The best sounding (produced/mastered) tracks/albums

2,966 posts

65 months

Saturday 11th May 2024

NDA said:

Closest I got was Ernest Ranglin

https://youtu.be/PcMx7o2_L7I?si=hS_7O8qu0cViA0cf

https://youtu.be/NuyrY--vs3U?si=C9LVfiTXPR5bm5fM

Worth checking out on a decent streaming service as YouTube kills it.

Such a lovely sound on those, never heard them before so cheers for that beer

Edited by MightyBadger on Saturday 11th May 22:07

2,966 posts

65 months

Saturday 11th May 2024

dickymint said:

As a huge fan of Gong it was a no brainer that I'd get into the Ozrics especially when Steve Hillage was involved. thumbup

Just did a Google and blimey this is on the week after next.........

https://www.ents24.com/cardiff-events/the-globe/oz...

bounce

Absolutely gutted I missed Ozrics and Gong, there was a local show and completely forgot it was on.

dlks151

384 posts

63 months

Saturday 11th May 2024

The The - Infected

gruntmonster

185 posts

232 months

Saturday 11th May 2024

A day in the life - Beatles
Phat planet- Leftfield
Two weeks - FKA twigs
Minipops 67 - Aphex twin
Paradise circus- Massive attack
Come live with me - Heaven 17
Goodbye yellow brick road - Elton John
Any day now- Elbow
Losing my religion- R.E.M
Aerodynamic - Kraftwerk (also live version)

2,966 posts

65 months

Saturday 11th May 2024

gruntmonster said:

Some belters on there, would have changed Phat Planet for Leftism though biggrin

rjfp1962

8,734 posts

88 months

Monday 13th May 2024

I might be on my own here, but I think this sounds wonderful, and is beautiful..... Sideboob by English Teacher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KBbHHjrWOM

Boleros

1,195 posts

21 months

Friday 14th June 2024

Just discovered Dark Side of the Moon Redux, I had no idea it existed. Couple of tracks in and it's clear the production is pretty good but having to listen to Roger Waters banging on and saying nothing is already grating.

S600BSB

6,592 posts

121 months

Sunday 23rd June 2024

Kamasi Washington’s new album Fearless Movement is nicely produced and has some decent tunes. The vinyl pressing is also good.

loughran

3,045 posts

151 months

Sunday 23rd June 2024

Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, Dub Side of the Moon is well crafted dub reggae version by Easy Star All-Stars

Sounds unlikely but if you ever sung along to Bob Marley, you'll love it. smile

Magikarp

1,277 posts

63 months

Wednesday 3rd July 2024

One that springs to mind immediately is Hourglass by James Taylor - the track Gaia is a superb audition track.

NDA

Original Poster

23,163 posts

240 months

Wednesday 3rd July 2024

Magikarp said:

One that springs to mind immediately is Hourglass by James Taylor - the track Gaia is a superb audition track.

I don't know that album, will give it a go.

PM3

987 posts

75 months

Friday 5th July 2024

Earth, Wind & Fire : I Am ( Album )

Benzinaio

301 posts

17 months

Sunday 7th July 2024

Excellent thread!
My two penneth worth.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood-12" vinyl of Two Tribes- The Annihilation remix.

Grace Jones-Private Life

Go West One- Way Street

Scritti Politti- Wood Beez

Bryan Ferry-Don't stop the dance

Steely Dan-Babylon Sisters

Imagination -Night Dubbing (The album)

But to be honest, most stuff produced in the eighties sounded pretty good on the right equipment.
Then the 'loudness war' began.....

Pic of my set up, nothing fancy or high end but wouldn't part with it.

'The Zone' by Jayson Cork, on Flickr

Edited by Benzinaio on Sunday 7th July 01:00

donkmeister

10,265 posts

115 months

Sunday 14th July 2024

Byronwww said:

donkmeister said:

A really unexpected gem is "Sk8r boi" by Avril Lavigne.

When you think it's a bubblegum punky pop song, most played by teenage girls sharing a pair of ear buds on the school bus, it's really well produced!

The levels of the different instruments are very well chosen, for instance the melody on guitar during the "too bad that you didn't see" comes to the front without distracting from the lyrics. There are also some surprising sub bass excursions.

I can see it was produced by a team calling themselves "The Matrix" who have done a lot of different genres, so I don't know if that is what makes the difference but they were certainly doing good work with that song.

skater boy sounds really flat to me.

Blink 182 I Miss You came on after and it sounded like my hifi got massively upgraded between songs.

This thread came to mind the other day...

I have recently upgraded my YouTube, so as part of that I get YouTube Music. I was listening to some 90s/00s "American Pie" type music as I completed my housework when Sk8r boi came on.

Eurgh, it sounded s

te. As Byron describes... Flat.

Out of curiosity I closed YTM, opened Plexamp and played the unadulterated FLAC that I ripped from CD. So, same playback device (Pixel 7), same headphones (WH-1000MX3s on LDAC) but a non-lossy (up to the LDAC encoder) stream...

Beautiful. The detail had returned. We're talking about a mid-range phone and decent consumer-grade headphones playing to my battered bass-player/convertible-driver ears rather than some esoteric HiFi set-up in the listening room of some golden-eared buff, but the difference was significant enough that I could write some w

ky words for a hi-fi mag about it.

My thoughts: is it worth including the source medium we are using when listing tracks? It's not inconceivable that someone recommends a track based on a CD or high-res file, then someone else buys/streams a heavily compressed version that loses all the detail and is disappointed? Variations may even exist between streaming services, perhaps YTM has a crap file whereas Prime has a good one, I dunno.

Edited by donkmeister on Sunday 14th July 12:13

2,966 posts

65 months

Sunday 14th July 2024

loughran said:

Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, Dub Side of the Moon is well crafted dub reggae version by Easy Star All-Stars

Great albums and an amazing live band, managed to catch them perform it live in Perranporth a few years ago.