Production jobs you like and why.

I hope I'm not the only one on the forum that enjoys rawer, less clean, or to some less "professional" production over the spotlessly clean digitized stuff. It's common knowledge at this point that production quality plays a big part in what makes our favourite and most memorable tunes what they are. Personally I don't think there's a particular format or formula for a fitting job. I'd like to know and hear examples of what you guys think really adds to the listening experience.

I'll start with the following.

Italian progressive power metal band Adramelch's cult classic debut, Irae Melanox, from 1988 had a production that on paper should have destroyed their career. It is very thin and tinny, suppressing lower registers and creating a really disjointed balance between everything save for the drums. Conventionally this is not a very powerful production but it actually helps the music out in a variety of ways.

Lead melodies are really strongly emphasized here and there's a bit of reverberation, giving the album a gloomy but vast feel, as if it was recorded inside a massive abandoned cathedral Vittorio Ballerio's voice is then appropriately some old ghost that haunts the place, his operatic if nasally vocals made sharply distinctive and clear. While "lack of bottom end punch" might sound like a death sentence for a good metal album, the grainier feel of more aggressive riffs in my opinion lends itself to a sense of dustiness and decay that only really furthers the previously elaborated production. It also means the bass sticks out clearly as an additionally prominent instrument.

It's the badly produced but somehow the magical black metal demo production of power metal basically.

edited 15th Apr '13 12:37:04 PM by StillbirthMachine

I love the arranging/mastering/whatever it is in this version, since the background vocals are brought out.

Anything produced by Jay Joyce. He tunes the guitars really low (even lower than drop-D), uses a lot of varied instrumentation, and really does well on rhythm sections. It's not very polished, and he generally avoids Loudness War even when amped up. Good examples:

Eric Church: "Creepin'" Little Big Town: "Tornado"

Overall, he's just a very creative producer IMO. Glad to see that Eric Church is finally succesful under his watch, and that other artists are starting to turn to Joyce as well.

Does preferring the original mix of something over, say, a digital remix/remaster apply here too? If so, I've got a good one: I prefer the original versions of Iced Earth's first three albums over their respective 2001 digital remasters. Mind you, it's not that the remastering job was bad or brickwalled (the mixing was actually really good), it's just that there's something about the original mix that the remaster just doesn't capture.

For example, take the original mix of "The Path I Choose" from Night of the Stormrider:

Now the remaster. (edited because you can't embed multiple videos)

I guess maybe the remaster's just too clean a mix? :/

edited 14th Apr '13 10:43:54 PM by DemonSharkKisame

I like how the drums sound unmixed and rough. It sounds so natural.

Y'know, I was trying to think of why I only like Siouxsie and the Banshees' Tinderbox and none of their other albums and now it hits me: Production. This album is just so well produced, the guitars melt into the vocals and the keys and it just gives the album this dark aura which really works for the band.

Pretty much anything that Michael Gira has produced, although Akron/Family's self-titled LP may be the most exquisitely mixed:

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards know to meld the beat, the bass, the guitar and THOSE strings perfectly.

I tend to like Steve Albini's production style a lot - it just sounds like you're seeing a loud band play live in a small venue. I particularly like his approach on Seamonsters by The Wedding Present, where it really adds to the "melancholy yet pissed off" vibe of the whole album.

@ Demon Shark Kirisame: My only issue with the original production was that it seemed a bit subdued but I can see why one would prefer it. It definitely is a lot less crispy and far more buzzy/crunchy - the remaster makes it sound a bit too clean and lacking bite at times but I still enjoy it.

Another album that while badly produced, contributes strongly to a particular atmosphere. It's not anywhere as muffled and thin as Adramelch's, but it gives off a sense of desolate emptiness as if they've recorded in an empty orchestral chamber. The guitars are slightly murky but just enough so that it doesn't become "mud metal" and like with Adramelch, lead guitar melodies pierce through really well.

@Stillbirth: Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Again, it's not bad, it's just too clean. Kind of reminds me of another production job I liked, actually: Fear Factory's Demanufacture album. This time, the cleanliness of the production really helps the industrial/mechanical feel of the music.

I know it's not a very popular opinion, but I really like Jeff Lynne's productions. They always seem to have a certain quality of fullness to them, almost like a Phil Spector production except without that awful (okay, maybe not awful, but certainly muddy and degrading to the sound), dated Wall Of Sound. Plus, I love the tight sound that he gets out of the snare drum in every one of his productions—he just manages to make it pop like you wouldn't believe.

The only problem I have with him is that he seems to treat every single production he works on like it's an Electric Light Orchestra song...which, fair enough, considering that that's what most of his productions were, but some songs just don't need that. And sometimes it's to the detriment of the artist. Much as I love George Harrison's Cloud 9 album, Jeff's production seems to overtake even George's artistic contributions at times on it. And on his work with "the Threetles'" for "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love"...you know how much I praised Jeff's snare drum sound? I don't think it works as well with Ringo Starr's drumming style.

Still, when Jeff gets it right, he really gets it right:

edited 16th Apr '13 10:08:03 PM by 0dd1

I didn't know Jeff Lynne worked on Real Love! O_O

edited 17th Apr '13 1:41:54 AM by Fuzy2K

Indeed he did. The three had approached George Martin at first, but since his hearing problems had been growing worse, he decided he couldn't do it. So they asked Jeff Lynne to work on the Anthology tracks with them, since all three of them had previously worked with him before (especially George Harrison, with whom he had a very close working relationship).