this is just a trick to keep from typing today

[Jose Mrochek]

Alecio can you post that song up ? The one you mention of yours.. would be very cool to listen to it. Theres alot of very cool stuff that comes out from Brazil, that even we who are neighbors never get to listen . thanks

[Alécio Costa]

sure, but I have not released it yet. But I promise some stuff
Thanks for your interest.
I promise really cool groovy drums
:)

[Gregg Sartiano]

Originally posted by Dave Pensado
I was thinking about crossroads in my career today. I started thinking if I would be doing things differently if I had not heard and admired certain mixes. SO, WHAT ARE THE 5 (FIVE!) MIXES THAT INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST? I'm not saying that you liked best, but mixes you studied and ultimately changed how you work (if you are a producer, include yours also). I know, I have seen a million posts like this before, but come on, you asswipes owe me one easy day!

O.K., I guess I'll step up to the plate (again!), but these five might be different next week.

1) Beastie Boys "License to Ill" -- o.k., I was but a wee tyke when this one hit, but it was the soundtrack of my existence at the time. And growing up in Youth Orchestra rehearsals, it was pretty darned important to hear something a little different. My other favorite cassettes at the time were Whitesnake, Sex Pistols, Dead Milkmen (Big Lizard in my Backyard), Dokken (Under Lock and Key), Bon Jovi, U2, and ANY >>>VAN HALEN<<<. (I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but what the heck). Note that, with the exception of the Sex Pistols, all of these artists were contemporaries & vital at the time -- I didn't get into Led Zep (my all time favorite) or any 70's rock (or even Jimi Hendrix) until I hit college and started buying LP's as the boomers were dumping their collections. How weird is that? And, yes, I broke a turntable trying to "scratch" because of this, Run-DMC, and L.L. Cool J "Rock the Bells"

2) U2 "The Joshua Tree" -- I wore this one out. It showed me there was life beyond the guitar solo. Sonically, well...I don't even have to go there. Beyond incredible -- and distinctive.

3) NIN "Pretty Hate Machine" -- I thought NIN reinvented rock. I still think that. Same goes for "The Downward Spiral," which is actually my favorite.

4) Duran Duran (in general) -- Weaning myself into music through early MTV, I always thought Duran Duran was the coolest band. It was only when I finally moved to L.A. that I realized how great they were -- songs, sounds, production -- my first cool gig in L.A. was playing bass in a Duran Duran cover band (long hair wig, clothes, everything!). Yes, I can play that "Rio" bass line, but don't ask me to unless I'm warmed up. SOOOO -- I had to force-feed myself a set and a half of their material. Holy s&*t, it's amazing on so many levels. And "Save A Prayer" is STILL one of the greatest songs ever.

5) Linkin Park -- "Hybrid Theory" -- Oh, boy, I wish this record was around when I was 15! "Shut up when I'm talking to you!!! Shut up! Shut UUUUUUUUUUP!" -- no, seriously...if you could take rampant teenage testosterone and put it on a CD, this is it. Also, it kicked open the door for me production-wise. It really legitimized Pro Tool-ing within hard rock, for better or for worse. And it's a perfect pop record, as well. I think this record influenced a LOT of mixers and producers -- better yet, it changed the game. And isn't that what we're all trying to do? "It's better to be new than to be good" -- or something like that! Well, this album was both.

Yes, I know the late 90's Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock albums (and more) featured the wonders of digital editing/remixing within the context of hard rock. I could even make a case for "Significant Other" as number 5 -- but Hybrid Theory is SUCH a perfect pop/hard rock record! 12 songs(?), 38 minutes, no significant variation from the formula "Papercut" establishes right at the top...kinda like a digitally edited "Led Zeppelin I" without the free love and the innocent drug culture. "Art imitates life."

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally posted by Alécio Costa


(sorry, just now I realized it should be only 5)

I'm too old to have only five "epiphany" records.

[Bang]

This is easy.
Nirvana Nevermind - All Hail the Master Andy Wallace
Deftones White Pony- Terry Date
Sevendust Home - Let us Once Again Hail the Mighty Mix Master Andy Wallace
Limp Bizkit Chocolate Starfish - This guy is the Microsoft of Rock Mixing, really, Andy Wallace
Godsmack Awake -- a local Bostonian Mudrock and Jay Baumgardner

Really I could just say anything Andy has ever mixed because they all tend to be perfect sounding mixes that bring out every nuance of the bands performance... but thats enough about that.
Steve
www.bangrecording.com
www.blacklinerock.com

[maxim]

i used to listen to a lot of mixes, before i even knew what a mix was (i didn't get into recording music until my late twenties)

the mixes i really studied have been;

