Woods,
I don't know of anything like that. That would entail an engineer documenting every step of the recording (which many do and many don't) and then publishing them with the album. Record companies are not hot to do this as the increased costs yield little benefit to them. The only way your going to get anything like this is to establish personal contact with engineers and producers who are willing to take the time to provide you with that information. IMO this is one of the major downfalls of the home recording revolution, the loss of the "Mentoring System".
When you get started recording, I will be glad to offer advice on a step by step basis. Just drop a post here and I will respond as quickly as I can, Sometimes it takes a while as I need to think about some of these things before I can formulate an answer. If you wish to purchase some of the records I have recorded, mixed and produced, I would be glad to provide the info as well as I can remember. I am not one for documenting my sessions. I pretty much use the same techniques and working habits all the time so if I need to revisit something I can usually find my way back.
Let me know if you want a list of the records I have done that are available at Tower Records or Amazon.com... Fats

Fats,

Thanks. I'll take you up on your albums thing. perhaps I could browse the list of CD's you produced/engineered and pick one to talk with you about.

With respect to seeking production notes - I have donr some reading of interviews in Mix, EQ, Sound on Sound etc. Is there another magazine that is any more or less suited to covering more production/engineering technique. Some of the stuff I have read, for instance, Lord Alge, Frank Filipetti, Daniel Lanois, etc. are OK but to me they're really pretty superficial. I suppose I expect to much from that type of format, but anyway.

Can you recommend Any other online resources that may delve a little deeper anecdotally? Abstract Theory sometimes bores me but the Real World Interviews I dig alot - theyre just not deep enough most times.

Ciao,

Wooods

Woods,
Here is a short list of some things I have recorded that are available through Amazon.com

Kenny "Blue" Ray ................. In All Of My Life
JSP / Virgin Records
Kenny "Blue" Ray .................. Git It
JSP / Virgin Records
Jackie Payne .................. A Day In The Life (Of A Bluesman)
JSP / Virgin Records
Brownie McGhee ...................Omega, The Final Sessions
Westside / MCI Records
The Brownie McGhee Omega record has also been released as "The Last Great Blues Hero" in Europe, on Demon / MCI Records.

The Brownie McGhee record is acoustic delta folk blues.

The Kenny "Blue" Ray records are mostly instrumental guitar records in the Stevie Ray Vaughn vein. Kenny played rhythm guitar for Stevie and has a real cult following in the US for his driving rhythms and searing guitar tones. Rob Sudduth from "Huey Lewis & The News" played and helped with horn arraignments on these records.

The Jackie Payne record is in the tradition of Chicago and Texas Blues and is my favorite. It has received a "4 Star" rating by Amazon.com. Jackie is a phenomenal vocalist and Kenny Ray did a killer job producing this one too. There are some great horn arraignments by the late great Ken Baker on this who died of heart failure just after these sessions. With the exception of the Brownie McGhee record, all of the above were produced by Kenny "Blue" Ray. I did all of the technical production, although I was not credited for it. Kenny hired the musicians, did the arraignments and ram rodded the sessions while I took care of all the mic selection and placement, tones and levels to tape. I pretty much mixed these also, with input from Kenny and Jackie, although once again I did not get credit for it. Too often this is the case for engineers. The Brownie record is all my work, I am responsible for all of it. I did get credit for this one, I suspect because I was the one who shopped the project to the record label. That's it..... Fats

Originally posted by Woods Palmer:
Anybody know of a website where albums are dissected from an engineering and production standpoint. Including, mike placement, preamps used, compressors, reverbs, etc, etc.?

The closest you're likely to come is to buy the rec.audio.pro compilations and read the liner notes. Very highly recommended. The third compilation (RAP 3 Times, denoted as RAP cubed) is still available from Harvey Gerst. The 10th anniversary LP is also available from Scott Dorsey. In another month or so, the 5th compilation (which is just now being wrapped up -- look at ongoing discussions in rec.audio.pro if you're interested) will be available. The music alone makes these sets excellent values, but with the technical liner notes, well, it's an incredible educational value. If you can't find what you want to know in the liner notes, just use google to search rec.audio.pro for discussions of the track in question, or post a note asking the submitter directly.

See hoohahrecords.com/rap/index1.htm for liner notes.