Some of my top picks have been mentioned, like:
weezer - pinkerton: for that 'blown out' sound.. (minimal overdubs and no click, help this sound very band-in-a-room to me)
Tom Petty - wildflowers: nice sounds that don't get in the way of the songs
The Zombies "Odessey and Oracle" (More 4-track Abbey Road magic.) ..reallly creative mixes and great utilization of the technology of the time (great tones, cool variety of styles and sounds)
Nirvana - In Utero: (still sounds fresh & great example of Albini drums)
Also..
Lucinda Williams- Car wheels on a gravel road: I like this one for the same reason as Wildflowers, everything just sounds clear and right. Amazing guitar too
Byrds- Sweetheart of the Rodeo: I'm not even really a fan of country music... similar love for Buck Owens Tiger by the Tail
Neutral Milk Hotel- In an Aeroplane over the Sea: distortion sounds good
Sparklehorse- It's a Wonderful Life: So great, a song like Gold Day has such beautiful keys, awesome drums... Great textures on every song.
John Vanderslice - Cellar Door: great, engineering, mixes, tones etc. Lots of ear candy while still being sparse and open.
...edited, as I called BS on some of my earlier picks.
Top Ten Albums All Recording Engineers Should Own
Moderator: cgarges
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Electro-Voice 664
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Last edited by Electro-Voice 664 on Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz. On your five grand stereo."
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JGriffin
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Nice! I've used Szabo's "Dreams" album as a reference (on a number of levels) for a long time.tonewoods wrote:
5) Gabor Szabo "Mizrab" (Rudy Van Gelder gettin' sounds...)
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
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suppositron
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As far as Steve Albini: I'm liking the In Utero references. But, when I hear "The Eye Of Every Storm" by Neurosis I'm even more blown away. That record sounds perfect.
Another great sounding record off the top of my head is "Geneva" by Russian Circles.
Another great sounding record off the top of my head is "Geneva" by Russian Circles.
MoreSpaceEcho wrote:c'mon. everyone knows that roland really starts to sing when you push the master up.
I'm surprised not to see Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, or Black Sabbath's Paranoid get a mention yet, so I'll throw them into the mix. For me, those two albums are the pinnacle of "band in a room" sounds.
As far as the Beatles go, Sgt Pepper is a marvel of production, but I think Revolver and the White Album are better examples of engineering. To my ears, they've always had more "teeth" than the other Beatles albums.
On that note, I'd also mention Cream's Wheels of Fire and Hendrix's Electric Ladyland as albums that sounded louder and prouder than their predecessors.
As far as the Beatles go, Sgt Pepper is a marvel of production, but I think Revolver and the White Album are better examples of engineering. To my ears, they've always had more "teeth" than the other Beatles albums.
On that note, I'd also mention Cream's Wheels of Fire and Hendrix's Electric Ladyland as albums that sounded louder and prouder than their predecessors.
Rad thread. Loving the replies so far. I can't really put down a top ten, but I'd like to contribute one album.
The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused is a great demonstration of an album having a cohesive overall "sound" while still letting each track have its own sonic identity. Many of the songs move seamlessly between the raw/gritty and the cold/mechanical, and the drum and bass tones just work so well together. The guitars are heavy as hell, but always clear. It often sounds "larger than life" in the way that many big-time commercial albums do, but it still somehow melds that with rough edges all over.
The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused is a great demonstration of an album having a cohesive overall "sound" while still letting each track have its own sonic identity. Many of the songs move seamlessly between the raw/gritty and the cold/mechanical, and the drum and bass tones just work so well together. The guitars are heavy as hell, but always clear. It often sounds "larger than life" in the way that many big-time commercial albums do, but it still somehow melds that with rough edges all over.
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ott0bot
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i didn't have 10 so i'm adding a few when I think of them....
Another Green World by Brain Eno should probably be mentioned. The mindset of the production being key. Not only is the engineering great, but the unusual techniques of playing and how they were recorded were really creative. From caputiring a leslies piano, to a guitar played with mallets, to feeding a digitally delayed guitar back into itself until it barely resembles a guitar. To me this kind of record should remind engineers to loosen up their belts and experiment.
Another Green World by Brain Eno should probably be mentioned. The mindset of the production being key. Not only is the engineering great, but the unusual techniques of playing and how they were recorded were really creative. From caputiring a leslies piano, to a guitar played with mallets, to feeding a digitally delayed guitar back into itself until it barely resembles a guitar. To me this kind of record should remind engineers to loosen up their belts and experiment.
