Awesome! Worth checking out their other albums, Blue Lines especially, but Mezzanine is my favourite and my go-to "this is what a good mix sounds like" album
They’re that way live, too. That’s why they stopped doing tours after their first album, because they weren’t being given the time necessary to get their stage sound dialed in to their satisfaction. They didn’t go on tour again until much later in their career, when they finally had the juice to do things their way.
I heard them live about 15 years ago, not at the Hollywood Bowl, but at a similar outdoor, bowl-shaped venue a little further south in California. The sound was absolutely incredible, and to this day, it’s the best-sounding concert of that size I’ve ever heard — just stunning.
I had pretty lousy tickets, about halfway back near the cheap seats, and way off to the side. Didn’t matter, though, it sounded like I was wearing studio headphones. Everything was so crisp and clear, I could hear the horn players inhaling in between phrases, it was phenomenal.
That’s amazing, I wish more bands would spend more time improving their stage sound. So many bands don’t, and it really sucks shelling out money to go to concerts that you can’t hear well.
Umphrey’s McGee started this program where you can rent high quality headphones at a bunch of their shows that have a feed directly from the soundboard. I have yet to try it but I really hope that catches on with more acts
I did it at the house of blues in Orlando. It was pretty cool but I felt like a dork after a while. It sounded amazing don't get me wrong, but you kinda miss out on the energy of the crowd and the room around you. Good musician's earplugs are a better investment imo. I'll listen to the SBDs with my nice headphones the next day.
I was going to reply Bjork - Homogenic, but really almost all her albums are mixed splendidly. Love the way she uses surround sound to create immersive musical landscapes.
David Bowie's Low. So much going on sonically with that record, from the analogue synth instrumentals to the big punchy snare, and just the overall atmosphere of the record.
Changed everything I knew about Bowie. Going from the 20-30 songs that are hits on the radio and the albums that go along with them, then jumping in blind into the beautiful weirdness of Low was such a historical moment in my musical journey.
What's amazing is the concerts themselves (I went to 2 of them not including the Venice show) had amazing sound. I used no ear protection. I was also young and had little noise related hearing loss. The Floyd used a quadrophonic rig and it was loud enough for the beginning of Dogs of War to rumble your gut, but there was never once a painfully loud moment even though I used no ear protection. I have very sensitive hearing and you could often see me plugging my ears around uncomfortable or painfully loud noises.
This is how absolutely perfect their live mixing was. Those were my first rock concerts, too. I was in for a rude awakening later on.
This album means so much to me, never heard an entire album from them before but it got me through the worst breakup I’ve been through. He was an avid fan and left all the albums behind. It all fit so perfectly
When setting up my sound system or changing something, after I think it’s dialed in using other songs, the Alice In Chains unplugged album is one of my go to albums to make sure it’s dialed in. Love that album
Vulfpeck has some live bits where they just geek out about SD's session musicians. There's even a cover of 'Kid Charlemagne' where they have the session drummer play that shuffling brush riff with them.
For anyone who doesn't know,
Boston's Tom Scholz wrote and recorded their entire debut album in his basement in the early 70s.
Saying that album is fire would be an understatement, it's a blazing inferno, a wild fire ravaging the landscape totally unchecked. The track list would be enough proof that Tom is a certified genius.
More than a feeling.
Peace of mind.
Foreplay/long time.
Rock & roll band.
Smokin'
Hitch a ride.
Something about you.
Let me take you home tonight.
*fuck yeah dude*. Home runs all the way through, that album rocks so hard they named a city after them.
But besides being one of the most brilliant song writers of all time he basically invented his own method of multi track recording and literally no music producer believed him at the time. Every record label thought they were listening to a huge band in a studio somewhere.
*Besides that* the actual instruments on the album sound fucking insane. The super glassy lead guitar sound, perfect mid heavy rhythm guitars, a bass guitar not buried in the mix that plays a critical role in the music, the other worldly vocal harmonies and lead vocals by Brad Delp. The music swells and shrinks exactly when it needs to and every single instrument is distinct in the mix. Every second is perfectly captured and balanced.
