your favourite acoustic tracks reference cds

[toolskid]

Just wondering what peoples' favourite reference singer/songwriter acoustic band albums are.

Cheers in advance

[duaneadam]

The Ray Brown Trio's Soular Energy is worth having as it's one of the few DVD audios which outputs 24/96 and 24/192 in digital. (It's two sided)

Listening to this disc with good converters at 24/96 is like listening to the master tapes.

[aidyhall]

So many great records to choose from! I have the advantage of knowing who you are recording, so I'll try and pick stuff that you may find valuable. Here's a little shortlist :

1. Suzanne Vega - Nine Objects of Desire. Beautiful vocal sound, interesting instrumental sounds - Tchad Blake at his best.

2. Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow. Also Tchad Blake (mixing only this time I think), I think it also won Trina Shoemaker a Best-Engineered Grammy. Gritty, excellent mixture of loops/live, although the loops were homemade. Great guitar sounds.

3. Tori Amos - any. She married her engineer. Guess he got pretty good sounds, huh?

4. Fiona Apple - When The Pawn... Jon Brion produced, musically dense, but somehow it all makes sense.

5. Alison Krauss - Forget About It. Pristine as you like. Maybe a little too clean for some, but beautifully recorded, with some great players. Nashville doing what it does best. Her most pop album yet, i.e. not too many fiddles and banjos.

I'm sure there are others, but those come to mind immediately. Enjoy!

[squeegybug]

Lyle Lovett -- Pontiac. Not all acoustic. Check these tracks:
If I Had a Boat
Simple Song
Pontiac

Mary Chapin Carpenter -- Stones In the Road. Some acoustic. Great production by John Jennings.

Lucinda Williams -- Car Wheels On a Gravel Road. Some electric, some acoustic.

Norman Blake -- Whiskey Before Breakfast. Not a band, but real.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings -- Hell Among the Yearlings. Great harmonies, unique guitar work.

Nick Drake -- Pink Moon. Again no band. Who needs one with this?

Richard Thompson -- Old Kit Bag. Some acoustic. The premier singer/songwriter/musician on the planet IMO. Review clip on this album: Produced by John Chelew (John Hiatt, Blind Boys of Alabama), it was recorded quickly with a minimum of overdubs and just a handful of musicians.


A lot more, for sure. Alison Krauss, David Grisman, Tim O'Brien, Emmylou Harris, David Bromberg, Mark O'Connor, Hot Club of Cowtown, The Wilders,...


Steve

[studjo]

Singer / songwriter is very broad in my book so:

Edie Brickell (Volcano)

Aimee Man (lost in space)

Jonatha Brooke (ten cent wings)

Tori Amos (I should check which cd - but everyone is great)

Paul Simon's latest (name escapes me)

Kevin Gilbert (Thud)

Tom Petty (last Dj f.ex.)


from the top of my head
btw listen to some Swiss Jazz too - that helps with those singers





Jo

[Knastratt]

Nice thread. I listened to Fogarty's Blue moon swamp last night and realized how simple yet intriguing it sounds. No barrier between performance and listener.

And I second Tom Petty.

Prewar sessions with Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt except the obvious hiss and stuff has an excellent tone/vibe.

[DirkB]

Ah, this is an easy one for me:


Dave Matthews Band: before these crowded streets .


My all-time favourite cd.


Greetings,
Dirk

[threm]

Cat Stevens early 70's records sound great.
Just natural with dynamics, probably towards 'warm and fat' compared to todays protooled recordings.
'Teaser & The Firecat'
'Tea for the Tillerman'
'Mona Bon Jakon'

[toolskid]

thanks for all the replies so far...

[Jack Ruston]

The latest Alison Krauss and Union Station (lonely runs both ways) sounds incredible. If you like pristine, this is it.

Her voice sounds great this time. On past records it had a tendancy to go a bit thin in the higher registers, but on this record its stronger and sounds rather more effortless.

If anyone has any info on how the record was made, mics, pres etc, I'd love to hear about it.

J

[Jim Williams]

Anything on Todd Garfunkle's MA records is great, these are considered some of the finest acoustic records around.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Jules]

Shawn Colvin (Spelling?)

The track thats says ''When Johny came in....'' and begins and ends with mandolin... Sublime tones & mixing...

[doorknocker]

Don't know if this fits the singer/songwriter format but my fave acoustic album (by far) is Muddy Waters' 'Folk Singer' record from 1964.
Greatest acoustic sound and also greatest reverb sound ever, IMO. Although I'm by no means a vinyl snob, this is one of those albums that just aren't the same on CD, in fact I even bought it on SACD and while it's great on its own it still can't match the sound of the record.

Andi

www.doorknocker.ch

[da burf]

I like Bill Frisell's Nashville album a lot,
no drums, only (acoustic) guitars and other picked acoustic instruments. Only thing: it's instrumental, except for two or three songs.

[aidyhall]

Originally posted by Jules
Shawn Colvin (Spelling?)