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nobody, really
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Still Life- Madness and the Gackle: the best sounding self-recorded album by the finest of the 90's emo bands.(back when "emo" meant "emotional hard-core" or whatever) oddly enough, their last album sounded like dog squeeze.
Beck- The Information: Amazing low end.... just amazing low end.
Abbey Road: It's Abbey Road, it's 8 track, it's as good as it gets.
Earth, Wind and Fire- I Am: If you're doing R&B and it doesn't sound this good, then try harder.
Beck- Fresh Meat and Old Slabs: ok, another Beck one, but if this doesn't simultaneously make your crappy old 4-track recordings sound like Abbey Road, and also make you want to grab a guitar, the 4-track(that you still have, somewhere) and a twelver and make some music, than I don't know what will. embrace the mistakes. hold on to the lo-fi. savor the inane.
That's five, i know. time for work.
Beck- The Information: Amazing low end.... just amazing low end.
Abbey Road: It's Abbey Road, it's 8 track, it's as good as it gets.
Earth, Wind and Fire- I Am: If you're doing R&B and it doesn't sound this good, then try harder.
Beck- Fresh Meat and Old Slabs: ok, another Beck one, but if this doesn't simultaneously make your crappy old 4-track recordings sound like Abbey Road, and also make you want to grab a guitar, the 4-track(that you still have, somewhere) and a twelver and make some music, than I don't know what will. embrace the mistakes. hold on to the lo-fi. savor the inane.
That's five, i know. time for work.
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ott0bot
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I'm a bit partial to Sunny Day Real Estate's 1998 release How it Feels to be Something On, as far as 90's emo bands go. That record sounds so wonderful....some of the best bass and drum tones I've heard. The vocals sound so forward and present without having harsh sibalance or too much annoying high-end sparkle. Something I always work to acheive. And the balance of the mixes is superb. It seems like the record is pretty much forgotten and overlooked, but it's my favorite of theirs for sure, and from an engineering standpoint is worth a listen.nobody, really wrote:Still Life- Madness and the Gackle: the best sounding self-recorded album by the finest of the 90's emo bands.(back when "emo" meant "emotional hard-core" or whatever) oddly enough, their last album sounded like dog squeeze.
Last edited by ott0bot on Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Mark Hollis" - Mark Hollis. Recorded music as an art form simply doesn't get much better than this. Engineered by Phill Brown, one of the true underrated greats.
"The original idea was to record the album in a similar way to a 1940/50's Jazz album. We decided on trying two valve microphones at the front of the studio room (classic approach, updated to stereo). We recorded everything on these two mikes, (again individually) without changing the e.q. - moving the musicians around the room to the required location in the final stereo - (in the '50s, one microphone would have been used, everyone would play live, and soloists would have stood up for extra volume). We finally settled on a crossed cardiord pair of M49's, at head height when sitting in a chair, at the front of Studio 1, at Master Rock Studios - in front of the control-room window. A stereo Urei 1176 was plugged across these mics, but with a setting of only a 1db reduction on peaks. These two mics were not touched for the whole of the four months recording. No eq, level or compression changes were made to these mikes. We wanted all the natural dynamics of the instruments. Again we recorded first to Studar analogue, and then synched up to a Mitsubishi 32 track digital. Like the previous albums we 'off-set' the tape machines and 'moved' instruments, or single notes, within our song structure. (Although the final results could have been achieved with samplers etc. Mark and I prefer this way of working, as you judge where to position things by listening and feel, and not by a visual cursor.)
Unlike Spirit or Laughing, there were demos of almost all the songs, it was easy to know where we were heading and what was required. The previous albums had been recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea (during the recording of Laughing Stock we probably erased over 60% of what we had originally recorded). However, on Marks project everything was scored and written down. Again we mixed using only an old spring echo, an EMT echo plate, and a DDL, this time at AIR Lindhurst. It became a job of balancing our stereo pairs of instruments for level and continuity."
"The original idea was to record the album in a similar way to a 1940/50's Jazz album. We decided on trying two valve microphones at the front of the studio room (classic approach, updated to stereo). We recorded everything on these two mikes, (again individually) without changing the e.q. - moving the musicians around the room to the required location in the final stereo - (in the '50s, one microphone would have been used, everyone would play live, and soloists would have stood up for extra volume). We finally settled on a crossed cardiord pair of M49's, at head height when sitting in a chair, at the front of Studio 1, at Master Rock Studios - in front of the control-room window. A stereo Urei 1176 was plugged across these mics, but with a setting of only a 1db reduction on peaks. These two mics were not touched for the whole of the four months recording. No eq, level or compression changes were made to these mikes. We wanted all the natural dynamics of the instruments. Again we recorded first to Studar analogue, and then synched up to a Mitsubishi 32 track digital. Like the previous albums we 'off-set' the tape machines and 'moved' instruments, or single notes, within our song structure. (Although the final results could have been achieved with samplers etc. Mark and I prefer this way of working, as you judge where to position things by listening and feel, and not by a visual cursor.)