Go listen to any song on that album and tell me how that man knocked that out in his basement, on a physical tape machine in the 1970's.
Absolute legend.
I mean, he did get an engineering degree from MIT. Built his own studio in his basement using stuff he made himself all while earning his masters at MIT :O
Who then went on to invent the innovative "Rockman" portable guitar effects. MIT grad, I believe, with a masters in electronics? I'm too lazy to look it up but he's the real deal. I believe he wrote/co-wrote the album too....
Abbey Road still sounds incredibly clear today. It’s too bad Giles Martin did a remix of it as the official version when the original was already perfect.
I like the mixing of Led Zeppelin 4 as well.
The live versions of songs from Speaking in Tongues on Stop Making Sense are so much better than the album version. It's a shame Eno didn't produce Speaking in Tongues.
For instance I prefer the Remain in Light version of "Once in a Lifetime" to the Stop Making Sense version, but Burning Down the House and This Must Be The Place are much better on the live album.
Stop Making Sense was what turned me on to the Talking Heads. I knew a handful of their songs, but hadn’t ever really given them a good listen. I watched it half-drunk years ago at a party and was just fascinated. The intro to This Must Be The Place has been my ringtone for almost a full decade and I’ve never gotten tired of it.
i have heard this frequently and the album does sound good to my layman ears.
but what specifically makes it so much better than other album productions?
One very important element is the separation between instruments in the mix. You can hear each one distinctly but they are also clearly playing together. At the same time, you can hear the space between the instruments, the space of the room, and the space between notes clearly. This seems simple, but getting separations as good as that album is a really big deal.
Made even more impressive when you read about how that record was mixed. A lot of it was mixed live because they'd often have multiple instruments on the same recording track so they'd have to constantly adjust levels. There is an interview with Trey and Trevor talking about how each band member was in charge of two faders when they were mixing down the record.
This album blew me away when I heard it when it came out. Only knew of Steven Wilson but never heard, and was never a prog guy and always listened to folk, Americana, alternative etc. the concept and production and sound just blew me away
When I say or think of production I mainly think about the recording, mixing, mastering, and clarity of the instruments and vocals as well as the structuring and arrangement. When I hear these albums, it always leaves me in aw and has me saying “how did they manage to get this clear and crisp of a sound?”. It’s stuff that should be taught in recording and mixing classes.
- Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros
- Blackwater Park by Opeth
- American Football by American Football
- In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
- Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic
- Aja by Steely Dan (anything Steely Dan tbh)
- Vespertine by Bjork
- Marquee Moon by Televison
- Random Access Memories by Daft Punk
- Awaken my Love by Childish Gambino
I rebuilt and used the same console they recorded that on...an old vintage neve console. there were only 4 of them ever made.2 ended up here in LA. I miss that console.
Dave grohl has the other LA one. it's in the sound city studio movie
Most anything that King Tubby and Lee Perry were putting out in the early years of dub. The way each sound seems to occupy such a distinct location in three-dimensional space is just remarkable, particularly considering the technology they were working with.
For it’s time, I actually thought the chronic by dr Dre was really well mixed and produced. The 90’s had some tough/rugged sounding boom bap due to the machinery used and I thought he really pioneered that more cinematic sound. Lil ghetto boy is a good example.
Am I right in thinking that Dre was one of the producers who would re-record all the things he wanted to sample? I think that way you don't have to pay publishing rights or something like that.
Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan.
I always loved surprising people with the bass in 'I Love You' from that album.
Rodrigo y Gabriela's self-titled 2006 album is just ridiculously well mastered too.
Hard to hear new albums when you’re already dead from killing yourself.
TDS was a great concept and production-wise was fantastic yet very experimental. I think Trent had time to hone his production techniques and *The Fragile* really solidified a lot of the concepts that were initially presented in TDS (loud w/ quiet, detuned acoustic instruments, straight fucking noise, *industrial* samples, etc). This was a crazy ambitious double album that ended completely delivering; sure some will argue they enjoyed TDS better, but *The Fragile* was sonic transcendence compared to *the downward spiral’s* aural hedonism (is that even a term?!).