1. wrecking ball (emmylou harris) by daniel lanois

2. i'm with stupid (aimee mann) by jon brion and jjp

3. nick cave's stuff mixed by tony cohen

4. magnolia (aimee mann) by jon brion and bob clearmountain

5. pet sounds (beach boys), by i'm not sure who

as you can tell, i'm another jon brion freak, albeit that the question was about mixers rather than producers

my gratuitous trevor horn reference would be tatu stuff

[alphajerk]

Originally posted by Dave Pensado
SO, WHAT ARE THE 5 (FIVE!) MIXES THAT INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST? I'm not saying that you liked best, but mixes you studied and ultimately changed how you work (if you are a producer, include yours also).

i cant think of ANY that changed the way i work with a project... or changed my approach even... all of that is pretty much dictated purely by the project at hand and to taint it with influences outside its realm would egotistical on my part..... maybe that is because i dont work in a particular genre. if you give me a project, i can give you 5 albums to draw from that is directly related and influenced by the project [all music is derivative] and do that on about EVERY project i get. but not 5 general albums that encompass what i do.

i can probably give you 5 that made ME want to DO music:

1. jimi hendrix- electric ladyland
2. brian eno/david byrne- my life in the bush of ghosts & eno/fripp- no pussyfooting
3. flaming lips- oh my gawd! its the flaming lips [and all their early stuff]
4. mercury rev- see you on the other side
5. material- hallucination engine [or anything bill laswell]
6. janes addiction- nothings shocking/XXX live

okay, that was 6+.

7. nirvana- nevermind
8. melvins- GPT/ozma
9. beasties- pauls boutique though ill communication
10. buddy guy- sweet tea
11. miles/laswell- panthalassa
12. any bob marley
13. any fugazi
14. fu manchu- new live double disc is sick
15. any clutch/bakerton group [okay im biased on this one]
16. robert randolph- live at wetlands
17. dj shadow- introducing
18. beck- mutations
19.... i could just keep going on and on; nebula, mars volta, nick cave/birthday party, suplecs, gam [hey kev], aphex twin, sonic youth [who are getting better and better], mazzy star/hope sandoval, the meters, yo la tengo, pfunk/funkadelic, velvet underground, any mike patton project [FNM, fantomas, mr bungle, et al], mc5, and on and on and on....

[djui5]

ahhh....

Fade into you by Mazzy Star.......your post reminded me of that song AJ...

One of the greatest songs.......in regards to production and engineering......nice.

[Panopticon]

1.NIN- The Fragile (whole album)
2. Tool-Aenima (whole album)
3. Primus- my name is mud
4. A Perfect Circle- the package
and for something different:
5. Tweaker- Ruby

[John Peacock]

I'm with Stupid - Aimee Mann (though I 2nd the Magnolia mixes as being equally important)
Beatles - White Album
OK Computer - RADIOHEAD
Weezer - Pinkerton
Michael Penn - Resigned
Rage Against the Machine - S/T
Transcendental Blues - Steve Earle
Trans Am - Surrender to the Night

-Jp

[John Peacock]

Originally posted by slantbar
Trevor Horn--Art of Noise, Frankie etc.

Jellyfish

Most Daniel Lanois stuff

Jonatha Brooke--the Clearmountain stuff

Brian Tankersley's mixes on Anthony Smith

How do you narrow it down, there are so many....

That's a good list.

[Alécio Costa]

I would like to introduce you some cool brazilian music.
rich harmonies/amazing grooves.
the 4/4 rock beat formula has already been beaten to death.
Frankly, I do not see anything that sounds really "original" or fresh: see these Top 20, Top 100 etc. Just plastic music, edited/autotuned to death.
Hey, this is happening also on here and lots of crappy shit music is radioplayed everyday.

[John Peacock]

Originally posted by Conner
My list will contain favorites of both mixing and production:

top five lately in no particular order:

Vindicated-Dashboard Confessional-(Terry Date)
tie-February Stars and Hey, Johnny Park- FooFighters-(Gil Norton)
Go or Go Ahead-Rufus Wainwright(not sure please help)
Gran Turismo-the Cardigans-(Torre Johannsen)
Coccoon Crash- K's Choice-(Gil Norton)
Give Me A Feeling- eL-(Charles Dye mixing-not sure producer)

These are my latest guilty pleasures in the realm of both production and mixing.

Cheers.
-Conner

Yeah. Another good list.

[maxim]

i like your music, alpha

i agree about the sonic youth, i think, all the independent minded musicians have benefited from cheaper access to greater technology

good music all around, thanks to everyone, more stuff to check out

[dudleys100]

1) Kalai's Acoustacism, and Rainy day man albums. www.kalai.cc

2) Any Norah Jones album. this sounds good anywhere!!

