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Thread: What defines a well recorded album?

  1. #26
    Hunh. I've heard that song a couple of dozen times but never realized: those are some pretty damn splosive drums, especially the fill as the drums come in on the chorus.
    Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.

  2. #27
    Member StarThrower's Avatar
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    ”A good sound comes from a good musician and a good instrument”, says Jan Erik Kongshaug, founder of the famous Rainbow Studio in Oslo.
    https://www.inner-magazines.com/musi...rik-kongshaug/

  3. #28
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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  4. #29
    Member proggy_jazzer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by StarThrower View Post
    ”A good sound comes from a good musician and a good instrument”, says Jan Erik Kongshaug, founder of the famous Rainbow Studio in Oslo.
    https://www.inner-magazines.com/musi...rik-kongshaug/
    Being that my gig is as a university piano technician, I already knew this about Kongshaug and Rainbow, but it's nice to read it coming from the man himself:

    "Inner: Your piano, what is that?

    JEK: Oh, it’s a hand-made concert piano, Steinway D-model, but the reason why it’s so good is that I have a great tuner, really great. When he’s not available, I use others but it’s not the same instrument, believe me. People just do not realize that a piano needs to be worked all the time in many ways, not only tuning it. Even a great piano can be ruined in half a year if it’s not sufficiently taken care of, and I have a feeling that most studios do not."

    Very true.
    David
    Happy with what I have to be happy with.

  5. #30
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    To me, it means mostly an album that makes every instrument clearly audible, while managing to capture the energy... All too often, it's hard to tell what the bass line is in a rock song of the second half of the 70's, because it's buried in the mix.

    I personally think the best-produced Iron Maiden albumis their debut, because the following Martin Birch-produced albums made them sound Purplish and it's a miracle that we can still make out the bass
    I've always disliked those "Wall of Sound" albums, though there are exceptions like Bat Out Of Hell

    Quote Originally Posted by rottersclub View Post
    I think that's pretty much the case, Mark. Dark Side is universally held up as a great sounding album. Lot's of other things that Alan Parson's did are praised as well. Same for Ken Scott. One of the things I listened to recently was Crime of the Century and after all these years, I heard things that I never noticed before. But the overall quality of the recording really stood out.
    Agtreed that Supertramp and Floyd are the best examples in prog... But in general, most of the big whatever prog have reasobnably good produced albums, clearly the worst to me was the Peter Gabriel era Genesis. Difficult to make out Rutherford's bass lines are, as they're buried in the mix

    Quote Originally Posted by 3LockBox View Post
    Albums that I think sound good are (off the top of my head) Steely Dan-Aja, Donald Fagen's The Nightfly, Lindsey Buckingham-Out of The Cradle, Toto IV, Dire Straits-Brothers in Arms.
    Though I think Straits' 80's albums were outstanding, they were an absolute exception, because the 80's (the second-half, even moreso) literally stunk , despite the fortunes sunk in "sonic production"
    Though I can recognize some merits to Steely dan songwriting and album production, I fail tro see what the hoopla is all about , about most of their albums
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  6. #31
    I do love the Misfits production as well and it fits with the way the music is played.

    For me, I have a few albums that definitely should have been mixed and mastered properly from the beginning but weren't.

    https://streamsmartpro.us/

  7. #32
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Jim Hall & Red Mitchell live at Sweet Basil, January 20-1, 1978.
    Just want to elaborate on this a little bit.

    The original album, simply titled "Jim Hall / Red Mitchell," was released in 1978 on the small A&M offshoot label Artist House Records. It's just a duo, Mitchell's acoustic bass and Hall's extremely smooth electric guitar. The recording is very realistic, with excellent low bass and the occasional sounds of glasses clinking. The polite applause is well-restrained and entirely believable. It was re-released on CD in 1989, though this is rather hard to find (I got mine through iTunes).

    Jim's widow Jane Hall (he died in 2013) arranged to have an additional 50:00 of recordings, taken at the same two-day engagement in NYC, released in 2016 under the title "Valse Hot: Sweet Basil 1978." This one is equally wonderful and much easier to find. The sound is just as phenomenal. Why it was never released in 1978 is inexplicable.

    There's another similar set. It's an A&M release, "Jim Hall Live!" recorded June 11-13, 1975 at Bourbon Street, Toronto. This one consists of Jim's trio of Don Thompson on acoustic bass and Terry Clarke on drums. Like the Sweet Basil recordings it's very live, great full range sound, no tape hiss, occasional (but very restrained) sounds of the audience dining. It's been a favorite of mine since its first release.

    I recently discovered that Jane uncovered, and released in 2012, not one, not two, but THREE discs of additional recordings from the 1975 Bourbon Street engagement ("Jim Hall Live, Vol.2-4"). Again, the pristine sound, the understated mastery of the performances and wide-ranging material is just as magical as the original release, although the packaging is pretty minimal (no liner notes or explanation, and just one photo in a 3-disc Digipack). HIGHLY recommended for both the audiophile and the music lover (...and especially if you're both!)

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