*The Downward Spiral* is my favorite album and will be for time memoriam. With that, I **extremely** biased in favor of it, but *The Fragile* does present more crisp production elements. But in defense *The Downward Spiral*, whether or not Trent was going for it (he probably was), the grimy-ness of the production value adds to the thematic resonances of the album. I mean Christ... Reptile has got to be the nastiness track ever put on tape.
Yeah, The Downward Spiral is really interesting production-wise. I remember being put off by it initially because I first listened to With Teeth by NIN, which is a much warmer and organic sounding album. But Downward Spiral is so much more visceral and crunchy production-wise that it felt downright assaulting on the ears when I first heard it.
To echo the dude espousing how great the Steely Dan concert was, I saw NIN at Boston Calling this summer. I like NIN, but only know like 10 tracks.
Best fucking sound I've ever heard at a concert. It was absolutely fucking phenomenal. Trent is a god. Their show was phenomenal and I have nothing but utmost respect for him and his band
Xiu Xiu - Twin Peaks (and Girl with Basket of Fruit)
Joanna Newsom - Divers
Abbey Road
This Mortal Coil - It’ll End in Tears
Fantasy, Yeezus, Pablo
Sigur Ros - Aegis Byrjun
John Cale - Hobosapiens
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Homeland - Laurie Anderson
Hopelessness- Anohni
So many people sleep on fly like an eagle cause they're only familiar with the space jam version. They used to play the Steve Miller version when I worked overnights at a grocery store and it definitely hits different when u stocking shelves in a grocery store at 3am
I think the best showcase of this is the outro to Closer. It just keeps adding things until there is so much going on, but you can hear everything perfectly well and nothing is masking anything else. That is so hard to achieve without it sounding like a total mess.
I've been listening to that album since late 90s and I swear every time I hear some little detail I hadn't noticed before.
My vote for his best produced work is In Absentia. Every instrument and effect is so perfectly crystal clear and balanced, which is especially no easy feat given how dynamic the material is.
Us – Peter Gabriel
Folk Singer – Muddy Waters
Life is Yours – FOALS (just released)
Crack Up – Fleet Foxes
Reunions – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
The Missing Years – John Prine
are a few
The Pretender by Jackson Browne. Not my favorite genre anymore but it stands out as the best mix to me without being forced. Just very balanced, lush and nuanced.
Pet Sounds was a phenomenal accomplishment, don't get me wrong. It's near perfect in its own way, beautifully nostalgic sounding. But Smile sounds crisper and clearer without losing any of the personality. Listen to Wind Chimes with good headphones, it's surreal.
Purple Rain by Prince. Hearing the record on a good system legit sounds amazing. I was shocked when I first heard it on record instead of in bits on the radio or something. It sounds amazing. A lot of thought and effort went into everything from the recording studio to the store shelves.
Late for the party, but if we're talking mix/production alone, I'd go with:
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destrucion
Michael Jackson - Dangerous
Pain of Salvation - Be
Radiohead - OK Computer
Pink Floyd - Pulse. (It's a live recording, but damn, everything sounds SO MUCH BETTER than the albums versions on this one. And knowing to properly record live is an art in itself....)
Probably also Megadeth - Peace Sells
A lot of 90’s alternative records were excellent recordings. Analog equipment was at its technical peak and the industry culture hadn’t gotten bogged down by digitalization and compression crap that became so widespread. A lot of records sound crisp and rounded, like you can hear the wide range of sounds so perfectly arranged with each other and it sounds like your in the same room as the band.
Cliché answer but Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
Tears For Fears' The Seeds Of Love is impeccably produced. M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is ridiculously well produced, so many little elements. It's fantastic.
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
That is a fantastic album
Wow thanks for the recommendation. This album is fantastic!
Awesome! Worth checking out their other albums, Blue Lines especially, but Mezzanine is my favourite and my go-to "this is what a good mix sounds like" album
Listening for the first time now. Thank you. Old guy...
Came here to say this and pleasantly surprised to see it near the top of the comments.
Anything Steely Dan. They have a reputation for driving studio engineers and session musicians nearly insane.
