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Album Production/Sound Quality


MrShankly

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I was listening to The Smiths' Meat Is Murder album and on a couple of songs thought "i wish the guitar was louder". On 1 or 2 songs the vocals and bass are really loud and stand out and the guitar is barely audible in the background, leaving the song sounding like its lacking actual music. And this reminded me that, sometimes, album production or sound can really make or ruin an album. 

Which album's for you stand out as really good or really bad production-wise? 

A couple of bad examples that spring to mind for me are The Verve's A Storm in Heaven and The Fall's The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall. On both of those the vocals are buried in the music and you just can't make them out, so I just can't enjoy them. I always sing along to music so maybe it bother's me more than some, I dunno, but ,personally, I just can't understand why they would go for that sound and release it like that. Sometimes the sound system youre using makes a big difference but for the most part mine is decent enough.

One of my favourite's is Oasis Definitely Maybe. I LOVE how "live" it sounds, it just sounds like a fucking gig, especially Columbia and Bring It On Down, and it just makes it special. For a band that doesn't actually do much at a live gig (i've got metal fan friends that take the piss cause Oasis just stand and play) there's so much energy there in the music, and this album really captures it.

 I'll try think of some more...

Edited by MrShankly
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Off the top of my head some of the best are:
Buckethead - Captain EO's Voyage. It sounds very 'home studio', but it completely works. It's possibly my favorite BH album, and that's saying something :lol:
Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam. They went for a big 'pop' production sound on this album and it sounds great. They took the opposite approach on their last album, recorded it live in one take, and if you listen to songs like Shoe Box or Don't Give In it's easy to imagine them with the S/T 'sound', which somehow makes me appreciate that album even more since it's a bit of an oddity in their catalogue. It's all killer, no filler.
In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading. It sounds diverse and cohesive at the same time, probably their best album production-wise (never really liked the sound of Soundtrack To Your Escape or Colony for example, even though I consider them great albums).
Explosions In The Sky - All of a sudden I miss everyone. It sounds fantastic, Catastrophe And The Cure is still one of my favorite songs.
...and of course, AFD.
 

and some of the worst are:
Cradle of Filth - Damnation and a Day. A classic case of 'what couldv'e been' a good album ruined by shitty production. They used 1 guitar player, different tuning, a new label, it was just shit. It was all downhill from there, too.
In Flames - Reroute to Remain. Same case as above, most of the songs are good but the 'tinny' production makes it unlistenable. Yes, they made both lists :lol:

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There are some famous ones.  The album LAMF by The Heartbreakers was considered to be one of the greatest rock n roll albums of the 70s but they fucked up the mix, there's like umpteen mixes out there, some sound great, some sound naff. 

Raw Power is another example, David Bowies mix sounds limp and tinny, Iggy remixed it in 97 and basically just cranked everything up, i think it makes it sound perfect, others will prefer the Bowie mix.

Out of interest what songs of Meat is Murder did you think sounded off kilter guitarwise?

 

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Metallica have a couple. Death Magnetic, a good batch of songs, is completely destroyed through its production. St Anger also possesses awful production, but the songs are awful on that one so it does not really matter. I do not like the production on Neil Young and Pearl Jam's Mirror Ball, very low and murky - so low you need a hearing aid to listen. Chinese Democracy is cluttered with overdubs as is, to a lesser degree, Illusion, and I am not personally keen on the abrasive 'numetal' production of Contraband.

Some people criticise the Andrew Loog Oldham produced Stones' albums; they are a tad thin and ''BBC' sounding but I think he did alright - after all, these are some of the most iconic singles in rock history, 'Satisfaction', 'Paint it Black', etc.  There is no doubt however that the band sounded better again when they recorded at Chess and it took until Jimmy Miller to get the best out of the band later on. Aerosmith's debut gets criticised but I actually like its rawness (it is actually my favourite Aerosmith album).

Queen's Jazz. Kiss's Hotter Than Hell (distant and demolike) and Dressed to Kill (flat and dry).

The Fabulous Little Richard is often criticised as they (Little Richard had 'found god' at this point) overdubbed a female group over the top, but I do not mind it. Of course there is a similar example of this in Phil Spector's Let it Be, the bete noir of McCartney. Hendrix disliked the mastering on Electric Ladyland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nevermind and In Utero seem to get different opinions. Nevermind has that low underwaterey sound, In Utero can be loud and raw. I like both. They fit.

