what albums would you love to remix if you could?

[u b k]

call me crazy, but i have a feeling that (if it takes off) a lot of 80's records will be named in this thread.


rem - green (too distant and small)

soundgarden - badmotorfinger (too processed and flat)

jane's addicition - nothing's shocking (WAY too much verb and bad compression)

doves - lost souls (all of the above)


i could start a whole different thread on mastering


gregoire
del ubik

[nobtwiddler]

Exile on Main Street


Paul
www.millbrooksoundstudios.com

[Sui_City]

Lateralus

[warhead]

Metallica - ...And Justice For All

It's so dry and compressed, which works on a few of the songs but not ALL of them by any stretch. Also if it gave me the chance to make some of those 11 minute songs 5 minutes I'd gladly snip away...there are some really great metal riffs on that album but they drive them into the ground and it gets boring after a while.

War

[HudHudson]

Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me

I love this record, hate the mix...flabby, no punch, smeared, awful treatment of amazing high-energy performances. Can't remember if Jim Dickinson mixed this (I know he tracked it), hard to think the ME did the damage to this one.

Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory

Same complaint as the Reps...awesome songs and performances, this mix sounds like someone threw a mover's blanket over the monitors when it was mixed.

[wilkinswp]

Originally Posted by HudHudson

Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory

Same complaint as the Reps...awesome songs and performances, this mix sounds like someone threw a mover's blanket over the monitors when it was mixed.

Second that one. . . but won't go so far as to say I should remix it. . . . .

[C/G]

I'm no mixer by any stretch, but if I could it would be Oranges and Lemmons by XTC. Way too crispy for my liking and the drums sound anemic. I still love it, but man it is bright.

[by-tor]

Rush - Vapor Trails

[RUSCO]

Raw Power by Iggy Pop & The Stooges

[AjD]

Interesting thread. Getting slightly off topic, but I've often wondered...

What if the labels actually did this? That is, release newly done alternate mixes of older albums?

I'm NOT endorsing this idea! It's a bit too George Lucas/Big Brother for me, but it seems a logical next step, business trend-wise. Sort of like what they did with Let It Be, but on a larger scale.

It makes business sense - everyone has rebought the CD version by now, the box set thing has played itself out, and catalog sales are getting flat. Why not offer completely new mixes - and noticably so? (And I'm not talking about 'dance versions'.) The market seems ready for it, with the whole "director's cut" and "7 alternate endings!" thing going on with movie DVD releases.

They could use 'name' producers to help with the marketing - imagine the Albini version of some dated sounding '80s album, like some of the overproduced metal bands from that era. Heck, why not release them on DVD and include the raw multitrack data too (a la the recent Eno/Byrne thing) - then do a product tie-in with Apple's GarageBand for the kiddies?

Would the fans rebel? Probably depends on the act. But with the larger DVD format, they could always include the original mix too to stave off the naysayers...

Anyway. Back on topic.

I'd like to remix Springsteen's Born in the USA. Great songs. Don't care for the production (with 20 years of hindsight, natch).

Adam

[rynugz007]

sui city,

Just curious, what dont you like about lateralus?

[swankdoc]

pretty much everything released by Hendrix.
Always underwhelmed with the (mix) sound of his material. Would have to know what the tracks sound like of course, but hearing his stuff remixed would be awesome.

[Matt Smith]

I would have to say Metallica's Black Album, not because I could do it better (it's the greatest-sounding album of all time IMO), but because it would be worth the embarrassment of having my name on a far-inferior remix to be able to pull up the faders and hear those godly tracks in their raw form and satisfy my lifelong obsession with the sonics of that album! Ha!

Matt

[Sui_City]

Originally Posted by rynugz007

sui city,

Just curious, what dont you like about lateralus?

i love the band, let me get that out of the way first, but:

i spent some time with a friend listening to a number of recordings form different artists and genres,

Lateralus, Sade's Lovers Rock, Nick Drake's Breyter Later, and some other stuff.

Lateralus was light on the bottom and shrill on the top, you would never be able to tell that DC was playing an Ocheltree kit, it certainly didn't sound like a $60,000 drumkit. The vox were thin, thin, thin. the guitar were just piercing and harsh. It was a huge dissapointment, so much so that i refuse to listen to it critically again. I love the songs, but the mix was bad in my book. sorry to those involved.

it is one of the reasons i am enjoying 10,000 days so much, is i feel like they got the bottom back, and managed to get the articulation of the high-end right.

BTW, clear winner of the mixes was:

TADAH!

Nick Drake - recorded in 1970, HUGE BOTTOM and LOWER MIDS, and a smooooth high end with all the necessary delicious info in between.

