Eric , I like your list but I would have to say I love the red house painters 3 best ( rollercoster )

in no perticalar order

blood sugar sex magic RHCP
revolver beatles
sufer rosa Pixies
it takes a nation of millions public enemy
litiney Arvo Part
sketches of spain miles davis
dummy portishead
inervisions stevie wonder
Abigail King Diamond

I think these albums still stand up years after release
production as well as mastering

Pat Coil "Steps' is a very good sounding record.
Sheffield Lab Direct to Disc..It is one of my reference CDs..well worth a listen if you're interested in benchmark quality.

Pat Coil "Steps' is a very good sounding record.
Sheffield Lab Direct to Disc..It is one of my reference CDs..well worth a listen if you're interested in benchmark quality...ajw :w:

Originally posted by Treena Foster:
Alison Krauss + Union Station "New Favorite"
:h: Treena

Great choice Treena! I, too, love this CD's sonics. I would really love to know more about how this CD is recorded, mixed, and mastered. Anyone have any inside info?

Whatever was done during this CD was done on Dan Tyminski's subsequent solo CD (got that same "sound"). I'm dying to know more about what gear and techniques were used on this CD. I hear they use(d) soundelux mics for vocals.

Originally posted by Exmun:

Originally posted by Treena Foster:
Alison Krauss + Union Station "New Favorite"
:h: Treena

Great choice Treena! I, too, love this CD's sonics. I would really love to know more about how this CD is recorded, mixed, and mastered. Anyone have any inside info?

Whatever was done during this CD was done on Dan Tyminski's subsequent solo CD (got that same "sound"). I'm dying to know more about what gear and techniques were used on this CD. I hear they use(d) soundelux mics for vocals.

Exmun its my understanding that they used the Millennia STT-1 Origin for tracking the instruments and vocals.

Treena :h:

Lots of good stuff here.

My personal favorite, which I take to any new room to get the feel of it, is Steely Dan's "ASIA". It sounds great anywhere, from the crappy speakers on a PC to boom box to the car.....

I go along with "Sargeant Pepper" and "Dark Side of the Moon". From the same era (earlier actually) I really like Moody Blues "Days of Future Past". How did they do that back then?

Peace to all,

Uncle Bob
:p:

Hi!

For my first post on RO, as a longtime high-end enthusiast:

My first thought on 'best CD ever' is Dark Side Of The Moon. Hands down, no thinking necessary. I have heard the vinyl on systems that anyone would have died for, and I've heard thousands of other excellent records and CDs in my time, but *nothing* covers every aspect of the recording process in full, like DSOTM. I recommend an early pressing of the vinyl, but practically, find a copy of the gold Mobile Fidelity CD, or lacking that, the Doug Sax 1992 remaster on Capitol will suffice.

cj

Yeah, but what about that little "vrooom" warp at the end of the first side?

J/K, still an amazing record, one of my favorite. But does anyone else notice that little warp in the sound when it gets really quiet at the end of the first side of the record?

I'd like to chime in here with a nod to two previous picks which were,

Bonnie Rait's "Nick of Time" the mastering achieved something greater than the sum of the parts.

Steely Dan's "AJA" Superb.

And to add one of my own... Roxy Music's "Avalon"

Attached files

As someone else said...Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" as mixed in stereo for the boxed set. Sounds really, really good.

Originally posted by nyaben:
As someone else said...Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" as mixed in stereo for the boxed set. Sounds really, really good.

Have you heard the 5.1a DVD surround sound yet? Killer! :tu:

Treena :h:

I'm addicted to Cold Play's latest......Politik. Such clarity and Transparency to everything! I don't know what I like more....the music or the engineering.

Joshua - the newbie with veteran ears

Oh yeah another album with some cool stuff going on is John Mayer's room for squares...not only great musicianship but great engineering. As far as the aggro-rock genre some have mentioned..Metallica's new one duz suck bad, Def Tones..studio band...horrible vocals live...man he needs to hide behind the compression and pitch correction devices...oh yeah not to mention the effects. Chino cant, "sing," to save his life......along w/everyone in the genre other than Tool's singer.....the genre wouldnt survive w/out studio tricks!

Does anyone like Nelly Furtado? What a talent. Where is she?

Joshua

Steve
I saw tool Live,
and by no means are they synthetic at worst they need a guitar player (ok I bad),
I thought the last tool cd was awsome, the 'pin to the red' without clipping- big jumps in db ...
I may suggest the latest Opeth Cd for the quality of engineering, I am no engineer but That cd seems to cover quite a bit of spectrum in HZ
(my 16 year old son always lets me in on the latest metal stuff)
regards
Boppers

Listened to the Eagles "Hotel California" the other day. Really nice...........

