Favourite recordings

koneguitarist

Been really thinking of recordings and how they have changed through the decades etc since the late 40s. 

For me hearing Mystery Train by Elvis the first time was a revelation to me. Now I have been in Sun Studio in Memphis, it’s got peg board on the walls, Vinyl Tile flooring and also some hard reflective walls. Yet that sound recorded with one microphone to tape, is stunning. 

It’s full and warm yet has bite when guitar solo cuts in. Elvis’s acoustic probably a D28 is being strummed hard and to get some extra volume for accents he leans in further towards mic to raise the level. I just think the quality is streets ahead of what we heard in UK for years. 

Now I’m intrigued by this recording as Steve Earle and the Del McCourry band did similar in late 90s, recording the whole band together with one mic. Acoustic guitars, Mandolin, Double Bass, Banjo, Fiddle and vocals. Apparently no digital effects were used only room acoustics and a lot of compression and if you listen on a good system, it really does feel like the band are with you. 

Is there a favourite studio recording, you all prefer? 

https://youtu.be/XA5HErVE9oI?si=HCIhPvgXrZg7AL4Z

https://youtu.be/65Fj-LeEaQk?si=AwvuBPKzgyU-ALML

blobb

Hatfield first album, recorded by Tom Newman at the Manor in 1973 just as I was taking my first breaths in the world. Reminds me of what 1973 must have sounded like. In particular, the Northettes 3 part harmony on 'Lobster in Cleavage probe'. Bliss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXcx8qGbDzo&list=OLAK5uy_k3DLr_YoS0ajnLFLlOvU1thTyyfg6UfW0&index=13

Macca_25387

I have a few that adore. Today’s choice would be Beck - Morning. It’s glorious on a good set of monitors. 

https://youtu.be/z_j25z5zwT4?si=nWyHv2bo7rXyHZoR

Danny1969

There was a difference between UK and USA recordings in the early days of fifties to mid sixties. Studios like EMI didn't close mic anything, believing it (rightly so to a certain extent) to be bad form for the microphone. Everything was mic'ed further back than the stuff coming out from US Motown and similar recordings. The Beatles were instrumental in changing that once they had the clout to do as they pleased. 

Grooving with Mr Bloe, a B side studio hack which got to no 2 over here via Dick James music has a certain charm and sound which is just perfect for the last gasps of the sixties. It has something about it, it's low fidelity in terms of bandwidth but high on energy and realism. 

I think the peak of studio recordings was reached in the very late seventies and eighties. Toto, Pink Floyd, Crowded House, anything mixed by Clearmountain ... these records had a depth to the sound stage as well as a left and right width. 

The only thing that really stands out now to me is some stuff done in Studios like Blackbird ...there's some KOL, Alison Krauss and other recordings that really have that older softer analog sound with the 3D depth. 

Winny_Pooh

Here's a few:

Peter Gabriel - Growing up
Suzanne Vega - 9 objects of desire 
Bonnie Raitt - Fundamental 
Thomas Dybdahl - all these things

Either recorded and or mixed by Tchad Blake

Macca_25387

I have a few Tchad Blake mixes in my reference playlist. The Black Keys record brothers is fantastic.

octatonic

This is my reference playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XJxiiHzj6DBgir8SzxWGK?si=204c20ff87f34c9e

grappagreen

Impossible to pick one... but if I had to it would be I.G.Y. by Donald Fagen.. or Nightfly maybe..

Si

duotone

Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover —> I really love the drum sound on this, played by Steve Gadd & it’s fantastic.
https://youtu.be/ABXtWqmArUU?feature=shared

koneguitarist

I love the drums on this as well. Seems to be lost art nowadays, or at least you don’t hear it so much. Snare work like on original version of Sultans of Swing, Pick Withers or the original version of Country Boy by Heads hands and Feet. So subtle and tight.

Basher

I've been listening to quite a lot of jazz recently and Rudy Van Gelder did a lot of the Blue Note records that sound wonderful to me.

Obvious, I suppose, but the Steely Dan albums were beautifully recorded.

One of the first CDs I bought back in the 80s was David Syvian's "Gone To Earth" and that remains a favourite although most of his and the Japan stuff still sounds fresh and interesting sound-wise (IMO).

Lastly, I absolutely love the Dukes of Stratosphere recordings that XTC did in the mid-80s when they had some unexpected spare studio time. They wanted to record a "lost" psychedelic album and limited themselves  (quick compressor joke there) to the instruments and techniques available in the 60s. Great fun and full of references/parodies of Beatles/Floyd/Kinks/Faces etc.

Kurtis

I really like John frusciante's 'The Empyrean'.

It's very processed and clean, and electric, unusual for JF's solo work, but there's some really creative studio techniques and great effects in it. Kind of his creative peak imo. Or one of them! 
Sounds totally other worldly, loud, on a decent system. 


Or Bowie's 'Hunky Dory'. 

I can get lost in that. Very old school analog warmth. 



EDIT And Nirvana Unplugged. 

Just for capturing all that emotion so beautifully.