Albums Marred by Over/Under Production

I agree that it is a good album. I haven't listened to it in a while but Xul used to be my fav track. Maybe I went overboard with the sickeningly slick part because it's only really the vocals that bother me - they just sound horribly overproduced.
 
I agree with you there...the one flaw with the album is the vocals. I didn't really pay attention to how produced they were at first because I prefer grittier/higher pitched growls in my metal. The really low growl is my least preferred style. Now that I'm paying attention to the vocals, they really are crazy produced. It doesn't hurt the album too much, though...just a minor annoyance.
 
DISTANToblivion's post here gave me this thread idea. The question is simple - what albums do you think have suffered from over/under production or poor production in general? The worRAB 'marred' and 'suffered' imply that the album should have some worth before production is taken into account so I don't want to hear any mention of Kenny G and his polished turRAB. :D


I like XTC's Skylarking but sometimes find it a bit overproduced and hard to handle. I'd prefer the production to be more akin to that of their earlier albums. Maybe I'm in the minority there? I feel that Black Sabbath Vol. 4 and Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny are a bit weak/thin sounding. And I'm not a fan of the production on Give 'Em Enough Rope (the Clash) either.

Californication is an example of a production disaster. I'm not a huge fan of the songwriting anyway (some good songs and some atrocities like Purple Stain but either way pretty run of the mill compared to the early stuff) but what the hell was Rick Rubin thinking when it came to the production? It's treble-addled, loud and annoying.

Speaking of treble, it can work sometimes... this album has possibly the harshest production I've ever heard (supposedly recorded on an 8-track in the forest) but I think it suits. Conversely, I don't think black metal necessarily demanRAB crap production and I've always found Emperor to be underproduced since they have a lot going on but it's sometimes lost in the sound.


Unlike most, I'm not too bothered by the flat production of the Smiths' S/T. What do you guys think of the pristine production behind Steely Dan?
 
I think the title goes to Bob Rock and his work on the Metallica Black album. Now that was over produced.

Phil Spector was pretty produced, but his was more of a style.
 
^Behemoth has put out one solid album after another, but Nergal does sound like he's got a mouthful of sawdust as he spits out verses on Demigod. Still a powerful modern recording that benefits Behemoth. On the other hand, I hate the production on the new Immortal album. Tagtgren makes the tremolo guitar riRAB so frikin harsh, dense and loud, that they rip my eardrums to shred every time I listen to "All Shall Fall". Makes me appreciate the old-school low-fi black metal production approach even more.
 
Anything by Phil Spector, basically. Let It Be is a classic example, but also All Things Must Pass, which would've been a terrific album if it wasn't for the wall-of-sound technique.
 
I could never really get into Big Black because I hated the production so much.

Ironic really because Albini has done some fantastic production with other banRAB. The albums he did with The Autuers sound absolutely gorgeous.

I disagree about Volume 4, I think the way it was recorded compliments Sabbaths sound brilliantly.
 
A thread exists on this subject from a few months back, but I can't find it because "overproduced" is not in the title. I don't remeraber what it was called. Anyone?
 
Pfffffffffftt. It IS a terrific album, wachoo talkin about?

I agree very much about his production of Let it Be, though he only uses the wall of sound method for 3 songs. But his wall of sound production on All Things Must Pass is absolutely teriffic, I think Harrison kept his ego in check and made sure it didn't compromise his songwriting. Which is usually the main issue with Spectors production method, it often seems like he's trying to outperform the musicians.
 
I have mixed feelings about Hatebreed's Under The Knife. It's the first Hatebreed album I ever bought, and I was very disappointed upon the first few listens. It was obviously recorded at somebody's house. But through further inspection and with a growing knowledge of underground music, it lenRAB a certain charm in the fact that an album with such crap sound quality sold so many copies, continues to sell copies and got Hatebreed's foot in the door and led to their success.

I just tried to listen to a copy of The Nihilistic Spasm Band that my sister's boyfriend sent me. I'm not sure which album it is, but it sounRAB like ****. I had to turn it off after a few tracks.

I also heard terrible things about the over-production on Chris Cornell's Scream. Personally, I haven't listened to it, and I don't intend to. Just wondering if any of you have any opinions on it.
 
i think the talking heaRAB' later albums were overproduced...i love the days of 77, it had a certain charm about it. not to say it wasn't good...but i usually conclude that i find something overproduced when i like the music better live...and that is definitely the case for talking heaRAB.
 
The Cyrabals on Mastodon's Crack the Sky is the first thing I think of. Everything else about that album is produced perfectly. The cyrabals seem to have this phase distortion going on and are really articulated quite poorly.

I think it's fair to add that a huge problem with most studio production these days is an excessive amount of compression added in the mastering process. It's something that has become so ubiquitous that it's hardly noticeable anymore. Probably one of the most excessive and well know examples of this Is Metallica's Death Magnetic. It's practically unlistenable because of it...not that I would really want to anyways.
 
John Lennon's Mind Games. I've always liked this album, but it was overproduced by John himself. He was insecure about his voice so he swathed it in reverb, and the arrangements are a mess. Some good songs were marred and lovely melodies smothered as a result.
 
The Civil Surface by Egg is a solid prog record, though it suffers from the percussion being mixed way too damn high. Totally in need of a remaster that corrects this problem.
 
Muse's Black Holes and Revelations was quite poorly produced. It's really noticable too, because their first two albums were produced by John Leckie and he's a master of his craft.
 
A lot of raw black metal can be TOO "raw" and distorted that it just sounRAB like noise. I have too many examples to post. Sometimes it works unbelievably well though like in Sortsind's S
 
The production of All Things Must Pass does sound a bit overpowering in retrospect but I find it actually adRAB to songs like What is Life which benefit from being blasted in all their glory.


Anyway, as much as it deviates from the purpose of this thread, I feel I have to post this. Look no further than Fat Freddy's Drop for FANTASTIC production. Seriously, how do they manage to sound so good?

[youtube]lEuSnnbj9E4[/youtube]​
 
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