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Stanley Road - Paul Weller & Brendan Lynch.
Purple Rain - Prince. I would Die 4 U sounds superb every time I hear it.
The Black album by Metallica is one that springs to mind, it’s so crisp and clean sounded especially compared to their previous album.
Wow! I was going to hold that up as an example of dreadful production. The hi hat on the vinyl copy I have is so distracting. Maybe it was a bad pressing or something 🤷♂️. Or sound is very subjective!
Anyway, my nomination is Album by Public Image Limited.
A producer will take the sound of each instrument on a song and mix all of these together.
He has tools available to him which help to enhance each of these strands.
He has other tools available to him which help him to blend together or separate these strands.If you go to a gig, and the lead guitarist has turned his amp up to 11, so you can’t hear the vocalist… It’s bloody annoying, and in a recording studio, that would be bad production.
In the example I gave, the Sigur Ros song is massively dynamic, there’s 2 drummers and one of them sounds like he’s literally beating his snare to death. When I’m listening to that, I can feel the power of it, but I can also hear the emotion in the singers voice and the soaring sound of a guitar being played with a bow. I can focus on and enjoy any of those elements separately, but also how they complement each other. For me, that’s a great recording.
You've kind of smushed two roles together.
Producer- artistic direction
Engineer- has a bunch of tools to help realise the artistic direction. He/she is the one who makes sure things are recorded correctly and sounds are "right".
A good engineer makes production easier. Listen to a motown drum track none of this mic'ing every drum stuff just getting it right from the start by mic placement.
Both vital roles sometimes performed by the same person.
Recording studios are great fun to play in.
On that note... i see album and raise you a whole record label... Motown
Anyone mentioned propeller heads: decksanddrumsandrockandroll
Got the vinal some where.
On a similar not been on a bit of a binge buying early/ mid 90s cds hoping for less noise
Surprised to see Fat Boy Slim referred to. When I bought my current hi-fi I had to stop playing it, it made the production sound staggeringly awful.
Kerbdog - On the Turn. Great sounding album produced by Garth "GGGarth" Richardson. It was recorded in Sound City Studios in LA which is part of the reason it sounds so good. Kerbdog should have been massive after that album but then Britpop happened. They spent a fortune recording it and had to have it mixed twice before being dropped by their label.
Biffy Clyro were massive fans of theirs and went on to use Richardson too based on the sound of that album.
David Bowie Let's Dance or even a few of his earlier maybe Hunky Dory then chuck in Peter Gabriel So
in fact, pretty much anything Rick Rubin’s done
Early rick rubin, excellent.
Later on rick rubin, massively overcompressed and painful to listen to, generally a masterclass in how to remove any dynamics from the music. Can't rate it low enough.
Wow! I was going to hold that up as an example of dreadful production.
Metallica Black Album is awful production. Cluttered, low quality sounds in many places, all dynamics removed. Shame really. Contrast the start of Enter Sandman with the start of Call of Ktulu for instance.
For electronic stuff (where often the artist and the producer are the same), for me the sign of quality was knowing within a bar or two who’d produced something. Daft Punk and Autechre are two examples that spring to mind.
Orbital are the benchmark of production quality for electronic, surprised no mention yet?
Also Terry Brown's production on Rush - 2112 / Farewell to Kings / Hemispheres is great.
Personal favourites in terms of production include Brastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and Burning Spear's Hail H.I.M.
totally subjective, but Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It by Rolo Tomassi is an outstanding record of the last few years for me, both content and production wise. Massive.
Agree with someone above on Random Access Memories and I’ll add Rage Against the Machine
On a slightly different tangent I’ve got my grandads old record collection and in it is a “direct to disc” pressing of Lincoln Mayorga and guests - The Missing Link. As I understand it, these records were recorded directly to master disc, bypassing multitrack tapes so very different to all the stuff above. The sound quality on this disk is simply breathtaking
/a>
Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, FGTH.
Chip in for The Blue Nile, A Walk Across the Rooftops - Linn records production IIRC.
Neurosis - "Stones From The Sky", last track on the "A Sun That Never Sets" album.
