The best recordings, as voted by professionals
- Thread starter C Hart
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petes'picks
Super Member
Formats and performances aside, properly recorded albums are pretty rare in my experience and not easy to come by. I looked over the list and noticed some of the recordings that were nominated are some I also consider among the best. So many great performances were not captured properly, wish Led Zeppelin was provided better recording engineers than they were given by the record company for their first 3 albums as those were amazing performances but were recorded subpar.
Blood Sweat and Tears debut, Crime of The Century, Innervisions, Dream Weaver, Aja, Zenyatta Mondatta, The Nightfly, Let It Roll -Little Feat, Warm Your Heart -Aaron Neville (one the best recordings ever), Ten Summoners Tale from that list are recordings everyone should listen to on their better systems. Toto IV and Gaucho, almost made my list but they suffered from a bit too much post production and layering while the others have a natural organic feel to them for the most part.
I want the hear the musicians on the recording clearly and how they captured the sound waves in the room but have no interest in what pro tools were used to make the 1's and 0's of electronic music sound authentic which is totally different than recording the room digitally . Heard this recording on the radio the other night and was absolutely blown away by the recording, especially from the 12:30 mark till the end as it fades but still captures all the information perfectly. If they can record like this in a live setting then there is no excuse for the bad recordings produced in a studio environment.
Blood Sweat and Tears debut, Crime of The Century, Innervisions, Dream Weaver, Aja, Zenyatta Mondatta, The Nightfly, Let It Roll -Little Feat, Warm Your Heart -Aaron Neville (one the best recordings ever), Ten Summoners Tale from that list are recordings everyone should listen to on their better systems. Toto IV and Gaucho, almost made my list but they suffered from a bit too much post production and layering while the others have a natural organic feel to them for the most part.
I want the hear the musicians on the recording clearly and how they captured the sound waves in the room but have no interest in what pro tools were used to make the 1's and 0's of electronic music sound authentic which is totally different than recording the room digitally . Heard this recording on the radio the other night and was absolutely blown away by the recording, especially from the 12:30 mark till the end as it fades but still captures all the information perfectly. If they can record like this in a live setting then there is no excuse for the bad recordings produced in a studio environment.
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@Audiofreak71 the eponymous one and also "Rumours". I gave up and bought the CDs, which weren't all that great either but at least the cymbals were audible.
@petes'picks Agree with all that. I am not a big Gary Wright or Supertramp fan but the records sounded great. (I forgot the Police - thanks for reminding me!)
Re Wynton Marsalis, his is another in a long line of excellent jazz engineering. The Brubeck album I mentioned was direct to disk - it is CD quality sound, perfectly played, recorded and mixed, but the original "Take Five" album was also really great from 1963ish.
I think probably the reason pop doesn't get the same engineering is the same as why concert videos have only 4 seconds between scene cuts: The audience is perceived as stupid and unappreciative of quality. Another is that the musicians can't get through a full song with messing up.
Would love to hear about more recommended gems.
@petes'picks Agree with all that. I am not a big Gary Wright or Supertramp fan but the records sounded great. (I forgot the Police - thanks for reminding me!)
Re Wynton Marsalis, his is another in a long line of excellent jazz engineering. The Brubeck album I mentioned was direct to disk - it is CD quality sound, perfectly played, recorded and mixed, but the original "Take Five" album was also really great from 1963ish.
I think probably the reason pop doesn't get the same engineering is the same as why concert videos have only 4 seconds between scene cuts: The audience is perceived as stupid and unappreciative of quality. Another is that the musicians can't get through a full song with messing up.
Would love to hear about more recommended gems.
You must have been getting the wrong pressings because the best one by far of that album is
(Fleetwood Mac Rumours 2LP 45 RPM 180 Gram Vinyl Pallas Pressing) it is hands down better sounding than the cd And any other pressing imo.
Audiofreak71
This is getting sidetracked, but I will just say
A: I don't want the short format 2x45, just a regular 1x 33 1/3 LP
B: I have the 1 LP Pallas pressing bought new. It is well short of CD quality.
