Favorite Recordings

Z

Zane1Tsu

New member
What are you're favorite recordings? For technical purposes, while still serving the musical content. What were the techniques, the tricks that caught your ears, whether you really know how they pulled them off?

I've read some great stuff since joining this BBS. But I would love to know what inspired everybody to dive into this addictive, brutally tedious, yet rewarding mony pit. Led Zeppelin's drum sounds? The Beatles off balanced panning?

Quick note: The new Chili Peppers album was recorded on 24 tracks analog. It still exists, and it sounds awesome. Makes me want to throw out my computer....
 
don't bother throwing out your computer...you'd have a hard enough time finding reasonably priced 2" tape...jk

Some older stuff:

AC/DC - Let there be rock
Can - Tago Mago
The Clash - London Calling/Combat Rock

Some new stuff:
Queens of the Stone Age - Restricted
Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin/Yoshimi
Mastadon - Leviathan
Phillip Glass - Most of his stuff
 
Track Rat said:
It's not the medium, it's talent. Tape or 1's and 0's have little to do with it.
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I know, I was just kidding. I read an interview with John Frusciante and found out about the recording of their last album. Just thought it was cool how they did some of their stuff, including his guitar sounds.
 
The first 5 Chicago albums....

The first 4 or 5 Steely Dan albums.....

My all time favorite production for engineering and musicality is Dave Grusin "Out Of The Shadows."
 
Some of my favorites (altough I don´t know technical details about these records)

ELTON JOHN - CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY(1975)
(great musicians, producer,engineer and Elton John at it´s best!)
BLACK SABBATH - SABOTAGE (1975) :cool:
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - GOOD SINGIN´GOOD PLAYING´(1976)
STEELY DAN- AJA (1977) / GAUCHO (1980)
GEORGE HARRISON - 33 1/3 (1976)
DAVID SAMBORN- AS WE SPEAK (digitally recorded in 1982) (Fantastic saxophone solos and bass lines(Marcus Miller) One of my favotites jazz/pop albuns.
JOHN LENNON - WALLS AND BRIDGES (1974) (not exactly a "clean" sound, but there´s "magic" in the air...)
KISS - DESTROYER (1975) (this album has a "giant" sound!!!)
RUSH - HEMISPHERES (1978)
LARRY CARLTON - FRIENDS (1983) I love this guy, and "friends" is one of the best Carlton´s record. Somebody knows ? (guitar solo on "song in the 5 grade" is terrific!)

Ciro
 
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Whatever Tony Lash touches.

Escpecially Heatmiser's Cop and Speeder record...whoa... EVERYTHING sounds good by itself and fits in the mix perfectly. I'm still trying to figure out how he gets guitars like that. WOW.
 
Richard Thompson's "Mirror Blue"
Ry Cooder's "Paradise and Lunch"
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo"
The Roches "Can We Go Home Now"
The Beatles "Rubber Soul"
Phil Ochs "Pleasures of the Harbour"
The Wailin' Jennys "Firecracker"

I could go on and on....
 
Don't toss the comp. Incorporate tape into your process - record to tape. mix to tape if you can & upload to comp to master & burn.
OR basic recording to tape & augmentation in the comp.
I do the latter - it works for me.
 
REM Lifes rich Pageant, Murmur
Elliot Smith XO, Roman candle, figure 8
Tom Waits=Bone Machine, Closing Time
Merle Haggard-Best of
Johnny Cash- Live at San Quentin, american recordings
Wilco-YHF, Summerteeth
Uncle Tupelo-March 16-20, 1992, no depression
Whiskeytown-Faithless Street
Nick Drake-Pink Moon
Son Volt-Trace
Ray Lamontagne-Trouble
Radiohead-Ok computer
Cure-Staring at the Sea/singles
Pixies-Subbacultcha
Dead Milkmen-beezelbubba
10,000 Maniacs- OUr Time in Eden
Minutemen-We Jam Econo
Clem Snide- The Ghost of Fashion
Iron and Wine..creek drank the cradle
CSNY Deja Vous

Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Bocephus, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Cash albums pre 1979
 
I've been wanted to post something about the new Chili Peppers album for quite some time. I'll agree that the record sure does sound amazing. If you listen very closely to the guitar tracks, drum hits and bass runs, you can tell that the songs were pieced together. Verse 3 guitar licks sound identical to verse 1, indicating that they chopped the parts and pasted them where they are needed. I'm not sure if this is a "new" trick that has come along with digital recording since I wasn't around before the digital age.

Some cool things that I noticed that most modern engineers would be like "fuck, we can't use that shit" are; During the intro of She's Only 18, you can hear the snare drum vibrating like mad when the bass guitar thumps along. Pretty cool, because I can learn a lot about how they recorded the album when they leave things like this raw. Some of the guitar "screw ups" were left in. You can hear when John chunked the 6th string during some riff in "Charlie". Some spliced were made to the end of many songs when John would end his feedback squeal a bit early, so they'd splice in or add delay to the channel that cuts out, to try to even it up.

Another sweet guitar trick that fucked with my hearing at first was that the main rhythm guitar was only playing on the right or left channel. But then they'd send the reverb plug or "room" mic to the other side. When vocal harmonies come in, they balanace out the guitar instead of equally placing the vocal takes thoughout the stereo image.

The most important thing that I got out of picking this album apart was the beautiful usage of the recording sound rooms. You can hear a lot of space around the drum kit. I love it.

I don't think that because they used analog gear (according to you, i haven't read it anywhere), that they limited the amount of studio magic that went into this album. They worked on it for 2 years.
 
I am constantly amazed at the recording quality of Nickleback songs. Even though most of their songs are gay.

their first album was good but the recording stunk. The newer albums stink and the recordings are great.

One exception...their new song "Animals" is a rockin song and the recording is fabulous. Go check it out. their bass drum sounds solid, and the guitar distortion is pristine.
 
The same songs and albums that I listed the last two or three times someone asked this question in the past few weeks and that are only a "favorite recordings" or "best recordings" quick search of the forums away. :p

G.
 
SuicideNote said:
I'm not sure if this is a "new" trick that has come along with digital recording since I wasn't around before the digital age...
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I know the Beatles did stuff w/ tape where they used the same guitar solo at the end of Taxman for the fade out.


SuicideNote said:
The most important thing that I got out of picking this album apart was the beautiful usage of the recording sound rooms. You can hear a lot of space around the drum kit. I love it..
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There's definately a "roominess" to the album. It was recorded in a mansion, same place as Blood Sugar Sex Magic.

SuicideNote said:
I don't think that because they used analog gear (according to you, i haven't read it anywhere), that they limited the amount of studio magic that went into this album. They worked on it for 2 years.
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My source is Guitar World magazine the July issue. There's also parts from George Emericks book on recording with the Beatles in there, too. Lot's of cool stuff on recording in a guitar magazine, surprisingly.
 
MCreel said:
One exception...their new song "Animals" is a rockin song and the recording is fabulous. Go check it out. their bass drum sounds solid, and the guitar distortion is pristine.
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Nickelback is gay, but I've heard that song on the radio. But that particular song is alright. Definately well recorded. Punches you in the chest.
 
CIRO said:
STEELY DAN- AJA (1977) / GAUCHO (1980)
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man you rock

Steely Dan-Everything Must Go 2003

Toto IV
10CC-I'm not in love, all those acapella voices were looped & the four dudes played the mixer................man that track sounds so much better having read the SOS production breakdown

Paul Simon-One trick pony

man the list goes on & on
 
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