Best album production and sound quality?

[Kaiju]

I'm not asking for your favourite albums, I want to know what albums you think are the best when it comes to mixing, mastering and sound production.

Any genre, any decade. Go hog wild!

I will start the thread off with Pantera's headbanging classic, Far Beyond Driven.

 

[Shamikebab]

BT - This Binary Universe.

 

[Grandmaster Fap!]

Queensryche - Operation mindcrime

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Metallica - Metallica
Kansas - Freaks Of Nature

 

[Thomss]

BT - This Binary Universe.

Awesome! played that on my Genelec 2.1 systems and Adam's it's a great album.

 

[marl]

The best I have is Nice Work by Carol Kidd by Linn Records. Tracy Chapman's debut LP isn't far behind.

As far as rock goes, Stained Class by Judas Priest ain't bad.

All on vinyl.

 

[Jonesiani]

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Marillion - Marbles

Dire Straits (groan) - Brothers in Arms

 

[Converge]

In metal i'd say it's The Ocean - Precambrian, just sounds massive, yet every instrument has it's own space.

Rock: Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures, Martin Hannett was a genius.

 

[TheCenturion]

Signing Off (1980)

and Present Arms (1981)

Both amazing for their time

 

[kingy666]

Marillion - Marbles
Marillion - Brave (although it maybe sounding a little dated now)

Considering that these days for them to record an album at there own recording studio they have to get there fans to pay for the CD before its even written. Then, they can hire a producer, in this case Dave Meegan who has done a fantastic job on the sound of these albums.

 

[GeezerButler]

Hats & A walk across the rooftops by The Blue Nile. On Linn records just like the Carol Kidd album above. Think that may also have been engineered by Calum Malcolm.

Anything produced by Trevor Horn. Welcome to the Pleasuredome still sounds awesome, as does A Secret Wish by Propaganda.

And Daniel Lanois - Peter Gabriel's So and U2's The Joshua Tree.

Not the best Floyd album but sounds great - A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Bob Ezrin produced I think.

 

[kingy666]

Hats & A walk across the rooftops by The Blue Nile. On Linn records just like the Carol Kidd album above. Think that may also have been engineered by Calum Malcolm.

Anything produced by Trevor Horn. Welcome to the Pleasuredome still sounds awesome, as does A Secret Wish by Propaganda.

And Daniel Lanois - Peter Gabriel's So and U2's The Joshua Tree.

Not the best Floyd album but sounds great - A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Bob Ezrin produced I think.

"Dave Meegan is a record producer. He trained under Trevor Horn and is best known for his work with the band Marillion. He is also heavily associated with the band U2 and worked with the band as an engineer during the sessions for The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum." (from wikipedia)

Maybe this is why Dave Meegan is such a good producer/engineer

 

[SoundsGood]

Terranoise - Terrano Vibrations

Insane production skills

 

[THMRK]

Anything produced by Trevor Horn. Welcome to the Pleasuredome still sounds awesome, as does A Secret Wish by Propaganda.

Even the new Robbie Williams record?

When I seen this thread my immediate thought was Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails. It's not NINs best work but it's a production tour de force, in my opinion.

I love Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore. They've produced a significant number of my favourite records and are basically the go to guys for melodic hardcore. You could probably argue that the reason I like them is because of the bands he's produced, but their style is something I really like and I'd love to work with them one day.

Jimmy Page also deserves a mention. For obvious reasons. His production on the first four Led Zep records is great.

I have to be honest though, I don't often notice good production on records. In fact, I think that the mark of a good producer is that you don't really notice what he's done, just that they make the band sound spot on. I do, however, tend to notice bad production much more often.

EDIT: El-P is also great. I love the work on I'll Sleep When You're Dead.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Jimmy Page also deserves a mention. For obvious reasons. His production on the first four Led Zep records is great.

I'm a massive Led Zeppelin fan but none of their albums were that well recorded except maybe In Through The Outdoor.
None of you can obviously remember the impact that Metallica - Metallica had on the music recording industry.
Nobody had ever recorded drums and guitars that big before.

 

[benneh]

None of you can obviously remember the impact that Metallica - Metallica had on the music recording industry.
Nobody had ever recorded drums and guitars that big before.

I do. I just had a discussion off the forums with a friend who saw your post and disagreed (with the quality of the recording). Usually I would disagree with you Dm, just for the sake of it, but in this instance I agree. Tallica black album is very important, and imo 'sounds' very very good .

 

[Margaret]

Ihsahn - After

 

[THMRK]

I'm a massive Led Zeppelin fan but none of their albums were that well recorded except maybe In Through The Outdoor.
None of you can obviously remember the impact that Metallica - Metallica had on the music recording industry.
Nobody had ever recorded drums and guitars that big before.

The techniques he used in recording revolutionised the industry at the time. I think that deserves a mention.

 

[james.miller]

Metallica - Metallica

its as close to perfect as any album has got imo, even more impressive in that its a metal album and not your usual candidates - jazz, classical ect.

 

[Retorted]

Love Dave Fridmann's work with MGMT and The Flaming Lips.

But I also like lo-fi stuff as demonstrated on the album Free the Bees by The Bees.