Great music - but recording unfortunately is "meh"...

[pablolie]

Does any of you have some favorite albums, because the music is outstanding, but the recording makes you think "I wish they'd mastered this better"?

Two recent examples for me are Joe Sample's "Roles" from 1987, as well as the George Benson and Earl Klugh collaboration. Both to me sound "congested" and I think they'd be even more brilliant with cleaner separation and what I'd call less "nasal-ity"...

 

[kemmler3D]

Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai is pretty mediocre sound-wise even in the remastered version. Holy Ghost by the Bar-Kays is a very fun song, but is totally missing bass despite having a strong bassline. There are others... my testing playlist is actually full of songs with questionable mixes.

 

[Draki]

Heavy weather by Weather Report, great and excellent music but the bass is MIA. Very "thin" sounding record.

 

[GD Fan]

Some of the Grateful Dead official releases, especially the particularly dreadful official download series.

And Justice For All (rather famously).

Most / all early Misfits recordings.

 

[nerdemoji]

Oh boy! Among the Living by Anthrax is hailed as a classic of thrash metal. Unfortunately the master is much more fuzzy than the crunchy and crisp masters of Persistence of Time and Spreading the Disease (also by Anthrax, and even better albums IMO despite being less popular). The first three Coroner albums: R.I.P, Punishment for Decadence, and No More Color have drums that sound like they were recorded behind a wall. Beneath the Remains was regarded as having a better production as Schizophrenia (both by Sepultura), and while it is objectively more clear, BTR has such a dry boring sound that it is practically unlistenable for me.

 

[henologist]

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge has a miserable mixdown, especially on the rhythm guitar. It's also a product from a major label during the worst of the loudness wars, so it's got clipping artifacts on a few tracks. Someone on Reddit shoved the album through an automatic declipper program and it's a decent improvement. Their first album doesn't have as strong of an identity and none of the tracks on it could become worldwide hits like "Helena" or "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" but I'd much rather listen to it because John Naclerio's mixdown is way cleaner.

 

[DWPress]

Bob Dylon - Desire

 

[IndieSynth]

Most of Arcade Fire but especially Suburbs. Controversial?

 

[thegeton]

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

Amazing guitar work, but the entire album sounds like it was recorded inside a metal can. Lower frequencies are pathetic, very midrangey, poor dynamic range. Streaming and CD both sound that way.

 

[Steve Dallas]

Most early Van Halen is lacking in drum definition and bass clarity.

 

[mhardy6647]

Who's Next
Some versions were (are) OK, but only OK. I fear that the original recorded tracks may limit what could be done.

 

[scrubb]

Half the music I listen to is independent rock from the early 1990's. It was a great time for independent music because the 4-track cassette recorder became inexpensive and commonly availalle. All of the sudden anyone could produce their own record in the basement for a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, the quality wasn't quite up to what comes from a $500,000 recording studio. Those bands made the most of their modest equipment by placing song writing, musicianship, and performance above production quality and it became known as the Low-Fi movement.

One of my favorites is Guided by Voices.

A friend recently sent me this article. I guess it's supposed to be satire.

Punk Audiophile Spends $2,000 on Turntable to Listen to Album Recorded on Beer Soaked 4-Track in Basement

Graphic Designer Terry Spinoza recently spent nearly two thousand dollars on an Audio Perfektion turntable in order to listen to his collection of poorly produced and recorded LPs.

thehardtimes.net

 

[pablolie]

Half the music I listen to is independent rock from the early 1990's. It was a great time for independent music because the 4-track cassette recorder became inexpensive and commonly availalle. All of the sudden anyone could produce their own record in the basement for a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, the quality wasn't quite up to what comes from a $500,000 recording studio. Those bands made the most of their modest equipment by placing song writing, musicianship, and performance above production quality and it became known as the Low-Fi movement.

One of my favorites is Guided by Voices.

A friend recently sent me this article. I guess it's supposed to be satire.

Punk Audiophile Spends $2,000 on Turntable to Listen to Album Recorded on Beer Soaked 4-Track in Basement

Graphic Designer Terry Spinoza recently spent nearly two thousand dollars on an Audio Perfektion turntable in order to listen to his collection of poorly produced and recorded LPs.

thehardtimes.net

That definitely screams for the loudness button... cool song.

 

[kemmler3D]

Half the music I listen to is independent rock from the early 1990's. It was a great time for independent music because the 4-track cassette recorder became inexpensive and commonly availalle. All of the sudden anyone could produce their own record in the basement for a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, the quality wasn't quite up to what comes from a $500,000 recording studio. Those bands made the most of their modest equipment by placing song writing, musicianship, and performance above production quality and it became known as the Low-Fi movement.

One of my favorites is Guided by Voices.

A friend recently sent me this article. I guess it's supposed to be satire.

Punk Audiophile Spends $2,000 on Turntable to Listen to Album Recorded on Beer Soaked 4-Track in Basement

Graphic Designer Terry Spinoza recently spent nearly two thousand dollars on an Audio Perfektion turntable in order to listen to his collection of poorly produced and recorded LPs.

thehardtimes.net

A friend of mine is a big GBV fan, and yeah most of their recordings sound like they cost $80 to make.

 

[Audioagnostic]

Purple rain is imho one of the greatest albums ever but sounds kind of congested. Not sure how to explain.

 

[Rednaxela]

Basically all of John Frusciante’s solo work.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

'Going For The One' by Yes. The music is amazing - especially Awaken - but there's so much audio hash, Unfortunately, the story is that the multitrack tape died and so Steven Wilson can't fix this one.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

I last listened to rock around 1970. I think that the Who's albums were kind of blah. I saw the Jefferson Airplane a lot and know that their live sound was very different from their records. I wish I could think of some examples but classical recordings vary widely in quality.

 

[Sal1950]

Unfortunately the question the OP asks is true about so much of the music I love.
Rock, Blues, and Country pre 1970s leaves much to be desired in SQ.
We just learn to deal with it.

 

[pablolie]

Unfortunately the question the OP asks is true about so much of the music I love.
Rock, Blues, and Country pre 1970s leaves much to be desired in SQ.
We just learn to deal with it.

Let's also talk Motown in the 60s or early 70s. Legendary music, legendary musicians - but no matter how often they try to remaster it, the recordings are among the poorest ever made...