Engineered (not produced) by Steve Albini,
I love the sound of this album, and was genuinely staggered when I heard the last track for the first time. I thought there was something wrong with my copy, but no, EVERYTHING goes into the red at the end and gets completely F'd up.
Also most things Steve Albini does have a great and distinctive sound
Suede - Coming Up.
Dave Fridmann worked some magic on Sleater Kinney's The Woods. Made them sound like prime Led Zep.
Not sure how well regarded he is with the purists, as he's usually associated with a very loud, squashed sound. Just what the doctor ordered here, though - SK a great band but had a bit of a fey indie sound that was starting to get repetitive IMHO.
Sketches of Spain and Kinda Blue Miles Davis.
Pet Sounds.
Astral Weeks.
Darkside of the Moon.
Bridge Over Troubled Water and Graceland.
Trinity Revisited.
Four Seasons - Recomposed.
Victoria Requiem - Hyperion 1987 Westminster Cathedral
There are nearly as many interpretations of the phrase "production quality" as there are of "essential journey".
In my view it's what turns a simple tune into a brilliant one.
I have a sampler from Snape concert hall where you can hear the valves on the woodwind opening and closing in the quieter parts of Fauré's Pavane. The sound effects of the auditorium are there as another part of the performance.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication. It's certainly staggering.
4hero - Two Pages is a really good sounding album.
How do you actually judge production quality, or whether it's staggering. Most people seem to be listing albums they like and are 'classic'?
If you want staggering production, go and listen to the first Britney Spears album.
(You don't have to like the music to think the production is 'good')
Consistency of vision with the sound. How the sound is engineered, recorded, even the tuning of musicians kit. Use of spectral / physical space, effects, how the sounds interact (or don't). Bands turn up with a catchy song, producer has to make it sound brilliant, every producer's idea of what that band could sound like will be different.
about 9 minutes in Trevor starts breaking down a YES track, there's some good stuff about what the producer is doing to the sounds:
Brittney Spears album does not have 'quality' although I would say it does the job it is aimed at, which is to make a lowest common denominator simple pop tunes sound "better" on a crap car stereo with little clarity or definition to its audio capabilities; usually overcompressed with every sound distorted to fill the audio spectrum in order to patch up holes in the end user's stereo kit. Horribly fatiguing to listen to in the most part.
How do you actually judge production quality
Michael Jackson's albums produced by Quincy Jones vs those without?
As mentioned previously David Sylvian, most of Talk Talks
Add to that Depeche Mode
Always thought the Dandy Warhols - Thirteen tales from urban bohemia sounded pretty good on most systems, not sure if that means its a good production?
Dunno about "staggering", but I like the production on JJ Doom 'Key to the Kuffs', FKA Twigs' 1st, Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke's Eraser and top of the pile, Clipping.'s first album. Can't say I've noticed it on many others, cos mostly I listen to stuff cos I like the music. I mean thinking an album's great when you don't like the artist is totally beyond me.
Its just appreciating a part of it, one of the many contributions to the overall thingummyjiggy.
Yeah, I understand what is being said, but its beyond me in the sense of something that I would ever bother doing.
@vdubbers67
Most people seem to be listing albums they like and are ‘classic’?
You make a good point, to some extent you can learn to like the production values of albums you love - and I agree, some people seem to have done that with some of their examples.
On the other hand there are albums by artists I don't like - U2, for example, or Phil Collins - where I can appreciate the clarity of the sounds they are making while still disliking the songs.
There are also albums I love but I consider to have awful production. The first Specials album is an example of this for me: I love the songs, but I think the sound is poor - muffled and muddled. The last Magazine album: Magic, Murder and the Weather is also terribly produced. I loved the first three albums, and I can see that the songs are of similar quality, but I find it almost unlistenable it's such a mess.
This takes some beating from Trevor Horn
I couldn’t agree more about Metallic’s black album horrible over compressed mastering and utterly horrible drum sound.
I’ll throw in almost anything Ethan Johns has had his hands on. The Staves Dead Born and Grown, Ray LaMontagne Till the sun turns black, Laura Marling Almost anything being great examples of classic miking techniques in superb spaces.
