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Post by M57 on Jan 23, 2020 10:21:21 GMT -6
I think most of us would agree that a bad recording of good music with a great performance is preferable to a great recording of crappy poor music. So I was hoping folks might be willing to share examples of music that they really love that's poorly recorded. Best if these can be studio recordings and not field recordings. Of course it occurs to me that some of the pros might be unwilling to bad-mouth other engineers. I definitely respect that, in which case perhaps you can talk cryptically about what you don't like about it. The criteria is that the music is so good that you still listen to it on occasion despite the fact that you hate the recording.
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Post by m03 on Jan 23, 2020 10:28:15 GMT -6
Are you counting things where the bad recording is an intentional part of the aesthetic (like most of the artists in the Hypnogogic Pop scene), or only recordings where it is unintentional?
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Post by EmRR on Jan 23, 2020 10:35:34 GMT -6
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand would be a pinnacle example.
The early Sonics records, but those are also early 60's garageband recordings.
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Post by matt on Jan 23, 2020 10:38:45 GMT -6
Here's Felix, Leslie, Corky, and Steve laying it down:
I would argue that the production helps define the thing that was Mountain- something so loud it was impossible to record well. The recording sounds bandpassed, but for some reason to my ears it's still a beautiful thing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2020 10:47:44 GMT -6
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
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Post by sirthought on Jan 23, 2020 11:05:24 GMT -6
This is one of those bottomless well questions that I'm not sure what we're supposed to get out of it.
There are tens of local bands that have played in Cincinnati over my time living around here that just never had great production. Too many to recall. Really good songwriting is hard to come by, but so much music would have been stronger with better arrangement and production. Eye of the beholder, of course.
I always loved Hüsker Dü music, but when I listen now days it just sounds like they are in a cupboard much of the time. But I wonder if it had sounded more hi fi, would I have been as intrigued or responded the same way?
I think a lot of over-the-top 80s production of decent artists just sounds like shit. But much of that is artistic choice of the labels and producers of their time. (ex. Billy Idol — Flesh for Fantasy)
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Post by saltyjames on Jan 23, 2020 11:18:29 GMT -6
McCartney Ariel Pink - all of it Stuff from my youth - gets me misty eyed every time.
Not that they were recorded badly, but I loved the first 3 fIREHOSe albums.
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Post by jamiesego on Jan 23, 2020 12:14:27 GMT -6
There are so many horrible sixties garage records that I love. I could probably list dozens. The UK DIY post-punk scene in the late 70's and early 80's is great. I wish I could record something as horribly great as the Desperate Bicycles.
I honestly sometimes worry that I've listened to so much "lo-fi" music that it's ruined my ability to mix!
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Post by johneppstein on Jan 23, 2020 12:55:22 GMT -6
The first Misfits album comes to mind.
Also The Kingsmen's version of "Louie, Louie".
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Post by craigmorris74 on Jan 23, 2020 13:21:07 GMT -6
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand would be a pinnacle example. The early Sonics records, but those are also early 60's garageband recordings. Totally agree on GBV, but I think the Sonics records sound incredible. The fidelity enhances the relentless, pounding intensity of the band.
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Post by subspace on Jan 23, 2020 13:47:01 GMT -6
I always loved Hüsker Dü music, but when I listen now days it just sounds like they are in a cupboard much of the time. But I wonder if it had sounded more hi fi, would I have been as intrigued or responded the same way? Hated the major label Husker Du productions, far preferred the earlier indie records with the buried vocals... except Land Speed Record, that set the bar for poor recording!
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Post by EmRR on Jan 23, 2020 14:59:53 GMT -6
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand would be a pinnacle example. The early Sonics records, but those are also early 60's garageband recordings. Totally agree on GBV, but I think the Sonics records sound incredible. The fidelity enhances the relentless, pounding intensity of the band. Oh think it sounds incredible too, but it's not 'good', it's fully into distortion.