Unlike Spirit or Laughing, there were demos of almost all the songs, it was easy to know where we were heading and what was required. The previous albums had been recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea (during the recording of Laughing Stock we probably erased over 60% of what we had originally recorded). However, on Marks project everything was scored and written down. Again we mixed using only an old spring echo, an EMT echo plate, and a DDL, this time at AIR Lindhurst. It became a job of balancing our stereo pairs of instruments for level and continuity."
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kayagum
- ghost haunting audio students
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Thanks for the Mark Hollis detail- fun!
My albums to add to the list:
Nick Drake: Pink Moon
Uncle Tupelo: March 16-20 1993
Two acoustic albums that couldn't sound more different but both great!
American Music Club: Mercury
U2: Unforgettable Fire
Yo La Tengo: Painful
Three albums showing what you can do with atmosphere without creating a mess.
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska
The ultimate demos...
PS: I have to agree about Paranoid... it sounds better with every listen.
My albums to add to the list:
Nick Drake: Pink Moon
Uncle Tupelo: March 16-20 1993
Two acoustic albums that couldn't sound more different but both great!
American Music Club: Mercury
U2: Unforgettable Fire
Yo La Tengo: Painful
Three albums showing what you can do with atmosphere without creating a mess.
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska
The ultimate demos...
PS: I have to agree about Paranoid... it sounds better with every listen.
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MoreSpaceEcho
- zen recordist
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- Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:15 am
buncha good stuff already mentioned. top ten for me, in no particular order:
1. achtung baby-U2
i remember listening to this on headphones back when it came out and visualizing a huge mixing board with a bunch of channels MUTED. i could hear how they were crafting the arrangements via the mute button, and that was a good lesson to learn early on. i could go on and on about this record but i'll just sum it up by saying it's a great example of extremely heavy handed production that doesn't get in the way of the songs at all, and actually enhances their presentation.
2. ruby vroom-soul coughing
my love for yuval gabay's drumming is well documented on this board already....suffice to say that tchad blake's production presents this drumming in the coolest possible way. another example of heavy handed production that serves the song. i love how wacky and playful this record sounds, and more importantly it sounds wacky and playful without being precious or self conscious about it.
3. the bed is in the ocean-karate
so back in the 90s, i was really into the sort of production exemplified in the two examples above. then i heard this record, tracked and mixed by andy hong, and it totally spun my head around. totally straight up, no adornment whatsoever....a drum kit, a bass, a guitar, and a vocal. in a room. with some microphones. the end. sounds incredible. the drums especially are just amazing.
4. steve albini in general
awhile back, garages and i were talking about 'in utero', and i was saying 'remember how WEIRD it sounded when it came out? listen to it now and it sounds TOTALLY NORMAL.' breeders 'pod' is an even better example. that thing sounds as fresh now as it did when it came out in '92 or whenever. how many early 90s rock records can you say that about?
shellac's '1000 hurts'...when i listen to that i imagine electrons flowing perfectly through every part of the recording chain...ok that sounds terribly clinical and dorky, so i will add that i am usually playing air drums while i'm thinking that, but you know what i mean.
5. spirit of eden/laughing stock-talk talk
if you're reading this and aren't familiar with these records, go buy them immediately. do it now. go. the text will still be here when you come back. totally gorgeous sounding records that prove that it is in fact possible to painstakingly put a record together piece by piece over a long period of time and have it come out sounding totally fresh and unlabored. you just need to have the vision. man.
6. tago mago-can
has to be thee best example of a record made by improvisation and editing. sonically, it's not really all that, but IT DOESN'T MATTER because the ideas and the playing are so good.
7. end hits and/or the argument-fugazi
i'm not always in the mood for these guys, but when i am nothing else will do, and the records tend to stay in the cd player for a week straight. end hits has to be the STONIEST record ever made by a bunch of straight edge dudes.
i'll go so far as to say that if you're making any sort of modern indie rock record and aren't familiar with the sonics on the fugazi records, you are doing your clients a disservice.
