I always enjoy hearing a well produced, well recorded song, and I think good production and engineering can elevate a song.
Iām curious about examples of what you would consider great, well produced recordings that sound good. Obviously the song itself should be good and worth listening to, but Iām particularly interested in songs where you think the production has elevated the song.
Here are a couple that come to my mind:
I remember playing this album (Eye of the Beholder from Chick Coreaās Elektric Band) in my dorm room one fall weekend. I had quite a setup in my dorm, and had the windows open with this just blasting. Pretty soon there was a knock and residents from down the hall came in to listen, too. Not long after that there was an impromptu, very chill party in my dorm, including people I didnāt even know. Good times.
Listen to everything on this track, but at some point really listen to the bass. Very well done.
And hereās another extremely well produced fusiony song, Jeff Beckās Cause Weāve Ended as Lovers (from Blow By Blow). Obviously the guitar takes center stage, but I also love the drums (and that killer snare sound).
This is such a great topic. I have several such songs among my favourites.
Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus - these songs are 100% studio creations and fascinating examples of how much creativity/resourcefulness/patience were needed back then to create sonic worlds like that. Iām particularly fond of the mellotron, the cello and backmasked cymbals in Strawberry Fields, and the chorus and the addition of the random radio play in Walrus.
The size of the group (12 people including 2 drummers, 2 percussionists, 2 pianists and 2 bassists (acoustic and electric)) and the stereo tape delay applied to the trumpet make it sound like the Creation itself. The whole thing makes me think of a painter busy at work in his studio. Occasionally, you can hear Miles snapping his finger or give instructions to the musicians which adds to the live feel, even though the released version was edited together from shorter fragments.
Another āpaintingā by Miles, this is a tribute to the then recently deceased Duke Ellington. This was also pieced together from shorter segments, the edits are occasionally quite audible. As opposed to the previous piece, this is a much more subdued composition. The tape delay applied to the solo voices (guitar, alto flute, wah-wah trumpet), the organ drones (also played by Miles - the trumpet comes in halfway through), the generally slow tempo and the washed-out sound give it a nocturnal and underwater feeling, like encountering the ruins of a submerged city. If Bitches Brew was the sound of Creation, I think this is the sound of time stopping and slowly starting to pass again.
The sound/recording quality comes way down on the list of important things when it comes to what I look for in music, but I do remember being almost overwhelmed by the clocks, bass and roto-toms of Time by Pink Floyd on DSOTM. Engineered by Alan Parsons who has some pretty impressive productions of his own āprojectā
Although as a teenager I really fell in love with this song after 3:26 minutes the first year, but I also really loved the drum rolls. The second time I was absolutely blown away is, funnily enough, also with Time by Pink Floyd ā¦
I still listen to that every month
The song starts, as many of Paul Simonās do, with a picked guitar accompaniment, then the fun starts with different instruments, tunings, harmonies and some drum effects which continue to swell the sound as the song progresses.
The story of the recordās production is well told here:
The song seems to reveal more every time itās listened to.
Me, too. But I am curious about the history of rock music and landmark producers/recordings is very much a part of that. Phil Spector, though a complete nut job, is considered one of the all-time great producers. A real landmark was āBe My Babyā, by the Ronettes.
