Same here. It just sounds so good, especially in comparison to their other albums.
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What is the best album production (composition/engineering) you've ever heard?
- Thread starter haziq
- Start date
Notorious B.I.G - Life after Death
The album may be long with some filler, but the production is top notch.
The album may be long with some filler, but the production is top notch.
I always felt that Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins was recorded and produced beautifully.
One engineering choice I think is fantastic for this album is track fading. Instead of the usual quick cut to the next track or a skit, the tracks actually fade out like the old days.
Admittedly I don't really have that many albums, but...
I am not that fond of this production. The album itself is good but the sound quality not so much imo. I think Lullabies and Era Vulgaris are much cleaner and full in their sound.
I go with Nirvana- Nevermind and Radiohead- Kid A.
Yes - Fragile
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Both of those albums have such a clear sound where all the instruments are perfectly separated that you can literally listen to every single song by focusing on one single instrument and just follow it through the entire song, and you can do that for every instrument including vocals. Not only do I love the music on those albums but just listening to the sounds themselves is great.
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Both of those albums have such a clear sound where all the instruments are perfectly separated that you can literally listen to every single song by focusing on one single instrument and just follow it through the entire song, and you can do that for every instrument including vocals. Not only do I love the music on those albums but just listening to the sounds themselves is great.
A lot of my choices have already been posted.
But fuck me if BT's "This Binary Universe" doesn't fuck me up every time with how well it's put together.
But fuck me if BT's "This Binary Universe" doesn't fuck me up every time with how well it's put together.
Accept no substitutes.
Came to post The Fragile. I listened to that album over 100 times and I still hear new layers to this day. It blows my mind that they were able to get so many layers to work so beautifully well together.
Boston is a fantastic album. The fact that it was mostly made in Scholz's basement makes it even more impressive.
In my opinion Tango in the Night is overproduced. There are too many synths, too many vocal overdubs, it gets kinda tiresome. And "When I see you again" sounds absolutely horrible, with those butchered and recreated Stevie Nicks lines. I think Mirage is infinitely better, both musically and sonically.
It's amazing how you can hear every single one of Jon Anderson's vocal tracks separately. Great, now I wanna listen to Fragile in its entirety. I'm going to do that right now!
This album is an impossibility come true. It's really not possible for a band with so many problems (every member was breaking up with or dating each other, sometimes at the same time) to come up with something this good, but they did it. That's truly amazing.
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At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Perfect sound. I know some of the band members have stated they don't like the production, but for me it definitely factors in why I love this album. The bass sounds so gritty (the intro to Quarantined may be my favorite bass part ever), the guitars are amazing (just liusten to the wall of sound in Cosmonaut), and in general the mix is pretty great. I like At the Drive-In's earlier albums, but with a production like this some songs could have a much larger impact. And I think their comeback album suffers from a forced lo-fi sound
Also:
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Most discussions about this album are an endless circlejerk about whether, you like the ambient parts are not. (Full disclosure: I do, give me more of that 5-minute frog chirping! ;) ) Ignore all that, and besides being an all in all fantastic piece of music, the production is also pretty great, imho the best of all Mars Volta albums. While I love De-Loused (and the sound is generally great), it has some serious loudness issues, for me it's exhausting to listen to in one go. The mix of Amputechture is pretty muddled, while Bedlam lacks any dynamics and the high-pitched singing can sound pretty flat. Frances has the best dynamics.
Perfect sound. I know some of the band members have stated they don't like the production, but for me it definitely factors in why I love this album. The bass sounds so gritty (the intro to Quarantined may be my favorite bass part ever), the guitars are amazing (just liusten to the wall of sound in Cosmonaut), and in general the mix is pretty great. I like At the Drive-In's earlier albums, but with a production like this some songs could have a much larger impact. And I think their comeback album suffers from a forced lo-fi sound
Also:
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Most discussions about this album are an endless circlejerk about whether, you like the ambient parts are not. (Full disclosure: I do, give me more of that 5-minute frog chirping! ;) ) Ignore all that, and besides being an all in all fantastic piece of music, the production is also pretty great, imho the best of all Mars Volta albums. While I love De-Loused (and the sound is generally great), it has some serious loudness issues, for me it's exhausting to listen to in one go. The mix of Amputechture is pretty muddled, while Bedlam lacks any dynamics and the high-pitched singing can sound pretty flat. Frances has the best dynamics.
Totally agree with OP on Dr. Dre's "2001". However, you really need to add in Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" and Snoop's "Doggystyle" albums. The production and mixing on those is fantastic as well.
You Come Before You by Poison The Well is one of the best engineered records in heavy music of the last couple decades. It's a step above.
The bass is so alive and the mix is so well done.
https://youtu.be/FW4_xRB52C0
https://youtu.be/BCbDa1mKS1c
Unfortunately the YouTube quality is really lacking. Stream it! It's worth it.
The bass is so alive and the mix is so well done.
https://youtu.be/FW4_xRB52C0
https://youtu.be/BCbDa1mKS1c
Unfortunately the YouTube quality is really lacking. Stream it! It's worth it.
