Audio quality: REALLY good recordings you have?

[eyeteeth]

I was just wondering which recordings people have that they consider to be really superior to the average recording?

I consider My Dying Bride's 'Songs of Darkness...' a great recording, warm, full and rich. The Opeth combo Deliverance/Damnation were pretty good as were the remastered Celtic Frost CDs awhile ago.

 

[Erik]

Every time I think of a "good recording" (as in superior sound quality which I suppose is what you're after here) I think about the two bonus tracks on the re-release of Eucharist "A Velvet Creation", "Wounded and Alone" and "The Predictable End". Very unpretentious recordings where everything (including the fucking bass guitar, what a novel concept!) can be heard clearly, where the drums actually sound like drums (again, WHAT AN UNORTHODOX IDEA OMG!) and generally everything has its place. In the same vein I think Kvist "For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike" accomplishes the same thing in a great way.

 

[AsModEe]

Talking of sound quality, I would go with Dimmu Borgir - PME. That's the best guitar sound I ever heard and all the other instruments are heard clearly too.

 

[eyeteeth]

Talking of sound quality, I would go with Dimmu Borgir - PME. That's the best guitar sound I ever heard and all the other instruments are heard clearly too.

Really? That's strange as I have Dimmu Borgir's 'Death Cult Armageddon' which is a suprisingly average sounding. I found it ironic and frustrating that they wrote very good songs, brought in a symphony orchestra!!!!, spent time on great packaging and then release a thin sounding compressed recording. WTF.

Oh and BTW I have both the CD & vinyl so I can verify it is the recording. I haven't heard the DVD-A version.

 

[Erik]

Dimmu Borgir, aside from the music, sounds like shit really. Modern hyper-trigged ultra-compressed lifeless shit production.

 

[Dusk]

As far as clarity is concerned i think nevermore's dead heart in a dead world and psycroptic's sceptre of the ancients are amoung the best i've heard.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

The Psycroptic always sounded good, but never astounding clear. Nevermore's DHIADW definitely has good production, though. Everything from the full-on crunch of the guitars to Warrell's voice to the acoustic guitars, drums, and solos are all wonderfully brought out.

PEM by Dimmu has much better production than DCA. However, Erik's claims of lifeless production aren't unfounded. Dimmu Borgir epitomize the term overproduction.

One band that has had pretty consistently good production is Therion. Almost every individual instrument is clear and rich-sounding(we're talking a metal ensemble with opera voices and like a 60-piece orchestra here). Even their death metal albums like Lepaca Kliffoth or Beyond Sanctorum have production that perfectly suits what the album is trying to achieve. Only Of Darkness has grainy death metal production. Their live sound is impeccable.

The last two Opeth albums were far too dry-sounding. The only album they've released with the best overall production is BWP, and even then, the drums were too soft.

 

[Erik]

"Blackwater Park" has shit production. Sure, it's "professional" re general sound of every instrument but mixing and mastering really leaves something to be desired. It's way overcompressed and I think it even has digital clipping in a couple of places. The soft, acoustic parts are supposed to be soft, not at the same fucking volume as when they supposedly turn up to 11 and play death metal riffs. Opeth is one of those bands that really needs a dynamic production what with the constant switching back and forth between different quiet/loud parts, and BWP doesn't have it. "Morningrise" is far better re dynamics.

 

[Damned One]

A few that come to mind are-
Dance of Death
Evilized-Dream Evil
Epica-Kamelot

 

[Minion520]

Some of the best recording and production can definetly be found on all the Devin Townsend albums, they are so layered and thick, he never leaves you with a feeling that something is missing from the sound.

 

[eyeteeth]

re-release of Eucharist "A Velvet Creation", "Wounded and Alone" and "The Predictable End".
Kvist "For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike"

I'll keep those in mind, thanks.

As far as clarity is concerned i think nevermore's dead heart in a dead world and psycroptic's sceptre of the ancients are amoung the best i've heard.

Nevermore's DHIADW definitely has good production, though. Everything from the full-on crunch of the guitars to Warrell's voice to the acoustic guitars, drums, and solos are all wonderfully brought out.