The Misfits original stuff has garage type production but that shit still sounds good. That goes for a lot of the original punk stuff.

Hank III - Straight to Hell was recorded on an old school 8-track in somebody's house. It's one of the best country albums in the past 25 years.

All Eyez on Me is the best produced hip hop album.

 

Chili Peppers  are one of my favorite bands and love all their albums, but a few of the big ones have not so great production.

I like both of the new Alice in Chains albums but both have bad mixes.

Recovery was a huge hit for Eminem but I absolutely hate how it sounds.

Edited by J Dog
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9 hours ago, Len B'stard said:

Out of interest what songs of Meat is Murder did you think sounded off kilter guitarwise?

 

Well since you asked I went and listened to it again, and for some reason, today I don't think it's as bad. The contrast between quiet guitar and bass/vocals is still there I think but i'm trying to get to back to thinking of it as normal. I think it was Rusholme and I Want The One I Can't Have that stood out most from that album. 

It's wierd cause I've listened to their albums for years, but it was just really apparent yesterday, and I went and checked their other albums to compare and the rhythm guitar is really quiet on most of their stuff. Now that i've noticed, it really stands out. 

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36 minutes ago, MrShankly said:

Well since you asked I went and listened to it again, and for some reason, today I don't think it's as bad. The contrast between quiet guitar and bass/vocals is still there I think but i'm trying to get to back to thinking of it as normal. I think it was Rusholme and I Want The One I Can't Have that stood out most from that album. 

It's wierd cause I've listened to their albums for years, but it was just really apparent yesterday, and I went and checked their other albums to compare and the rhythm guitar is really quiet on most of their stuff. Now that i've noticed, it really stands out. 

Thats not bad production, thats a deliberate technique, the bass is up because the bounce is in the bass and the rhythm guitar is light to give it a kinda Buddy Holly type feel, if the guitar was louder than the bass it wouldnt have that jaunty rockabilly feel to it, its because the bass line is stronger whereas the rhythm work is like the brush strokes to give it character, the bass line kinda makes the sound, with the guitar at the forefront it wouldnt have the right bounce.  Basically what the bass is doing is far more interesting than what the guitar is doing in that song.  Have a listen to it with the bass isolated, perhaps seek out a youtube cover, you'll see what i mean.

Also, the rhythm guitar work generally in what Johnny Marr was doing was very light on Smiths albums (although less so in their later work i.e. Big Mouth Strikes Again) because the songs are based on those wonderful folksy arpeggio melodies.  

Apart from the first one where they appear to be finding their feet musically (and as such the songs have to stand on their own two feet) the production was kinda plain but after that Johnny was very much deliberate with what he was doing, if anything is a certain way its to serve a purpose.

Edited by Len B'stard
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Ah right, nice, cool. I didn't really think it was bad production as such, I just wasn't sure about it with the guitar being so low in the mix. But you've really opened my eyes there. Or EARS. That all makes perfect sense and makes it all even more interesting really. I'll be listening to the albums again with that in mind!

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Not many albums come to mind where the production ruined it, probably because shitty, tinny production often means you can play it louder. White Line Fever that song has crap production, but it means you hear the vocals and drums great. Then with Death Magnetic, it feels airless but that pays off in the pummeling department. 

One is Generation Terrorists. I know it's meant to have a glossy santised sound in an ironic way but I wonder how much better it would be with Gold Against the Soul production. 

Also there's sound production, like tone of instruments. Like the Nevermind/in Utero glossy/raw thing. 

But also what instruments are used. Like some people just hate keyboards. That's a production choice. So they hate Just Like Paradise because it is keyboard led. I think it's just an awesome song. 

One thing I hate is smaltzy pop songs with tinny sound. On upbeat stuff it sounds suitable cheap but when it's meant to be smooth love song and it has this crappy drum sound. It just sounds tacky and ruins any chance of me liking it which was slim at best. The reverse for rock in a way but there's a place for Hysteria stuff where it just sounds great. But punk bands with glossy production that can be horrible because it's against the ethos. 

Edited by wasted
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