds like good music, to me, was kinda based on how they sound lol
That being said, i know Sakito’s guitars are generally mixed left & Hitsugi’s right, and Sakito generally plays higher parts, less compressed (so more differential in volume) on single-coils, which can have a loose, bright, trebly sound.
By contrast, Hitsu generally plays lower octave, more compressed, more consistent parts on humbuckers, which are warmer or less trebly.
So maybe those effects could add up, especially if you’re using speakers with more representation of high-mid & high frequencies than low & low-mids, to make for a louder (or maybe just more noticable) higher sound for you on the left than the right
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Thanks a lot! Lol don’t know what I mean either it’s just a perception thing - let’s say (to give a crude fictional example) there’s a trend like “rhythm guitar is on the right” but then for some reason in post-production it ended up on the center, and then it ends up sounding like there should be more stuff on the right and less stuff on the left. Some imbalances like that? I too grew up on their sound so it’s exactly what I have been comparing these releases too, which is why it seems to me like there are post-production issues even though the music is very cool.
Take something like Tokyo Shounen for instance and it all seems to be in the right place, it’s just what you described (Sakito playing the brighter higher part on the left and Hitsugi doing the lower consistent rhythm on the right) . In the center are Yomi’s voice and drums. Everything seems to be equally loud. P̶e̶r̶f̶e̶c̶t̶l̶y̶ b̶a̶l̶a̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ a̶s̶ a̶l̶l̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ b̶e̶
Back to Kuon … no. First, turn whatever’s on the right (can’t hear properly) volume up. Why are the drums sometimes only in the left? Why can I hear riffs on the left but not the right? Not properly. I agree it’s possible that my equipment and ears are to blame plus whatever changed in 20 years though, that’s what I was saying a few posts ago.
The only Nightmare song I can tell you with confidence was mixed terribly, in my opinion, is the B-side from Sleeper ‘Star Spangled Breaker’. I wonder if the got the guy in who mixed Corkscrew by Kuroyume lol
i just listened to these two tracks (i always wait to hear new music until i can listen on good equipment in a quiet room lol) and i can agree - these are def much less mixed than ナイトメア’s usual sound… to the point of sounding amateurish imho
not bad! just amateurish…
not too dissimilar from that run of demos mucc was putting out a few years ago.
I wonder if mea’s just planning on fixing them up when it’s album time - but this sudden weird new drop strategy + mix shift + the uploading to “NIGHTMARE!” instead of “Nightmare” is so strange…
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Right, that is what I have been trying to say - part of me wants to say there isn’t anything wrong with the production because there isn’t anything blatantly wrong or bad but at the same time it BOTHERS ME SOOOOO MUCH. But then once I started doing stuff like distancing my left earphones from my ear it got better, even switching sides it got kinda better. I have the same “issue” as yourself though Nightmare kinda helped shape my whole taste, so if switching right and left makes it sound better than the usual order something is very wrong.
For myself since I have actual brain issues that make me perceive sides a lot (you know, like when you have visual neglect on one side and stuff like that) and am not a producer in any way shape or form I am tempted to believe what happened here is not even “sloppy producing” per se it probably sounds fine on speakers, but it feels like some instruments and sounds are on the left when they should be center, and whatever is on right sounds boring, muted … it just doesn’t sound great somehow. Yet left is too clear, too sharp, so it doesn’t seem to be an equipment or studio issue either … I hoped someone could check this odd lateralization for me lol I swear by that!
This is interesting, thank you for enlightening! I saw them listed as under little hearts music as well but I wasn’t sure of the specifics. Now you’ve mentioned it, I see that Morrie is under that too, does Avex own that label perhaps?
In any case yeah seems like the reason why there’s a separate profile for Spotify is a mystery, for now; their Apple stuff is still tied down to the main profile tho.
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I don’t think Avex is related to Little Hearts Music since their parent company is Happynet that started as a cd/merch distributor with the birth of the little hearts CD store chains.
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Ah! Thank you so much for enlightening me! I didn’t know of this before, that’s absolutely fascinating. It’s so interesting that Xaa Xaa and Madna are also listed under Little Hearts Music, along with Morrie.
I’m surprised the two songs have been better received than I expected. I…don’t particularly care for either of them. “Kuon” is the better of the two for me, but they’ve had similar ballads that are way better. “Labyrinth” just sounds more like a copy and paste of “Rebels”, which I don’t care much for either.
I guess I haven’t liked anything they’ve released since “FAREWELL”. And somehow that seems like ages ago.
Labyrinth sounds like Rebel ? How ?
You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking when I first heard the song, but it’s much different when I’m listening to it while not doing something else simultaneously.
I actually do like the songs now.
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