Do you have a favorite song album that has a bad mix?

[PorkPieGuy]

Ever heard a great song or album with a bad mix?

I was listening to Boston's Third Stage last night on the turntable. While really do like this record, I noticed that it simply does not have the "punch" that the previous two records do. The guitars are way too "out front," even in front of the vocals, and the bass and drums just don't have the presence that their other records do. Still yet, this record is on regular rotation with me because I like the songs.

How about you? Do you have a favorite song or album where the mix just terribly pleasant?

[YamaYairi]

Pure Prairie League - Bustin' Out has a horrendously bad sound. There is a peak in the lower midrange. It's an album that is begging to be remastered.

[luke_bl]

Jericho Wood's first album was mixed really terribly. Great band live though I've seen them a half dozen times. Hopefully this next one about to come out will do them justice.


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[mr. beaumont]

I love 90's indie rock, so YES.

The lo-fi stuff from bands like Guided by Voices, Pavement...sometimes the bad mix is part of the charm.

[fazool]

OMG you guys are about to hear the epitome and all-time best example of this (below):

You all probably know of the band called The Goo Goo Dolls. Before they became ultra popular in the 90's, they were a Buffalo bar band.

They had an album in 1991 called "Hold Me Up". On it is one of my favorite acoustic guitar songs, called "Two Days in February".

The song is recorded in such a raw, live-performance way it's amazing. They tried remastering it, re-recording and re-releasing it and the "improved" versions are terrible - they have none of that raw edginess.

Anyway, here is the song. It was recorded in a garage and you can, literally, hear the cars driving by on the song. It's a horrendous recording that somehow is awesome.

[Long Jon]

I hate over produced, eg. Clapton's "August" album. Mushed by Phil Collings IIRC.

Much of the raw, plaintive appeal of Townes Van Zandt's work was lost in post production of some of his albums too .

Keep it real.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

...sometimes the bad mix is part of the charm.

So VERY true!


Overly-slick, overly-produced doesn't always mean overly-good.

[billgennaro]

Always thought Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album was recorded poorly.

[Muddslide]

I love most all kinds of music...at least some things from most every genre, era, and points on the globe.

But I was a punk rock kid in the late 70s-mid 80s.

Husker Du, a band from Minnesota's Twin Cities, was a fave. Their last really great album was 1985's New Day Rising and the mix is a muddy, muffled mess. It's a drag because there are some killer, poweful songs on it. It just sounds like lukewarm oatmeal as far as the production and engineering, which is a shame.

The final Black Flag album In My Head, also from 1985, suffers similar horrid production. The bass is inaudible, guitars sound like wet noodles, and even the vinyl sounds like it has layers of cassette tape hiss on it.

[Brucebubs]

I find the original 'Fleet Foxes' album difficult to listen to.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

Always thought Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album was recorded poorly.

Have you heard the Steven Wilson remaster/remix 40th Anniversary Edition of Aqualung?
It's brilliant, there is so much great acoustic guitar work on that album, some of it was buried deep in the original mix and Wilson has moved it up, shifted it forward without taking anything away from the songs.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I love 90's indie rock, so YES.

The lo-fi stuff from bands like Guided by Voices, Pavement...sometimes the bad mix is part of the charm.

Originally Posted by fazool

So VERY true!


Overly-slick, overly-produced doesn't always mean overly-good.

I absolutely agree with this, and it's cool to see Guided By Voices and Pavement name-dropped here!

I do not typically care for overly slick production. It's appropriate for some things. Steely Dan, Moody Blues...you expect lushness. But often really clean, full production can be cloying, even cheesy.

Being into punk and later indie, lo-fi bands, I have no problem with some sub-par sounds. Neutral Milk Hotel's classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was done on a cheap cassette 4 track as was some early Ween material, but it doesn't detract at all from the music.

The first Iron & Wine album was also recorded on a cheap cassette. It sounds nice and intimate.

With the albums I mentioned in the previous post it almost seems like they were trying for big, full production, but just failed.

I was in an acoustic jug band many years back. Mostly a live band, but we did book a studio to cut an album. Gods, we spent hours on mic placement, did so many takes of each song...I've done my share of studio work, but this was such a tedious process.

Sometime just before or after the studio sessions the band had run through our album set live in my living room and recorded it straight to a small, ancient cassette boombox. Just onto the condensor mic built into the boombox.

Well, it had a lot of hiss and room noise, but it sounded so much more live and free and fun than the sterile, anemic studio recordings. The takes were a bit tighter on the studio tracks, and the sound quality was better, but everyone agreed the boombox tape recording was better in every other way.

You just never know. Different production approaches work better for different kinds of music at different times.

[saxonblue]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

Always thought Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album was recorded poorly.

Never really thought about it before but you're dead right, it has a sort of muffled, flat tone for the most part but going along with Jeff's take too in that it adds to the charm.

Been listening to the album for about 45 years now and wouldn't really want it any other way. Sort of tone evocative of how sound would carry on a cold, foggy English morning.

[Long Jon]

Back in head bangin' days I LOVED Johnny Winter's "Second Winter" .

I REALLY LOVED IT ! The famous 3 sided album (single album length, but with extra deep grooves for enhanced volume (!!) and a blank side that everybody tried to play in search of secret messages...)

Anyhoo.... last tried to listen to it about 10 years ago, still digging it, but noticed the appalling drum sound on it for the first time.
Sounded like they might have been recorded using a mic in a bucket at the far end of a noisy room. Really got on my nerves after a short while.

The Steve Earle album with "copperhead Road" on it (?) can't recall the name , I like Steve, but the (over) production on that one is horrible, that ain't country.

[Brucebubs]

The original 'Tommy' by The Who has a strange sound quality.