Worst commercial mix you've ever heard? MIX CRIMES

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Guitargodgt said:
Man I highly respect Steve, but he is dead ass wrong about the durability of tape. There is a reason the library of congress is transferring a lot of old recordings to the digital domain for future proofing. A lot of recordings are being lost due to it's lack of durability or shitty storage.
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That was something I posted about some time back was the fact that the White House has it's own recording studio!
 
moresound said:
That was something I posted about some time back was the fact that the White House has it's own recording studio!
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I wonder if they use Pro Tools. Even though we know Cakewalk is the best. Even though I don't know what Cakewalk is. But it has an intriguing name.
 
Here , Here. You have it right on the money. Good digital stuff sounds great. I run a RADAR system now that sounds just like my 2" MCI minus any tape hiss.
 
Greg_L said:
So you're saying that the Foo Fighters' only options were high end vintage analog gear, or.......cheap digital shit they bought from Musicians Friend? Really? When you make ridiculous comparisons like that it tells me you have no valid points. Surely Dave Grohl has better digital equipment at his disposal than a friggin Zoom interface. I was talking about the Foo Fighters, not some shmoe in his basement. Dave Grohl throws away better stuff than most home-recorder project studios have. But to sort of answer your not-so-well-thought-out question, had you actually used some common sense and compared apples to apples, I'd say that the average listener, including you and me, wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an analog or digital recording through digital playback systems if it was done on either high end analog or high end digital gear.
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I never said that. I was mocking the absurdity of your attempt to paint the argument in a broad stroke with a statement of [paraphrasing] "it makes no difference". So I reflected your hyperbole with a ridiculous comparison of my own. FWIW Foo Fighters s/t was made by Grohl in his 'basement' [citation needed on that1] and you don't know what he throws away so spare me the red herring.

I, personally don't give a damn what the average listener hears. IMO an artist should do what sounds good to him/her and people will either agree or not, so to harp on the prospect of [that] conclusion as a factor in the creative process only cheapens the intended outcome. Do guitarists go tone hunting for a sound that other people like? Did Da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa with a shit-eating grin out of concern that some people might be confused by ambiguity? Also feel free to consider yourself an average listener, but ignorantly attempting to mischaracterize a stranger as such only makes you look like a fool.

And you didn't answer the question about mastering to tape, instead choosing to hit me with ad hominem and fallacy. So let's try this again, without your condescending, emotionally driven attacks and pussyfooting around the message instead of focusing on the wording. :)
 
haunt said:
I never said that. I was mocking the absurdity of your attempt to paint the argument in a broad stroke with a statement of [paraphrasing] "it makes no difference". So I reflected your hyperbole with a ridiculous comparison of my own. FWIW Foo Fighters s/t was made by Grohl in his 'basement' [citation needed on that1] and you don't know what he throws away so spare me the red herring.

I, personally don't give a damn what the average listener hears. IMO an artist should do what sounds good to him/her and people will either agree or not, so to harp on the prospect of [that] conclusion as a factor in the creative process only cheapens the intended outcome. Do guitarists go tone hunting for a sound that other people like? Did Da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa with a shit-eating grin out of concern that some people might be confused by ambiguity? Also feel free to consider yourself an average listener, but ignorantly attempting to mischaracterize a stranger as such only makes you look like a fool.

And you didn't answer the question about mastering to tape, instead choosing to hit me with ad hominem and fallacy. So let's try this again, without your condescending, emotionally driven attacks and pussyfooting around the message instead of focusing on the wording. :)
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The butthurt is strong with this one. Somewhere in that rambling mess of a response is a point. I'm not sure what it is though. The statute of limitations has long passed on me giving a damn about this discussion.
 
Greg_L said:
Somewhere in that rambling mess of a response is a point. I'm not sure what it is though.
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He says you said he said what he didn't say and that you're talking shit but can you try again nicely this time. :D


Blimey ! For me, that was succinct !
 
grimtraveller said:
He says you said he said what he didn't say and that you're talking shit but can you try again nicely this time. :D


Blimey ! For me, that was succinct !
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I'm not going back to re-acquaint myself with what this thread is about or what I even said, so I'm over it. This Haunt fella can have this one.
 
Greg_L said:
The butthurt is strong with this one. Somewhere in that rambling mess of a response is a point. I'm not sure what it is though. The statute of limitations has long passed on me giving a damn about this discussion.
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Nice attempt at reading comprehension, better job of projecting frustration, and outstanding use of apathy as a defense mechanism when your poorly constructed argument unravels. It's nothing personal, I'm not mad at ya; regardless of your inability to stay on topic and repeated gravitation to name calling/insults to make the counterpoint appear "wrong." Feel free to PM me any time you wish to have an actual discussion without all the posturing for your board buddies.
 
