My Top 5 best engineered albums/songs of all time

[pepperbear]

My current faves, in no particular order:

1. The Beatles - SPLHCB (eng: Geoff Emerick)
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (eng: Alan Parsons)
3. Kate Bush - The Dreaming (engs: Hugh Padham et al)
4. Michael Jackson - Off the Wall (eng: Bruce Swedien)
5. The Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For the Money (engs: Dick Kunc, Gary Kellgren)

And the top 5 Best engineered songs of all time:

1. The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (eng: Geoff Emerick)
2. The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want (engs: Glynn Johns et al)
3. The Eagles - Hotel California (engs: Bill Szymczyk et al)
4. The Beatles - Yesterday (eng: Norman Smith)
5. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On? (engs: Lawrence Miles, et al)

[bullimiami]

1. dark side of the moon, yes.

avalon, roxy music, bob clearmountain.

[pepperbear]

5. avalon is on ANOTHER list.

it's like velvet.



:)

[regnaD kciN]

10. If you can manage it...

...try to hear the SACD release of Avalon remixed (by Clearmountain) for 5.1 surround.

:wow:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

2. some of my faves from an engineering standpoint.

Tool - Aenima
Sade - Lover's Rock
Ween - THe Mollusk

[musiclawyer]

3. Sheet Music--10CC

Pure genius. Eric Stewart, best lead guitar player/engineer ever.

[pepperbear]

4. 10CC is brilliant! ALL

of their records sound impeccable. :)

:hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

6. Steely Dan's AJA has got to be on a "best engineered" list somewhere.

No matter what you think about the 'Dan, you can't deny Roger Nichols's engineering on that album in particular is simply gorgeous. Fagen's The Nightfly is also really exquisitely done.

'Dan plugging aside, all the albums/singles you have listed are DEFINTIELY appropriate. I really love the Stones, the Beatles, Marvin Gaye...

:D

[pepperbear]

7. ALL of their stuff is impeccable!

Roger Nichols is incredible, and quite an advocate for digital recording.

[FogerRox]

8. My ear is a vinyl ear.

I am not sure if I am thinking engineering or the "sound" I hear.

-Waiting for Columbus, great live album.
-I like the ELO Jeff Lynne stuff, 3 millisec delays/doubling
-Whats going on. great sound, good depth and separation

I think for me its the depth & separtion. Cant really do that on a CD. Being able to set reverb & echo on backup singers to place them at the rear of the aural picture, lead singer closer, having a huge drum kit and being able to place every piece in the mix, as if on stage.... Doesnt come off on a CD, even well remastered stuff on a cd is not the same.

Its a very different game the last 15+ yrs.

Emerick was damn good, I heard him interviewed recently... that was fun.

[pepperbear]

9. I agree, being more of an analog fan who is "forced" by

both cost and convenience to be digital, and of course with vinyl being scarce, we're stuck.

To be honest, though, there are a few older titles that I think sound better and clearer than their vinyl versions.

you're right. All the Little Feat sounds great. And Jeff Lynn's style can always be spotted. I am probably not the only person who hones in on their bgv sound as the most unique aspect.


I just finished Geoff Emerick's memoire (here, there and everywhere). Wow, what a must read for any professional studio engineer!

[FogerRox]

11. Goeff.... Beatles guy right? Interview on local rock station, that was fun

[MilesColtrane]

12. I'm not sure if these qualify...

Sometimes the line between engineering, producing, and arranging are blurry.

Pet Sounds-Beach Boys
Ghost in the Machine-Police
Paul's Boutique-Beastie Boys

[outofbounds]

13. I was expecting

a Bob Rocks or Mutt Lange to be in there somewhere.