(disclaimer, we were listening on S3As, with sub in a good room)

[thejook]

Operation Mindcrime.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Sui_City

Lateralus was light on the bottom and shrill on the top...

as an aside, this is why my stereos have sweet bass and treble knobs, and i'm not shy about using them. i've even got good parametric analog eq in my car.


gregoire
del ubik

[Sui_City]

Originally Posted by u b i k

as an aside, this is why my stereos have sweet bass and treble knobs, and i'm not shy about using them. i've even got good parametric analog eq in my car.


gregoire
del ubik

i can dig it, but i have decided to steer clear rather. it helps me understand a little more about what is going on in the industry today. not the most accurate of listening environments but we all listen to music in the car, so i do check my mixes in there from time to time.

Lateralus sounds fine in the car though

[Jim Williams]

Any rock record made in the last 5~6 years. I would leave the balance, but shut off the compressors. Maybe an uncompressed master series will be done down the road for these destroyed productions. At least one can hear them live without the "Waves" on the master mix.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[bunnerabb]

Pretty much the whole Monkees catalogue. There's some great pop there, but, oi.. the mixes.

"Sometime In The Morning" is one of the best pieces of shoegazer jangle pop ever written and it sounds like it was done on a Portastudio.

Bruce Springsteens "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle"

It sounds like you're next door to the stereo but never in front of it.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by HudHudson

Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me

I love this record, hate the mix...flabby, no punch, smeared, awful treatment of amazing high-energy performances. Can't remember if Jim Dickinson mixed this (I know he tracked it), hard to think the ME did the damage to this one.

Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory

Same complaint as the Reps...awesome songs and performances, this mix sounds like someone threw a mover's blanket over the monitors when it was mixed.

that is so funny, a couple months ago I put the Replacement CD on and was like WTF! I really thought there was a problem with my system is was so bad.. Great tracks but OMG the mix is so bad!

Glenn

[adclark]

I would rerecord Vapor Trails by RUSH. The thing is a compressed nightmare. It would have worked if it were recorded to tape. Also, Pink Floyds Animals (sounds like a cardboard box...the toms are really "flappy")

[wwittman]

I think records should be mixed by the original producer and artiste, at the time.

the way anyone would feel about it NOW is irrelevant.
it's as wrongheaded as wondering what it would be like to replay all the giutar solos.






ps. I did do three mixes for Born In The USA back at the time, and I can tell you that Bob did an AMAZING job on that record.
Believe me, you're not going to improve it.

[Rufuss Sewell]

If I could go back in time and proclaim myself minister of musical mixocracy, in charge of mixing ALL recorded music (which I would be able to do because I would also bring a G5 and Pro Tools with me so George Martin, Les Paul, Thomas Edison, what have you, would kneel at my feet) I would remix every album released before November 10th 1998 and auto-tune the hell out of them.

Then I would retire and the dude who produced Cher's "Believe" would find it fresh and exciting to NOT use auto-tune. Then I could listen to new music on the radio again.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by wwittman

Believe me, you're not going to improve it.

well, my mixes would be an improvement to *my* ears, which is really the whole point of this selfish little exercise . some albums i adore *in spite of* the production, and not every magical song depends completely on the original (and often dated to extreme) mix to be magical.

ymmv!


gregoire
del ubik

[le mieux]

embrace - embrace

...classic dischord record. ian's stopover between minor threat and fugazi, but wow, the mix could be a bit better.

and while i am in the hardcore genre, "life, love, regret" by unbroken.

[gunofason]

Ray Lamontagne : Trouble

Good record, interesting panning, nice raw sound yet hard to listen to in the car. Annoying....

[Open Sky]

I LOVE Lanois and Eno both, but what's up with U2's "Unforgettable Fire?" It's such a bad sounding record. And with those 2 at the helm, and with such great songs, I'm kind of left just scratching my head. Maybe it's just me.

[Nut]

Originally Posted by warhead

Metallica - ...And Justice For All

It's so dry and compressed, which works on a few of the songs but not ALL of them by any stretch. Also if it gave me the chance to make some of those 11 minute songs 5 minutes I'd gladly snip away...there are some really great metal riffs on that album but they drive them into the ground and it gets boring after a while.

War

Gah !!!

*chokes*

I've always found the production of Justice to suit the mood of the band at the time perfectly. I wouldn't change a thing...

And cut down the songs !?

*dies*

[mwagener]

Back In Black - in surround

[tgrokz]

well, 2 cd's just recently came out in the past month.

thursday - a city by the light divided
it sounds like they used every single plug-in and peice of gear possible, just to use it. nothing is tasteful. the verb drowns every song, the intro's to EVERY song are just silly, and there are just way too much delay and compression. now it would be somewhat accpetable if it sounded clean, but the quality is rough. either have a raw cd or a clean "commercial" cd with stupid effects.

taking back sunday - louder now
NO POWER. the drums sound dead and flat. the guitars sound thin and weak. the whole record sounds so boring. its like they made the cd lacking anything lower than 500Hz.