Best Engineered/Mixed Song or Album?

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by wwittman

I quite agree

As you should William! I always wondered how you guys get those "to die for" guitar sounds on your records like this one and the first Outfield you did. Very nice!

[David_Kessler]

Originally Posted by wwittman

I quite agree

Yeah, but your opinion doesn't count!

Kidding of course. One of my all time faves, you did a phenomenal job on this. Would love to hear some inside info on the making of.

[wwittman]

Originally Posted by David_Kessler

Yeah, but your opinion doesn't count!

Kidding of course. One of my all time faves, you did a phenomenal job on this. Would love to hear some inside info on the making of.

well that ground has been fairly well covered, but if you have specific questions, start a thread and let me know!

[hrryniu]

Rage against the machine- Rage Against the Machine
Pink Floyd- Dark side of the moon
Behemoth- Apostasy & Evangelion
Steven Wilson- Grace for drowning
RHCP- Stadium Arcadium
Nirvana- Nevermind
Porcupine tree- Fear of a Blank Planet

[che_guitarra]

My favourite sounding albums of recent memory are Brian Wilson's Smile, and Easy Star All Stars Radiodread. They're such beautiful sounding records and get heaps of plays at my house.

[erikdrink]

Black Uhuru - Positive Dub
Timeless

[crille_mannen]

Metallica - Load/Reload

Best Rock production ever, period. Sounds fresh even today. Simply amazing.

[dubhausdisco]

Def leopard - pyromania
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
SOD - speak English or die
Janes Addiction- ritual de habitual
Smashing pumpkins - gish(for drums)
and Siamese dream (for guitar)
Fishbone - Reality of my surroundings (layer upon layer upon layer)
Frank Zappa - freak out, and joes garage
Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
Beastie Boys - check your head
slayer - reign in blood
There is a few... Try and find a heavier sounding record than speak English or die... Just try

[Big_Bang]

Originally Posted by che_guitarra

My favourite sounding albums of recent memory are Brian Wilson's Smile, and Easy Star All Stars Radiodread. They're such beautiful sounding records and get heaps of plays at my house.

Oh man, I do understand where you're coming from, but I really HATED the Radiodread album... yuk yuk yuk! (NOT in engineering terms mind you, but emotional).

BUT... and this gets me bashed every time... I sincerely think that Dub Side of The Moon by the Easy Stars All Stars is one of the best produced and engineered albums of all times. I don't like reggae/dub, but I have often said I even prefer it to the Dark Side of The Moon... people look at me horrified, yelling "BLASFEMY !!! HERESY!!! STONE THIS EVIL BEING!!! ""

But what can I say... its a cover album that completely blows me away!! It is pure genius. The ONLY thing I don't like about it are the reggae-rap vocal parts. Appart from that, IMHO, its a masterpiece of production/engineering/mixing.

I obviously have the utmost respect for the Pink Floyd, and it obviously is a landmark of a record... but covering that whole album must have NOT been an easy feat. Some what I say is that TECHNICALLY, not artistically, I think that the Dub Side of The Moon is a bomb!!

[motone]

Originally Posted by Gilliland

Here's a few.

Richard Thompson's "Mirror Blue".

+1 !!! thanks for that, great to see there's other fans of RT (and his terribly overlooked 90's work with Froom and Blake) here ....

[mrufino1]

Originally Posted by Leevi

I dont consider myself as a "professional" at all, but to my ears "One of Us" by Joan Osborne sounds very well mixed and produced

Yes, very well done. William Whitman did that, he's on various forums around the net. Great band on it too.

I think Brandon flowers solo album is extremely well done, also Keane's first album. There is a lot of great stuff out there though that is really well done from top to bottom. Can't forget classics like kind of blue either.

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[sergeeo]

My classic favourites:

Michael Jackson - Thriller
Pink Floyd - DSOTM
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers
The Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Radiohead - OK Computer
John Mayall - USA Union (I love the bass sound in this one)
Emerson Lake and Palmer - Tarkus (I love the A side)

And some newer, not 'that classic':

Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way Baby
Breakestra - Hit the Floor
Black Dub - Black Dub
Metronomy - The English Riviera
Tortoise - TNT
Stars of the Lid - The Refinement of the Decline

I don't know what to think about Frank Zappa's albums production. I like some albums a lot (I haven't listened to all of them): overnite sensation, hot rats and apostrophe are my favourites atm, but I wouldn't say that production is the strongest point. Music is incredibly original, great and well performed to my ears, but I don't really know if the technical part is that good. And well... Studio Tan is completely different to The Grand Wazoo or to Jazz From Hell... It's hard to have an overall idea. Sorry if my words sound a bit heretic.

