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Masterpieces of Production/Engineering

Bruce's comments on this thread got me thinking. I've been doing a lot of home recording lately and have developed a new appreciation for engineering as an art in itself apart from songwriting, playing, etc.

Bruce mentioned Aerosmith - "Rocks" and I'll contribute a couple more to kick things off:

Dark Side Of The Moon

Jellyfish - "Spilt Milk"

What albums would you put forward as models of the craft of engineering/production?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Bard on January 5, 2011 at 9:32pm

They may seem painfully obvious, but the work of George Martin and Geoff Emerick on Revolver and Sgt Pepper is about as good as it gets.

Also, Chris Thomas on the Pretenders 1st record and Never Mind the Bollocks.

And one of the all-time great production jobs - Martin Hannett on Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures

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Permalink Reply by Quinn M. on January 5, 2011 at 9:53pm

Hey Jon,

Yeah I was definitely expecting Martin/Emerick would come up. It's amazing what they did with eight tracks! Thanks for the other tips. I have all of those albums, but I'll have to give "Unknown Pleasures" a spin, as I'm not as familiar with that one.

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Permalink Reply by Stan Schwieger on January 6, 2011 at 8:12pm

Mr. Bard--a small bone to pick in that you left out Abbey Road, which is the peer or superior to both or either Revolver or Abbey Road. George Martin, Geoff Emerick (engineer) and Alan Parsons (asst. engineer) are to be credited.

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Permalink Reply by Quinn M. on January 6, 2011 at 8:24pm

Good call. Side 2 is the greatest in rock, IMHO.

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Permalink Reply by Heikki on January 5, 2011 at 10:31pm

There are so many. I mean, what is the best tasting candy? Does it have to taste real or unreal? Is natural better than artificial or vice versa?

Mutt Lange certainly was not the weakest link on AC/DC's Back In Black. Then again, there was no weak link. All the right ingredients were in place. Come to think of it I would've chosen Closer over Unknown Pleasures. Then again, maybe I like the ingredients on that one better too.

Btw, here's an interesting list of producers and their products if you do not have anything better to do.

http://top-topics.thefullwiki.org/Albums_by_producer

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Permalink Reply by Quinn M. on January 5, 2011 at 10:50pm

Cool, thanks for the list!

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Kaiser on January 6, 2011 at 10:05am

QUEEN II and A Night At The Opera come to mind, (Both were Roy Thomas Baker and of course the talents of Queen!)

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Permalink Reply by Stan Schwieger on January 6, 2011 at 8:24pm

As to my list:

Nick Lowe for Armed Forces--Elvis Costello. The order of the songs, the time between songs, and the sonic quality were all carefully placed.

A cast of thousands, but mainly Glyn Johns for Who's Next.

Alan Parsons--I Robot. Musically, maybe a little lacking. But don't question the sonic quality.

Mark Knopfler--Love Over Gold. Again, not as stellar as their other disks, but mighty fine sounding.

Sandy Pearlman--The Clash's "Give 'Em Enough Rope"/Blue Oyster Cult (especially the early albums).

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Permalink Reply by Stan Schwieger on January 11, 2011 at 5:31am

Bob Clearmountain--Roxy Music's Avalon. The feel of that album is just amazing.

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Permalink Reply by Stan Schwieger on January 16, 2011 at 6:02pm

Another add on--say what you will about their music (I personally LOVE them), but ABBA had/has one of the greatest sonic knob twisters--Michael B. Tretow. Phil Spector, although entirely insane these days, had it going on also.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Douglas Elliott on January 6, 2011 at 10:53pm

I could go on for hours on this topic...one of my favorite obsessions!

One of those records that always pops to my mind is "The Original Soundtrack" by 10CC. Both "One Night In Paris" and "I'm Not In Love" are just amazing feats, even by today's standards and technology. I don't think they had any automation available to mix the vocal pads on "I'm Not In Love".

Also, 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd. That guitar tone on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond' is about as perfect as it gets.

Oh yeah, Todd Rundgren's production on XTC's 'Skylarking' is stunning. I recently read Paul Myers' book, 'A Wizard, A True Star' which has a fantastic chapter on the making of 'Skylarking'.

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Permalink Reply by Quinn M. on January 7, 2011 at 12:05am

Yeah, Skylarking is a masterpiece. I read that Andy Partridge and Todd did not get along at all. Partridge said it was "like having two Hitlers in the same bunker." Great album though!