I'm kinda new here. I've been gone a lot of years. I recently got into live sound as a hobby and am getting ready to record my band myself. I am in awe of how many good engineers are on this forum. I was wondering what you guys would consider to be the best engineered albums mix-wise/ mastering-wise?
Best engineered albums?
- Thread starter ametalguitarist
- Start date
HCL
Holy Crap! Lions!
The-Zeronaut
Mixing..Y U SO DIFFICULT?
- Sep 24, 2007
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I think thats a pretty wide question...and it depends a lot on the person you ask and the music genre.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
Machinated
Member
Check out the Beatles. The best songs, musicians, producer, engineers, studio, gear and until the later albums, done on 4 tracks and in mono.
crillemannen
Member
The Load-Reload-Garage Inc era with Metallica is one of the best engineered rock album of all times.
hkollner
Member
- Oct 5, 2008
- 293
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I could understand saying this if he asked it objectively, but he just asked our opinions. So this seems unnecessary. lol
As for me, Periphery's latest album has got to be my favorite.
http://youtu.be/RyHFVtgsCzI
I tried to find something I didn't like about it, but I like everything. Super polished.
A close second would be Disambiguation by Underoath. So vibey.
http://youtu.be/HrG3nXvFeJ8
Tool Aenima
Dave Botrill has a really interesting way of setting out the mix, lots of times he seems to be using LRC and putting Adam Jones's guitar in the middle and leaving the hard panned left and right for Danny Carey's percussion instruments. Then when the huge sounding sections come in he has double tracked hard panned guitars and brings the drums back into the center and it just sounds enormous. All those vocal filters Maynard uses sounds great but also leaves room in the bottom end of the mix for the rest for the rest of the arrangement to sound huge. Lots of single tracked guitars parts and a massive bass tone. He says in an interview they did two takes for almost everything and it was a matter of choosing the great take or the fucking amazing take. Tool are awesome so that has a lot to do with it. So is James Hetfield and the way Lars hits the drums so that's part of the reason why Load and Reload sound so good.
Dave Botrill has a really interesting way of setting out the mix, lots of times he seems to be using LRC and putting Adam Jones's guitar in the middle and leaving the hard panned left and right for Danny Carey's percussion instruments. Then when the huge sounding sections come in he has double tracked hard panned guitars and brings the drums back into the center and it just sounds enormous. All those vocal filters Maynard uses sounds great but also leaves room in the bottom end of the mix for the rest for the rest of the arrangement to sound huge. Lots of single tracked guitars parts and a massive bass tone. He says in an interview they did two takes for almost everything and it was a matter of choosing the great take or the fucking amazing take. Tool are awesome so that has a lot to do with it. So is James Hetfield and the way Lars hits the drums so that's part of the reason why Load and Reload sound so good.
heshian46
Member
BLUElightCory
Member
My favorite engineered rock albums, off the top of my head. I'll probably forget 47 other records :
Refused "The Shape of Punk to Come"
Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream"
Oceansize "Frames" and "Effloresce"
Rage Against the Machine "Battle of Los Angeles"
Incubus "The Crow Left of the Murder"
Deftones "White Pony" and "Diamond Eyes"
Radiohead "OK Computer"
"Best" is really subjective so I'll qualify it - I think the reason I like these records is that besides being well engineered/mixed they're all very unique sounding - I think it's really hard to make a rock record that sounds unique, and that captures the personality of the band in question so well - it's a dying art. Some of the sounds on these records are borderline bizarre when compared to more straightforward rock productions - the super fuzzy guitars on "Siamese Dream" or the big-band/jazz influenced drum sounds on the Refused record - but they WORK.
I also noticed there isn't really any metal on here. Oh well, the rest of the thread can fill it in. Or we can make a "best edited album" thread.
Refused "The Shape of Punk to Come"
Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream"
Oceansize "Frames" and "Effloresce"
Rage Against the Machine "Battle of Los Angeles"
Incubus "The Crow Left of the Murder"
Deftones "White Pony" and "Diamond Eyes"
Radiohead "OK Computer"
"Best" is really subjective so I'll qualify it - I think the reason I like these records is that besides being well engineered/mixed they're all very unique sounding - I think it's really hard to make a rock record that sounds unique, and that captures the personality of the band in question so well - it's a dying art. Some of the sounds on these records are borderline bizarre when compared to more straightforward rock productions - the super fuzzy guitars on "Siamese Dream" or the big-band/jazz influenced drum sounds on the Refused record - but they WORK.
I also noticed there isn't really any metal on here. Oh well, the rest of the thread can fill it in. Or we can make a "best edited album" thread.
slayercannibalsuffohead
Get a dog up ya!
hkollner
Member
- Oct 5, 2008
- 293
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Here's my list:
Metallica - Load
Metallica - Reload
Metallica - Garage Inc
Soilwork - Stabbing The Drama
Opeth - Watershed
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Cradle Of Filth - Damnation And A Day
In Flames - Clayman
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe
Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
Testament - The Gathering
Testament - Formation Of Damnation
Metallica - Load
Metallica - Reload
Metallica - Garage Inc
Soilwork - Stabbing The Drama
Opeth - Watershed
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Cradle Of Filth - Damnation And A Day
In Flames - Clayman
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe
Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
Testament - The Gathering
Testament - Formation Of Damnation
LiberaScientia
Cat Dad
I'd say Sound Awake - Karnivool. It's not the most polished sounding record but the mix compliments the music so well. I suppose it's easy to get a great mix with great vibes from such great songs & musicians though. Formation of Damnation & Dark Roots of Earth are two of my favourite recent thrash mixes, though. Periphery II is definitely my favourite of all the super polished sounding mixes.
crillemannen
Member
aenima is probably my fav. album of all time...but in terms of straight up fidelity, i feel like nothing fucks with lateralus
xTomx
Member
Not all-time favorites but some that I've really liked lately or have a lot of character:
Lydia - 'Illuminate'
Joyce Manor - 'Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired'
The National - 'High Violet'
Black My Heart - 'Before The Devil'
glassJAw - 'Our Color Green'
Lydia - 'Illuminate'
Joyce Manor - 'Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired'
The National - 'High Violet'
Black My Heart - 'Before The Devil'
glassJAw - 'Our Color Green'
outbreak525
Member
- Jun 15, 2010
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What exactly does it mean to "engineer" an album?
What is the difference between that and "producing" or "recording" or "mixing" an album?
What is the difference between that and "producing" or "recording" or "mixing" an album?
