Don't own it anymore but when going through an embarrassing noise phase in my youth, I got Dial M for M********** by Pussy Galore.
I don't think it's possible to make a worse recording!
I don't think it's possible to make a worse recording!
I'm interested to know, what reissue/format are you basing this on? I've got the originally-released CD from back in the day and I've never found it objectionable.
I have an early non-remastered CD release of 90125 as well. Sounds great! I really like the wide soundstage and almost Q-sound like effects. Very 80’s type of sound at it’s best.
Quite dynamic as well. DR13.
https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/128369
Quite dynamic as well. DR13.
https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/128369
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It must be > Stone Alone by Bill Wyman. A REAL SHOCKER
And then there was the really bad one I threw away called: THOR
And then there was the really bad one I threw away called: THOR
Yes's "90125" made heavy use of early sampled sounds. It sounds like that too. 🙁
I have it on vinyl.
Ed
Was given a few boxed sets of LPs (mainly Decca) which had been pressed in Hong Kong. They had clearly been produced using totally
worn out stampers. Also a few Everest (US made) albums which are all but unplayable with modern RIAA!
worn out stampers. Also a few Everest (US made) albums which are all but unplayable with modern RIAA!
I had one Everest LP which sounded OK - Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel - but another - Django Reinhardt - was dreadful. Some others I can't recall but they went to the charity shop. Even at A$2 each they were poor value.
Supposedly recorded on 35mm film for better sound, I found the recordings poor compared to RCA, Mercury or HMV. Everest issued an LP set of Furtwangler's 1951 Ring with sides up to 35 minutes, which I haven't heard but must have sounded pretty ordinary.
Geoff
Supposedly recorded on 35mm film for better sound, I found the recordings poor compared to RCA, Mercury or HMV. Everest issued an LP set of Furtwangler's 1951 Ring with sides up to 35 minutes, which I haven't heard but must have sounded pretty ordinary.
Geoff
Here is today's listening report. All selections were on vinyl.
Yes's "90125" - The problem is inconsistency. "It Can Happen" sounds great whereas "Leave It" sounds awful. The more sampled sounds were used, the worse the quality became.
"The Best of Carly Simon" - These are lush recordings from the early 1970s. They have likely not passed through many transistors. They sound fantastic.
Duran Duran's "Rio" - This is a "paint peeler" from the time when recording pop music meant turning the treble controls to eleven. It is easily the worst sounding of the three.
Ed
Yes's "90125" - The problem is inconsistency. "It Can Happen" sounds great whereas "Leave It" sounds awful. The more sampled sounds were used, the worse the quality became.
"The Best of Carly Simon" - These are lush recordings from the early 1970s. They have likely not passed through many transistors. They sound fantastic.
Duran Duran's "Rio" - This is a "paint peeler" from the time when recording pop music meant turning the treble controls to eleven. It is easily the worst sounding of the three.
Ed
The Jimi Hendrix "sound" was achieved by turning all the controls to "eleven." It sounds awful, or glorious.
Despite the primitive production, I've been a huge Hendrix fan since around 1970, when I was just old enough to start developing musical taste.
I have a "Tool" CD that is so ridiculously overproduced. I can't tell if it's a great production or a terrible one, since if I turn it past 80ish dB or so it causes my amplifier to go into protection mode. I don't know what's there but apparently it takes huge power and an enormous subwoofer to reproduce. Extreme settings on my sound processor help a little but then it sounds like crapola. I'm honestly mystified at what they did in the mixing room. It's a fact though that the CD contains tons and tons of subsonic trash- I don't know why. Ironically, I can only listen to that CD on a super crappy sound system.
Despite the primitive production, I've been a huge Hendrix fan since around 1970, when I was just old enough to start developing musical taste.
I have a "Tool" CD that is so ridiculously overproduced. I can't tell if it's a great production or a terrible one, since if I turn it past 80ish dB or so it causes my amplifier to go into protection mode. I don't know what's there but apparently it takes huge power and an enormous subwoofer to reproduce. Extreme settings on my sound processor help a little but then it sounds like crapola. I'm honestly mystified at what they did in the mixing room. It's a fact though that the CD contains tons and tons of subsonic trash- I don't know why. Ironically, I can only listen to that CD on a super crappy sound system.
I also have two Perfect Circle CDs (same Maynard as Tool) and while one has a conventional sounding production, the other is massively overproduced. Not only is the bass and treble turned up to 11 on the one CD (for a lush but very power thirsty sound), but they did something with the compression too that I can't put my finger on. I just run out of power real fast if I try to play this CD. And this CD also has tons and tons of subsonic trash.
I listen a lot to punk and old reggae, and all are very primitive recorded, the latter often in a shack somewhere in a ghetto on very primitive gear. But it still sounds good.
The worst sounding albums are often overproduced pop where any live is taking out in search of perfection. Since the late 1980's many albums are a like that. Some of the later Stevie Wonder albums are terrible on that. Overcompressed, dry and lifeless altough the performance of the artist was probally great. Metallica's Death Magnetic was also like that. I listened it in a store, and altough the sons were good (the best since the black album) the sound was so bad i did not buy it, but downloaded the guitar hero versions that were not mastered dead, like many did...
The worst sounding albums are often overproduced pop where any live is taking out in search of perfection. Since the late 1980's many albums are a like that. Some of the later Stevie Wonder albums are terrible on that. Overcompressed, dry and lifeless altough the performance of the artist was probally great. Metallica's Death Magnetic was also like that. I listened it in a store, and altough the sons were good (the best since the black album) the sound was so bad i did not buy it, but downloaded the guitar hero versions that were not mastered dead, like many did...