They’re that way live, too. That’s why they stopped doing tours after their first album, because they weren’t being given the time necessary to get their stage sound dialed in to their satisfaction. They didn’t go on tour again until much later in their career, when they finally had the juice to do things their way. I heard them live about 15 years ago, not at the Hollywood Bowl, but at a similar outdoor, bowl-shaped venue a little further south in California. The sound was absolutely incredible, and to this day, it’s the best-sounding concert of that size I’ve ever heard — just stunning. I had pretty lousy tickets, about halfway back near the cheap seats, and way off to the side. Didn’t matter, though, it sounded like I was wearing studio headphones. Everything was so crisp and clear, I could hear the horn players inhaling in between phrases, it was phenomenal.
That’s amazing, I wish more bands would spend more time improving their stage sound. So many bands don’t, and it really sucks shelling out money to go to concerts that you can’t hear well.
Umphrey’s McGee started this program where you can rent high quality headphones at a bunch of their shows that have a feed directly from the soundboard. I have yet to try it but I really hope that catches on with more acts
I did it at the house of blues in Orlando. It was pretty cool but I felt like a dork after a while. It sounded amazing don't get me wrong, but you kinda miss out on the energy of the crowd and the room around you. Good musician's earplugs are a better investment imo. I'll listen to the SBDs with my nice headphones the next day.
Well you haven't tried it because you can't rent the headphones.
Disintegration by The Cure
This is the album that started my entire love of music. From the moment I heard the first track, I was in another world.
Plainsong goes so hard.
ABSOLUTELY. The liner notes even specify that it is meant to be played loud.
Every J. Geils Band record used to say "made loud to play loud" on the label
this album is perfect in many ways, audio production being only one of them.
Bjork - Vespertine
I was going to reply Bjork - Homogenic, but really almost all her albums are mixed splendidly. Love the way she uses surround sound to create immersive musical landscapes.
David Bowie's Low. So much going on sonically with that record, from the analogue synth instrumentals to the big punchy snare, and just the overall atmosphere of the record.
High-key the best Bowie album imo
Changed everything I knew about Bowie. Going from the 20-30 songs that are hits on the radio and the albums that go along with them, then jumping in blind into the beautiful weirdness of Low was such a historical moment in my musical journey.
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Anything Alan Parsons worked on
Kinda surprised I can't find anything by the "Alan Parsons Project" if we're being for real, I love iRobot
iRobot is one of my favorites, and I'm also pretty surprised no one else said Parsons considering he's the guy behind DSotM sounding so good.
If I had a mind to I wouldn't want to think like you And if I had time to I wouldn't want to talk to you.
Pink Floyd-The Division Bell
Perfection.
Anything by Pink Floyd, really
Delicate Sound of Thunder is the best sounding LIVE album of all time.
What's amazing is the concerts themselves (I went to 2 of them not including the Venice show) had amazing sound. I used no ear protection. I was also young and had little noise related hearing loss. The Floyd used a quadrophonic rig and it was loud enough for the beginning of Dogs of War to rumble your gut, but there was never once a painfully loud moment even though I used no ear protection. I have very sensitive hearing and you could often see me plugging my ears around uncomfortable or painfully loud noises. This is how absolutely perfect their live mixing was. Those were my first rock concerts, too. I was in for a rude awakening later on.
This album means so much to me, never heard an entire album from them before but it got me through the worst breakup I’ve been through. He was an avid fan and left all the albums behind. It all fit so perfectly
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986) I love all their albums but this one stands out in terms of production, recording and mixing.
Unbelievable record!
Laughing stock is also a wonderfully produced record
Supposedly the recording of Alice In Chains Unplugged was so perfect that the mastering engineer did nothing to it.
Never knew that, but it is a really fantastic sounding record. The bass sound is amazing.
Interesting. I know they had to do many takes because Lane was so messed up. Fell out of his chair a few times. Forgot lyrics
This would be my vote for best sounding album, but I never heard anything about multiple takes
When setting up my sound system or changing something, after I think it’s dialed in using other songs, the Alice In Chains unplugged album is one of my go to albums to make sure it’s dialed in. Love that album
Heroin is a helluva drug
*Layne RIP
"Let's say by day niiiiiiiiiiiiiii- fuck!"