The Moody Blues big seven albums all have incredible production. Everything is so crisp, there's really nothing quite like the sound they achieve.
There's an early CD version of The Wall that sounds fantastic. It uses pre-emphasis, a rarely used method of improving the signal to noise ratio on cds. You have to take that into account when you rip the disc, or else the audio files you get will be wrong. For years I didn't know that was the version I had, and I just assumed that it had a very harsh high end, It sounds fantastic when played correctly though.
This and Discovery are instant classics. Allow me to throw another one that surprised me: SYRE by Jaden Smith. Lyrically it's ok, but the production is godly.
Actually. It's exactly the opposite. A high percentage of music is crushed to hell and back. The loudness war is real and detrimental as all hell to the quality of music being made and produced today.
Check The Mars Volta "Deloused in the Crematorium" vs "Amputecture" and it is noticeable. Hell, the latest couple Metallica albums versus Ride the Lightning or ...And Justice for All.
One of my picks that is probably fairly unknown but absolutely perfect is Ben Folds' "Songs for Silverman."
Then the tri-fecta from The Flaming Lips, "The Soft Bulletin", "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", and "At War With the Mystics"
Yeah that's true. Loudness war sucks. Fat sausage wav files.
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Perfect sound. I know some of the band members have stated they don't like the production, but for me it definitely factors in why I love this album. The bass sounds so gritty (the intro to Quarantined may be my favorite bass part ever), the guitars are amazing (just liusten to the wall of sound in Cosmonaut), and in general the mix is pretty great. I like At the Drive-In's earlier albums, but with a production like this some songs could have a much larger impact. And I think their comeback album suffers from a forced lo-fi sound
Also:
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Most discussions about this album are an endless circlejerk about whether, you like the ambient parts are not. (Full disclosure: I do, give me more of that 5-minute frog chirping! ;) ) Ignore all that, and besides being an all in all fantastic piece of music, the production is also pretty great, imho the best of all Mars Volta albums. While I love De-Loused (and the sound is generally great), it has some serious loudness issues, for me it's exhausting to listen to in one go. The mix of Amputechture is pretty muddled, while Bedlam lacks any dynamics and the high-pitched singing can sound pretty flat. Frances has the best dynamics.
Good post. Personally I prefer how De-Loused sounds more. Both blow my mind with how they can possibly contain so much sound and still make each instrument stand out.
I wanna throw in Thrice's Illusion of Safety. That album sounds so biting and dangerous. Each riff sounds like it can stab you. I can't imagine those songs having the impact they do had they been produced any other way. Not perfect though. Sometimes the snare is at the level it needs to be to add to that piercing sound, but then sometimes they really needed to turn it down.
I have no idea how to answer that.
If it sounds good it sounds good.
Production/engineering?
I bet I like several "bad" ones from that standpoint, but I wouldn't know.
If it sounds good it sounds good.
Production/engineering?
I bet I like several "bad" ones from that standpoint, but I wouldn't know.
Daft Punk's Random Access Memories has impeccable mixing.
This year I am absolutely in love with the Against All Logic' (Nicolas Jaar) comp 2012-2017
This year I am absolutely in love with the Against All Logic' (Nicolas Jaar) comp 2012-2017
Jurassic 5 - Power in Numbers
To this day this is one of the best mixed/engineered hip-hop records.
To this day this is one of the best mixed/engineered hip-hop records.
Nicholas Jaar is absolutely incredible. If you ever get the chance to see him live I thoroughly recommend it.
I love all three of those Lips albums, but it is amusing that you complained about the loudness war and then chose three records by a band that was in the vanguard.
I'm obsessed with music, I'm constantly seeking out new songs and sounds, and I could nerd out about music all day... but I never know how to answer this question! I don't think I really know what people mean when they say good production. Can someone elaborate for me some more?
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Bitte Orca, the S/T and Lamp Lit Prose have some of the most inventive and well executed art-pop/indie rock production of the last decade.
I consider good production to be something that really achieves what it's trying to do acoustically. When you can hear the different elements clearly, and at the correct levels, without any one element overriding anything else (unless that's the intent, although it rarely works out like that). Crisp percussion, warm textures on softer instruments like strings, depth to trumpets or woodwind, and vocals that either aren't washed out or overbearing, etc.
It's also means knowing what you're trying to achieve tonally; whether you want the sound to feel close and intimate, like the singer is right there next to your ear, or if it's some massive, concert/arena sound.
Lupe has had so much mileage out of this album. Even now 'The coolest' KNOCKS.
On "React" the alternating panning of the double snares is the type of nuance I appreciate.
D12's Devil's Night might be one of the most ridiculously offensive records released at the right time, but the production has aged impressively well. Extremely high quality instrumentation by Dre, Em and Bass Brothers all who would carry the rock sound first heard here to The Eminem Show a year later.
And to jump to a completely different genre, I can't imagine trying to build, layer, mix and keep together tunes such as...