Sad but very true.
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Great music - but recording unfortunately is "meh"...
- Thread starter pablolie
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Prana Ferox
Addicted to Fun and Learning
That's how they managed to make 8000 albums
GBV ???
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
Guided By Voices.
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
I know exactly what you mean, from memory I think you're going to see a pretty tepid spectrum above 6khz on that one.
MAB
Major Contributor
Journey:
What a great album.
What a horrible recording.
Interesting that they were told to get better lead singer. I always thought it was the sound of the recording that was the biggest problem.
What a horrible recording.
Interesting that they were told to get better lead singer. I always thought it was the sound of the recording that was the biggest problem.
OK thanks, never heard of them.
Sure I have, there are several in my collection altho don't have a handy list going nor any particular culprit coming to mind....altho that mention of Journey's first record works. I think I do have a tendency to just listen to the better recordings, tho. I'll be on the lookout now 
Focus SE
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Growing up on the early seventies gave me a chance to hear great stuff. Then somewhere in the late 70’s to mid 80’s the rock/pop genre all started mastering albums to sound good in a 1984 Olsmobile Cutless because that’s where most music was consumed. Until I just put this system together this year I had no idea that REO Speedwagons “you can tune a piano but you can’t tune a fish” album was the least dynamic recording I have heard to date on my system. I’ve been searching high and low for a remastered version. No such luck. What makes no sense to me was the fact that one of the most proclaimed great albums, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, was recorded in the late 70’s and all the record labels said well we should now make it sound like crap for a decade. It’s sad there was good stuff produced in that time.
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Pretty much all Red Hot Chili Peppers and Audioslave albums. The common denominator - Rick Rubin.
Soria Moria
Addicted to Fun and Learning
King Crimson - Red
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
Yuja Wang / Gustavo Dudamel
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela
F`ing heartbreaking. Great playing obscured by the worst sound recording. Sounds like they put the mics in buckets behind balcony seats. Bought used at annual library book sale. Feel like it's $3 worth of the Hell of Knowing what it Might have Sounded Like --level 33.
Also: all NRBQ records. Seeing them live then listening to their records you'd think the records were recorded posthumously.
Yuja Wang / Gustavo Dudamel
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela
F`ing heartbreaking. Great playing obscured by the worst sound recording. Sounds like they put the mics in buckets behind balcony seats. Bought used at annual library book sale. Feel like it's $3 worth of the Hell of Knowing what it Might have Sounded Like --level 33.
Also: all NRBQ records. Seeing them live then listening to their records you'd think the records were recorded posthumously.
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Yes I was going to mention Stevie Wonder's classic albums, including Songs In Key of Life.
Legendary timeless music - god awful production quality.
Focus SE
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If I had a dollar for every time I said I can’t wait to hear this, what ever this happened to be, and it turned out to sound bad. Well I guess with all those dollars I could buy an even better system and find even more music I’ve loved and discovered it was bad all along. I guess I should quit upgrading before I hate everything.
I can still enjoy such timeless classics because the songs themselves are more important than fidelity for me.
That's why i can still get excited when I hear a favourite song as the local coffee shop, on their crappy little blutooth speaker - because the song gets me more excited, than the crappy speaker gets me sad.
But still. I just wish such favourite music were better produced for higher fidelity goodness.
Focus SE
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I agree. I now play those favorites in the car or on a lesser system. Like you I’m not giving up on what I love.
MRC01
Major Contributor
Their first album isn't the worst sounding. It's bad, but in an unusual way - dull/dark rather than skull-shattering bright like so many others. I was just listening through my Journey albums and realized that 2 of them sound much worse than the others. Departure and Frontiers. Reading through the liner notes, these two were remastered by Dave Donnelly. They're squashed to death and so tinny & bright as to be virtually unlistenable, a big loud wall of crispy distortion. They probably sound OK played on cheap earbuds while riding the subway. The other albums are also squashed and bright, but not nearly as bad. They sound decent for pop music (a low bar), liner notes say they were remastered by Bob Ludwig.
Indeed. Infinity, the first album they did with Steve Perry, was one of the best albums Journey ever made.
dasdoing
Major Contributor
aka the funkiest keychange in history...one of my all-time favorites.
can't expect a analog bass to go deep though. the kick should definitely have more "oomph", though...you can hardly hear it. got more problems with the midrange though.
since I am playing with the new Ozone 11 I actually might try to "remaster" this
EDIT: it actually switches to a synth bass, but how to boost that one without boosting the other?
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DSJR
Major Contributor
It could be argued that like others I suspect of similar age, many of our 60's onwards music favourites are often pretty bad in terms of production (and yeah, I'd agree that Steve Wilson and a handful of others care enough to try their very best to unravel and/or clean up many/most of the mixes they've done). Many Queen albums sound a bit iffy to me and I went down the dangerous route last weekend of comparing several 'releases' of 'One Vision' finding the official Youtube release the best of them all (and that's not saying much in reality). Nah, the MUSIC has GOT to come first...
I should add though, that some playback systems are wonderful at showing what's *wrong* with a given mix, but the best I've heard do try to bring musical merit out as well, giving a better balance of music quality to the quality of production. My own main rig errs dangerously in the former 'fault finding over the music' camp compared to what I've had in the past and it's really all in the speaker-room interface, coupled with my now sh*t* ears
It's not as if this rig sounds harsh or hard toned either...
I should add though, that some playback systems are wonderful at showing what's *wrong* with a given mix, but the best I've heard do try to bring musical merit out as well, giving a better balance of music quality to the quality of production. My own main rig errs dangerously in the former 'fault finding over the music' camp compared to what I've had in the past and it's really all in the speaker-room interface, coupled with my now sh*t* ears
It's not as if this rig sounds harsh or hard toned either...
MRC01
Major Contributor
Another one I'll mention is Yes, particularly their first 5 albums. Back in the day I always liked the music but it was recorded so poorly that listening to it gave me a headache. Compressed and excessively bright/tinny sound, typical of pop/rock in the era. That bright mastering didn't do any favors to Jon Anderson's high pitched voice. Then Steven Wilson remixed those albums (not just a remaster but a remix) and it was a HUGE improvement. Finally this music got the great sound quality that it always deserved. No longer excessively bright, but with neutral tonal balance, bass that is tight and crisp with deep extension, all the musical parts easier to hear without masking each other, bigger dynamics.
Another one is Pink Floyd Animals. Pink Floyd was the exception, having well engineered studio albums that sounded much better than most other rock/pop of the era. Yet I always found Animals to be the weakest of the bunch sonically, voiced bright with a wonky midrange emphasis. Then in 2018 James Guthrie remixed this album and the result was spectacular, much like what Steven Wilson did for the Yes albums. I haven't seen any other Floyd albums he remixed, so perhaps he agreed with my perception of the Pink Floyd discography sound quality.
Another one is Pink Floyd Animals. Pink Floyd was the exception, having well engineered studio albums that sounded much better than most other rock/pop of the era. Yet I always found Animals to be the weakest of the bunch sonically, voiced bright with a wonky midrange emphasis. Then in 2018 James Guthrie remixed this album and the result was spectacular, much like what Steven Wilson did for the Yes albums. I haven't seen any other Floyd albums he remixed, so perhaps he agreed with my perception of the Pink Floyd discography sound quality.