8. miles goddamn davis
pick a record. there's something to be learned there.
9. hysteria-def leppard
yeah that's right. laugh all you want. put this record on, then listen to your current record in progress and get back to me. you can argue with the sounds (the "cymbals"....my god), you can argue with the musical style, what you can't argue with is the overall presentation and attention to detail. i think this record is an even greater achievement for mutt lange than 'back in black'. yes i really just said that.
10. fuck, what do i pick for number ten? i dunno.....zep 4. this record would be worthy of study even if all it included was a single hit of the 'stairway' snare, and the intro to 'when the levee breaks'.
1. achtung baby-U2
i remember listening to this on headphones back when it came out and visualizing a huge mixing board with a bunch of channels MUTED. i could hear how they were crafting the arrangements via the mute button, and that was a good lesson to learn early on. i could go on and on about this record but i'll just sum it up by saying it's a great example of extremely heavy handed production that doesn't get in the way of the songs at all, and actually enhances their presentation.
2. ruby vroom-soul coughing
my love for yuval gabay's drumming is well documented on this board already....suffice to say that tchad blake's production presents this drumming in the coolest possible way. another example of heavy handed production that serves the song. i love how wacky and playful this record sounds, and more importantly it sounds wacky and playful without being precious or self conscious about it.
3. the bed is in the ocean-karate
so back in the 90s, i was really into the sort of production exemplified in the two examples above. then i heard this record, tracked and mixed by andy hong, and it totally spun my head around. totally straight up, no adornment whatsoever....a drum kit, a bass, a guitar, and a vocal. in a room. with some microphones. the end. sounds incredible. the drums especially are just amazing.
4. steve albini in general
awhile back, garages and i were talking about 'in utero', and i was saying 'remember how WEIRD it sounded when it came out? listen to it now and it sounds TOTALLY NORMAL.' breeders 'pod' is an even better example. that thing sounds as fresh now as it did when it came out in '92 or whenever. how many early 90s rock records can you say that about?
shellac's '1000 hurts'...when i listen to that i imagine electrons flowing perfectly through every part of the recording chain...ok that sounds terribly clinical and dorky, so i will add that i am usually playing air drums while i'm thinking that, but you know what i mean.
5. spirit of eden/laughing stock-talk talk
if you're reading this and aren't familiar with these records, go buy them immediately. do it now. go. the text will still be here when you come back. totally gorgeous sounding records that prove that it is in fact possible to painstakingly put a record together piece by piece over a long period of time and have it come out sounding totally fresh and unlabored. you just need to have the vision. man.
6. tago mago-can
has to be thee best example of a record made by improvisation and editing. sonically, it's not really all that, but IT DOESN'T MATTER because the ideas and the playing are so good.
7. end hits and/or the argument-fugazi
i'm not always in the mood for these guys, but when i am nothing else will do, and the records tend to stay in the cd player for a week straight. end hits has to be the STONIEST record ever made by a bunch of straight edge dudes.
i'll go so far as to say that if you're making any sort of modern indie rock record and aren't familiar with the sonics on the fugazi records, you are doing your clients a disservice.
8. miles goddamn davis
pick a record. there's something to be learned there.
9. hysteria-def leppard
yeah that's right. laugh all you want. put this record on, then listen to your current record in progress and get back to me. you can argue with the sounds (the "cymbals"....my god), you can argue with the musical style, what you can't argue with is the overall presentation and attention to detail. i think this record is an even greater achievement for mutt lange than 'back in black'. yes i really just said that.
10. fuck, what do i pick for number ten? i dunno.....zep 4. this record would be worthy of study even if all it included was a single hit of the 'stairway' snare, and the intro to 'when the levee breaks'.
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cgarges
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True, but what albums are so chock full of value that everyone who's into recording ought to have a copy?lyman wrote:it all depends on the points you're trying to make and what YOU value in how an album sounds.
Yeah, but those two records are SO different. Like, if you had to pick one of those, which one would it be and why? Or would are they both SO great that you'd knock something else off the list? If so, what?MoreSpaceEcho wrote:7. end hits and/or the argument-fugazi
i'm not always in the mood for these guys, but when i am nothing else will do, and the records tend to stay in the cd player for a week straight. end hits has to be the STONIEST record ever made by a bunch of straight edge dudes.
i'll go so far as to say that if you're making any sort of modern indie rock record and aren't familiar with the sonics on the fugazi records, you are doing your clients a disservice.
Thanks for the comments, guys! Keep 'em coming!
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
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