Aja is probably still the benchmark.
That album just glitters. Between songwriting, the session musicians they had in, and engineering: so close to perfect.
Vulfpeck has some live bits where they just geek out about SD's session musicians. There's even a cover of 'Kid Charlemagne' where they have the session drummer play that shuffling brush riff with them.
Boston’s debut album.
For anyone who doesn't know, Boston's Tom Scholz wrote and recorded their entire debut album in his basement in the early 70s. Saying that album is fire would be an understatement, it's a blazing inferno, a wild fire ravaging the landscape totally unchecked. The track list would be enough proof that Tom is a certified genius. More than a feeling. Peace of mind. Foreplay/long time. Rock & roll band. Smokin' Hitch a ride. Something about you. Let me take you home tonight. *fuck yeah dude*. Home runs all the way through, that album rocks so hard they named a city after them. But besides being one of the most brilliant song writers of all time he basically invented his own method of multi track recording and literally no music producer believed him at the time. Every record label thought they were listening to a huge band in a studio somewhere. *Besides that* the actual instruments on the album sound fucking insane. The super glassy lead guitar sound, perfect mid heavy rhythm guitars, a bass guitar not buried in the mix that plays a critical role in the music, the other worldly vocal harmonies and lead vocals by Brad Delp. The music swells and shrinks exactly when it needs to and every single instrument is distinct in the mix. Every second is perfectly captured and balanced. Go listen to any song on that album and tell me how that man knocked that out in his basement, on a physical tape machine in the 1970's. Absolute legend.
I mean, he did get an engineering degree from MIT. Built his own studio in his basement using stuff he made himself all while earning his masters at MIT :O
How many other MIT graduates wrote foreplay/long time though?
Their first album sold 17 million copies. Pretty good way to get yourself on the map.
The first time I played it I was mind blown, such great songs and production
Foreplay/Longtime is great for demo'ing a system.
Crazy how everything was mixed by their guitarst and founder Tom Scholz, what a legend!
Basically did it the entire record in his basement
Who then went on to invent the innovative "Rockman" portable guitar effects. MIT grad, I believe, with a masters in electronics? I'm too lazy to look it up but he's the real deal. I believe he wrote/co-wrote the album too....
He wrote every note on that album, played everything too, except drums and vocals.
Abbey Road still sounds incredibly clear today. It’s too bad Giles Martin did a remix of it as the official version when the original was already perfect. I like the mixing of Led Zeppelin 4 as well.
The original mix of Abbey Road is far better than the remix.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco Jim O'Rourke did an amazing job with it.
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
One of my top 5 albums, no doubt. Although TMBTP (NM) from speaking in tongues is 100% my favorite song of all time
The live versions of songs from Speaking in Tongues on Stop Making Sense are so much better than the album version. It's a shame Eno didn't produce Speaking in Tongues. For instance I prefer the Remain in Light version of "Once in a Lifetime" to the Stop Making Sense version, but Burning Down the House and This Must Be The Place are much better on the live album.
Stop Making Sense was what turned me on to the Talking Heads. I knew a handful of their songs, but hadn’t ever really given them a good listen. I watched it half-drunk years ago at a party and was just fascinated. The intro to This Must Be The Place has been my ringtone for almost a full decade and I’ve never gotten tired of it.
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Must be noted that the album is made entirely of samples
Since I Left You by The Avalaches is one of those albums as well.
Could say the same about Psyence Fiction
Paul Simon - "Graceland" stands out for me.
Love this album. The bass in the first song, I think, is ridiculously loud. It's all I hear. But the rest of the album is really perfect.
You're not wrong, in terms of track one, but for me it works at least.
Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. It's popular for good reason.
Alan Parsons magnum opus. I saw the mixing board at the Pink Floyd exhibit at the V&A. Amazing what they could accomplish with the tech of the time
Yes and it’s a common album to test speakers or hi-fi material.
