Mike Mettler

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Music Reviews
Def Leppard: Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 14, 2018
Performance
Sound
When the phrase “beast mode” entered the vernacular, it was intended mainly as a descriptor for a singularly focused level of energy and drive as exhibited by certain football players. But it just as easily could have been used to describe the laser focus Def Leppard displayed in the face of innumerable odds while recording the 1987 juggernaut known as Hysteria. It may have taken them 34 months of on/off studio time and a hefty price tag of 2 million pounds to get to the finish line, but the ensuing album sold over 25 million copies worldwide and became the defining sonic template for the scores of pop-metal crossover hybrids that followed.
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Music Reviews
Def Leppard: ‘Pyromania’ – Super Deluxe Edition Box
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 20, 2024
Def Leppard was an ’80s anomaly. The band wasn’t exactly part of the decade-opening NWOBHM (a.k.a. New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) scene, nor was it entirely aligned with the androgynous, hair-sprayed looks and vibes of metal-adjacent contemporaries like Mötley Crüe and Poison. Instead, Def Leppard took inspiration from their own ’70s heroes, fusing glam-slam and pub-rock roots with power-pop harmonies and arena-rock guitar riffage. Stir it all together, and you get one of that decade’s biggest albums, January 1983’s Pyromania.
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Other Tech
Desert Island Discs
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 03, 2006

Who could be more perfect to solicit a pair of Desert Island Disc lists from than the executive producers of Lost, a show where music and locale are so often intertwined? Lost masterminds Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse couldn't have agreed more, so here are their respective 10-song lists.

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Track One
Devon Allman's Turquoise Soul
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 04, 2013

"It's rich. It's got depth that you'll never get from an MP3, and it's just cool, man. It's got more soul." That's Devon Allman, talking about one of our favorite subjects, vinyl.

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The S&V Interview
Dido: A Vocal Ingenue Who’s Still on Our Minds
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 13, 2019
Celebrated British chanteuse Dido called us to discuss her new album Still on My Mind and how her best song mixes are meant to draw you in as a listener, when and when not to use reverb, and why sequencing remains critical to the arc of an album.
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Music Reviews
Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms in Dolby Atmos & 40th Anniversary Edition Box Set
Mike Mettler  |  May 30, 2025

Forty years ago this month in May 1985, the savior of the then-burgeoning compact disc format arrived in the name of Dire Straits’ fifth studio album Brothers in Arms, a career-defining release that became the first CD to ever sell a million copies. Read music editor Mike Mettler’s combo deep-dive review of the just-released BIA 40th Anniversary Edition 5LP and 3CD box sets and companion 1LP and 1BD editions, plus find out just how good BIA sounds in Dolby Atmos. . .

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The S&V Interview
Director John Badham Reflects on 40 Years of Saturday Night Fever
Mike Mettler  |  May 04, 2017
“It’s just part of our audio culture,” believes Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, who supervised the 4K 1080p print restoration and English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD surround sound updates for the film's Director’s Cut, which was released by Paramount on Blu-ray on May 2 in celebration of the film’s imminent 40th anniversary. Badham, 77, called in from Southern California to discuss how to maintain a gritty look in 4K, matching song tempo to what was being filmed, and the song originally used during the infamous dance-contest rehearsal that had to be replaced at the literal last minute.
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Stream On
Discovering New Music on Bandcamp
Mike Mettler  |  May 22, 2019
If you enjoy discovering new music, you need to check out Bandcamp.
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Music Reviews
Doechii: “Denial Is a River” and “Boiled Peanuts” in Dolby Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 27, 2025

As Black History Month comes to a close, we wanted to put our final BHM aural spotlight on the always dynamic Tampa rapper Doechii. Not only did she perform a mightily charged set in New Orleans the night before Super Bowl LIX just 19 days ago, but on February 2, 2025, Doechii also won the Grammy for Best Rap Album for her powerful 2024 mixtape release, Alligator Bites Never Heal. Even better, all of Bites is available in Dolby Atmos. Read Mike Mettler’s review of a pair Alligator tracks — the self-analytical “Denial Is a River” and the knowingly defiant “Boiled Peanuts” — to find out just how Doechii has taken a serious bite out of the 360-degree apple. . .

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The S&V Interview
Don Felder Welcomes Us to Hotel High-Resolution
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 11, 2015
Don Felder has found his groove. The former lead guitarist of the Eagles is now flourishing as a solo artist, having found his sea legs on record with the broad reach of Road to Forever (INgrooves/Forever Road Music) — only his second solo album in 30-odd years, following 1983’s Airborne — and a quite muscular live set, which features Eagles favorites and deep cuts alike, ranging from “Life in the Fast Lane” to “Those Shoes,” all interspersed between powerful readings of solo favorites like “You Don’t Have Me” and “Heavy Metal.” Before heading out on his winter solo tour, Felder, 67, and I got together to discuss his thoughts on sound quality, the very mystique of California itself, and how he came to create the acoustic intro that turned the already indelible “Hotel California” into a revamped classic. Ah, such a lovely place.
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