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Good CDs Bad Recording

Interested to learn if others have CDs they like that are really poorly recorded. I'm not talking about the ones made in the garage, I mean big artists or studios that should know better and leave you wondering "what where they thinking?".

Mine is Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Daylight Again".. Whether I hear it on the radio or my home stereo or anywhere else the recording sounds like they accidentally cut off everything above 5 kHz. So muffled and dull.

~Jim
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shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Yeah - the Chili Peppers.

Other shameful producers or engineers who ruined good sound
Vlado Mueller
Butch Vig 
Tom Coyne

https://musicmachinery.com/2009/03/23/the-loudness-war/

Stairway to Heaven has like 35 Db dynamic range!!! Most everything produced for pop rock is 8 db or less these days - no wonder most everything digital sounds harsh and people are running to vinyl for the better sound.

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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
With respect to Rush.

They have never sounded good - Power Windows was perhaps the best sound.

I suspect Geddy Lee's hearing is not that good - for example he likes Fleet Foxes which is terribly compressed. 
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,316 posts
 
Joining this thread pretty late but want to add to what Marty and Arcam have said about Todd Rundgren.  Brilliant guy but, yeesh, the "A Wizard A True Star" CD I have is just tough to listen to...kinda thin and screechy.  

Another bad CD in my collection:  Hendrix's, Axis Bold As Love.  Love the music but too hot in the treble and pretty unpleasant on playback.

For me, these are two "reference" CDs but in a bad way.

Don't know if the fault lies in the original recording or the bad things done to it over subsequent generations.  

Seems also that Rhino remasters are, more often than not, ear bleed inducers.  
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