Eric Clapton. The "Pilgrim" album. released in 1999. John Mellencamp-1998 One of the best sounding rock productions I ever heard. I kind of use these two as my reference listening. Remain in Light -Talking Heads-some of Bryan Eno's best from the 80's. Anything by Little Feat-Richie Heyward was one of the best rock drummers ever. Robert Plant's solo work. For vintage-Who's Next...1971. Miles Davis-Kind of Blue one of the best recordings when one stereo track was all there was. Rudy Van Gelder was a master of mic placement in the jazz records he produced. Anything produced by T-Bone Burnett or Don Was or Mitchell Froom. Weather Report. Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock-When "jazz rock fusion" was just getting started. Pink Floyd albums always sounded amazing.
have a look round Google for tracklists that high-end hi-fi manufacturers use to demo their products. Check out some youtube channels to what tracks and albums audiophiles listen to. For genre specific or more modern stuff, just listen to whatever moves and inspires, or makes you think, wow that's really cool.
totally on the other end of the spectrum, Peter tosh. Because it is to easy to say Bob Marley, but as a ex wailer the productions are top notch. However it's hard to get the full experience which I recommend and that is not to consume this on YouTube the quality there of most of the reggae catalog is disappointing to say the least.
3 great sounding records of these few years and also great arrangements. Mike Gordon - Overstep (2014) - I find this album useful for an influence on acoustic, organic instruments. Things I pay attention to: sound Layering, spatial distribution across the frequency range, acoustic guitar tones, use of reverb Charlie Puth - Voicenotes (2018) - I like the modern sound on arrangements that borrow somewhat from the 80s. That's the way I figure a classic 80s top-40 tune would sound if released now. Things I pay attention to: Vocal layering, spatial effects, bass sound, mix levels, mix balance. Walking Papers - WP2 (2018) - This is an album with a very rocking vibe. The bass guitar is high on the mix, but it's not masking everything else, which is a hard thing to achieve. I pay attention to distortion on the instruments, the rather subdued vocals, and how the bass drives the song, yet the mix sounds balanced.
Pink Floyd, Toto, Queensrÿche, Micheal Jackson. If you're after rhythm and song structure beyond the reach of normal human beings, Dream Theater (up to more than 100 time signature changes per song), for instance.
i would add rush to that list. spirit of radio comes to mind immediately, but there are a lot of other creative uses of dramatic song structure.
Change of Seasons by Dream Theater is one of my all time faves... was fortunate enough to see them perform it live... Absolutely insane musicianship...
I was with some friends of mine at one of their concerts. During the half-time break I asked one of my friends, who had heard them for the first time, what he thought and he said that he was still processing the notes of the first three songs.
yeah, but you can't learn that! either you are creative and musical or you aren't. anyone that tells you otherwise is just wasting your time.
