John, I see what you mean and that makes sense comparing it to Lightning Bolt. I listened to them side-by-side a little, and personally, I feel the songs on Lightning Bolt sound more "cohesive." In other words, when I listen to High Rise and S/T, the parts of each song sound a little too separated for me -- almost like I can visualize each song being pieced together in Pro Tools. They don't sound 100% convincing as four guys playing together in a room. And I'm not accounting for the little extras and overdubs that are layered in, but with those things aside, I still feel STP's self-produced efforts lack a bit of realism in that sense. That is the one difference I notice between STP's self-produced stuff and the Brendan-produced stuff. Perhaps it has more to do with how they were mastered than whether Brendan was involved or not. Do you guys hear what I'm talking about or no?
By the way, this observation is a very minor thing. I still think both High Rise and S/T sound really great overall. Just curious if anyone else hears what I'm hearing, especially anyone with experience in the audio field.