Californication - Horrible Quality

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loudyouth

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcSvFfIqIq4

HOW did Rick Rubin get away with this?
The cymbals sound so awful. Everything else sounds bad too.

I know it's not a question but it just amazes me that such a famous album is produced like this.


It seriously sounds like the drums were mic'd with one MXL 991.


:laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings::laughings:
 
How does he get away with doing that to nearly everything he torches, er, touches?
 
Is that how the actual album sounds? Sounds like something's way overdriven.
 
hahahaha.

The loudness war is getting ridiculous. Bob Rock overproduced 311's Uplifter.
 
There's a whole thread about that album in Mastering.
 
diggy_dude said:
There's a whole thread about that album in Mastering.
Click to expand...

thats what I was just gonna say. And just to add to the thread, Parallel Universe is especially bad. It sounds like they ran his mic through an overdrive pedal!
 
Worst produced album I've heard is Antichrist Superstar, if any album defines mud, it's that one.
 
That album is over 10 years old now. You loudness dweebs are still crying about it? I bet half of you don't even know what you're bitching about, but you saw someone else do it online, so it must be cool. :laughings: :laughings:
 
This all goes to prove a point that I make often: The actual sound of a production doesn't matter much to the average listener. All the stuff that engineer wring their hands over is meaningless to a 14 year old listening to an mp3 on his iPod through cheap ear buds.

If the songs work, the album can sell. No matter how 'bad' they sound.

There was a time when people would frequently ask me how records made in the 50's and 60's sounded so good without much of the technology we have now. I would always say that, by todays' standard, they don't sound good at all. If I recorded a modern band and produced it to sound like an early Bob Dylan record, they would punch me in the head and demand their money back.

The idea behind recording music is to convey the emotion that the artist is trying to get across. That is obviously possible without having the lowest jitter, highest sampling rate, most expensive mics and most pristine mic preamps.

If the song doesn't work, all the best technology in the world can't save it.
 
Farview said:
This all goes to prove a point that I make often: The actual sound of a production doesn't matter much to the average listener. All the stuff that engineer wring their hands over is meaningless to a 14 year old listening to an mp3 on his iPod through cheap ear buds.
Click to expand...

That's true, as far as it goes. However, that 14 year old will eventually grow up, buy a decent stereo, (hopefully) develop a more discriminating ear, and entertain a certain nostalgia for the music of his youth.
 
Farview said:
This all goes to prove a point that I make often: The actual sound of a production doesn't matter much to the average listener. All the stuff that engineer wring their hands over is meaningless to a 14 year old listening to an mp3 on his iPod through cheap ear buds.

If the songs work, the album can sell. No matter how 'bad' they sound.


The idea behind recording music is to convey the emotion that the artist is trying to get across. That is obviously possible without having the lowest jitter, highest sampling rate, most expensive mics and most pristine mic preamps.

If the song doesn't work, all the best technology in the world can't save it.
Click to expand...
That's all well and good. It's still no excuse to produce sonic dogshit.

And not everybody is a 14 year old with an Ipod.




To anybody who does care, do what I did and get yourself a record player. For maybe twice the cost of an Ipod you can get a Pro-ject turntable and a receiver with a phono amp. You'll get way more than twice the enjoyment out of it, so it's a win.

I wish CDs, which are totally capable of sounding great, didn't sound unbearable these days. And yes, new releases on records are still crushed. But the physics of keeping the needle in the groove and the absence of digital clipping means they are frequently not crushed as bad as their digital brothers and almost always sound better.
 
Farview said:
This all goes to prove a point that I make often: The actual sound of a production doesn't matter much to the average listener. All the stuff that engineer wring their hands over is meaningless to a 14 year old listening to an mp3 on his iPod through cheap ear buds.

If the songs work, the album can sell. No matter how 'bad' they sound.

There was a time when people would frequently ask me how records made in the 50's and 60's sounded so good without much of the technology we have now. I would always say that, by todays' standard, they don't sound good at all. If I recorded a modern band and produced it to sound like an early Bob Dylan record, they would punch me in the head and demand their money back.

The idea behind recording music is to convey the emotion that the artist is trying to get across. That is obviously possible without having the lowest jitter, highest sampling rate, most expensive mics and most pristine mic preamps.

If the song doesn't work, all the best technology in the world can't save it.
Click to expand...

Agree with the sentiment behind this post, (although I can't stand the RHCPs regardless of their production). Albums like Blood on the Tracks and most of the output by the likes of Pavement, Flaming Lips, Damien Jurado etc is probably enough to induce anaphylactic shocks in most sound engineers, but they're bloody great records imo - in the same way that oversaturared, scratchy cinefilms have infinitely more charm and warmth than HD quality digital films.

Having said that, I've also got a Pro-Ject turntable and the sound is superb.
 
Youtube is no medium to judge a song by as the sound quality is horrible compared to what a CD should be. I know this album's sound quality is quite bad (as I have the CD), but I'm just pointing that out.

Good song, though. :cool:
 
Greg_L said:
That album is over 10 years old now. You loudness dweebs are still crying about it? I bet half of you don't even know what you're bitching about, but you saw someone else do it online, so it must be cool. :laughings: :laughings:
Click to expand...

Man, I remember the first time I heard it. Back then I don't even know if I'd even started recording, and I remember being a bit surprised when a buddy of mine threw it on for the first time because the album sounded like it was distorting, even though his stereo wasn't up nearly loud enough to make the speakers break up.
 
just to chime in here...I've never owned Californication, so I'm in no position to comment on that record, but I do own quite a few Rick Rubin produced CD's and there is one thing that run common amongst all of them, 90% sound like crap. It seems like everything is over driven. Not just the main mix, but each individual track sounds over driven. The last good sounding CD I ever owned produced by him was Slayer Reign In Blood, and its been pretty down hill since then. The records produced by him that sound decent are the ones he wasn't in the studio during bulk of the project.

at the same time though, some of those crappy sounding CD's I actually enjoy very much despite everything sounding muddled and distorted.
 
Is this the record that sounded like they were trying to imitate My Bloody Valentine's production techniques? :laughings:
 
diggy_dude said:
That's true, as far as it goes. However, that 14 year old will eventually grow up, buy a decent stereo, (hopefully) develop a more discriminating ear, and entertain a certain nostalgia for the music of his youth.
Click to expand...
Even when the 14 year old grows up, he/she will find comfort in the sonic quality, or lack there of, of the music of his youth.

My point wasn't that everyone is listening on iPods, it was that sound quality never mattered to the general song buying public. There are far too many examples of albums that went platinum that sound like total crap.

The album that comes to mind right now is the White Lion "Pride" album. It had a #8 and a #3 billboard hit and went double platinum. There is no low end on that album at all. I put the cassette tape in my car stereo and there was so much 3k the paint fell off the car.

The sound quality of an album has never really been a factor in album sales.
 
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