The Dixie Chicks album "home" was done entirely in Nuendo (that's cool). It is very clean and there is absolutely no noise. I wonder if they used noise cancelling filters, or if the high dollar equipment they were using is just that quiet? Good stuff as far as acoustic music goes. I think they are the best thing to happen to country music in a very long time. But I'm a bit of a redneck anyway!

rob

I heard they used a lot of Millennia pres on that record..

Originally posted by jbuntz:

Staying in that same genre, the new deftones sounds amazing despite the heavy compression in mastering and as long as you dont mind megaphone vocals for a whole album. The kick drum sound rocks! The snare sound is way tight and high but still sounds good! Terry Date always impressed me for heavy rock albums.

I think the Deftones record sounds great on a stereo, but when I listened to it through the studio monitors it really broke down. The snare and kick sound are totally monsterous, which I love, but the cymbals and hats sounded really dark and murky, and everything is really washed in verb (which I've come to realize is a Date trademark of sorts.)

I love that record though... it hasn't left my car CD player in over a month.

Originally posted by jbuntz:
Staying in that same genre, the new deftones sounds amazing despite the heavy compression in mastering and as long as you dont mind megaphone vocals for a whole album.

How do you know the heavy compression was a result of mastering, as opposed to the mix? After all, it's quite common for a lot of folks to strap a compressor on the mix bus.

If you like HUGE rock records, check out L.Ron by Dave Sardy's old band "Barkmarket." It's pretty hard to find, but it's a must have for anyone who appreciates offensively large production, not to mention a great record musically. I'd post a song or two since I'm pretty sure most of you guys are unfamiliar, but unfortunately my last copy was stolen...bastards...

Originally posted by jrfavela:
horrible vocals live...man he needs to hide behind the compression and pitch correction devices...oh yeah not to mention the effects. Chino cant, "sing," to save his life......along w/everyone in the genre other than Tool's singer.....

I was always curious about Chino, I think his voice is awsome, sorta seductive and just beautiful. That is, when he's not screaming. His pitch has always bugged me a bit, cause it sounded too good, are you %100 sure it's autotuned?

I used to like Maynard's voice (on aenima especially) but he's becoming more and more of an opera singer and the last album (laterus) just don't sit well with me. It's like the band has played the song a million times and the changes seem to me to have no feeling in them. I know it's the same producer, and they were trying to go for more of that 'live' sound, but I think the over-processed sound/mixing of "aenima" is just beautiful and the changes in the song are so natural and it flows with ease. I could listen to that album many times and not get sick of it (actually, I listen to it maybe once or twice a year - like most music, I hate when I over-listen to it and it gets dull)

I can say that I'm not at all a fan of any other band's in the genre. I've yet to hear the new deftones (I did like "around the fur", but not "white pony")

I think the last two Flaming Lips albums sound great.I dont know how much of it is them or Dave Friedman but when the Lips started using Dave(In a Priest Driven Ambulance was the first) to produce their records they sounded much better.
I also luv Tom Waits.Its very simple with just a few instruments most of the time.Doesnt sound like lots of fancy production just good songs and performances.
The Super Suckers Must'ev Been High album sounds great to me also.They list all the mics they used and said it was all analog.
Pet Sounds is great and so is 1969 by The Stooges and I luv the Motown shit very organic.I grew up listening to alot of 60s-70s garage and 70s-80s punk rock neither of which are known fer great sounding recordings butt I like the way they sound very raw.I normally dont like overly produced and polished music unless its done very well it sounds almost fake and not like real instruments or voices.RODNEY

"So" and "Passion" by Peter Gabriel. Great sounds, great albums. David

Yes David. I am with you.
90125 has been one of my favorites for so much time!

Attached files

90125 still sounds so amazing

I bought my second copy of 90125 last week.
That album's a reference point.
Well done Trevor. :tu:

In regards to Tool,

I agree with the people who say that Undertow has a great sound. The two newest albums sound harsher and more compressed to me, and the drums are a bit buried in comparison to Undertow. Coincedentally (not), Undertow is WAAAAY quieter. I think a lot of CDs from the early 90s were pretty quiet compared to today's...

Pink Floyd: I love Dark Side, but Wish You Were here always blew my mind more than anything.

I haven't really enjoyed Coldplay's production. I prefer Travis much more --> Nigel Goodrich, same producer as Radiohead and Beck. That man gets sounds like no other.

Great sounding records?