3) You might not agree but Limp Bizkits "chocolate starfish"

4) Dave Matthews, "under the table and dreaming"

5) Nickel Creeks first album (Wow is this one amazing)

As you can tell most of my stuff is in the acoustic arena, but I do record heavier things also, but I suppose these were the main influences I have had because of the amount of acoustic recording in my area.

[illynoise]

Whodini - friends (still sounds great)
SkeeLo - I Wish
Tribe Called Quest - First Three Albums (still blows my mind why the vocals can be so low and still sound so hot!)
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (Marly Marl)
Dr Dre - Chronic 2001 (damn it sounds good)

Black Pegasus - Keep On Movin (my mix )watch the video

Sorry, was I restricted to 5?

Peace out,

BaseJase
illynoise

[hookiefree]

I don't know much about the engineers and I can't remember a lot of the specific songs but here goes...

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way CD was the first time I ever paid attention to a mix. The weird panning drew me in.

Les Nubian - 2 Steps forward. The instruments sounded like I could reach out and play them myself.

Ledisi - Feeling Orange But Blue Sometimes. The guitar solos sound so chocolatey. I had never heard anything like that before.

Kieth Sweat - Right and Wrong Way - I had never heard that kind of Hip Hop thump in a ballad before. It changed me.

That's all I can think of. Great Forum. It's my 1st post!

[ttauri]

Originally posted by rme uk
[re: p:machinery] You are right. I always listened to it with the volume ALL the way up. This guy Trevor sounded like from a different galaxy! I can remeber sitting at home with just a small guitar amp and a Strat, thinking: how the hell does he pull that off??

I was just recording the wax to my computer a few days ago, and it strikes me that the trick might be: the sound of the horns is loud, but the volume isn't as loud as one would expect that sound to be. Like for horns to be blowing that dramatically and powerfully, they should be obliterating everything else in the mix, but they're set just so in the mix (and I reckon the Fairlight unnaturalness of it contributes too) that you still hear everything else, and so crank the volume in order to put the horns louder, but in so doing everything else comes up as well, and the vicious cycle repeats until the stereo's gone up to 11.

Or not...

Just one sick, majestic, holy-s**t-that's-good! MF of a record.

Peece,
T. Tauri

[stinkybuffalo]

So many great engineers and albums. I am young, but will give my humble opinion.

First, engineers that have made me focus on different aspects of my mixes in the hopes of making anything sound as good as what they have. Andy Wallace (WOW) captures what i sometimes don't believe are instruments that exist on earth. Jack Joseph Puig.....(John Mayer, Switchfoot) his signiture is balance. Everything in a place distinct and homogenous to the everything else. Gary Paczosa...(Alison Krauss, Nickle Creek) thank you for reminding me what acoustic instruments are really supposed to sound like. It doesn't hurt having world class players at each instrument either. David Botrill.....(Silverchair) he gave, what i believe, one of the best bands in existence today, musically, the opportunity to shine. He made me a believer in full mixes that remain simple. (And the brass parts are killer!!!) A list of others with which i don't have space to write about are Elliot Scheiner, Bill Halverson, Nathan Kunkel, Brian Stritenberger (the best unknown engineer alive bar none), Gil Norton, Nigil Godrich, Rich Costey....the list goes on.

Ok the 5 mixes that have made me rethink and be reinspired....

1. Silverchair - Diorama - Tuna in the Brine - David Botrill .....i'm speechless

2. Foo Fighters - Colour & The Shape - Feburary Stars - Gil Norton p./ Chris Sheldon mix......ambience is a good thing.....

3. Mr. Mister - Kyrie - not sure who engineered.......can you say big vocal.....killer drums

4. John Mayer - Georgia - Jack Joseph Puig..........great acoustic and vocal sound wrapped in subtle reverb/delay......drums and bass...wow

5. Brian McKnight - Till I Get Over You - Not sure which eng. mixed......low end is simply it.......arrangement is brought to fruition through pan moves and effects blending.......

Bonus
6. Alison Krauss - New Favorite - Gary Paczosa......if you want to hear the purest, most natural overall song in every area...than you have to listen to this song......
7. Danny Elfman - Batman Theme - Eric Tomlinson.....dynamic range and clarity beyond......

thanks everyone who has posted because I was reminded that I am on a journey with so many people to look up to while patiently and persistently moving in their direction of engineering ability.

[Dave Derr]

Sheesh so many great mixes.

Early on the Beatles records just had sooo much character. Always incredible vocal sounds, and wierded out instruments

Hendrix albums for wonderful messy guitar sounds and atmosphere. Eddie Kramer fit things together and complimented Hendrix so well for the time.

Avalon - Clearmountain. First time I heard this I went Woh! Everything is soo defined and spacious, fit together sooo nicely. His stuff with Brian Adams on was just so huge and warm. Few people get such a bass sound, to this day.

So - Tom Lord Alge is such a tone master.