What could have been wrong with it, though - just a poor choice of microphones, or something not properly sorted with the recorder's A/D?
They take music and sound reinforcement very seriously in Jamaica. It is true that motivated producers did a lot with very primitive equipment there. Also, there are several very excellent music studios there that hark back to the 1970s. And DJs (as well as musicians other artistic people) are held in very high esteem in their society, in contrast to typical Western attitudes towards artists in general where they're often consider too lazy to get a "real" job.
It's not unusual for a very modest household to have a very serious, well maintained vintage hi fi system. And they really turn the volume UP- speakers blaring on sidewalks and out windows (they face the speakers outwards) is a very common thing there, especially in Kingston. I'd get a citation if I did that here!
It's not unusual for a very modest household to have a very serious, well maintained vintage hi fi system. And they really turn the volume UP- speakers blaring on sidewalks and out windows (they face the speakers outwards) is a very common thing there, especially in Kingston. I'd get a citation if I did that here!
It was discovered early on that introducing "dither" to a digital audio signal smoothed the sound out. The irony is that intentionally introducing a small error prevented bigger glitches from stacking up.
The mechanical analog to dither is a machine that always operates in an environment of constant vibration, like the first mechanical aircraft "computers." It was discovered that the same machines that ran for tens of thousands of hours without a glitch when operated in an aircraft jammed up constantly when operated in a vibration free environment. Because of the vibration, it just never jams up.
The mechanical analog to dither is a machine that always operates in an environment of constant vibration, like the first mechanical aircraft "computers." It was discovered that the same machines that ran for tens of thousands of hours without a glitch when operated in an aircraft jammed up constantly when operated in a vibration free environment. Because of the vibration, it just never jams up.
I have a Bob Marley album where you can hear a low rumble in the background that’s likely a truck nearby, stopping then moving again.
It’s far from the worst album however, is very good sounding.
The worst probably was a Boston or Fleetwood Mac album.
It’s far from the worst album however, is very good sounding.
The worst probably was a Boston or Fleetwood Mac album.
Boston is I think the original overproduced rock/pop music. And most of the original tracks were performed by one young musician and mixed by him in his parent's basement.
Thinking back, Boston did sound pretty terrible.
Thinking back, Boston did sound pretty terrible.
I've listened to and collected Hendrix since 1969, when I bought Are You Experienced s/h for $A1 in an op shop. He didn't always turn everything to 11, as witness The Wind Cries Mary, Drifting, Castles Made of Sand, etc etc. Now up to around 100 albums on LP or CD.
To me his guitar always sounds good to great, although there were shows such as Atlanta 1970 where it sounded a bit thin., at least, judging by the recording. Berkeley 1970 was perhaps his best recorded live sound. The first issues of the 1969 Albert Hall gig on Astor LP were not good, as demonstrated by the great sound of tracks from that show on the original Hendrix in the West.
There are heaps of arguments about which versions of his music sound better, on CD or LP and I won't go into those; suffice it to say that the most stupid issue was the first Electric Ladyland issue which put sides 1 and 4 on CD one and 2 and 3 on CD2, so that Still Raining Still Dreaming preceded Rainy Day Dream Away - huh?!
Agreed, the production can be primitive but that's part of the charm.
Geoff
Yeah you're right. Some of Hendrix's stuff is melodic. Some of the production is top notch too, like a CD I have from eons ago with Easy Rider. (Or maybe it's a slick remix. I haven't spun it in a while.)
Hendrix experimented with some crude special effects. He did it well I think. Turn it up to 11 was one of them; think how punchy and gritty "Purple Haze" riffs are. He's well known for this and influenced rock with it I think. However, it was blues musicians (the "Chicago Blues" sound) that first turned the amplifier up so the guitar would make that now well known wail.
I've always loved Hendrix, since I first heard him.
Hendrix experimented with some crude special effects. He did it well I think. Turn it up to 11 was one of them; think how punchy and gritty "Purple Haze" riffs are. He's well known for this and influenced rock with it I think. However, it was blues musicians (the "Chicago Blues" sound) that first turned the amplifier up so the guitar would make that now well known wail.
I've always loved Hendrix, since I first heard him.
That would be from 'The Cry of Love' (original 1971 posthumous collection of later studio material), 'Voodoo Soup' (Alan Douglas produced CD only collection) or 'First Rays of the New Rising Sun' (later Estate LP and CD collection) : quite a lot of multi tracked guitar on those albums. Not sure if that track was re-mixed for the various issues, or just re-mastered.
Just to confuse things even further, Cry Of Love was recently re-issued with mastering by Bernie Grundman, sounds great. The various issues of Hendrix music are both confusing to the brain and hard on the wallet.
To my ageing ears, the Alan Douglas issues are the worst sounding, although mostly they're OK; comparing, say, the 1968 Winterland shows with his production v Eddie Kramer's, the Kramer produced tracks of the same material sound warmer and the drums have more punch.
Jimi once that he didn't play guitar, he 'played amplifier'! He loved Buddy Guy and there's a YouTube video of them jamming together.
Geoff
Just to confuse things even further, Cry Of Love was recently re-issued with mastering by Bernie Grundman, sounds great. The various issues of Hendrix music are both confusing to the brain and hard on the wallet.
To my ageing ears, the Alan Douglas issues are the worst sounding, although mostly they're OK; comparing, say, the 1968 Winterland shows with his production v Eddie Kramer's, the Kramer produced tracks of the same material sound warmer and the drums have more punch.
Jimi once that he didn't play guitar, he 'played amplifier'! He loved Buddy Guy and there's a YouTube video of them jamming together.
Geoff