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Let's see what kind of stuff we get for this one. Let's make it "worst production on well-known albums"(no unheard of bands). I would like to know some of those albums where everything is right except the production. Good performance, good songs, good groups, bad recordings.

Let's have it .

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anonymous Thu, 07/01/2004 - 19:36

hmm...

anything blur ?!?

lots of heavy stuff that is sooo overcompressed - absolute pain to listen to. blind guardian come to mind. sevendust also.

I remember being very dissapointed with slayer's decade of agression long time ago. it is a live album, best songs, great performance but still poor production.

I think I had a few dissapointments with overproduction. you know. hard and heavy bandns sounding like a pudding when they should sound like heavy rusty iron (and they did just an album before !). megadeth comes to mind.

and yes... stupid dance/techno remixes of great songs really know how to ruin my favorite songs. .. I dont know it that counts. :?

anonymous Thu, 07/01/2004 - 23:15

Can't remember too much about the actual production, but Roxy Music's very first album must be one of the worst albums of all time. 'For your Pleasure' I think was their second album so I am not talking about that one. Someone else might remember the name of the album I am talking about, but it was baaaad. :)

anonymous Fri, 07/02/2004 - 00:11

I think we need to farm this out in to two categories, badly produced and badly engineered. Badly produced would be an album that has bad arrangements, an overall vision that doesn't work for the artist, flat performances (assuming that the band is capable of good performances), or perhaps unnecessary "studio magic". Badly engineered would be an album that isn't technically up to muster (consideration should be given to when it was recorded and the resources available to the involved parties).
I think the last Peter Gabriel album was terribly produced- overly complicated arrangements, lifeless songs and performances. Liz Phair's last two albums are textbook bad marriages of producer/artist: Scott Litt made her too polished and then that whole Matrix debacle... the sellout that didn't sell any records.
Badly engineered- have to think more on that.
David

anonymous Fri, 07/02/2004 - 09:29

kaplan wrote: lamo answers his own question again.

I can't help but notice how bad most of the velvet underground recordings sound, especially the first album with the banana. I know they were a dirty band, and I love the songs, but it sounds poor.

Sorry guys this is harder than I thought.

Yeah..the recording is less than desirable..but the songs are so great who cares.

anonymous Thu, 07/08/2004 - 13:32

logamos2001 wrote: and i can tell u the worst engineering on any album i have heard lately. METALICAs new album. wow, i think u can all agree

I have not heard the whole album, and that's probably a blessing. I have heard the songs on the radio and the recordings are pure rubbish. I can understand and even respect what they may have been trying to accomplish, but they really missed the mark. I actually dig most of the songs I have heard, but can't stand to listen to them.

anonymous Mon, 07/12/2004 - 09:05

I see what your saying but I still think its a lack of skill. In the songs that have caught my attention, certain parts will be mono then others are in stereo. It seems more like an accident. Then looking at the whole album, some songs are in stereo. Check out Jay Z's black album. He's one of the only good hip hop artists out there but, half the stuff is in stereo half isn't

anonymous Mon, 07/12/2004 - 11:39

housefukr wrote: Check out Jay Z's black album. He's one of the only good hip hop artists out there but, half the stuff is in stereo half isn't

Their are other great HipHop artist but that isn't the topic. You are totally right about the song-to-song difference. I'm just guessing, but many of the songs that are just mono, are more likely sampled-driven (especially Kanye West produced songs). Alot of producers, just enjoy the sound of "Mono" records. (not Me)

anonymous Wed, 07/21/2004 - 20:46

Since1980 wrote: [quote=housefukr]Check out Jay Z's black album. He's one of the only good hip hop artists out there but, half the stuff is in stereo half isn't

Their are other great HipHop artist but that isn't the topic. You are totally right about the song-to-song difference. I'm just guessing, but many of the songs that are just mono, are more likely sampled-driven (especially Kanye West produced songs). Alot of producers, just enjoy the sound of "Mono" records. (not Me)all my old dub records are in mono and I love that sound. BUt the sample has to be mixed in with stereo elements or else it sounds like you're some crappy engineer who doesn't know what he/shes doing rather than someone creatively using an old record's tone.

anonymous Wed, 07/21/2004 - 20:49

housefukr wrote: i have to say 90% of all hip hop / rap I hear is so bad it's funny. Everything is in mono and there is no production skills

Check out Jay-dee (NOT jermaine dupri) or Pete Rock or even outkast. Some of the tracks on Aquemeni are brialliantly engineered/ produced- especially "spottieotidopaliscious"

anonymous Sun, 07/25/2004 - 00:27

I gotta say, Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins is full of glorious songs, but the production was still pretty rough.

The new Outkast record as well... there's something *missing* in all the songs. Is it just a frequency range (400-750Hz?) that I don't hear enough of? Or is it the instrumentation? Hmmm.

anonymous Tue, 07/27/2004 - 09:47

I know this should go on the other forum, but Speaking of Metallica, Master of Puppets sound's like it was done on an API board, can anyone verify this...? It has all the qualites of that API tone.. Really Muscular and bold sounding Drums and guitars..

Probibly one of my favorite albums just for the sound and the songs.

anonymous Wed, 07/28/2004 - 18:25

Rush

I saw this topic and just had to comment on the Rush DVD 'Rush In Rio' and their previous album Vapor Trails. I'm sure everone's aware of the stellar production values of Power Windows, Hold Your Fire and Moving Pictures, however Vapor Trails is so distorted as to be vitually unlistenable.
This album is slammed to the max. Put any track into an editor and check out the waveform. I thought I was accidentally given a 64kb MP3. Word on the street has it that Alex Lifeson approved the final mix while listening through a walkman on a beach somewhere.
As for their DVD, solo the centre channel (which is barely audible most of the time) and you'll wonder how the mighty could have fallen so far.

anonymous Thu, 07/29/2004 - 10:55

Also because alot of music is listened to in cars, and it does sound better (punchier) in mono (aswell as compressed to all hell). I always wondered why some folks sit with their heads in the center of the vehicle - perhaps they were involentarily positioning themselves in the sweet spot. mono can help with this problem I suppose. As for the freq. holes, many cars have terrible resonences and that may also be a reason why things are so scooped out. Anyways just some theories of mine, as all my friends listen to the majority of music in their cars.

iznogood Thu, 07/29/2004 - 18:15

worst recording award must go to bob dylan for "basement tapes"... 2 track reel to reel at what sounds like 3 3/4 inch per sec.!!!

when it comes to more resent albums ..... avril lavigne's first album should have an award for the most overcompressed.... generally annoying sound in the history of mankind!!!! i haven't heard the new one as i love the remains of my hearing very dearly ! :shock:

worst production right now must be outkast.... hey ya! was ok but the rest is utter crap! about as badly produced as fugees was....

by the way i heard today that lauryn hill stated that she doesn't want white people to buy her music!!! i hope it isn't true...

nonono it's usher!!!! the use of the 808 once again (and again and again it seems) is just pathetic..... and that lame melody :? and what's it called??? "yeah"??? i mean......... "yeah" is that all he has on his mind???

by the way i heard today that lauryn hill stated that she doesn't want white people to buy her music!!! i hope it isn't true...