That is an interesting discussion going on here, but I think, we need to take few steps and take a brief look at the workflow employed by both ARR and HJ and try to understand the perceived sound quality differences.
ARR's tracks go directly from his Logic Pro on Digidesign platform into either Euphonix System 5 or Neve 88R which then gets recorded back into Pro Tools. Most of the mix or creating space for every instrument in the song, takes place at the Euphonix/Neve level. Now you have to understand that, System 5 is a digital console whereas Neve 88R is a vintage sounding modern analog console which introduces its own sound/distortion to the mix. Part of western music industry loves this vintage sound and describes the crystal clear digital sound as lifeless. The songs we heard few years ago were all mixed totally either on Euphonix System 5 or completely in the box on Pro Tools, whereas the new ones are probably done fully on Neve which gives a different sonic characters, which few of you describe as "not clear". I absolutely trust ARR/H. Sridhar's choice to use a particular gear to achieve the sound they have in mind. Now, somebody mentioned HJ having Euphonix MC and mentioned that it was advanced. I actually found it bit funny, no offence intended of course. From a simple man's viewpoint, Euphonix Media Applications controller, which is what HJ has, is a powerful keyboard and mouse, which offers lot of short cut keys, knobs, jog wheels, buttons etc, which improves the time you take to do certain operations on programs like Logic Pro, Pro Tools. I have used MC few times and HJ himself showed me things, he feels, help him do things efficiently. Simply put, HJ's gadget doesn't have onboard signal processing as the big brother version installed at ARR's studio. With HJ's workflow, it is slightly different. Everything is recorded and mixed directly on Pro Tools. If you look at Digidesign's website, you can see that he has ICON, which is a powerful controller for Pro Tools, but doesn't have onboard signal processing. Instead, it uses high quality plugins/tools that are available from within Pro Tools for sound processing. Once the sound enters the computer, it stays digital until the end. So you feel that it is clear, as there is no distortion introduced anywhere in the signal chain, as compared to the effect Neve has on songs mixed at ARR's studio. With "Guru", I think, it gets much more complex, when the tracks are brought from different studios across the world (e.g. Phase one Toronto, and may be some studio from Mumbai). Each session might have had different microphones, different recording techniques, engineers etc and the responsibility to make it sound even/good, falls on mixing engineer's shoulders. Having met both, being fan of both and, H. Sridhar, being my indirect mentor, I will refrain from judging which one is better. I like both and of course, I would feel proud and earn more bragging brownie points, if ARR mixes everything on Pro Tools. Apart from this whole technology gizmos, as somebody else pointed out, orchestration/arrangement matters a lot. With ARR songs, there are so many things happening that I learn something new, every time I listen to it. So, personally, I don't really bog myself down too much on the sound quality and trust the judgment of professionals doing the job and just enjoy the music they create. Disclaimer: BTW if anyone thinks or knows that I am totally wrong on the technology side of things, please let me know. These are few things I picked up when I had the privilege of meeting the greats and I very well could have misunderstood. I really admire your concentration, if you really read each and every line so far :) -- :: Bharath http://singingphotons.net
