S/D : Albums that would be great if they had been mixed right, but they weren't

want some examples

Jawbreaker - Dear You. I feel like it's an almost cliche response but the vocal production continues to bum me out to this day.

Metallica "...And Justice For Al" owns this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqUF1U36W34

Possibly the last Cold Cave. Not sure if it's a "great record" but everything about it is so over-compressed I can't even hear the songs.

Cake - Motorcade of Generosity

totally agree on that Metallica album. WTF happened there? The same guy who did Master of Puppets was behind the boards.

they were hazing newsted by mixing the bass really low to be assholes apparently

Raw Power

Man Who Sold the World too - always felt that sounded so muddy and shitty but maybe it was just my pressing

Flemming Rasmussen didn't mix either Puppets or Justice, though he produced and engineered both. Contrary to what the credits of Justice say, I do believe that James and Lars had the most say during the mixing session, and Newsted (being the new boy) clearly wasn't
vocal enough.

Metallica guys discuss the missing foundation

Three quotes, three somewhat different views. Though personally I dislike the dry as a bone sound, the biggest sin in the mix for my money is the shitty snare sound.

Lars' view coincides with James' view of the missing bass on the Metallica edition of the Classic Albums series.

New Order - Brotherhood
almost anything by Hüsker Dü

Smiths debut

i will love the sound of AJFA 'til i die

Badmotorfinger

(still great though)

who listens to metal for the bass? anyway i fell in love with it on cassette + walkman, so i never really missed it. snare sound owns.

xp

yes to raw power -- i actually think the iggy mix made it worse.

Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness

almost anything by Hüsker Dü

As brought up on the Dü poll thread, those SST albums were all about capturing their sound, and they did actually sound that shitty back then! Warehouse : Songs And Stories, on the other hand...

Possibly more obvious than Metallica or Husker Du (I can listen to those records) is Shoot Out The Lights by Richard & Linda Thompson. I like the songs & the back story but goddamn that thin, anaemic guitar sound. Totally unbearable.

Jethro Tull re-did some of their early albums in a sympathetic fashion and they are miles better/stronger sounding.

Metallica "...And Justice For Al" owns this thread.

"...And Justice For Al" is what i will call my remix of the album someday when i get access to the master tapes

I always hated how the sound of Neon Bible ruined such a bunch of great songs.

Like I want to turn it up all the time and its never loud enough!!

I'd rather have an album like that than an album which is ludicrously overcompressed.

As brought up on the Dü poll thread, those SST albums were all about capturing their sound, and they did actually sound that shitty back then!

I put on "I Apologize" and immediately think I'd like to turn up the bass so, for me, that's a mixing issue.

I wonder if the first Strokes album would have worked without the weird, bad production.

Even if I were going to take that bait and get on board and say "yeah this awesome and original sounding record does actually sound weird and bad what was I thinking" it's one of the first album-length examples of "could've only been made with ProTools" in rock music, so it gets seminality points even if it's weird and bad

i'm not clear about what you're saying. are you saying that it sounds like it was done in protools? because to me it sounds less "digital" sounding and more old school than a lot of its contemporaries. my thing about it is that everything sounds kind of thin and there's not much dynamics in it. it sounds cheap. somehow it works, but i wonder if it would have if it didn't sound like that.

The sound of ProTools is heard in the squeaky-clean 'performance', less so the mix.

"Thin", I think I get what you mean. There are not a lot of subs, it's a very bright and jangly mix, and no, I do not think the record would work with a thumping kick.

a recent album totally ruined by mixing and mastering is further seems forever's penny black

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3aRnKCU5fs

the actual cd sounds like 96 kbps mp3s

The mix on "Happy?" Public Image Limited meant I could only play it one time

first strokes album is produced appropriately imo

my answer is anything fridmann mixed in the last 15 years

Lullabies to Paralyze by QOTSA is a terrible sounding record. I've never been able to play the whole thing in one go.