Andy Wallace - Nevermind. This album just had it all, great sounds, wierd songs, and spirit. Andy is one of the great ones. He mixes at - 80 db monitor levels.

[bcgood]

1. Steely Dan - Aja

2. Pink Floyd - Darkside of the Moon

3. Jars of Clay (1st Self Titled Album)

4. Morrissey - Vauxhall and I

5. Bob Marley - Legend

And here are some other albums that I love. Sorry, I can't leave these out!

Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Michael Jackson - Off the Wall

The Ocean Blue - Cerulean

Patsy Cline - The Definitive Collection

Dave Mathews - Crash

Phish - Billy Breaths

Talking Heads - Sand in the Vaseline

Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame

Jamiroquai - Synchronized

Crowded House - Recurring Dream

Third Eye Blind (1st Self Titled Album)

Tears for Fears - Tears Roll Down

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

[tazman]

1. Piece of Mind - Iron Maiden
2. Born in the USA - Springsteen
3. All 70's and 80's Def Lepard
4. Firehouse - Firehouse
5. Living Right Now "DVD" - Keith Urban (the DVD is not squashed and it sounds so 3D)

[JoeyM]

1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band - Beatles
2. Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues - The Missing Link (direct to disc like early 70's)
3. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
4. Nine Inch Nails - Closer
5. Alice Cooper - From the Inside

I'm lucky my dad owned some record stores in the 70's.
Our home stereo was a class A 440 watt, so I got my teenage kicks and still had nice influences

[J*808]

Nickelback - Photograph
Omarion Feat. Timb - Icebox
The Editors - An End has a start
Kanye - Stronger
Stone Sour - Through the Glass

I'm fully aware that I'm picking certain songs in my head because I like them asWELL as the fact that I use the mixes as bench marks. Common pitfall I know but I can't help it!

J*808

[mattssons]

It´s a toss but here´s 5 that got me thinking differently.

Public Enemy - By the time i get to Arizona

Stereo Total - Je suis venu te dire que je m'

The tams - Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy

2 Pac & Dr Dre - California Love

Bob Dylan - Things have changed


/Toby

[wildpark]

5 iam not that old but really i cant say there are only 5 !

lets try

preteen days
-------------------
70ths man there are so much wonderfull music build my mind

but steavie wonder -begees supertramp kiss ... are the line


teendays
--------------------
yes

1.ce la vie this was the first cd i bought back in time my grandma paid the cost

i was a lucky teeny that day it was summer and easyely 30 degrees

but i taked the cd insted of a big ice !!!.

2.frankie goes too espacely relax power...

3.prince with new power


90ths

-------------

michael jackson and his team !!!

damn all of it just damn good i eat it every fu... day

beside all products in n paticulary order !

of underdogs babyface,teddy Riley,dave pensado.r.relly,thad blake ,manni maroc

phil tan,will i am.




in my car cd changer how iam listening without baby or woman

its a 50 charger

and n place 1 sitz

level 2 of blackstreet

ready too banging my too smal sub with wizzy wow

[recall]

Latin Playboys - Latin Playboys....Tchad Blake at his best

Joe Henry - Tiny Voices.....Husky Hoskulds and hi unique world of sound

Group Home - Living Proof....DJ premier at his best

Eno - On Land....a new world of sound

Nick Cave - Lyre of Orpheus - Nick Launay....great great mixes

Eno, Moebius, Roedelius and Plank - Begenungen....Conny Plank and his world of infintie space and 3 dimensional sound.

These are just some of the top of my head.

[merrybmb]

Alright...I'm a newbee here, but here are my top 5....

#1. Kent..."Isola" Swedish band, I recorded in Belgium in the studio they did this in...the bass is SICK! Sick I say, blows up yer car, ...in a good way... a guy named Zed produced it...never heard of him?? Help me out people!

#2. Wallflowers..."Bringing Down The Horse".... Can anyone say they haven't tried to get the Tom Lord Alge "One Headlight" snare sound? My FMR RNC's get really close! (for a cheap bastard like me)

#3. Failure... "Fantastic Planet" Ken Andrews...sick MF....the biggest sounding record EVER!....that record is why Foo Fighters are doing stadium tours... Grohl got a hold of it and said "Hey, I can do this!"

#4. That one Good Charlotte record with "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" on it....Shyite! Those drum sounds are amazing! Well, it was Josh Freese on drums and all, and Mr. Valentine did his job on that one....something about ribbon mics between the cymbals and toms i heard?

#5 Ugh...how do I do this?
Alright....
Beach Boys..."Pet Sounds"
Phil Spector might be a nut, but how he did that on a few tracks is beyond me. Man, you can space out on that record and he worked with next to nothing! A tape machine and a .45, I guess....

But I will say this, #1 should always be your last mix, slutz! Let's make radio retire compression because our mixes are so SLAMMIN'!