Worst commercial mix you've ever heard? MIX CRIMES

Alchemist3k · #1 09-09-2002

I just had to pst this after listening to Gary Numan's 'Pure' album. The mix is simply dire, I have virtually no skill in mixing but even my mixes sound far superior. That album is the muddiest, cloudiest most undefined mix I have ever heard which is a real shame because the music isn't bad. Worst of all is the vocals, they are so ill defined that I find it almost impossible to tell what he is singing.

Nominate your mix crime now!

pratt · #2 09-09-2002

IMHO, the new U2 record is just about the most over-compressed thing that I have ever heard....with a close second coming to the 'A Perfect Circle' record...

what ever happened to dyanamics????? not that the record is that powerful to begin with...but they've squeezed all of what life was there right out of it.....

cordura21 · #3 09-09-2002

Britney's "I love Rock'n'Roll" is very odd. And I don't like her new haircut.

VOXVENDOR · #4 09-09-2002

U2's The unforgetable fire is a piece of shit...

And, I don't like that dull sound of Matchbox 20's debut.... Hi hats and cymbals need to be crisper.. and the drums need more punch.

Joe

jitteringjim · #5 09-09-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by VOXVENDOR
U2's The unforgetable fire is a piece of shit...
Joe

Awww come on Vox, we all know why "Unforgettable Fire" sounds like it does.

Now, the worst mix I have in my collection here at home has definately got to be R.E.M.'s "Monster." It's godawful.

cordura21 · #6 09-09-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by jitteringjim

Awww come on Vox, we all know why "Unforgettable Fire" sounds like it does.

Is that the "because it was not produced by Mutt Lange" joke? Or do you know something that I don't? If so please tell, cause I love to know about that record. I really love it, although I agree it sounds funny.

ambi · #7 09-09-2002

cakes first album is terrible, sounds like i recorded it with my shure sm58, art studio mp, and sb live card.

VOXVENDOR · #8 09-09-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by jitteringjim

Awww come on Vox, we all know why "Unforgettable Fire" sounds like it does.

Part of it was recording here in Hamilton, at Grant Avenue...

http://www.grantavestudio.com/index.html

I'm sort of lost on your comment.... But, Is it because of Brian Eno touching the console... We all know what happens when he does that!

chessrock · #9 09-09-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by pratt
IMHO, the new U2 record is just about the most over-compressed thing that I have ever heard....with a close second coming to the 'A Perfect Circle' record...

I mentioned this in another thread, but I'd have to say the RHCP's "By the Way" is a sad tale of compression and limiting gone out of control.

Probably two of the most disasterously-produced albums I've heard take me way, way back to my youth (and my heavy metal days) . . . when I barely knew what production meant. And they both came out around the same time, come to think of it.

. . . "Bark at the Moon," by Ozzy Osbourne, and "Born Again," by Black Sabbath.

Gidge · #10 09-09-2002

i think the songs on The Unforgettable Fire far outweigh its production, or lack thereof......

VOXVENDOR · #11 09-09-2002

I agree... Shit sounds, great songs!

Lopp · #12 09-09-2002

Sammy Hagar's "Marching to Mars" took the loudness contest too far.

It is so compressed and loud, I can't put it in a CD changer. If I set the levels to a different CD, my ears get blown out when the changer switches to M2M.

NITRO's "O.F.R." was also terribly mixed aside from the terrible vocals.

JuSumPilgrim · #13 09-09-2002

Theres a band out now called, "Pulse Ultra" who are pretty decent musically but their record "Headspace" out on Atlantic sounds like it was run through too much processing or the wrong mastering comp (T-racks???

). Its not warm or anything, just lacks definition, like theres a cloud over it. Like it had too many generations of processing. Also the guitar sound sucks. Truly unremarkable.

Its always good to be hearing flaws in major label productions...eh? Engineered by David Schiffman no less (chilli peppers, system of a down, dave navaro, alanis, etc ) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (sugar ray, stevie nicks, melissa etheridge and a truckload of other major label stuff).

Sennheiser · #14 09-09-2002

I love to hear stuff that sounds worse than mine.

regebro · #15 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by jitteringjim
Now, the worst mix I have in my collection here at home has definately got to be R.E.M.'s "Monster." It's godawful.

Yeah, but it's supposed to sound like shit to make it more rocknroll. Kinda silly. Ah well. Good songs though.

I would like to nominate the three first albums with "Roxette". Man, they sound like SHIT. And the song suck. I really have absolutely no idea how they could get even one single hit, or how I could think they were "OK" at the time.

The end of the 80's really sucked musically.

sjoko2 · #16 09-10-2002

Couple of things you have to take into consideration:
Fashion changes - what you might consider bad sound now might have been judged as great in its day.
Equipment changes - it was not always possible to do what is possible now.
Taste - something that might sound bad to you now might have been done on purpose as an artistic preference. A good example is the Gorillaz CD for instance.

By the way - something I was amazed at - ever heard the recording quality of Alicia Key's CD?

cloudchamber · #17 09-10-2002

Its ironic that the majority of the poorly mixed songs mentioned in this thread made LOADS of money. Makes me want to learn how to suck.

VOXVENDOR · #18 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by cloudchamber
Its ironic that the majority of the poorly mixed songs mentioned in this thread made LOADS of money. Makes me want to learn how to suck.

All that proves is that it's the song that sells..

Track Rat · #19 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by VOXVENDOR

All that proves is that it's the song that sells..

Spot on. I've got a "Best Of" CD y the Alman Bros. Fantastic songs but I was taken aback by the sound. The snare sounds like someone smacking a cardboard box with a flat stick.

Meshuggah · #20 09-10-2002

Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry... YUK!!

Blue Bear Sound · #21 09-10-2002

....Big Country

All of their stuff was mixed horribly........!

VOXVENDOR · #22 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
....Big Country

All of their stuff was mixed horribly........!

I thought they were Canadian for the longest time.... I just realized that they were Scottish recently...

Didn't the lead singer commit suicide earlier this year?

Joe

Blue Bear Sound · #23 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by VOXVENDOR

Didn't the lead singer commit suicide earlier this year?

Joe

Hmmm... no idea.... that's too bad if he did -- they actually had some decent material, just their production was awful!

Seanmorse79 · #24 09-10-2002

I remember those guys - their drummer was awesome. I believe their engineer was a cave explorer though (bad reverb joke)

VOXVENDOR · #25 09-10-2002

Quote:

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Hmmm... no idea.... that's too bad if he did -- they actually had some decent material, just their production was awful!

Yeah, He did.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/st...620291,00.html

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