References for great sounds

Gee... I tell people that I think Mr Cray is absolutely state of the art. His singing is excellent and he plays hard parts underneath it that sound incredible.

Ok... I'll throw a name/sound out for discussion: Ornette Coleman.

Hey Tom, good to see you still around bro! I'll give you my take for what it's worth.

Living Color "Cult of Personality" This mix just never sounds bad on any system you play it on...even craptop speakers. Great drum sound, bass, vocals, not hyper-compressed, decent dirty guitar sound.

Creed "Overcome" I'm not a Creed fan at all...but this entire album is mixed to perfection from start to finish. This song just hits me as one of the coolest modern mixes around. Killer drum sound, perfect use of low end bass without killing things, nice guitar layering.

Disturbed "Animal" I don't know if it's because I love the vibe of this song or the guitar sound...but I really dig this. Drums and bass are nothing to brag about, but they work well with the rest of it....guitars sound killer.

The first Trans Siberian Orchestra CD that got them famous. Some really killer sounding material there all across the board.

Epica: "Imperial March Live" Simply mind-blowing on all instrumentation...this is a must have/listen.

Soilwork: "As we Speak" There's like a billion tracks on this...lol...guitar layers out the butt...several other instruments. Guitars could use a bit more mids...but this is how to control an enormous mix with scream vocals that go all melodic later.

Jason Aldean: "She's Country" Love this song...killer instruments and vocals all over.

Big and Rich: "Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy" Awesome mix of everything...well balanced, powerful...snare could be a bit more dominant. Love the violins in this as well as banjo.

Rascal Flatts version of "Life is a Highway" This mix kills me...it just makes me smile every time.

Hope some of these help. I have others....but those are my main "go to's" at the moment.

-Danny

Thanks you guys! This is great. I'm just trying to get better at my craft. I've always mixed in my "favorite set of rails," but I'm trying to diversify a bit. So, having your input as to different sounds from different sources and from different genres is super helpful! I'm going to purchase a bunch of your suggestions to see if I can emulate some of the sounds you like. It's winter time now, and I'll be in the studio 'til the sun comes out in May.

Thanks Again!

I agree with Bit as well. The songs I listed like Robert Cray and the Celine Dion tune all have really good space and isolation that allow you to hear the individual instruments solo for a second here and there. But to Bit's point, I did notice that when I got some stems and could isolate instrument mixes, they sounded completely different than in the song. One thing that was fun working with stems was to say track drums and mix to the sound of the drums' stem as a reference. Then replacing my tracks into the overall with the other instruments really helped to achieve the sound of the original drummer (sans the great playing of course). This was a great exercise and it's kind of why I asked the question to all of you.

Thanks,

Steve Stevens "Memory Crash" great guitar tones throughout and I realy like how the drums sound.
Spiritual Beggars "Demons","On Fire" and,"Return to Zero"
Any S.R.V. album.I like the way the drums sound and all of Stevie's tones.
Joe Satrani "The Extremist"great rock guitar tones.
Adele "21",her voice is incredible.

Living Color "Cult of Personality" This mix just never sounds bad on any system you play it on...even craptop speakers. Great drum sound, bass, vocals, not hyper-compressed, decent dirty guitar sound.

This is an interesting choice and one of my favorites but one observation (and it may just be my lead ears), when I listen to it at high volumes in the car I can perceive the music dropping in volume behind the snare crack ... again maybe it's just ... but I think the effect is noticeable.

THERE IS A LIST COMPILED BY BOB KATZ.

IT'S CALLED THE 'HONOR ROLL'

STUDY THIS LIST CAREFULLY

http://www.digido.com/honor-roll.html

Quite a few of my favorite LP's/CD's are on the list.

Bitflipper:

For acoustical string instruments, Alison Krauss & Union Station represents near-perfection to my ear.

Hell yeah! I heard the new record on Spotify (paid, full quality), and it made me throw out some of my preconceptions about compressed audio. Did you read the SoS interview with Mike Shipley, the engineer? He went on about how he had to get a special Black Lion-modded 192 I/O to make it sound "less like Pro Tools" (and more like analog tape, I presume). I'm usually super-sceptical about stuff like that, but if he can make a record sound like that... Sven

NIN - The Fragile. 
Usually the first thing I put on when I have to get used to new monitors or a new environment. Particularly the first cut, Somewhat Damaged. It covers so much range, from delicate acoustic to over the top electronic noises. Gives me a good global perspective.


Then, the following which are more targeted at specific types of sounds.

Heavy stuff:
Tool - Aenima.
Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age of Grotesque.
Metallica - Black Album (not that I am fond of it, but I just know it like the back of my hand - not a target as much as a diagnosis tool)

Rock:
Soundgarden - Superunknown. 
The Tea Party - Splendor Solis (for Led Zeppelin sort of guitar tones and drums).
STP - Tiny Music
Lenny Kravitz - Circus (classic guitar tones) 
Them Crooked Vultures - (great bad tones).

Other:
Arthur H - Trouble-Fête. 
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Very true. I haven't pulled out the Dire Straits catalog in quite some time. Being a three piece, there's a lot of room to catch some of the details. Great suggestions.

Tony S


Manu Dibango - Wakafrika.

I like the over-all sound of this album. 

I like Manu Katche's syncopation and time keeping (drums), and

also the bass-as-a-lead-riff ( Francis M'Bappe) on "Em'ma", as well as the quality of the musicianship in general.


There's also an obscure Brit guitarist named Mark somebody....Kanoffler, or Kanopler  or sumthin' like that,
who did an album called  "Brothers In Arms" once, which I thought was well produced.

I thought he played OK guitar and all that, but of course he ain't no Yngwe or Slash or such. Didn't do much shredding at all....

Bitflipper:

YES to Union Station.

Tony