I wouldn’t call them train wrecks but I always felt the producers/engineers, on some Three Dog Night albums, buried the bass way too deep in the mix.
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I wouldn’t call them train wrecks but I always felt the producers/engineers, on some Three Dog Night albums, buried the bass way too deep in the mix.
That was going to be my suggestion. I guess it has its own charm after all these years, but it's a mess (not necessarily in a good way) - to me anyway.
I've come to really like it, but the drum tone/mix on HORSE the Band's "R Borlax" was a really disaster - they're a guitar/keyboard focused band and all you could hear was this big, boomy snare. Not terrible for a self-produced record but still pretty bad.
'Empire' by Queensryche. Peter Collins produced it, and after 'Operation Mindcrime' 'Empire' sounded like a totally different band. Collins had worked on Rush's 'Power Windows' and 'Hold Your Fire' and they sounded like over-produced '80's synth messes, so he made Queensryche sound the same. (Yes, I know 'Empire' sold a bunch of records, but he completely took away their edge).
- Apr 18, 2008
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The Firm's first album. All treble. No meat to Tony Franklin's lines. Great songs that I hate listening to. 
Probably Stings idea. Doubt the producer came up with it.
I only have the old vinyl version but I've heard others using Aja as an audio 'benchmark' of sorts. It's hard to imagine that Fagen would ever let go of his insistence opon the highest of 'studio quality anything'. If you know what I'm sayin'.
I'm not going to nominate any one act or producer at blame but I think the biggest crime against decent music recordings is the over compression of final mixes over the past few decades. In an effort to be the loudest CD/MP3 in a listener's CD stacker, mp3 player etc, too much dynamic range, and therefore musical feeling and instrument separation etc has been lost to the loudness wars.
Here's a great example of what has happened and with so many Rush fans on this site many of you will be able to go back through your collection to hear exactly how it has made some great music sound a bit too muddy overall. (note, this article was written in 2002)
The full article can be found Invalid Link Removed
This is another good graphic. Michael Jackson's "Black or White" which was remastered for release at different times.
So much dynamic range has been squashed.
Here's a great example of what has happened and with so many Rush fans on this site many of you will be able to go back through your collection to hear exactly how it has made some great music sound a bit too muddy overall. (note, this article was written in 2002)
The full article can be found Invalid Link Removed
This is another good graphic. Michael Jackson's "Black or White" which was remastered for release at different times.
So much dynamic range has been squashed.
ALSO: the remix of ZZ Top's Le Grange with that reverby snare. Takes the zero-gravity swing of the original mix right out of it.
My best musician friend is frequently present at very well known studios in Los Angeles for professional reasons and is always speaking to recording engineers he meets at them. According to him ALL so called "pop" music these days uses autotune on the vocals even if the singer can actually sing ( accurately hit pitches ). Kind of like it's the new standard of vocal recording for anything intended to be a "hit". So with that in mind. Anything you hear on mainstream "pop" radio these days has that going on. Whether you notice it or not.
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The entire remix/re-master on the ZZTop 6 pack CD release is definitely worse sounding than the original vinyl releases!
You know, with the Phil Spector thing, I think part of it is that what he did in the 60s was singles- driven, meant to be experienced in mono on AM radio. It was very, very different than what anybody else was doing and designed to be kind of outrageous and exciting. I'm not sure anybody was considering how those records would hold up 50 years later. Even most Spector fans would concede that he peaked on "Be My Baby" and that a lot he did after that was a case of diminishing returns.
"All Things Must Pass" is something I grew up loving, on vinyl, the way it was. That doesn't mean I have no time to hear it with a bit less verb so I can hear what's actually going on.
"All Things Must Pass" is something I grew up loving, on vinyl, the way it was. That doesn't mean I have no time to hear it with a bit less verb so I can hear what's actually going on.
I'd also have to add in the production on almost every song by Jethro Tull. Love their music. And live they're awesome. A genuine rock band. But on their albums they're either overproduced or underproduced most times. And whatever that thing is they do to the bass should be illegal.
They'd have been much better off just doing live albums. The sound on their concert videos is far superior to that on their albums.
They'd have been much better off just doing live albums. The sound on their concert videos is far superior to that on their albums.
Wow that is hideous. I could only listen to about 10 seconds.
Isn't there a difference between production, mixing, and mastering? I'm no pro, but I always thought the Loudness War overcompression thing was due to mastering.
Producers help bands decide on arrangements (or just decide without band input) and work with the recording engineers, no?
Producers help bands decide on arrangements (or just decide without band input) and work with the recording engineers, no?
Black Sabbath, "Born Again." Original mix was a muddy disaster. The remixes that have dribbled out since are ferocious.