Acoustic
Beck - Mutations
Sheryl Crow - s/t
Tom Waits - Mule Variations

Rock
Deftones - White Pony
Smashing Pumpkins - Machina
Catherine Wheel - Adam & Eve

Indie
The Standard - August (Best indie album of '02 IMHO)

Add another vote for:

Jonatha Brooke's Steady Pull (my crush on her grows and grows)
Yes
Rush's Power Windows
Peter Gabriel's Passion

But also:
Painted From Memory - Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello (for some reason I just love this album)

In no particular order....
SACD version of Charles Mingus- 'Ah Um'....
Thomas Dolby- The Flat Earth..
Ben Harper- Fight for your mind...
Bjork- Debut...
Guster- Lost and gone forever
Zappa- Joes Garage

The Beatle albums are the best.After that its
just a bunch of wannabeeeeze.

i'm surprised to see that no one has mentioned norah jones's record... as far as i'm concerned, and as far as acoustic production goes, there has never been a better sounding record. period. magical sessions from the fingers and the voice to the faders...

for current non-acoustic production (for the most part--the acoustic drum sounds on justin timberlake's "like i love you" are BAD ASS!), it's the neptunes all the way...

I like the Nora Jones Cd, but it is mastered way to hot, it distorts when its played so I can't enjoy the performances as much as I would like to.

Treena :h:

treena, wow! did a quick critical listen to the norah jones record, expecting to find that u were exagerating or being picky, but must admit i was surprised at the amount of readily audible distortion there! incredible... anyway, just goes to show you that all the technology and expertise in the world are no substitute for musicianship and great songs. the record is so happening, and well produced, that i never even noticed the mastering inadequacy. still my favorite sounding record. a taste thing i guess...

:D It's just some happy go lucky, gotta have this Cd to the highest volume engineer, got a little to crazy and its to loud. :s:

No dude, I really am not a critic. Its just my 2 cents worth. BTW, did you know she is the daughter of Indian Musician Ravi Shankar?

:h: Treena

treena, fer sher, good ear. and yup, i did know norah's the daughter of ravi shankar, i'm a big fan of his... even though she isn't!

(years ago i tried in vain to lift some of his ragas... and met with little success! 1/4 tones just do not lend themselves nicely to the western ear, or the guitar for that matter!)

My favorites are every radiohead album since the bends, they are so well mixed
For great sounding drums, i always refer to Metallica's Load and Reload, the drum sound is perfect to MY ears, very powerful
:s:

Some of my recent faves are:

1. Steve Earle, Jerusalem
2. Lucinda Williams, Essence
3. Tom Waits, Mule Variations

Classics:
1. Pink Floyd, Piper at the Gates of Dawn
2. Roling Stones, let It Bleed & Beggar's Banquet

the clean "boodle boodle boodle"
the bats "couchmaster"
pavement "terror twilight"

Recorderman likes:
Beatles: ALL
Pink Floyd: Especially: Meddle, DSOTM, WYWH,Animals The Wall (that one sounds really ggod to me)
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
Sheryl Crow: Globe Sessions (I like all of her records actually)

Tom Petty:Wild Flowers, Full Moon Fever, Mary Janes Last Dance.
RHCP: I know there's all the flack about mastering but I like Jim Scott's engineering of Rick Rubin's Production: In your face, dry,mostly mono. Neve Tracking & Mixing.
Metallica: The Black Album (Recorded @ One on One's "Blue Room"...one of my Alma Maters...)
Thomas Dolby: Aliens Ate My Buick..Awesome sounding by Bill Botrell (sorry for spelling of his last name?)
Toy Matinee: Toy Matinee,Bill Botrell again
Led Zeppellin: All but especially Zep IV (Andy Johns) & Physicall Graphitti...Presence also sounds amazing considering how fast it was done. Also thier first record condsidering they'd only been a band for 2 1/2 weeks at the time.
Rolling Stones: Jimmy Miller produce stuff & Some Girls.
Lots of '70's albums: Early Elton John.."Goodby Yellow Brick Road" was such a monster when it came out, and the same year as "Dark Side of the moon" and "Houses of the Holy", Eagles,Steely Dan, Aerosmith ect.
Neil Young: Harvest
AC/DC : Back In Black

The '70's are my favorite period sonically. They had all you needed then without the distractions, and with the budgets

Sonically there's some great stuff being done now also. But it's mainly in areas that don't personally interest me as much. I like Drums, Bass, Guitar, Vocals & keys. I like big fat, punchy and in your face...I don't care if it's corporate or indi (I don't buy into that indy punk aesthetic...in fact I think it's more bogged down in dogma than the corporate scene sometimes).

Blue Oster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper, Burnig for you.
Sweet: Desolation Blvd.
ELO: Liked there drums and production, and hooks.

I'm a sucker for a big hook.

...Lot's of great music out there that's for sure.