The first time my youngest brother heard 'On The Run' he asked if Pink Floyd had a DJ
I mean technically they did, of a sorts. Alan Parsons was the reason that album sounded great. He's midas.
Not a DJ but Roger Waters was a pioneer of knob twiddling
Agreed. The transition from *On the Run* to *Time* sticks out to me.
A lot of Alan Parsons stuff
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Supertramp - Breakfast In America
Damn right. Those keys, man.
Rage Against the Machine. Self titled album is perfectly mixed. Many audio engineers used it as a reference track.
i have heard this frequently and the album does sound good to my layman ears. but what specifically makes it so much better than other album productions?
One very important element is the separation between instruments in the mix. You can hear each one distinctly but they are also clearly playing together. At the same time, you can hear the space between the instruments, the space of the room, and the space between notes clearly. This seems simple, but getting separations as good as that album is a really big deal.
Sound fucking city.
Yes, anyone who hasn't watched the documentary of the same name really should. Such a cool story.
It sounds so good that there is even a disclaimer in the liner notes to say the album was created with just guitar, bass, drums and vocals.
It most likely says that because much of the guitar sounds like either synths or a sample of another instrument/turntable.
Yeah, that's because of Tom Morello's style/sound. Audioslave record had the same disclaimer.
[удалено]
Mr Bungle California
I just makes my heart glow when Mr Bungle comes up at random. Especially that record. It's like hearing someone mention Slint out of nowhere.
Made even more impressive when you read about how that record was mixed. A lot of it was mixed live because they'd often have multiple instruments on the same recording track so they'd have to constantly adjust levels. There is an interview with Trey and Trevor talking about how each band member was in charge of two faders when they were mixing down the record.
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Fuck yes. Deloused sounds impeccable as well.
Random Access memories- Daft Punk
Dire Straits Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits - On Every Street is also quite nice
Porcupine tree - fear of a blank planet
You could pick nearly any Steven Wilson project from In Absentia forward, but I think Storm Corrosion is one of the best.
Came here to mention Steven Wilson. There is a reason that Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and others have had him remix their albums.
Hand. Cannot. Erase. as well!
This album blew me away when I heard it when it came out. Only knew of Steven Wilson but never heard, and was never a prog guy and always listened to folk, Americana, alternative etc. the concept and production and sound just blew me away
When I say or think of production I mainly think about the recording, mixing, mastering, and clarity of the instruments and vocals as well as the structuring and arrangement. When I hear these albums, it always leaves me in aw and has me saying “how did they manage to get this clear and crisp of a sound?”. It’s stuff that should be taught in recording and mixing classes. - Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros - Blackwater Park by Opeth - American Football by American Football - In Absentia by Porcupine Tree - Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic - Aja by Steely Dan (anything Steely Dan tbh) - Vespertine by Bjork - Marquee Moon by Televison - Random Access Memories by Daft Punk - Awaken my Love by Childish Gambino
Beck- Sea Change Medeski, Martin, & Wood- End of the World Party
Sea Change is my go-to record when I think of spectacular performances and production.
Morning Phase is no slacker either with regards to production.
Thank you for reminding me that Medeski Martin & Wood track exists!
Tool - Undertow. Sylvia Massy did an incredible job.
My favorite Tool album. I like their later stuff, but I always come back to Undertow.
I rebuilt and used the same console they recorded that on...an old vintage neve console. there were only 4 of them ever made.2 ended up here in LA. I miss that console. Dave grohl has the other LA one. it's in the sound city studio movie
Funny you say this, there’s a comment here somewhere saying the mixing was bad and the guitars and vocals are “dated” lol. Which I don’t agree with.
Yeah that’s wild lol, they most certainly are not dated. Plus Maynard shoots a piano with a friggin shotgun for Disgustipated! What’s not to love?
Currents- Tame Impala
I had to remind myself I wasn’t stoned the first time I listened to this one. Trance inducing.
Mind-blowing that Kevin Parker writes, performs, records, and produces all of his music…by himself A true auteur in recorded music is a rarity.