Okay, go stand by your inbox and wait for that PM. You obviously need this more than I do.
 
Greg_L said:
The statute of limitations has long passed.....
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I will agree with Greg on this point, and think that after several days of no responses on this thread...there is NO reason to stir it up again just for the sake of argument.
I think all sides have made enough points about their perspectives, so let this thread die off. :)
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned some of Frank Zappa's 1980's output... talk about thin and sibilant!!! and, it pains me to say that, because I'm a huge fan of the man and his many works.

Genesis: the Invisible Touch ... *bleck*

Jeff Healey Band - See the Light. I like the material, and maybe they wanted it to sound distant, like it was recorded in one take in a cavernous underground parking garage but yikes!!!

About the latest Foo Fighters - I really dislike the snare drum tone and the vocals could be a little more up front. I'm skeptical of Butch Figg's stuff ever since the last Smashing Pumkins album.

Metallica - And Justice For all: Ok, it sounds shitty, but at the time it came out, my 13 year-old self thought it was the loudest greatest-sounding thing ever! I was a pretty big Metallica fan for the rest of my teens, primarily because of hearing the song One way back then. My parents hated it too, which helped with the coolness factor. *LOL*
and, it got me out of liking rap!

I agree totally on Vapour Trails... I love Rush, but the last Rush album whose sound I like is probably Counterparts. Even then, I can hear some digital clipping creeping in on that one too. *sigh*

Dream Theater Images and Words: does that sound like a drum machine to anyone else? And, the high treble is too much! Love the material though.

Cynic - Traced in Air: There's actually a ton going on in that mix. I keep hearing new things. But, I think it got killed in mastering. Listen to how the compressor doesn't kick in right away at the start of Integral Birth. Shame really - I love the music on this one; it's so close to being great sonically, especially for a metal album, but I guess the loudness wars got to it.
Or, listen to the first big full-band hit at the start of the album, the first time you hear vocals. It's anticlimactic, because things are too loud just before, and the compression kills what should be a thundrous peak.

Nevermore - The Enemies of Reality (not the 2004 remix). Yuck!

Megadeth - So Far So Good So What (original version). Kids, don't do drugs! There might be some interesting technically-proficient thrash going on in all that mess, but I can't hear it.

Dave Holland Quartet - Extensions. This has all the mids sucked out of it, like it was run through a stereo receiver with the "loudness" button engaged. I love the material, especially Kevin Ubanks on guitar, but the life is really sucked out of it sonically.

Ok, who wants to start a favorite mix list? Please try to cover more than rock/pop/metal genres, and try to describe what you like about the mix in particular.
 
Has anyone mentioned I'm With You by Red Hot Chili Peppers? It makes Californication sound undistorted.
 
yeah, I'm with you is even more compressed (which has nothing to do with the mix) than cali.
and: it's the worst mix the peppers ever had since they're on warner.sometimes it's really hard to hear the new guitarist.the drums sometimes don't sound like drums but like sampled.wonder if they were still recording to tape for this album...
 
pratt said:
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.....
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that's a mastering issue, not a mixing issue.
 
pehjott said:
yeah, I'm with you is even more compressed (which has nothing to do with the mix) than cali.
and: it's the worst mix the peppers ever had since they're on warner.sometimes it's really hard to hear the new guitarist.the drums sometimes don't sound like drums but like sampled.wonder if they were still recording to tape for this album...
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It's just too trebly, I prefer the more musty sounds of Californication. I'll stick my neck out though and say that OHM is their best produced album.
 
Beat Poet said:
It's just too trebly, I prefer the more musty sounds of Californication. I'll stick my neck out though and say that OHM is their best produced album.
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Strongly disagree here. BSSM was the best for me and Californication was an abortion.
But that's just my opinion.
 
I can`t honestly say it`s the worst I`ve heard, but when i seen this thread, it did pop into my mind..
anyway, "Tilt Ya Head Back"...by Christina Aguilera & nelly?

anyway, back when it came out and was fairly popular, I would get request for it at DJ gigs, so I picked it up, and found it to be absolutly god awfull..
I`d have to do some VERY quick EQ changes, it was just a dirty rotten sound...use to try and avoid playing it at all cost..
 
Chris Cornell's solo album "Carry On". Its been compressed to death and takes the term "overproduced" to an extreme. The vocals float around over the mix on a number of tracks and a lot of the mid-range tones seem to be simply gone. It makes for a very sterile and lifeless sound. I couldn't tell you if the songs are really all that good because the production is so bad, it just kills it.
 
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