Guitar solo in "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones. I'm not sure there's enough treble boost in it! 
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That one and Death Magnetic. To much compression. The new one is a gem mastering wise
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Metallica's Death Magnetic. Very dry, distorted production.
Queensryche's self-titled album. Was mixed very harsh, and like DM, was compressed to clipping levels.
Arch Enemy's first album was a compressed, dirty, loud, claustrophobic mess.
As someone else pointed out, Vapor Trails was EXTREMELY compressed. No dynamics at all.
Judas Priest's Redeemer of Souls. I've never heard anything sound so overproduced yet terribly produced at the same time.
The original mix of Nevermore's Enemies of Reality. Muffled, muffled mess. Overly compressed. Andy Sneap did that record huge favors.
Queensryche's self-titled album. Was mixed very harsh, and like DM, was compressed to clipping levels.
Arch Enemy's first album was a compressed, dirty, loud, claustrophobic mess.
As someone else pointed out, Vapor Trails was EXTREMELY compressed. No dynamics at all.
Judas Priest's Redeemer of Souls. I've never heard anything sound so overproduced yet terribly produced at the same time.
The original mix of Nevermore's Enemies of Reality. Muffled, muffled mess. Overly compressed. Andy Sneap did that record huge favors.
Agreed. George briefly commented on Spector's "Wall of Sound" approach in the liner notes of the album's 2001 reissue, basically saying (paraphrased): "Yeah, in retrospect, I don't really like [WoS]. But it is what it is."
Yeah I been reminded. It's a travesty what time does to a mans memory.
Virtually everything by Phil Spector.
Virtually everything "self" produced (or self produced with "help") by aging rock stars. Keith Richard's Main Offender and Robert Plant's The Principle of Moments spring first to mind. Gentlemen - if you've blasted your ears out with the giant backlines of yore, and are slightly fuzzy in the thinking department after way too many years of booze and drugs, please, please, please get somebody who can still critically think and can actually hear to produce your next album? Barking tinny bass and drums way too loud and up front in the mix aren't doing anything for your music. Time to face the truth - your ability to hear is gone. What you're hearing is nothing like what the average human being is hearing. So get somebody else besides yourself to produce and mix your next album. And stay out of their way and let them do their job once you do.
Virtually everything "self" produced (or self produced with "help") by aging rock stars. Keith Richard's Main Offender and Robert Plant's The Principle of Moments spring first to mind. Gentlemen - if you've blasted your ears out with the giant backlines of yore, and are slightly fuzzy in the thinking department after way too many years of booze and drugs, please, please, please get somebody who can still critically think and can actually hear to produce your next album? Barking tinny bass and drums way too loud and up front in the mix aren't doing anything for your music. Time to face the truth - your ability to hear is gone. What you're hearing is nothing like what the average human being is hearing. So get somebody else besides yourself to produce and mix your next album. And stay out of their way and let them do their job once you do.
Appetite for Destruction. Great rocking tunes, but I can't stand Axl's voice. The stupid whistle in Paradise City - why is it there?
Although this doesn't really have anything to do with the producer.
Although this doesn't really have anything to do with the producer.
Phil Spector had nothing to do with Abbey Road, but he was given the tapes to produce something which later became Let It Be.
Let It Be was recorded BEFORE Abbey Road but released after Abbey Road. The Beatles had grown bored with post production and if I remember correctly, George Martin did not want to sift through all the hours and somehow make compromises on tunes, he wanted to cull through, and record new, on those tunes that were most promising.
Phil the Pill, not my first go to person.
Let It Be "Naked", version, while enjoyable, not a whole lot different. Some different vocal mixes, different guitar solo takes along with the lack of post production strings was indeed noticeable. Different yes, better, not sure, glad there are both.
Clearly, there was not a lot of changes considering there were over 100 hours of tape spooled in the Archives? That makes me wonder how much Phil had to work with in that 100 hours along with giving credence to George Martin's remarks. You also have to wonder why George Harrison, decided to have Phil produce All Things Must Pass? Harrison would have been in the know on the quality of the 100 plus hours in the vault at the time?
It also tells me Phil probably did an admirable job, though again not my favorite by any means.
Give me Glyn Johns, Tom Dowd, George Martin and the rest. If I like the music, I follow the producer to see what else they have done, it usually is rewarding.
All Peter Gabriel era Genesis. Can't understand the words, and the instruments sound like they were done on my cassette four track recorder.
The live album " seconds out " is the way they all should have sounded!
The live album " seconds out " is the way they all should have sounded!
That embarrassing " ooga chucka chucka" hideous mess at the beginning of Hooked On A Feeling, yuck ! And yes that drum riff in Englishman In York, what gives ??
Yes, it's one thing to say something was "poorly produced" because technically, sonically there's actual problems with it. Most of the time though it's just a conceptual decision the producer/artist made that may or may not be your cuppa tea. Some of those decisions were certainly made in response to technical limitations of the time, so one has to keep that in mind too.
I prefer producers that are more transparent in capturing the artist.
Unfortunately some producers imprint more of themselves on an artist than I like.
That being said, sometimes the paucity of material submitted along with how ambitious the artist is, can sometimes leave gaps that inevitably the producer instead of the artist fills.
All Things Must Pass, George Harrison is a perfect example. George was pleased with the album as was the public. Later releases, especially with Jeff Lynne producing, seemed to exhibit the same gaps which the producer filled in their signature manner. Again, Harrison was pleased. That is what leads me to believe George was a little lazy.
I always wished, someone would have said, "yeah you "used" to be a Beatle, how about working a little harder and finishing this stuff yourself". But, I'm guessing you would have to not be enamored by the man, to push that opinion.
I find myself wondering what exactly the producers do with Dylan as his elocution is much better on recordings yet many of his tours find me wondering what the hell is he playing, only to find out it's a well known tune.
With that being said, touring for fifty plus years, with his catalog, it would be impossible for me not to retool a tune here and there, which would no doubt drive the fans nuts, but at least make me not hate performing the tune, which would most likely be noticeable and a bigger detriment to the performance.
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Blue Suede, I believe was the second band to cover that in a couple of years. They
had to do something to differentiate it from the original, everything else was the same.
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