Two not mentioned so far are:
Cat Stevens - most if not all of his LP's.
Heart, specifically Dreamboat Annie. Their others may be as good, but I didn't want to listen to them as much.
Steely Dan as mentioned, but that's variable too. Some of their earlier albums were not as good as they could be technically. I recall the story of how the whole album Katy Lied was recorded on a multitrack tape machine that didn't have the bias properly adjusted, and they didn't discover it until afterward (but see below as to why they sold a lot of records anyway).
One example of horrible audio is the original soundtrack to "Hair." I recall playing it on my Heathkit GD-109 way back then (about age 13), and even on it I noticed it "didn't sound as good" as other LP's I had, yet there were a couple of hit songs from this this recording: "Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" and another I can't recall offhand. At least two more songs were covered by others and made into hits.
I recall discussions on rec.audio.pro about "What's the most important thing in making a recording?" and people gave answers in order with the most important things first such as a good sounding room, good microphones, good preamps, etc., but one of the most pertinent answers was "something worth recording." There are surely plenty of technically excellent recordings that are unlikely to get mentioned in this thread because the musical compositions or the performances are uninspiring.
Cat Stevens - most if not all of his LP's.
Heart, specifically Dreamboat Annie. Their others may be as good, but I didn't want to listen to them as much.
Steely Dan as mentioned, but that's variable too. Some of their earlier albums were not as good as they could be technically. I recall the story of how the whole album Katy Lied was recorded on a multitrack tape machine that didn't have the bias properly adjusted, and they didn't discover it until afterward (but see below as to why they sold a lot of records anyway).
I'll make a slight overgeneralization and say the "to avoid" list includes almost all CD's released or remastered in the last 15 or so years.
One example of horrible audio is the original soundtrack to "Hair." I recall playing it on my Heathkit GD-109 way back then (about age 13), and even on it I noticed it "didn't sound as good" as other LP's I had, yet there were a couple of hit songs from this this recording: "Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" and another I can't recall offhand. At least two more songs were covered by others and made into hits.
I recall discussions on rec.audio.pro about "What's the most important thing in making a recording?" and people gave answers in order with the most important things first such as a good sounding room, good microphones, good preamps, etc., but one of the most pertinent answers was "something worth recording." There are surely plenty of technically excellent recordings that are unlikely to get mentioned in this thread because the musical compositions or the performances are uninspiring.
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Maggie Reilly. Save it for a rainy day.
Thanks for the tip! Just downloaded it and now listening to The Package. Great music and very well recorded.
vac
Nice. If you didn't know that is one of Maynard Keenan from Tool side bands. I hope you got it in .wav format cause mp3 wont do it justice.
Steely Dan - I have one, that I will give away to anyone who comes by. Bought because I had to (well it was mentioned in all the hifi magazines as a "must have" recording)
Tom Waits - I love his music, and all the recordings are well recorded - even though they sound terrible sometimes (Good recordings can sound awull if it's intended - If you take a saw and record it through a distortet guitar amp - just as an example). A classic good recording from him is "Small Change" - recorded live in the studio directly to two-track and with good tube mic's.
Tom Waits - I love his music, and all the recordings are well recorded - even though they sound terrible sometimes (Good recordings can sound awull if it's intended - If you take a saw and record it through a distortet guitar amp - just as an example). A classic good recording from him is "Small Change" - recorded live in the studio directly to two-track and with good tube mic's.
My only beef with ECM (besides the sometimes New-Agey material) is that the recodings are on the quiet side, both vinyl and CDs. No break-through between grooves, but not a lot of volume. Pressings are consistently high quality. I use a couple of ECM releases (among others) to evaluate changes I make in my system.
Michael Jackson Thriller - Japanese First Pressing 1982 15 14 17
Seems not easy to being best selling album of all time.
About
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/199784-blu-ray-bd-disc-concert-resp-live-overview-wanted.html
I have listed examples of "In Concert" Blu Ray discs.
From which of them would you guess, recording quality is good ??
Perhaps one of the members know additional titles, which are worth to listening.
Thank you for advices.
BTW - the quality of recording from Patricia Barber's SACD and PCM compact discs is exceptional good - go to
Patricia Barber
Who knows more about the audio quality of her video discs (DVD)?
Are there also Blu-Ray discs available in the meantime (on his website I don't find this) ?
More artists with good quality recordings:
http://www.karibremnes.no/
http://www.hollycole.com/wordpress/
and CD's with Shirley Horn Trio, e. g.
http://www.jazz.com/music/2007/12/8/shirley-horn-you-stepped-out-of-a-dream
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/199784-blu-ray-bd-disc-concert-resp-live-overview-wanted.html
I have listed examples of "In Concert" Blu Ray discs.
From which of them would you guess, recording quality is good ??
Perhaps one of the members know additional titles, which are worth to listening.
Thank you for advices.
BTW - the quality of recording from Patricia Barber's SACD and PCM compact discs is exceptional good - go to
Patricia Barber
Who knows more about the audio quality of her video discs (DVD)?
Are there also Blu-Ray discs available in the meantime (on his website I don't find this) ?
More artists with good quality recordings:
http://www.karibremnes.no/
http://www.hollycole.com/wordpress/
and CD's with Shirley Horn Trio, e. g.
http://www.jazz.com/music/2007/12/8/shirley-horn-you-stepped-out-of-a-dream
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I've only tried Under the Pink (album) by her, but wasn't impressed for the most part - listen to Pretty Good Year to hear why - the music itself is decent enough, but there's a bit where drums etc come in, and it really ought to be at least 6dB up during that section. Almost no volume change at all. Grr...
Chris
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