Audio quality: REALLY good recordings you have?

[no country for old wainds]

Yes. I especially liked the drum-sound.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

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.

Agreed.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Immolation's "Close to a World Below" has excellent production. I also second "The Mantle".

 

[Demiurge]

good production is what suits a given recording. there is no production job that could be applied to differing metal albums and still bear positive results. hell, Sort Vokter has "good" production.

 

[Jean-Pierre]

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 .

Haha, hell yeah man. That guitar tone can shred through ones bones.

The best production I've ever heard is on these three albums:

Judas Priest - Painkiller (Do I need to explain this one? The production makes this musical warhead plain lethal.)

Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (Most clear production ever achieved, without losing any edge.)

Suffocation - Pierced From Within (the TEMPLATE for how Death Metal should sound. Bands like Immolation and others took a big hint from this.)

 

[Demiurge]

that's how highly rhythmic NYDM tends to sound, but not death metal in general. Immolation's older recordings, along with old Gorguts had a huge influence on PFW, not the other way around. Over the years, Immolation has developed a much cleaner and livelier sound than what can be found on PFW.

 

[Jean-Pierre]

that's how highly rhythmic NYDM tends to sound, but not death metal in general. Immolation's older recordings, along with old Gorguts had a huge influence on PFW, not the other way around. Over the years, Immolation has developed a much cleaner and livelier sound than what can be found on PFW.

The guitar tone on PWF definitely set a standard though, it's beyond dense.

 

[Demiurge]

No shit, but that's not exactly what he asked about. He asked for "audio quality." Sort Vokter has good production but not good audio quality.

yes, i realize that. my point was that audio quality often isn't particularly important, and it can actually work against a recording. carry on.

 

[Demiurge]

hmm, there were plenty of bands with production highly similar to that of PFW. it's probably the best known, but that's all i'll give it.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Judas Priest - Painkiller (Do I need to explain this one? The production makes this musical warhead plain lethal.)

Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (Most clear production ever achieved, without losing any edge.)

Suffocation - Pierced From Within (the TEMPLATE for how Death Metal should sound. Bands like Immolation and others took a big hint from this.)

Painkiller's audio quality is average at best. Production is interesting.

Fates Warning rarely have good production, the album you mentioned being an exception.

The only Suffocation release to have even decent sound quality was Souls to Deny. PFW was too damn soft. Effigy doesn't even have to be explained.

 

[eyeteeth]

Dark Tranquility - Damage Done

That's an interesting recording. It leans a lot on the warm/dark side (which is better than the opposite-bright/thin, IMHO).
On a previous half decent system (NAD cd player & integrated amp + PSB speakers) Damage done was really thick and murky, not enjoyable.
On my present better/more transparent system (Arcam cd player+Simaudio preamp/poweramp+ATC monitors) Damage Done is a lot better!!! Very enjoyable.

 

[KC]

Entombed - Left Hand Path
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Incantation - Diabolical Conqest

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Are you nuts? Left Hand Path has abysmal sound quality.

 

[Caelum Adustum]

Forest of Impaled "Forward the Spears" has very good quality sound.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Agreed. I personally prefer Clandestine's riff sound myself.

I was just talking about overall clarity and such.

Killswitch Engage have had pretty good production on their last two releases. They manage to use very little studio trickery(double-tracking vocals and echo effects), and yet they have this full-bodied sound with nice crunch and pounding drums.

 

[stefan86]

When it comes to clarity, Nevermores DHIADW sounds awesome. In Flames Clayman, Killswitch Engage's AoJB, Arch Enemy's Wages of Sin and Amon Amarth's Versus The World sound great. Skyfire's Spectral also sounds great on a good sound system.

When it comes to production jobs that fit the music, Dissection's Storm of The Light Bane and The Crown's Deathrace King are great examples.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

The drums sound pretty wack on Wages of Sin.

 

[Under a Stone]

Although the production The Chasm's "Procreation of The Inner Temple" is dry and airy, it gives the album an aura of gloominess and creates an atmosphere, well in my opinion.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

The Chasm generally sound pretty clear and full, even though their production isn't always the best. Dry and airy are actually pretty good ways of describing it. Regardless, it works, and it's not soft or muddy.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I adore the Deathcult production, actually.