Anything produced by Matt Bayles, ISIS, Botch, Valerian Swing, Burnt by the Sun.
Terry Date productions including Deftones,Pantera, White Zombie.
totally subjective, but Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It by Rolo Tomassi is an outstanding record of the last few years for me, both content and production wise. Massive.
Killer record. So, so good.
On the subject of good vinyl pressings my cheapy rock and roll Beatles compilation made by music for pleasure still sounds so good even though my copy will be 40 year old and played often. Mfp were sold in the cheap end of the market but I'm sure owned by EMI
I couldn’t agree more about Metallic’s black album horrible over compressed mastering and utterly horrible drum sound.
Interesting, because that drum sound was actively gone after, they lined the studio with varnished plywood and used room mics to achieve it....so poor production or just not to taste?
I loved the raw sound of the Glasvegas first album, but a mate describes it as unlistenable because of the wall of sound production values.
I guess production quality is subjective - do we only consider pristine and polished, or those where the production is integral to the sound because it isn't pristine and polished?
Laura Marling Almost anything being great examples of classic miking techniques in superb spaces.
Have you heard her new album? Very simple recording, and very well produced. I’ve only got a download at the moment, 196Kb I think, she’s released that early, the CD and vinyl to follow, but judging by the download the full-fat recording should be superb.
I guess production quality is subjective – do we only consider pristine and polished, or those where the production is integral to the sound because it isn’t pristine and polished?
Good point, and I agree that sometimes the music overrides the production, by its sheer dynamic quality or urgency, but other times the production just dulls the impact, everything that’s vital just literally gets lost in the mix! Like Stipe’s vocals on early REM recordings, Murmur being a particular example, and perfectly named, although Stipe has always said he like to hear other people’s interpretations of what they think he’s singing.
Paul Simon stands out for me as he was so obsessed with capturing the essence of music that is best described as Non-UK, non-US, pop.
So Graceland and especially Rhythm Of The Saints (a magnificent follow up to one of the best LPs ever and criminally underrated) are well worth a listen.
For me, the Kings of Leon were brilliant before Sex on fire, however, the production before that massive hit was so poor you struggle to understand any vocals.
So Graceland and especially Rhythm Of The Saints (a magnificent follow up to one of the best LPs ever and criminally underrated) are well worth a listen.
Rhythm Of The Saints - Totally underrated! I could not agree more. On the other hand, the original CD master used for the first Graceland CD issues was dreadful. I preferred the sound of my original cassette!
Interesting, because that drum sound was actively gone after, they lined the studio with varnished plywood and used room mics to achieve it….so poor production or just not to taste?
Interesting indeed, but more fool them. I could listen to Ride the Lightning all day long but a few songs of Black makes me want to switch everything off, sit outdoors and listen to birds cheeping for a bit. Vocal recording was standout tosh on the whole thing, too. Compare to something like Brucey Bonus on Somewhere in Time. Black is over eq'd, Time is quite natural sounding, plus on Time the mix has space for detail on the bass, the drums don't squash the upper vocal range, I could go on (but wont!).
That said, taste is definitely a big factor in all this stuff, there's obviously the bit about capturing things as well as you can, maybe file under 'skilled engineering / technician', but then the mixdown work that goes on as well, adding a few fills, hits, effects and whatnot which all definitely comes under 'artistic direction' type area / taste.
Also I'd chuck Flood's efforts on Depeche Mode Violator in the list.
Still no mention of "Slave To The Rhythm"?- a real full-bodied experience. I see Rumours has had a mention - I'd second that : it's stunning on vinyl. Springsteen's Born To Run on an old half-speed mastered copy is pretty epic too. I think a possible favourite recording is an old Courtney Pine EP called "Traditions Beckoning" which employed something called "Ambisonic" recording. The sax solo on "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" is like a brass volcano erupting in the room. I'd put a scratch in my old copy and managed to find a mint one on Ebay for about £5.....chuffed. Second only to Neil Young's Harvest. That sounds gorgeous. I believe the band were out in a barn while the desk was hooked up in a completely seperate building.