Albums ruined by poor production

[phildwyer]

Yes exactly, turn it up so you can hear the rhythm section then the lead and vocals are just take your head off, it's such a wierd sound. I think the story is the Stooges put it to tape, then Bowie and Iggy got together at a later date to do the mixing.

I'm listening to "Shake Appeal" now, for the first time in years. The weirdest thing of all is the handclapping--what *was* he thinking, that it'd be a surf-style number? It works though...

 

[Firky]

Agreed...that to me is often the very thing that constitutes poor production. Unless we're talking Radiohead of course.

I think Muse's biggest problem with sounding shite on record is the production, not the biggest fan of muse but they do fucking rock live. In the studio however....

But Their first album was ace, (was produced by john lecky, tho iirc)

 

[poet]

Polish is good if the material suits it. Steely Dan's stuff like Pretzel Logic would sound massively overproduced were it not for their extraordinary technical skill, their phenomenal tightness complemented well by the perfect, precise production. I disagree about The Smiths, I think Moz and Marr are both melodramatic enough to suit the musical equivalent of an ornate gold frame. Many of my favourite jazz records were done straight to DAT with a pair of what were essentially measurement mics, perfectly suiting the music by getting the hell out of the way, but to do that you need musicians who sound at their very best acoustically without any help. What irritates me most is technical incompetence that seems to go totally unnoticed like as bees mentioned the absurd levels everything seems to get compressed up to these days or the horrible drum sounds that pass for normal these days that have had all their dynamics and feel gated and compressed out of them creating a sound that's basically a slightly sloppy SR16.

 

[D'wards]

This may be slightly unfair to put in this category, but recently i have been listening to stuff like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson and Son House. The songs are great, but the quality is so damn poor on them.

I know its not down to the production, cos there basically was no production, they just recorded what they did live and that was that i spose.

Mind you, as i'm writing this i'm imagining all that stuff cleaned up and crisp on cd, and its making me cringe.

So therefore, in the space of this post, i have decided that the no-production adds to the charm of the whole thing.

I should really think before i post

 

[Dhimmi]

First Specials album produced by Elvis Costello and made tinny and flat.

 

[D'wards]

First Specials album produced by Elvis Costello and made tinny and flat.

Quite. The bit where Neville comes in on "Do the Dog" sounds like he got hold of the tapes after they were finished and quickly recorded his own bit on it without anyone knowing before it went off to be pressed!

 

[thestraightman]

I think any blues album recorded after 1970 was pretty much trounced by it.

 

[Pigeon]

You probably mean Raw Power, and whatever you want to say about it, it's better than Iggy's modern remix CD issue, heavy-metal undynamic sludge-a-thon.

Aw, I love both of then mixes!

 

[Pigeon]

"The Clash" sounds like it was recorded through a pair of Mick Jones' pants, and all the better for it IMHO. (oops, should've put this in the "made great" thread. So sue me!)

 

[hammerntongues]

I was going to ask this question on a new thread but probably someone here can tell me ,I`ve got a Thunder Lightening Strike where the production seems shitty , vocals Waaaayy back almost unintelligable , and seems like the treble has been turned up to 10 , very tinny . I cant believe that an album so highly rated has such bad production and think I may have a duff CD , it was new orfdered from Amazon .Opinions anyone , or am i missing someththing ?

 

[grosun]

I was going to ask this question on a new thread but probably someone here can tell me ,I`ve got a Thunder Lightening Strike where the production seems shitty , vocals Waaaayy back almost unintelligable , and seems like the treble has been turned up to 10 , very tinny . I cant believe that an album so highly rated has such bad production and think I may have a duff CD , it was new orfdered from Amazon .Opinions anyone , or am i missing someththing ?

Nah, you've not got a duff cd... it's kinda noisy & not very bass-heavy I guess. Personally, I really like the sound of it tho'.

 

[hammerntongues]

Nah, you've not got a duff cd... it's kinda noisy & not very bass-heavy I guess. Personally, I really like the sound of it tho'.

I know that its pretty light on vocals but can you hear/understand them ?

 

[Roadkill]

Nick Drake - Bryter Layter. It's got some lovely songs on it, but it's just too polished and glossy for my liking. The first album's much the same, musically, but it feels a bit more spontaneous and personal. Makes all the difference IMO.