Well Produced Albums?

I recently became interested in quality music playback and did a whole bunch of research on headphones, joined headfi.com and eventually bought myself a set of Sennheiser HD 555's which have opened up an entirely new dimension to the music I have loved for so many years. But one of the slight drawbacks to being able to hear almost everything in the recording is that you can also hear everything that's wrong with it.

I was recently particularly disappointed by the audio quality of the new Radiohead album In Rainbows whose bass and trebbles are shaking and distorting all over the place, something I didn't pick up with my speaker system. I have also been craving to listen to things that sound really creamy and rich, well produced material with solid bass and crispy clear mid's. One album, which I have loved regardless of playback quality is the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Not only is it a musically excellent album but is also incredibly well produced. I can't get enough of the crispy sounds!

So I'd like to ask members to recommend, and discuss, albums which are particularly well produced and are a pleasure to listen to regardless of musical preferences.

[edit on 21-2-2008 by The_Modulus]

well i can drop a couple of artists and album titles that are stictly producution album...no lyrics, except maybe on a few tracks

daft punk - discovery ... awesome CD..my favorite daft punk CD, in fact the only daft punk CD i can handle in it's entirty(sp?)

RJd2 - dead ringer ..another very well produced album, more on the hip-hop tip though.......

he's got another CD called "the third hand" which is good, but not nearly as good as dead ringer

heres a video from "the third hand"



if you're looking for something less electronic or hip hoppy check out beirut...there music blows me away, some of the most powerful music i've ever heard. check out a video by beirut



this is one of their mellower songs ..well all their songs are fairly mellow, but powerful indeed

[edit on 21-2-2008 by Roland Deschain]

heres another really good rjd2 song/video

Daft Punk - Discovery has actually been on my playlist non-stop over the last couple days, the production work is incredibly slick. But I also find their other albums somewhat unlistenable in their entirety, their are almost completely devoid of melodies, which becomes painful.

I'm also a big fan of RJD2, although I'm not too familiar with Dead Ringer as I just put on Since We Last Spoke whenever I need my RJ fix, which blows me away. It's a very melodic and stylish album, very upbeat sounding, check out this track, my fav RJ track, it's truly badass.

RJD@ - 1976

I'm giving Dead Ringer a full listen now

Roland, have you heard of The Knife? They're a brother-sister electro band that produce some crispy albums, I recommend giving their album Deep Cuts a listen, not only does it sound great but the songs are incredible too. They do a cover, which in my opinion blows the original out of the water, of Jose Gonzales' Heartbeats. YouTube Link. (Sorry, don't know how to embed)

Steely Dan - AJA

This album won a load of grammys for it's production values; plus the music is really good, too.

Just a suggestion, since you asked.

Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side Of The Moon would be 2 of them in old analog,
In digital, one of the first DDD cd's comes to mind--Painkiller. But for the first decade of DDD, I can't think of many that are very well produced.

If you wish extreme state of the art, try 24/96 cd's--- still a bit pricey and the players are too, but that is what I mix and master to, though I can't yet afford to output them in more than 16/44.1

Originally posted by The_Modulus



Roland, have you heard of The Knife? They're a brother-sister electro band that produce some crispy albums, I recommend giving their album Deep Cuts a listen, not only does it sound great but the songs are incredible too. They do a cover, which in my opinion blows the original out of the water, of Jose Gonzales' Heartbeats. YouTube Link. (Sorry, don't know how to embed)

Never heard of it but I'll be sure to check it out. Hope my suggestions helped! Btw, noticed you posted a link for 1976..Check out the video i posted in this thread, it's awesome

one cd I have that is mastered beautifully is Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Also, I've heard that Rage Against the Machine's self-titled album is mastered to audiophile standards, and some people use it to test speaker systems.

Originally posted by The_Modulus
I was recently particularly disappointed by the audio quality of the new Radiohead album In Rainbows whose bass and trebbles are shaking and distorting all over the place, something I didn't pick up with my speaker system. I

Did you download the 'pay your price' or did you buy the CD that came out recently?

I bought the CD and find it to be fine, but heard the downloaded version stunk in comparison.

Originally posted by gotrox
Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side Of The Moon would be 2 of them in old analog,

Indeed, DSotM was produced by Alan Parsons (making it an Alan Parsons Project, much better than anything the band Alan Parsons Project ever put out, IMHO)

reply to post by The_Modulus


I think for a while in the 80's and early 90's, one of the best producers working was Trevor Horn. In particular Yes 90125 and Seal's first self-titled album. In both cases it's clear that each sound is placed for a reason, and the entire albums feel richly sculpted.

Thanks Josh, I've been meaning to get a hold of a Seal record for a while now, I've just never had quite enough incentive, I think this decides it for me

What are your opinions on some older records that use hard-panned mono tracks through separate speakers? I've noticed this on many Beatles records and am aware that this technique has been justified and defended by... can't think of the producers name now. I can't make up my mind about whether I like it or not, I kinda feel the dynamic is a bit artificial...

Even though I loathed them at the time I have to say some of the best produced tracks I've heard were from
'Frankie goes to Hollywood.'

but..

You guys are gonna laugh it up when I say 'ABBA' but they have got to be the best from the equipment available at the time.

One of the worst sounding I would say was 'Sons and lovers' AND 'Breaking Glass' by Hazel O'Connor..
First was flat and lifeless.. second was TOTALLY OTT..

She was awesome though..
'Will You'... BRILLIANT..
BEST SAXAPHONE SOLO IN HISTORY.. Wesley Mcgoogan


EDIT OOPS fixed link..

[edit on 17-3-2008 by AGENT_T]