Engineer/producers-Orrin Keepnews/Rudy Van Gelder-Did all those great jazz recordings in the 50's. 60's-people leave out Steppenwolf-you can hear every note on every instrument in those songs. Aqualung sounds wonderful, was listening the other day.. Wired-Jeff Beck-- Roger Nichols was a god(Steely Dan) Style points-Steve Lilywhite, Eddie Offord. If you were making records, you needed masters of mastering-Bob Ludwig, Bob Clearmountain. This list is going on and on and on......

 

Last edited: Jul 27, 2015

To be honest, it depends entirely on what style of music you are making, as well as how the recorded elements are processed (if there are any). In the digital domain, its mostly songs that have poppy transients for the drums, a levelled bass that is clear to hear and doesnt mess with the kick and mids and highs that arent overly shiney, but each elements within the mids and highs is easily distinguishable. If you know you have good ears, go by tracks that you know sounds good, as it will fit in the genre you are trying to align your track with. I could give a huge massive list of tracks but theres not any point if it isnt tracks that are in the same genre you are trying to make. Also songs that have a nice overlap in boundaries in the mid side domain usually sound sharp and not too mucky. If you wanna go super anal about mixing, you can try monoing tracks you think sound good and see how the track you are making compares to it. Another thing i would suggest is monitoring the complexity of a track. How many distinguishable elements are in the low's, mids and highs? If you do some equalizing and try to isolate all the hearable elements, you can kind of reverse engineer how parts of the sound are sculpted into the mix, which is possibly how the engineer got it to sound like that in the first place. Message me if you want to hear my favourite specific examples for a variety of tracks (ill have to dig up quite a few youtube links) and ill post it as a response to this.

 

all good selections guys (well, except for that billy ray thing lol) thanks so much for taking the time. and very well stated SyNtH, im actually going back through a few projects and working on a few of those points. I seem to do 'ok' with all digital. so-so with natural recorded (guitar), but trying to work natural with digital has been disaster. the old recordings of Motown era were so different, mostly in that those takes were largely mixed by the recording engineer. fascinating. I met an older recording engineer once, and i was very impressed with his stories and how hes just as comfortable in the digital age

but I digress, i'll have a look at those names and works. and i'll check out your soundcloud SyNtH

 

I have worked with analog and remember the 1st time I saw a Harmonizer and 1st ProTools. It take a while to understand that one is not better than the other, they are just different. Example-Mics that I used to like on tape I tend to find a little harsh with digital. Tape attenuated certain high frequencies, so an AKG 414 might sound amazing on tape, but can be unpleasant with digital, depending what your doing with it, running it through, etc. but in general. I think ribbon mics are making a comeback because they naturally attenuate some of the frequencies that can seem harsh with digital recording, and make some instruments and voices sound very pleasant.

 

the best album that nobody ever heard - "toy matinee" by toy matinee

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4H4d8eS536FAq1nrebrkjNCfwFka9VZ

 

exactly! especially these dudes from 1978:

 

lol mr fusion, I hope there are many best songs never heard.
but how about video game genre? any Zelda fans
The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Special Orchestra

 

or commercials? if the lionshare of our industry works in supportive audio production there must be a ton of great work out there

 

Nirvana -Nevermind is a good one too.

 

Jellyfish-Bellybutton pure production perfection

 

I would categorize this on two sections;

Records that have perfect sonics and engeneering:
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way
Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold as Love
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
Anything Steely Dan from 70's
Santana - Caravanserai
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Eagles - Hotel California
Led Zeppelin - IV, Physical Graffiti
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Elton John - Yellow Brick Road
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Anything David Bowie
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vegeance


Records that have unusual sonics but are perfect because of that:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Melvins - Houdini
New Order - Movement
The Upsetters - Blackboard Jungle Dub
The Cure - Disintegration