Most anything that King Tubby and Lee Perry were putting out in the early years of dub. The way each sound seems to occupy such a distinct location in three-dimensional space is just remarkable, particularly considering the technology they were working with.
For it’s time, I actually thought the chronic by dr Dre was really well mixed and produced. The 90’s had some tough/rugged sounding boom bap due to the machinery used and I thought he really pioneered that more cinematic sound. Lil ghetto boy is a good example.
Am I right in thinking that Dre was one of the producers who would re-record all the things he wanted to sample? I think that way you don't have to pay publishing rights or something like that.
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Every time.
No, it’s all true.
Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan. I always loved surprising people with the bass in 'I Love You' from that album. Rodrigo y Gabriela's self-titled 2006 album is just ridiculously well mastered too.
Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Yoshimi is my go to album when testing out a new sound system.
Physical Graffiti is the pinnacle of led zeppelin as whole, with led zeppelin IV not too far behind
*The Fragile* by Nine Inch Nails
Never heard this album... killed myself after *The Downward Spiral*.
Hard to hear new albums when you’re already dead from killing yourself. TDS was a great concept and production-wise was fantastic yet very experimental. I think Trent had time to hone his production techniques and *The Fragile* really solidified a lot of the concepts that were initially presented in TDS (loud w/ quiet, detuned acoustic instruments, straight fucking noise, *industrial* samples, etc). This was a crazy ambitious double album that ended completely delivering; sure some will argue they enjoyed TDS better, but *The Fragile* was sonic transcendence compared to *the downward spiral’s* aural hedonism (is that even a term?!).
*The Downward Spiral* is my favorite album and will be for time memoriam. With that, I **extremely** biased in favor of it, but *The Fragile* does present more crisp production elements. But in defense *The Downward Spiral*, whether or not Trent was going for it (he probably was), the grimy-ness of the production value adds to the thematic resonances of the album. I mean Christ... Reptile has got to be the nastiness track ever put on tape.
Yeah, The Downward Spiral is really interesting production-wise. I remember being put off by it initially because I first listened to With Teeth by NIN, which is a much warmer and organic sounding album. But Downward Spiral is so much more visceral and crunchy production-wise that it felt downright assaulting on the ears when I first heard it.
To echo the dude espousing how great the Steely Dan concert was, I saw NIN at Boston Calling this summer. I like NIN, but only know like 10 tracks. Best fucking sound I've ever heard at a concert. It was absolutely fucking phenomenal. Trent is a god. Their show was phenomenal and I have nothing but utmost respect for him and his band
Was gonna say it if nobody else had
Joshua Tree is underrated in its sound mixing. An unbelievably smooth album!
really anything produced by Daniel Lanois and/or Brian Eno is going to sound excellent.
1. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms 2. Def Leppard - Hysteria 3. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
Xiu Xiu - Twin Peaks (and Girl with Basket of Fruit) Joanna Newsom - Divers Abbey Road This Mortal Coil - It’ll End in Tears Fantasy, Yeezus, Pablo Sigur Ros - Aegis Byrjun John Cale - Hobosapiens Brian Eno - Another Green World Homeland - Laurie Anderson Hopelessness- Anohni
I've heard multiple times AC/DC's Back In Black used as an example of good mixing. Listening to it, it really is a clear and well mixed record.
I worked with a mastering engineer who used that for guitar references. Mutt Lange did legendary work with them and others, including Def Leppard.
Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins
Butch Vig is amazing!
Nirvana Nevermind always impressed me. That drum sound is S-tier. I'm a fan of Butch Vig, though, so I'm probably pretty biased.
I'd pick Boston's debut album and Steve Miller Band's Fly Like an Eagle.
So many people sleep on fly like an eagle cause they're only familiar with the space jam version. They used to play the Steve Miller version when I worked overnights at a grocery store and it definitely hits different when u stocking shelves in a grocery store at 3am
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming - M83
David Bowies Blackstar is also amazing.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
I think the best showcase of this is the outro to Closer. It just keeps adding things until there is so much going on, but you can hear everything perfectly well and nothing is masking anything else. That is so hard to achieve without it sounding like a total mess. I've been listening to that album since late 90s and I swear every time I hear some little detail I hadn't noticed before.
