mixes that blow your mind.....

[brownshoes77]

post some mixes that really blew you away. i'm putting up this thread because i just listened for the first time all the way thru to the flaming lips' 'yoshimi battles the pink robots' in 5.1 dvd audio with a visual presentation and it blew me away. luckily i have access to an awesome surround system and HDTV so it was INSANE. anyway, i highly suggest you check it out. you can buy that and the stereo cd mix for like 25 bucks, SO worth it. so what blows/blew you away and why?????



-ian the flying robot

[I'm Painting Again]

I say the Swirlies..bloner tongue audio baton..that record sounds so bad its beautiful..the mix sounds like there is more hiss and noise than music..just brilliant..i love that record..i think it was self recorded/produced but im not certain..

then on the more hi-fi side i love Enoch Light and the Light Brigade's Permissive Polyphonics 12"..the sound is increadable the mixes are really great and there are crazy funky versions of Scarborough Fair, Let it Be, and Monday Monday on it..that was mixed bt Chuck Irwin circa 1969..

[joeysimms]

Part of me says that every mix eventually blows me away, once I've got some perspective on it, but a couple recent examples are..

Cheap Trick's first album. I have been listening to it since the 6th grade, but I don't think i ever listened with headphones until last nite. There's lot's of manipulation going on in there, even tho at a glance it just sounds like a guitar record. It's a huge, dense mix, the drum sounds are awesome, and I love the effects on it. they never did another one like the first, IMO..

'Cucumber castle', by the Bee Gees is another. huge wet reverb everywhere, the most melodramatic pop stuff I've heard in a while. And, the "lay down and die' song sounds just like something flaming lips would do. coincidence? absolutely!

Zaireeka was a great listening experience, but I only heard that once.

[@?,*???&?]

Michael Hedges "Taproot"

Soundgarden "Superunknown"

U2 "Achtung Baby"

Emmylou Harris "Wrecking Ball"

Los Lobos "Kiko"

Suzanne Vegas "99.9 Fahrenheit"

Shriekback "Big Night Music"

Radiohead "Okay Computer"

Roxy Music "Avalon"

Beatles "Rubber Soul"

Ben Harper "Will to live"

Miles Davis "Panthalassa"

John Coltrane "Blue Train"

Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"

The Clash "London Calling"

[stillafool]

The Eagles, Hotel California. I hate it artistically, but from a production/engineering standpoint, it's one of the best records ever made.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

well, it's not necessarily a "blew me away" kinda thing, but it seems every time i hear some record i'm not familiar with and think "wow, that shit sounds GOOD" it turns out albini recorded it. palace 'viva last blues', breeders 'pod' being two examples. the other day, i was in my lady's car, she was listening to the wedding present. i'm ig'nant, i'd never heard it. it sounded great and i remarked "this sounds like steve albini recorded it." she was like "you can tell who recorded this by listening to 2 minutes of it????" i replied "i think so." and sure enough, he did. on saturday i was taking a nap and awoke to the sound of totally bombastic drums coming from our stereo in the other room. didn't recognize the tune, but again thought "that sounds good." it turned out to be an outtake from the in utero sessions, the b side to heart shaped box or something. not trying to suck steve's dick or anything...area man, just saying.

on the opposite end of the spectrum, i'd have to say it was 'achtung baby' that really gave me a fresh perspective on mixing. that it wasn't just about balancing gtr/bass/drums/vox, it could be about having 'events', you had any number of ways to present a song, and the mute button was a good, good thing. of course, for awhile then i thought making cool records was all about having some insane mix happening all the time. eventually i realized that, y'know, songs and performances and rooms and mics and stuff are kind of important too.

[b3groover]

I was listening to Genesis "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" the other night, a record I've been listening to since I was 11 or so... but I was listening to the CD remaster on a ridiculous sound system owned by a buddy of mine (B&W Nautilus 802s, Bryston amp, Musical Fidelity NuVista CD player... nutso).

What a cool record! Some pretty neat stuff going on there, especially with the Mellotron and synth sounds. Phil's drums sound sweet as hell, too.

[object88]

I don't know if I'll like it in a week, but for the last week, a mix of tracks from The Paper Cuts has been in my car. Loving on the drums.

[vvv]

A few thoughts:

Prince "When Doves Cry" for originality. I mean, pull the whole bass?

Stones Exile on Main Street (compare the various mixes available, and breathe the bleed)

D. Fagan Nightfly everything in it's place; Kammerikind, also, and really, most SD.

Dinosaur, Jr. Without a Sound, because big, stupid-loud guitar solos can work in a mix.

Def Leppard Pyromania, not for the music, but for the ear-candy.

AC/DC Back in Black for loud but not too loud.

NIN The Fragile for "mixing as arrangement" lessons.

Rapeman Two Nuns and a Packmule because abrasive can be beautiful.

John Scofield Go for a great jazz mix that always makes me smile.

Sisters of Mercy Floodland the sound of Goth/dance/clubbing in the late '80's; still scary and epic.

The Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Sessions has a one stereo mic. mix ever sounded so cool?

Frank Black Catholocs, Pistolero and Dog in the Sand live in the studio mixed to two track (who is Nick Vincent?)

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Lambchop "Is A Woman". It's so quiet and seemingly simple but there are a million things going on that you don't notice on the first few listens. Also has some really beautifully recorded piano.

Someone mentioned the Flaming Lips. If you can find it get the 4 cd record (I can't remember the name right now). It's ment to be played on 4 systems at once. It's jaw dropping.

Also the last Ry Cooder cuban record (again the name escapes me). It's one of the best "band in a room" records I've ever heard. Mind you it's a killer band in a killer room. There a great sense of space to this record.

[Rodgre]

I will second the Swirlies, but I'm going for And They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of Salons..... a sonic masterpiece by Rich Costey!

I also love the sound of Nada Surf's Let Go.

I love the bigness of Beck's Sea Change

I love the production on Rush's Hemispheres (which is what got me interested in recording when I was ten)

Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs

Radiohead the Bends and OK Computer

Fiona Apple's When the Pawn.


All this is pretty modern stuff. I'm really surprising myself here.

Roger

[mcfl0nuz]

i looooooooove how weezer's blue album sounds. I think ric ocasek (sp?) did a great job.

i agree with ok computer.

for the lower quality, im impressed with mirah's productions. her songs are great and they usually sound goooooood.

im completely dissatisfied with sigur ros' ()...

what happened there?

[Rodgre]

Someone mentioned the Flaming Lips. If you can find it get the 4 cd record (I can't remember the name right now). It's ment to be played on 4 systems at once. It's jaw dropping.

Also the last Ry Cooder cuban record (again the name escapes me). It's one of the best "band in a room" records I've ever heard. Mind you it's a killer band in a killer room. There a great sense of space to this record.

That's Flaming Lips' Zaireeka. It's cool, and still cool if you cheat and put it all in a DAW and line it up for your own stereo mix

That Ry Cooder/Manuel Galban CD is called Mambo Sinuendo and yes, it's fantastic.

Roger

[nacho459]

Pet Sounds (Stereo & 5.1)

Aja

And you may not have heard of it but Dragon Slayer by Dream Evil is arguably the best produced metal album ever.

[jebjerome]

Forgot about Kiko, thanks for the reminder -- I love that album.
Cooder / Galban -- great too.

I think whoever mixed Dre's The Chronic did a great job. And Midnight Vultures -- tons of things going on there...