Drums and Guns. I know there are a lot of people who disagree, but this one is really hard for me to listen to.

even though I love the album and can't imagine it sounding any other way, I've always kinda wondered what speakers/headphones the Sisters of Mercy used to mix First And Last And Always

that first Go! Team album was horribly trebly. I fixed the whole thing in about 10 minutes using Soundforge and it sounded so much better. Not sure if subsequent rereleases were improved, but it sounded like a serious mistake.

whoa, that Further Seems Forever track sounds like absolute shit! WTF!

i mean, is that deliberate or just horrible negligence?

also, what exactly is the holdup on a remixed/remastered ...And Justice for All? Seems like no one is particularly happy with it.

Fridmann (minus like two or so albums) otm

The Dixie Chicks' Taking The Long Way. Horribly suffocating, claustrophobic sound, no space around the instruments at all, and some of the worst vocal production I've ever heard -- compressed to shit, like dentist office muzak. You can't really blame Rick Rubin, though, since he apparently never set foot in the studio. He "produced" the record by saying "nice chorus" and "sounds good" when the Chicks played works-in-progress for him at his house.

I wonder if the first Strokes album would have worked without the weird, bad production.

Strokes consistently boast the worst recorded drums in all of rock.

Red House Painters - Ocean Beach

Idk, i think it's kind of the whole point of the first Strokes album. Aren't there already like 1000000 horrible bands that sound like the strokes but with better recorded drums?

Jethro Tull re-did some of their early albums in a sympathetic fashion and they are miles better/stronger sounding.

― MaresNest, Saturday, 26 January 2013 11:59 (2 weeks ago)

can anyone elaborate on this?

Lullabies to Paralyze by QOTSA is a terrible sounding record. I've never been able to play the whole thing in one go.

― nate woolls, Wednesday, February 13, 2013 7:35 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is this a thing with them because even the early stuff I remember sounding leaden and lumpy. but maybe it was a case of stoner rock amongst brighter rock radio fare.

whoa, that Further Seems Forever track sounds like absolute shit! WTF!

yep! pretty sad about it bc the record's really great otherwise

Rated R sounds great, iirc. Deaf is notoriously flat. The one with the cartoon lemon or whatever on the cover is a very strange sounding record.

Smell the Glove. Would have been a smash hit, if only it had been mixed in Dobly.

Actually, to inverse it here:

The Fall's "Are you are missing winner" album was supposedly a big disaster, sound-wise. I listened to it last week for the first time on Spotify, it sounds perfectly fine to me.

I guess it got a remaster, etc. Was the original version really bad?

I know I'm in the minority here, but I think 36 Chambers is a case of this. IMO RZA's production got much better when he abandoned the muddled, crappy lo-fi sound of that era. This is particularly the case with the drums, which often sound weak on 36 Chambers, and rap tunes should never have weak drums.

Can't agree at all, either about 36 Chambers or the rules of rap drums. The weird, muffled and broken sound of that record is a huuuuge part of what drew me into it. It paints this sick grimy picture that's at the same time kind of arty and arch, and that totally fits the way the Clan themselves are coming out from the ninja shadows and leaving you dizzy with their wit and unlikely references, etc. I think it'd be a total flop with later-style RZA.

Yeah, I gotta be with Doctor Casino there.

IMO you can do sick, grimy ninja rap beats that don't sound muffled and weak... RZA himself did so on The W (sadly the raps on it aren't always as good as on 36 Chambers, plus it has some useless guest spots, otherwise it'd be a perfect album), and DJ Muggs did it even before RZA. But like I said, I know I'm in the minority here.

Retribution Gospel Choir - 2

My standard answer to this is Roxy Music's debut, except that album is still great - one of the greatest of all time imo - in spite of Sinfield's production. Making it glossy and shiny like later Roxy Music wouldn't make it better to me. But my favorite music these days is 50s R&B and rockabilly on obscure 45s where low budget or inept production is a big part of its charm.

I feel the same way, I got turned off that album almost immediately because of its mix, it's especially idiosyncratic on the first two tracks.

But do you like it now? And did you hear a recent CD? I only have OG vinyl, and have wondered how CD sounds. Thompson's drums sound so weird on that record, but in tandem with the synth noises, oboe solos and Ferry's voice it all coalesces into a lo-fi masterpiece to me, and I'm so used to the way it sounds that a remaster might not serve me well.

Sonic Youth - Sister.