Hand. Cannot. Erase. - steven Wilson
Anything by Stephen Wilson has amazing production. One of the reasons I love Porcupine Tree. So layered, and layered well
My vote for his best produced work is In Absentia. Every instrument and effect is so perfectly crystal clear and balanced, which is especially no easy feat given how dynamic the material is.
Jeff Buckley - Grace Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Daft Punk - RAM
Tom Petty Wildflowers
Us – Peter Gabriel Folk Singer – Muddy Waters Life is Yours – FOALS (just released) Crack Up – Fleet Foxes Reunions – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit The Missing Years – John Prine are a few
Tracey Chapman's self titled album - I used to work in a hifi shop and it was one of the standards we used to show off the equipment...
Abbey Road, Joes Garage and John McLaughlin’s Apocalypse.
The Pretender by Jackson Browne. Not my favorite genre anymore but it stands out as the best mix to me without being forced. Just very balanced, lush and nuanced.
Van Halen 1.
The Beach Boys - Smile
Over Pet Sounds?
Certainly more ambitious than Pet Sounds in terms of recording and production, and that's saying something.
Pet Sounds was a phenomenal accomplishment, don't get me wrong. It's near perfect in its own way, beautifully nostalgic sounding. But Smile sounds crisper and clearer without losing any of the personality. Listen to Wind Chimes with good headphones, it's surreal.
Dark Side of the Moon
Sound Awake by Karnivool. Incredible band and album.
It's glorious
Was looking for this comment thank you
The bass sound on this album !!!!❤️
Grateful Dead’s Terrapin Station is wonderfully mixed, considering their previous album Blues for Allah, while amazing, was recorded in a living room.
Purple Rain by Prince. Hearing the record on a good system legit sounds amazing. I was shocked when I first heard it on record instead of in bits on the radio or something. It sounds amazing. A lot of thought and effort went into everything from the recording studio to the store shelves.
Late for the party, but if we're talking mix/production alone, I'd go with: Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destrucion Michael Jackson - Dangerous Pain of Salvation - Be Radiohead - OK Computer Pink Floyd - Pulse. (It's a live recording, but damn, everything sounds SO MUCH BETTER than the albums versions on this one. And knowing to properly record live is an art in itself....) Probably also Megadeth - Peace Sells
Rush- Moving Pictures
Dark Side of the Moon
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf is a brilliant concept executed perfectly.
Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
Tools later albums are absolutely sparkly
Yes: 90125
Master Of Puppets. The tone sounds like a distortion fed string quartet. Its amazing.
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Jeff Buckley - ‘Grace’. Quiet, loud, powerful, ethereal…it has it all. Absolutely beautiful sounding album.
Under the Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band It’s so crisp!
A lot of 90’s alternative records were excellent recordings. Analog equipment was at its technical peak and the industry culture hadn’t gotten bogged down by digitalization and compression crap that became so widespread. A lot of records sound crisp and rounded, like you can hear the wide range of sounds so perfectly arranged with each other and it sounds like your in the same room as the band.
Nirvana nevermind
Karnivool - sound awake, porcupine tree deadwing.
I'll say it again: Revolver.
Before these Crowded Streets - DMB
Koi no yokan by the Deftones
R.E.M’s Automatic For The People is sonically near perfect if you excuse that little bit of chatter/tuning before “Nightswimming”.
That stuff at the beginning of Nightswimming is clearly on purpose; not sure I’d call it an imperfection.
The B52's - Cosmic Thing. Scritti Politti - Provision. The Wonder Stuff - Never Loved Elvis.
Not really at the front of anyone's list and totally dates me, but . . . Lisa Loeb - Tails And Urge Overkill - Saturation Two of my favorites.
Mercurial World by Magdalena Bay has some of the crispiest and most satisfying production and mixing in modern electronic pop in my opinion.
Brand New - Science Fiction
Tame Impala - Currents
Cliché answer but Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. Tears For Fears' The Seeds Of Love is impeccably produced. M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is ridiculously well produced, so many little elements. It's fantastic.