Best Album Production?

[el-bo]

Have either of you listened to Liquid Soul?;



They have some pretty cool stuff.....

not bad

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

by the way, i concur with 'rumours', as mentioned earlier

There's something about the transients on that album that sounds exceptional. I was a bit suprised to read in that SoS article that the engineers turned every knob up full out of desperation.

[el-bo]

4 more 80's high-points for me, all with production that still does it for me

the go west tune, in particular, has some of the best synth arranging i've ever heard

[Andyreww]

Have either of you listened to Liquid Soul?;

They have some pretty cool stuff.....

not bad

Yeah - I may have to look at their albums....

[momcafe]

I am in with Fleetwood Mac just great overall music and production

[el-bo]

corinne bailey rae's first album is a thing of beauty....lush

[Chimpotle]

I agree with Rumours as well - and i know i read an article in mix magazine about it years ago, but i can't get to it online.

This is an interesting thread to me, because in thinking about it, my favorite productions tend to be either recorded in the 70's, or reminiscent of that type of production. And that probably comes from my early influences, which was another great subject by Rev (viewtopic.php?f=21&t=79149&p=421139#p421139), that i don't think i participated in.

So as a kid riding shotgun with my mom on trips to the grocery and such, i was exposed to Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, etc. And as i got older that era became the standard for me, and i've convinced myself it is because they had just the right amount of technology combined with a super high level of musicianship. The technology never really overshadows the musical performance.

And its not that i don't like 80's or 90's production - Tears for Fears comes to mind as really good 80's production - its just that i can often hear the technology. Especially in the "hits" of that era. They just are to shiny, and to my ears the musicianship took a bit of a back seat to the production. And i think that's kind of been paralleled in movies and the like. In the 80's, movies had lots of flash, and little substance (i'm talking blockbusters, in comparison to hit records). 60's and 70's were beautifully shot and not so reliant on glitz and pyrotechnics. I feel the same about 70's music production.

Thats just my self serving rationalization for my preference.

[el-bo]

as a kid, i was exposed to Elton John

[el-bo]

i do hear ya chimpotle, but there are definitely a lot of lick 80's productions that also include great musicianship

[Chimpotle]

I see what you did there….

Yeah, there has definitely been great musicianship in every decade, no argument there.

[el-bo]

I see what you did there….

[David]

This song has a stunning use of depth, distance, reverbs and spatiality in general. Then again, Trevor Horn is a genius. Not to mention the best chaotic drum solo ever starting at 5:14 or so.

[el-bo]

This song has a stunning use of depth, distance, reverbs and spatiality in general. Then again, Trevor Horn is a genius. Not to mention the best chaotic drum solo ever starting at 5:14 or so.

great album too

[guitonit]

Thomas Dolby- Aliens Ate My Buick
Jellyfish- Spilt Milk

[Andyreww]

Another one - a personal favourite of mine:

U.F. OFF (The Best of The Orb) -- OCT, 1998

Wide open for discussion however; I think its a well produced album...

Andy

[DaveyBee]

David - that drum solo gave me such a big grin on my face. Awesome.

db

[David]

David - that drum solo gave me such a big grin on my face. Awesome.

Yup! It's like the first time I heard the drum solo in Piggy. Absolutely fell in love. I learned later that Trent Reznor was just banging on the drums like crazy in the studio while the song was playing through monitors, so the instant he started playing, he couldn't hear the track anymore. Which is why he keeps stopping to hear the track, then plays a bit, stops, plays a bit etc.

Then he heard it and canned it right away. A few months later he played the song and accidentally unmuted the drum track, and loved it, and decided it would make it onto the album! Genius. Here's the URL pointing to the beginning of the drum solo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ4S9ydkMG4#t=02m20s

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

...my favorite productions tend to be either recorded in the 70's, or reminiscent of that type of production.

Me too, I love relatively simple recordings where you can hear the space it's performed in, and the character of the recording comes from the mics, how they're placed, and a small chain of analogue kit going to tape via a decent desk. You can't beat that for me.

Though, for sheer production talent, I'm blown away by the skill of the guys who managed to capture great sounding recordings in the 20s and 30s (especially jazz records, Ellington comes to mind), with severe technical limitations compared to what you see in studios today.

[Andyreww]

...my favorite productions tend to be either recorded in the 70's, or reminiscent of that type of production.

Me too, I love relatively simple recordings where you can hear the space it's performed in, and the character of the recording comes from the mics, how they're placed, and a small chain of analogue kit going to tape via a decent desk. You can't beat that for me.

Could it be safe to say that anything coming out of Abbey Road in the 60's/70's is generally well produced?

[Chimpotle]

...my favorite productions tend to be either recorded in the 70's, or reminiscent of that type of production.

Though, for sheer production talent, I'm blown away by the skill of the guys who managed to capture great sounding recordings in the 20s and 30s (especially jazz records, Ellington comes to mind), with severe technical limitations compared to what you see in studios today.

Wholeheartedly agree. I have a modest collection of old albums, and even on Hank Williams tracks i appreciate how every instrument has its place. And the jazz and big band stuff is amazing. I tend to think that is a testament to really great composition - those guys knew what they were doing for sure.

As for everything coming out of Abbey Road (Andreww) - i don't know. I would imagine some crap got pumped out of there every now and then, but it probably is relatively safe to say that. Those guys knew what they were doing too (the staff engineers).