I've not heard it on vinyl, so perhaps it's just shitty CD mastering, but it sounds so muddy and indistinct, robbing some great songs and arrangements of their power.

most of the husker du discography, at least not on vinyl. real shame

xpost Mellon Collie? what's wrong with the production? it's heartier and more visceral than Siamese, and it's got a wide range of sounds and song styles. what's not to like? just curious

xp re Roxy, Hm, I got the CD remaster? I hate it when people use the word tinny but it is, it's a tinny record. Maybe I just don't like it when people say "tinny" except when talking about Roxy Music s/t. I've come to appreciate it as "For Your Pleasure"'s homely older sister? Also I like the dissonance between the technicolor band photos and "babe alert!" front cover and the trebly mess within

this thread is weird. supposed to be "albums that would be great if they were mixed right" and then it's a list almost entirely of classic canonical albums? doesn't seem like the mix is holding any of these back.

i can't think of one album where i was like "hmm i would love this album so much but the bass is kinda muddy and the vocals are too quiet, guess i'll never listen to it again."

sister and roxy album have always sounded fine to me on vinyl. never heard them on cd. you should really hear sister on vinyl. and original pressings of the roxy album don't sound tinny at all.

i kinda wish 90% of the metal albums put out in the last 20 years sounded better but what are ya gonna do?

in general i'm just happy when i can turn a cd up really loud without hearing massive amounts of distortion.

i can't think of one album where i was like "hmm i would love this album so much but the bass is kinda muddy and the vocals are too quiet, guess i'll never listen to it again."

No, but lots of classic records have the vocals mixed to loud for me to really love (Bjork albums). Or the snare sound is so distracting (Traveling Wilburys). Loads of people are arghybarghyfuckoffforever about Thom Yorke's voice, why is it so weird to have problems with a mix and walk away from a record as a result

xp: Mark: Are You Are Missing Winner had a purposefully rough and grimy sound which was jarring in context of the very polished and electronic sound of the previous LP The Unutterable. But I'll maintain both records are very much products of the possibilities of ProTools.

in general i'm just happy when i can turn a cd up really loud without hearing massive amounts of distortion.

― scott seward, Thursday, February 14, 2013 9:16 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I need to hear Roxy Music on vinyl!

The prime contestants for me are "Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven" I can't get into either record and it's almost entirely because I don't like the mix (I don't love the performance either) (one day I will love these records I hope)

Smiths debut

I was listening to part of the Troy Tate sessions yesterday and the sound is so much better than the debut that it's a real shame.

Hatful of Hollow is the better record for sure

love isn't anything and loveless on vinyl. do nothing for me on cd. should i bother with the remasters?

This thread got me thinking about Ian Dury, who recorded two versions of Kilburn and The High Roads' album. I've owned and loved Handsome (on Dawn Records) for ages without ever investigating Wotabunch!, which is most of the same songs they recorded earlier for Warner Brothers. Dury was evidently unhappy with the production on the WB sessions, but listening to a few on youtube this morning, they're great. I need to get this.

I'm the type of nerd that gets distracted by bad production choices to the point where I have a hard time appreciating the actual music I'm listening to. Here's a rundown of some of the albums that have raised my hackles in various ways. I'll admit the greatness of some of these is debatable, but I think they all have merit.

Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse: I can't stand those skittering paper-thin drums

Rush - Presto: Rush has made various bad engineering decisions throughout the years, but this along with Roll The Bones was the worst for me. Everything sounds so trebly and thin. It's like they demanded every element have plenty of zing!

Rush - Vapor Trails: This album has the opposite problem. It's over-compressed and too loud with lots of horrible digital distortion. It took me a while to realize it's a pretty great album because I can only listen to about one song at a time before my ears get worn down.

Swervedriver - Raise: Probably an unpopular choice, I know lots of folks love this album, but the comparatively massive production on their subsequent releases makes this one less appealing for me even though it has a bunch of their signature songs.

Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart: such a good album, but what happened to the bass?

Baroness - Blue Album: why are the drums so thudding and loud compared to everything else? It's like they exist in some parallel dimension apart from the rest of the band.

Mastodon - The Hunter: I thought Crack The Skye was one of the best sounding albums I'd heard in a while, so this was a letdown. The guitars are way too fuzzy and indistict compared to pretty much all of their other albums.

