Best Sounding CD Ever?

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 10:34 am

What is the best sounding CD available (any genre) in terms of recording and mastering job out there? I know opinions will differ, but I an wanting to buy a CD to use as a learning too (listening and learning about what I should go for in terms of sound).

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:28 pm

Tom Petty's Wildflowers? I can't think of anything that touches it.

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1847 Location: NYC

It's too subjective. It's what serves the music best is what you should be striving for. You can learn just as much from bad sounding cd's too. Music is an art form, not a SAT score. Does it move you, make you listen, make you smile, laugh, cry, kill someone. Does it translate from system to system. If it accomplishes this then you've done your job.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2003 10:55 am

dak side ov da moon!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2003 4:11 pm

I know what the worst sounding CD i've heard in a long time is,Metallica's new album,i think the recording engineer must have been drunk when he made this one,worst audio quality i have heard in a long time.I liked it better when recording studio's where analog,back then i think engineers took more time to make great recordings.Now i think they just crank up the levels push a button and walk away.I think studio's are in a hurry to get the things out to the public instead of taking the time to make a good product.Of course this is purely my observation or opinnion and your miliage may vary..PEACE and Happy 4th of July everyone..Keith H.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2003 9:03 pm

I agree that there is some pretty crappy CD's being put out there now. I have been listening to a few very successful new albums on some very good headphones lately and have noticed some distortion in places. Seems that a lot of folks are going for very "hot" albums (hitting the max limit button or something) and they don't seem to be worried about a few digital artifacts. Pretty careless in my opinion.

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:19 pm

Rob, what style of music? I agree with Michael that it's subjective. Maybe the question should be what are some good reference CDs?

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:26 pm

John,
That is what I'm looking for - thanks for the clarification. I would like a good acoustic and good rock reference to learn from. I think all of Alison Kraus's stuff sounds pretty darn good, but I would like other suggestions.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 10:51 pm

Sit in the sweet spot while listening to any track from Tool's Undertow for a great rock reference. The clarity in that album blows me away every time I listen to it.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 7:01 pm

Check out Coldplay. As far as older stuff I liked the Sadie productions and Miles Davis "Kind of Blue". I'm a big fan of most T-Bone Burnett and Brenden O'Brien productions (sp?). I find that things get really weird when I find myself enjoying really bad music just because of the production values. Then again some things sound so bad that they start to sound good. (some of the Frank Black stuff- very innovative or accidental?). Sometimes a really raw sound will deliver such an emotional impact that is easily lost with too much finesse. It can be a fine line to walk. Figure out the direction you want to go in before you start twiddling with the knobs.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:09 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamie Smith:
Sit in the sweet spot while listening to any track from Tool's Undertow for a great rock reference. The clarity in that album blows me away every time I listen to it.

Undertow has a very bright (something that sounds music man-esque) and very loud bass. The guitars almost take second seat to bass on this album. However, that could contribute to it's clarity (people who mix metal guitars know what i'm talking about). I personaly like the sound overall of the last two albums with the exception of the overcompression during mastering.

Staying in that same genre, the new deftones sounds amazing despite the heavy compression in mastering and as long as you dont mind megaphone vocals for a whole album. The kick drum sound rocks! The snare sound is way tight and high but still sounds good! Terry Date always impressed me for heavy rock albums.

As far as interesting production, Radiohead's OK Computer is amazing! Simultaneously mechanical and organic sounding. Never heard another album like it.

Second place for interesting production would be anything Tom Waits has done for the last 15 years. Very earthy, amient sound that gives you chills.

Aphex Twin's "Richard D. James" is a one trick pony as far as sounds but it also one of my favorites sonically. So basic it almost sounds like atari video game music.

I could go on all day. You can't compare the production of Tool to Aphex Twin or Tom Waits or another other genre to any other genre. It's like saying "who's better? michael jordan or tiger woods?"

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 10:00 am

For a nice South American CD, I'd suggest "Espiritu vivo" By Susana Baca. The recording is very well done and everything beyond it (mixing, mastering) seems to be spot on. Susana Baca does Afro Peruvian music, so you're going to get very organic music. This CD, however, was recorded in NY (Right Track Studios I believe). The deep tones that they got from the acoustic bass are incredible to hear. It's a very sparse record in many places. I credit the mastering engineer with gently massaging the CD rather than the typical squishing that is all too common these days.

For bluegrass/folk, I also like Dan Tyminski's latest record. A real nice recording and beyond job with great clarity for each part. They seemed to do a lot of hi-pass filtering (or low end reduction) on his voice to get it to fit, but it worked for this record. Very polished.

Es.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:12 am

I´m afraid the pancake squeezing starts happening with SACD´s and DVD-A´s also.

About crapy high end mastering, I prefer the ones I do with $1000 plug-ins. lol

I like Steve Vai´s "Passion and Warfare", Firegarden", Satriani´s Extremist, Toto´s Kingdom of Desire, Yes´s 90125, Fragile, Big Generator, Rush´s Counterparts, Power Windows, Hold your fire and so and so..

lol :p:

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 6:03 pm

John Hiatt's Crossing Muddy Waters...

For massive production values....don't laugh....Shania Twain's Come On Over..its The Mutt at his best...actually the one before it is just as good....

Joan Osborne's Relish....guitars are right in yer face and you can hear every note.

Find a good copy of the album, not the CD, the PLASTIC and make your own copy of Hendrix...Axis Bold As Love and listen to Eddie Kramer use great big old tube gear and four tracks...its also a guitar primer.The clean rhythm is the best that ever was and still is.

<small>[ October 06, 2003, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: Davedog ]</small>

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2003 6:51 pm

"I would like a good acoustic and good rock reference to learn from."

For me....

Bonnie Raitts, Nick Of Time Cd, produced by Don Was. Bonnie covers every genre of music and the tones are beyond reproach!

:h:

Treena

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