Songs...
 
I've always liked Low Rider by WAR. At one time it was the song I would use to check out a new stereo.
 
AJA
 
I agree with what's been said.
 
For live I think LIVE/DEAD (considering the year) is an amazing live recording) as is A Band of Gypsies, The Mothers Live at The Fillmore East June, 1971, and of course the ABB at The Fillmore East.
The Mothers: We're Only in it For the Money is very well done for the time (for any time) especially considering all the stuff going on. I wore that album out when I was a teenager.
 
Most all the Pink Floyd albums are well done. DSOTM is my personal favorite.
 
I'm sure everyone already knows that Boston's first album was almost all recorded or mixed by Scholz in his basement studio. If you haven't read the story it is pretty cool.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(album)
 
IMO, Fleetwood Mac's "Mystery To Me" is a good sounding album too. Bare Trees isn't too bad either. Not over compressed, well done.
I always enjoy the sound of Counting Crows albums but I'm usually not doing critical listening because I enjoy the performance so much. I think they might be the best band around right now in an intimate setting. Of course that is completely subjective.
 
The first CSN album was very well done. It has probably been remastered like everything else but I don't think it needed to be.
 
The Band self titled album is well done.
Hendrix: Electric LadyLand is another well done album.
Abbey Road ain't bad.
Most of that stuff has been remixed today but the vinly albums are sometimes shockingly good when played on a good, powerful stereo. Something like a Pioneer SX-1010 with good speakers. It all works well together somehow.
 
Alice Cooper's Killer is a well mixed album IMO. (played loud).
 
At the end of the day I guess it comes back to Steely Dan for me and probably to AJA, though I do love the song Don't Take Me Alive from The Royal Scam. AJA sounds good at any volume, on most any system.
 
Some of The Doobie Brothers albums sound really good. The Captain and Me and the prior album, I forget the name were well done.
 
An album I used to think sounded good but recently when I played it I thought, "eh" (The songs are good but the production is pretty bad IMO is The Marshall Tucker Band (self titled first album). They killed live, I know I saw them a few times but IDK, that album just lacks something. Paul Hornsby produced it. Maybe I got ahold of a bad remix, I think it is a CD I have but it sounds thin.
 
I don't think I've heard any album produced by Tom Dowd that I didn't like the sound of.
 
Yes: Fragile and everything after (that I've heard) is well done.
 
Good thread.
J

 
 
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon - 
 
Mix is perfect - Everything was recorded perfect and the drums have the EXACT tone just right for the song -- it is just a perfectly recorded master piece on the Technology side 
 
as a song it just sits with me as "Good" - But as a recorded engineering product - it is king of all!!! 

One of my favorite groups to listen to is Celtic Woman. The YouTube video below is from a live performance, but the sound is just remarkable. The song is "Níl Sé'n Lá" and starts with a single drummer (bodhran), then you add in a fiddle player who is 'bouncing' across the stage, then add in some audience participation, then the main singers come in (who are dancing and moving across the stage) and singing using 'cowboy' mics. It is one thing to do a recording in a studio, it is completely different to do it live with moving players. To me, they have nailed not only the music production, but more importantly the feel of the performance.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Akaz43fgY
 

Hi,
 
It's so weird to see people discussing the quality of recording in pop/rock music ... the fact is that classical music was doing DSOTM's way before rock music realized that they wanted to improve their recordings. Folks like George Martin helped that detail, a lot more than we give them credit for, but ... it is sad, because classical music had DSOTM quality easily ten years before DSOTM and many pop/rock standards.
 
It's even sadder to see this discussion, and not realize how much was spent to get Nillson/Tebaldi recorded in "Turandot" to ensure that the strength and ability in their voices stood out in their duet, for example, which was on top of an orchestra! Or to ensure that Maria Callas did not blow out an orchestra!
 
It's just such a disparity ... like we don't believe the world exists on the dark side of the world/moon ... and we kiss ash to something that is not even original! It goes way back to cartoons, Walt Disney and Stokowski in "Fantasia", the stories of the recording and the sync being insane and make the break down needed for recording totally clear (cartoons could have up to 48 frames per second at the time!!!!!!), and adjusting likewise. Rock music can't even fathom 48 frames/ticks per second!
 
Music and its technical side, has been a revelation and one of the most important things in the 20th century ... but all we can look at is a pop song!
 
Bizarre! I know I'm nutz and crazy, but this thread is worse! It's taken too many pills and visited Nurse Ratchet a few times too many!

Beepster
 
... The reason classical music recordings have always had such high quality is because the music is already "mixed" before it even hits the microphones. Orchestral seating arrangements were developed specifically to squeeze every last note out of the composition naturally. Also the halls in which they are played are designed to amplify this setup in the most desirable way. ...

 
Now you are suggesting that rock musicians are too stupid to do something similar and not able to adjust their own, so to create different feelings and experiences! I suppose a DAW really shows how simple and un-creative recording can become all of a sudden!
 

Beepster ... Recording it well really just requires good mics, positioned properly through good recording gear and someone who's reasonably competent to keep an eye on it all. ...