Hmmm...that's two votes for Nevermore's DHIADW. At the top of my list.

PEM by Dimmu has much better production than DCA. However, Erik's claims of lifeless production aren't unfounded. Dimmu Borgir epitomize the term overproduction.

I have EDT,SBD & DCA...gonna have to get PEM.

One band that has had pretty consistently good production is Therion. Almost every individual instrument is clear and rich-sounding(we're talking a metal ensemble with opera voices and like a 60-piece orchestra here). Even their death metal albums like Lepaca Kliffoth or Beyond Sanctorum have production that perfectly suits what the album is trying to achieve. Only Of Darkness has grainy death metal production. Their live sound is impeccable.

Being sort of new to Darker metal, a lot of bands are my 1st listen and I got the most recent Therion 'Lemuria / Sirius B' and it certainly was good production but musically wasn't my thing. Same for Agalloch' Mantle.

The last two Opeth albums were far too dry-sounding.

Yeah, kind of brittle, hard & glassy sounding but I'm trying not to be too fussy or unrealistic. They do have clarity and are acceptable for me.

Sometimes even foggy productions are OK though. I find Nokturnal Mortum's 'Lunar Poetry's (the song itself) fogginess charming and part of the beauty of the music.

 

[Melodeath]

haha, Erik, you should do that with Anaal Nathrakh - Pandemonic Hyperblast. When it gets going, its just a complete block of noise on the screen. No peakes whatsoever. Meh, That was probably done on purpose anyway.

btw, how did loudness race get all this info about the squashed CDs? how do they know if its caused by the mix or the master.

 

[demon talented]

The soft, acoustic parts are supposed to be soft, not at the same fucking volume as when they supposedly turn up to 11 and play death metal riffs. Opeth is one of those bands that really needs a dynamic production what with the constant switching back and forth between different quiet/loud parts, and BWP doesn't have it. "Morningrise" is far better re dynamics.

I never really thought about it like this, but it makes a LOT of sense.


I don't usually pay attention to production unless it's particularly bad or something really strikes me about it's that's good (more rare). I think Agalloch's The Mantle is worth another vote. Considering how layered the album is and some of the variety of sounds in the guitar work (for example, the solo in "In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion," which has some direct post-rock influence), it sounds very clear and coherent.

Also, I've noticed a particularly large amount of difference in the production for Arcana albums. Cantar de Procella is definitely their best in that area and helps make it their stand-out album, in my opinion.

 

[eyeteeth]

Another case of "drums sound like actual drums", which I like.

The feat that really impresses me are cymbals sounding like cymbals. Something accomplished easier with vinyl as I am discovering with my new (3 week old) turntable. This might be the first time I'm not hearing tizzy/white noise cymbals. Of course it depends on the recording.

 

[Melodeath]

I jhust saw that some of the "squashed" CDs said that there was pre-mix distortion and stuff and I was just wondering how they figured that out.

 

[Pull The Plug]

I might have to say Entombed: Morning Star. Everything had crunch and was very sharp and clear sounding, the only problem would be that the drums could be a bit louder.

At The Gates: SOTS is not bad either.

 

[Slayed Necros]

Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican.

Never before have I heard such thick and outright crushing production. The emphasis of the riffs commands one to fucking thrash themselves into any objects present. Hey, maybe the music has a little to do with this also .

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Out of the Opeth releases, I found Morningrise to have the best balance, but for some reason, the production on that album has always sounded really bad to me. I would've said Still Life had the best, except for the glaring fact that the sound occasionally drops out and reappears in very blatant ways, like in The Moor.

 

[no country for old wainds]

When I was an Opeth-fanboy I always thought MAYH was the best and the best-produced, but meh, Opeth are hardly relevant when it comes to great or awful production jobs.

Funebre - Children of the Scorn

 

[anonymousnick2001]

On MAYH, every instrument is pushed to the forefront. That was your idea of the best?

In Flames - Clayman
Amon Amarth - Vs. The World
Dark Tranquility - Damage Done
Summoning - Stronghold
...And Oceans - A.M.G.O.D.

Those all have impeccably clear production.