C: The 2x45 was outrageously priced - on Discogs a new one is >$200. The LP I bought was $48 IIIRC, still a lot.
D: I will not be buying any more Fleetwood Mac vinyl
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
I went through 4 copies of "Fleetwood Mac" in 1975 when brand new. Two of them Promo copies. I feel your pain. I empathize with you.
Well then I guess I got lucky mine are perfect. If you want good pressings like you’re asking you have to pay to play, go to te reputable pressing plants (that I provided for you) and you will get good pressings more times than not , otherwise you’ll just keep going around the Ferris wheel.
Audiofreak71
Glad you got lucky but those are two different versions (2x45 vs LP). Thanks for the pressing recommendations. The mix could be to blame for "Rumours".
Slight mod of the original post request - looking for a list of great technical albums which are recognized by a professional body, by critical agreement, or even a list of must-listens from us AK amateurs such as @petes'picks mentioned.
Quadman2
Lunatic Member
I've heard of three albums, wherein some of the pros/gurus/artists have thought that were above the norm both in arrangements and the amount of effort that went into these productions. : Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club" ('67), Beachboys' "Pet Sounds"('65) and Beatles' "Rubber Soul"('65)
Read just a bit on some of the favourable comments that other performers shared of how the albums were set up, the level of playing and what went into the records that still hold up to the test of time today. Many later groups used some similar arrangements and sound affects that were required in the earlier offerings, and they make no bones of procedures borrowed.
Q
Read just a bit on some of the favourable comments that other performers shared of how the albums were set up, the level of playing and what went into the records that still hold up to the test of time today. Many later groups used some similar arrangements and sound affects that were required in the earlier offerings, and they make no bones of procedures borrowed.
Q
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Quadman2
Lunatic Member
Right on. Carry over from the "Pepper"...I guess?
twiiii
Lunatic Member
How come you picked the NON-CLASSICAL CATEGORY? That said I like Sheffield Direct to Disc Albums that I bought new. Some of the Command Classical albums. Mobile Fidelity with Doug Sax engineering as he did with Sheffield. But regular LP's I seem to prefer the originals and not the souped up reissues. That said Telarc and Reference Recordings released some great LP's, too in the past and RR presently. I wish Deutsche Gramophone would release some of the older recordings on LP. Some of their current stuff unlike recordings on LP from the past sound so canned or manipulated today.
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Why: Non-classical are the ones that get short shrift from engineers and record companies. I'm sure there are plenty of classical records that are poor but (having heard only a few) I don't know of any. BTW I feel the same way about jazz, which I do listen to. The clunkers are the exception in both these genres in my experience.
Some people are thinking that the request is for a class of records. Sorry for the misunderstanding - it is for specific, exceptional records that wowed with their excellence. I'm sure everyone has a few. Let's hear 'em!
Some people are thinking that the request is for a class of records. Sorry for the misunderstanding - it is for specific, exceptional records that wowed with their excellence. I'm sure everyone has a few. Let's hear 'em!
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I feel like Steve Albini is a bit overrated. Though there are some things that I've heard that he's been involved with that I like the sound of, other things, even if I like the music I'm not totally convinced with the production. There can be a kind of hard echoey quality to his stuff, as if there was some kind of legitimacy in having things sound like it's straight from a basement rehearsal room (without the aid of much in the way of acoustical treatment). It seems that I've read about projects that he was involved with that were scrapped due to the fact that they were just too harsh sounding. He seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about "keeping it real" and being true to some kind of punk rock ethos, which I find a bit annoying as I think that one's work ought to speak for itself, so that there's no need for bragging about how legit you are.
I do really dig John McIntire's work though, both as a musician and a engineer/producer. He seems to have great ears, is only involved with really great music and really brings out the subtle detail of whatever he works on.
For indie rock/newer more progressive music producers I really like Roger Moutenot (at least on Yo la Tengo's stuff) and Jim O'Rouke. It seems like whenever production work is being spoken about, folks will either praise folks who were involved with big hits of the 70s or with jazz music. These kind of folks here though that started back in the 90s (mostly) and were making records with artier, more under the radar artists did some great work, if somewhat unrecognized by most fans...