Klaxons - Surfing The Void: I know folks on here hate these guys, but I really love this album, and honestly, it sounds pretty good. Still, I always find myself straining to hear the guitars.

"The prime contestants for me are "Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven" I can't get into either record and it's almost entirely because I don't like the mix (I don't love the performance either)"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rsjc9wknKT0/UH2P_35rnVI/AAAAAAAAgYw/z3xxWUhdEcI/s1600/SimpsonsSpit-Take.jpeg

I seem to remember xhuxk feeling the same way tho

yeah but he's crazy.

no disagreement there. but like I said, I keep trying with those records and I think I'll change my mind once I own a car with a tapedeck

I'd never heard the Troy Tate Smiths session before this minute. They ended up with a more typically "professional-sounding" record with John Porter, esp the drum sound, but these first attempts are more guitar-forward and pretty cool.

Red House Painters - Ocean Beach

...might as well explain a little:

All the songs on this record almost sound like just unfinished takes that if mixed right could have created the same kind of atmosphere as S/T (roller-coaster) for example. Generally, something feels like it is missing.

the remastered CDs of south of heaven/reign are an abomination. just the shittiest things i've ever heard. i hope nobody bought those. you are MUCH better off with tapes over those garbage CDs.

i thought rollercoaster/ocean beach were recorded at the same time? maybe not. i love them both. sound-wise.

Wasn't it rollercoaster/bridge at the same time?

No, but lots of classic records have the vocals mixed to loud for me to really love (Bjork albums).

I never listen to Homogenic or Vespertine, only the Homogenic Live and Vespertine Live releases. Those songs just sound so damn cool as actual arrangements, plus it fixes yr vocal mix problem.

oh righht. about rhp chronology. i haven't listened to those albums in a long time.

i had a nice double 10 inch set that 4AD put out in the u.k. of ocean beach. sounded nice.

See I love everything RHP but the production seems lacking on that record. I would be thrilled to own that record.

...either way*

I thought Crack The Skye was one of the best sounding albums I'd heard in a while

insanity.

a true victim of the uniform brendan o'brien (or whoever masters his shit) crush

All the songs on this record almost sound like just unfinished takes that if mixed right could have created the same kind of atmosphere as S/T (roller-coaster) for example. Generally, something feels like it is missing.

this is such a deliberate choice though, and it carries through to songs for a blue guitar

idk

kings of the wild frontier and prince charming. i dig adam and the ants just fine but i can't think of another high profile band from that era with such abysmal production values. first two duran duran albums are state of the art affairs in comparison.

Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart: such a good album, but what happened to the bass?

this is nuts. turn the treble all the way up, the bass has the same metallic tone you can hear on most jesus lizard records for instance. i really like that sound but you need to crank it up a little bit to get some impact.

There's nothing wrong with the sound of the first Roxy Music album, although it would've been much better if they'd recorded it about four months later than they did.

Surprised nobody has brought up "LAMF" yet. Apparently Jerry Nolan actually quit the band because he was so fed up with the mix.

what's wrong with kings of the wild frontier? i've always dug that sound.

i guess my disclaimer on this thread is that i've never heard most of the stuff mentioned on cd. so, i dunno, if people are talking about CDs then maybe the sound does suck.

not that it would necessarily be "great" w/ better mixing, but the not-bad late gene clark record "firebyrd" is horribly recorded/mixed/mastered.

also going waaaaay back every orlons 45 and LP i've heard (on the cameo/parkway label) has been mixed pretty poorly.

The "official" mix of Lily Allen's first album.

All the songs on this record almost sound like just unfinished takes that if mixed right could have created the same kind of atmosphere as S/T (roller-coaster) for example. Generally, something feels like it is missing.

this is such a deliberate choice though, and it carries through to songs for a blue guitar

idk

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, February 14, 2013 6:21 PM (Yesterday)

I didn't hear this to the same extent, but I also have been listening to a whole ton of the pre-Ocean Beach material and not so much the later in awhile.

What's the deal with Spot? Was he a terrible engineer or did he just not have a lot to work with? All those classic SST albums have awful sound.

Anything I've heard by the Photon Band is definitely my new answer to this thread.

Sister is absolutely godawful sounding. Those drums sound like a muffled biscuit tin from about 1945.

But is still a great album