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Post by popmann on Jan 23, 2020 15:43:55 GMT -6
I've always loved the shit out of Concrete Blonde, but they were doing home recording before that was viable....by the time they got to probably Walking in London, they started sounding more "average" in terms of sonics, but those first 3....sound like what small studios like I worked in used to put out. I wouldn't call them "horrible"....I'd call them what you could do on budget analog gear with a handful of questionable choices thrown in. I actually think the loudness wars largely changed a lot of that....I'm not sure if you get the recent 192khz Concrete Blonde remasters....and compare that to say the latest Slash record ON CD (where they crush them)....ehh....does it sound "bad"? They certainly sound closer than the original vinyl of both.
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Post by Mister Chase on Jan 23, 2020 15:44:52 GMT -6
I feel like some of the songs on the original velvet underground album sound kind of bad but I like it and the art is just great.
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Post by swafford on Jan 23, 2020 17:24:59 GMT -6
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand would be a pinnacle example. Total classic. $100,000 advance, boombox and a 90 minute cassette tape is the local legend. The Replacements "Stink" comes to mind immediately, but I'm sure if I rifled through my LPs I could find a dozen more.
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Post by swafford on Jan 23, 2020 17:29:24 GMT -6
I always loved Hüsker Dü music, but when I listen now days it just sounds like they are in a cupboard much of the time. But I wonder if it had sounded more hi fi, would I have been as intrigued or responded the same way? Jinx! Blackberry Way! And yep, I have dozens of shitty Cincinnati recordings - The SS-20 Christmas LP, a murderously bad production and fabulous concept.
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Post by svart on Jan 23, 2020 17:33:01 GMT -6
Darkthrone - Transylvanian hunger.
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Post by nick8801 on Jan 23, 2020 17:40:38 GMT -6
Neil Young “On The Beach”
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Jan 23, 2020 17:54:05 GMT -6
Darkthrone - Transylvanian hunger. The irony is that even recorded to today's metal standards most people would think its horrible. haha
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Post by dreamsambas on Jan 23, 2020 18:54:05 GMT -6
Lots of good stuff named here.
I have a thing for badly recorded 80s music. About five years ago I was taking a taxi in Nicaragua, and the driver put on this mix tape with all this synth pop that was great- I mean, awful. I told the taxi driver I wanted to buy it from him, and he said he'd sell the cassette for 25 USD. I was like "are you serious?" I bought it anyways.
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Post by svart on Jan 23, 2020 19:27:52 GMT -6
Darkthrone - Transylvanian hunger. The irony is that even recorded to today's metal standards most people would think its horrible. haha The irony is that I bought it from the back of an indie metal magazine the year it came out, without hearing it. I had read a review where the person called it "filth" and "unlistenable", and those were the better things they said. I listen to it and I was in love.
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Post by chessparov on Jan 23, 2020 21:28:33 GMT -6
Other than "Tiptoe Through The Tulips"/Tiny Tim? Chris
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Post by christopher on Jan 23, 2020 22:06:42 GMT -6
Saw this on YouTube the other day and fell in love instantly. I checked all the other versions online, original vinyl, even STP w/Glen Campbell.. this one is the worst in terms of fidelity, also my favorite. I wish I could make recordings like this,
Edit: here’s another album. I bought it long ago, listened and hated the sonics. I decided since I spent money to give it chance. Now I love the sonics so much it’s probably in my top 10 of fav recordings ever. I’m screwed.
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Post by johneppstein on Jan 23, 2020 22:13:36 GMT -6
Darkthrone - Transylvanian hunger. The irony is that even recorded to today's metal standards most people would think its horrible. haha Dunno.
IMO metal shat the bed around the early/mid '90s to the early 2000s.
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Post by gevermil on Jan 24, 2020 1:43:21 GMT -6
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand would be a pinnacle example. Total classic. $100,000 advance, boombox and a 90 minute cassette tape is the local legend. The Replacements "Stink" comes to mind immediately, but I'm sure if I rifled through my LPs I could find a dozen more. bee thousand was boombox and tascam 4 track . thats right from the source
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