The track thats says ''When Johny came in....'' and begins and ends with mandolin... Sublime tones & mixing...

I'm guessing that'll be "Sunny Came Home" from Shawn Colvin's "A Few Small Repairs" album. Yeah, great-sounding record.

Todd Cashfountain mixed it, and its a great example of what he does so well, mixing for the song (that's Bob Clearmountain, BTW).

[Inner Light]

Pat Methey & Charlie Haden Missouri Sky,
Pat Metheny 's one quiet night

[bcarr]

I really like these recordings:

Bill Frisell: Nashville

Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night (no highend studio used here. Metheny did it himself at home. I think he used 2 mount on guitar mics-can't remember their names an Avalon 2022 and Digital Performer. Please correct me if I am wrong.)

I have an Alison Krauss and Union Station DVD that sounds amazing. I don't remember the name of it.

Phil Keaggy: Beyone Nature


Not many vocalists in this list sorry.

[jindrich]

The Sundays

any of their 3 albums. the most balanced is probably the last one, "Static and Silence".

recorded on glorious 2" tape (at home!)

check them out in Tunes store if you dont know them

Also, beethoven's choral fantasy performed by daniel barenboim

[Inner Light]

Originally posted by bcarr
I really like these recordings:

Bill Frisell: Nashville

Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night (no highend studio used here. Metheny did it himself at home. I think he used 2 mount on guitar mics-can't remember their names an Avalon 2022 and Digital Performer. Please correct me if I am wrong.)

I

any idea which mount on mics , i love the intimacy of that recording. Then again it's most likely the fact that he's such a monster of a guitar player!

[bcarr]

First off, Metheny is playing a baritone guitar (made by canadian luthier Linda Manzer) and it is tuned to a special low Nashville tuning. The 2 mics he used were Applied Microphone Technology mics. Here is their site, check out the other people who use their mics.

http://www.appliedmic.com/

Finally, Metheny can make most anything sound great.

[HudHudson]

Originally posted by studjo
Singer / songwriter is very broad in my book so:

Kevin Gilbert (Thud)


Jo

Aha, a Kevin Gilbert fan across the Pond! Thud is one of the best-sounding records ever made, and I use it as a reference for how a "real record" should sound. God I miss Kev...

[Inner Light]

Originally posted by bcarr
First off, Metheny is playing a baritone guitar (made by canadian luthier Linda Manzer) and it is tuned to a special low Nashville tuning. The 2 mics he used were Applied Microphone Technology mics. Here is their site, check out the other people who use their mics.

http://www.appliedmic.com/

Finally, Metheny can make most anything sound great.

thanks alot buddy

[waxnsteel]

Another vote for Shawn Colvin - Fat City
Jonatha Brooke(Story) - Some of the odd harmonies get tough on the ears, but Damn Everything but the circus, So Much Mine, and Mermaid are phenomenal. Solo, Blood from a Stone was pretty impressive, too (Ten Cent Wings)
Males? John Mayer on Why Georgia in particular. On a wilder side, David Lee Roth with Steve Vai on Damn Good(Skyscraper), Most Zeppelin had great acoustic stuff in it, how about Styx? Crystal ball? All great sounding recordings.

[ntimkovich]

Leo Kottke's "One Guitar, No Vocals" disc. whoa it's good stuff.

[Jules]

Originally posted by aidyhall
I'm guessing that'll be "Sunny Came Home" from Shawn Colvin's "A Few Small Repairs" album. Yeah, great-sounding record.

Todd Cashfountain mixed it, and its a great example of what he does so well, mixing for the song (that's Bob Clearmountain, BTW).

[WDG]

Another vote for AKUS.

[Rezman]

Originally posted by Sidewinder
Tommy Emmanuel. His two solo acoustic guitar albums : Only and Endless Road.

I Second that!

Also, Best acoustic reference CD's for me are:

Brooks Williams - Little Lion
Patricia Barber - Verse

Yum Yum!!!

[Mike Jasper]

Originally Posted by threm

Cat Stevens early 70's records sound great.
Just natural with dynamics, probably towards 'warm and fat' compared to todays protooled recordings.
'Teaser & The Firecat'
'Tea for the Tillerman'
'Mona Bon Jakon'

I agree.

Where were they recorded? I've been looking for an hour and can't find that info online. All I can find out is that it was produced by Paul Samwell-Smith.

Jasper

[doorknocker]

Mike,

it took me all of 5 seconds to find this

I always thought that the old Cat Stevens records had some of the greatest ever acoustic guitar sounds. Since a lot of this was recorded at Pye studio I guess it's also the Pye compressors at work. I'd really like to get a pair of those at some point, seeing the prices they go for these days almost made me faint, though.......

[max cooper]

I totally love Cat Stevens' '70's stuff and have often wondered if the Pye comps were a part of that sound.

I love the sound of Elliot Smith's "Either/Or", "X/O" and "Figure Eight".

Mark Lanegan's "The Winding Sheet" and "Bubblegum" are great.

Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left" is cool.