 
I get it ... so rock musicians wouldn't know this because all they know is loud and louder and who cares, so an audience thinks they are good!   You're being taken by "advertising" and "top of the pops" mentality, and not discussing the music itself, otherwise, you would have seen that recording many of these things is not even a challenge for most folks that do orchestras ... and your reasoning on placement in the orchestra was designed over 250 years ago, so some instruments would not get buried and could still be heard by folks sitting in front of them. The Stokowski example on FANTASIA was slightly different ... Stokowski realized immediately that all of a sudden he could get different emphasis on different parts of the music by moving the microphone, or grouping instruments differently (which led indirectly to Bernard Herrmann and his Sci-Fi soundtracks and Hitchcock) ... for a very specific feeling and effect.
 
The rock music stuff, is dumb. I can see a "cleaner" recording and such, but the majority of folks doing rock music have no sense of appreciation for different sounds and settings at all ... and folks like SW is a perfect example ... all the sounds are in the same bathroom! Smelling great with some fragrance ... and because most people have never heard anything else in music at all ... it sounds great!
 
It ain't! It has no ambience whatsoever!
 

Beepster
Now you're just being a pompous arse.
 
Contemporary music is VERY different than classical in MANY ways and seriously... did you think OP was looking for reference material so he can record the orchestra he's got chained up in his basement?
 
BTW... I love classical music so sorry, you can't accuse me of being one of those low borns who simply does not have the faculties or sensibilites to appreciate it.
 
Now go take off your wanker pants and come back when you're feeling less condescending.

You just won't look at the mirror ... maybe some more listening on your part and some reading and studying on the history of it all ... would help! I'm not condescending anything ... you are condescending yourself for your lack of knowledge and realization that someone is challenging your knowledge and you don't like it!

Beepster
When was the last time you composed, recorded and mixed a song, Moshie?
 
ANY song.
 
I don't claim to be the top of my field but at least I'm IN the field we're talking about.

I used music on a stage in various productions in ways that would make you go around in circles. And in film. You are just brandishing a new t-shirt at me ... you're avoiding discussing the art form itself!
 
Look at its history since the 1900's ... you will be astounded and appreciate something that is totally insane, awesome and far out. AND very different, that what we thought we learned! In this context, what some folks did is unbelievable!

 
These are some really well produced albums, in my humble opinion:

• ABC - The Lexicon Of Love
• AC/DC - Live (especially the remaster)
• BLONDIE - Parallel Lines
• DIO - The Last In Line
• FLEETWOOD MAC - Rumours
• DAVID GILMOUR - On An Island
• HALFORD (III) - Winter Songs
• WILKO JOHNSON & ROGER DALTREY - Going Back Home
• JUDAS PRIEST - Sad Wings Of Destiny
• GARY MOORE - Still Got The Blues
• MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
• QUEENSRŸCHE - Empire
• SAXON - St George's Day ~ Live In Manchester
• TELEVISION - Marquee Moon
• U2 - The Joshua Tree
• ROGER WATERS - Amused To Death

 

What happened Moshkito? You were doing so well for a while. 
 
Leopards, spots, etc......

sharke
What happened Moshkito? You were doing so well for a while. 
 
Leopards, spots, etc......

Don't feed the bears.

Randy P
 
Moshkie, this thread is about songs that forum members believe are well mixed. As per your usual, you come in and make it about your perceptions of popular music and those who enjoy, perform, write, record and mix it. Yet, you have displayed ZERO experience in the form. You only display your misguided arrogance, and try and belittle those who enjoy it. But here's the thing about you. You can't belittle any of us. You have no idea what you're talking about and we can all see it. CLEARLY! You obviously don't realize it, but you come across as an arrogant fool. Or maybe you do realize it, and don't care. Either way, it's just plain sad.

Randy ... I made a comparison point ... and the hard part of it all was that so few of you were willing to consider the point, or the option.
 
Remember that even in the early days of "recording", the Beatles and Rolling Stones, were not considered good music (check worst business decisions ever) and that ought to tell you that many of these people did not think that a nickel or two microphones should have been used for a silly rock band they did not consider "music".
 
All I did, was use a historical perspective, and by that time, the abilities for recording classical music were way ahead ... way out there ... from what rock music had to offer ... which was OK for a while, since rock music had "attitude" that operas and symphonies did not. But by the time that DSOTM comes out and other things, it had changed ... rock music was now making enough money that they could do better than classical music and HAVE ... since then, because now, no one can spend money on classical music as there isn't enough in it.
 
That is not to say, that rock music is bad ... the music is just fine ... it's just a shame that we think that a recording improves or hides the real person behind it, and half the time it doesn't. A better recording is not a sign that the music is better ... often it is a sign of something else.
 
This has nothing to do with my "experience" in the form, unless, you completely discount a person's listening experience over 50+ years of music ... that would be your error in judgement if I may suggest that. It's just weird that you are calling "history", my own arrogance ... when it's not that at all! How sad that you tell me to look at the mirror, but you separate yourself and do not look at it, either, and automatically say that I am arrogant and wrong, when some of you are completely ignoring the actual idea of the thread, even if the original poster did not realize how deep this could really go!
 
Look ... go listen to these things ... DSOTM or any SW album is STILL, nowhere near anything that the RCA Red label created! And we're talking 50 years later!

Oh, almost forgot:
 
Yello - Baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHHG0kGZbbU&list=PLdI9nHsE7a_Qt_DwpyjAytC0YPt2QL4TV
 

I still listen to the earlier recordings by Marillion & mixed by Nick Tauber (Jester Tear & Fugazi) and Chris Kimsey (Childhood & Clutching)
 
But Zappa was/is up there with the very best - boy could he engineer!