PS: I forgot about Opeth - Damnation

[thirdsun]

Originally Posted by sergeeo

My classic favourites:
Metronomy - The English Riviera
Tortoise - TNT

Very good calls. "The Look" and "Everything goes my way" by Metronomy are both brilliantly fresh and easy on the ears.
TNT on the other hand is, of course, a classic from start to finish. Though a little quiet at times, the music itself is one of my personal all-time favorites.

Here are my suggestions in terms of overall mix, sound & mastering quality:

Polica - Give You The Ghost:
Very recent album by a newcomer (well, not anymore I guess) band featuring two exceptional drummers. While the heavily processed vocals provide an original character one may get tired of said effect by the time the albums is finished. On the other hand those vocals provide a great, wide sense of space and stereo imaging. Combined with the outstanding, very punchy work on the drums this has been of the highlights this year so far.

Sandro Perri - Impossible Spaces & Tiny Mirrors:
Sandro Perri always provides a wide range of original, well placed percussions that may feel "loose" and random at times but, I guess, are rather carefully composed and arranged. A great mixture of acoustic instruments and synths that slowly blend into the songs. The key here is outstanding positioning within the stereo spectrum - everything feels very wide. If you like folk with a touch of jazz and electronic influences, both albums should be high on your list.

Destroyer - Kaputt:
I guess most here are familiar with Destroyer. I never really noticed this project until "Kaputt", which is another favorite of mine. This albums usually serves as a reference point when I test HiFi- or studio speakers, or other gear. In songs like "Downtown" it all comes together.

Wild Beasts - Smother:
Very gentle, clean and subtle elements coming together to set a relaxing mood. This is just the right amount of instrumentation, not overloaded, never crowded, very easy to listen to. Gentle.

Do Make Say Think - & Yet & Yet:
If you like Tortoise, you have got to stumble upon this one at some point. Lush instruments, well placed effects, hard to categorize, yet all those elements work very well together.

Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That:
Well known band by now with their best album from several years ago in my opinion. Despite there's a lot going on i some songs they always mange to sound clean, wide and punchy.

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock:
Well, where to start? Organs rarely managed to blend better into a song, or a whole album. Everything fits very well here, these songs are evolving, very dynamic, ranging from gentle and low key build ups to a sea of cymbals and percussions

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours:
Well known and I still listen to this several times a year. While not everything on here is my cup of tea, I have yet to sea a bass and a kick that blend and mix as well as in "Dreams".

[sergeeo]

Yeah, I specially like "The Look" and "The Bay". Very nice tunes that sound awesome.

[nico2600]

Beatles: Dear Prudence

[eve69]

LZ - Presence
Bow Wow Wow - When the Going Gets Tough
EJ - Goodbye
STP - Purple
AIC - Dirt
Blondie - Blondie
The Police - Regatta de Blanc
Guns N Roses - Apetite
The Who - Quad
Seefeel - Quique

[louis.lbnc]

Originally Posted by sergeeo

Metronomy - The English Riviera

Love that album as well, I think the sound has a lot to do with the arrangements. There's not always a lot going on and the room left is nice and gives the whole thing some dynamics. The mixes are clean and clear, very nice and makes for a poppy album that actually makes me feel something.

[sergeeo]

The "less is more" paradigm

[dasbrodie]

Dave Botrill- Diorama, Lateralus

Andy Wallace -Grace, Soup

Bendan O'Brien - Get a Grip, Tiny Music

That is just the tip of the iceberg! I have a great deal of respect for a bunch of different guys and gals in the industry it is hard to pick just a few.

[handsupdk]

Temper Traps - Sweet Disposition (Axwell & Dirty South remix)
Seriously, I've been listening to this track every day since it came out 3 years ago. Yet I still haven't got tired of it since. It ALWAYS seize to amaze me. Both sonically and musically, its the best track ever made.
If anyone can point out any reason why this song isn't the best ever made () please do.

[reggiesears]

Has anyone here heard "Swamp" by Phil Thornalley or "Tall Stories" by Johnny Hates Jazz? IMHO those 2 albums are the holy grail of music production.

[Eric East]

I think the best mixed rap album has to be Dr Dre 2001.



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[JunoSynth]

What do you guys think of Tears for Fears - Seeds of Love album?
I'm not a professional like you guys but I always thought that album had a nice sound to it.

[falgorian]

King Crimson - Red
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
Tool - Lateralus
Adrian Belew - Lone Rhino
The Cramps - Bad Music for Bad People....mixed perfectly for what the band does
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses

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[falgorian]

I just finished listening to the song "Seeds of Love", it transports me to a nice place and it does sound great.

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[natpub]

Yes - Close to the Edge
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

The Yes album because such complex and dense material is handled with amazing clarity and space, and the Genesis for downright creativity.

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[AudioMix]

David Bowie's new song "Where are we now".
From the old stuff... oh boy it is really hard for me to make a list, it would be a mega list.