The Sound Engineer

[Jac Hawk]

I've recently got round to plugging my TT in after a move, anyway it struck me that no matter how exotic and finely tuned our equipment is, it can all be undone at the production stage. For instance, i have a copy of Outlandos d'Amore by The Police and it's almost painful to listen to and makes every setup i've ever heard it on sound crap, it's as if the sound engineer took the day off and let his deaf mate have a go, whereas other recordings in my collection would make even the most humble setups sing, so to the question, what's the worst recording (not based on musical content) you own?

over to you.........

[AlfaGTV]

The two worst victims of loudness wars:
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Death Magnetic - Metallica
Both really good but totally unlistenable..

[Jac Hawk]

another one in the "not the greatest job by a sound engineer" category is The Joshua Tree by U2, it's not quite unlistenable, but i remember buying it on vinyl in Woolworths when it came out, i literally couldn't get home quick enough to give it a spin, the feeling of being short changed still pisses me off to this day

[southall-1998]

Oasis- ''What's the Story Morning Glory?''

S.

[Jac Hawk]

Oasis- ''What's the Story Morning Glory?''

S.

is it on CD or vinyl Shane?

[southall-1998]

is it on CD or vinyl Shane?

I only have the CD version. Not sure about the latter!

S.

[Macca]

Oasis- ''What's the Story Morning Glory?''

S.

It isn't that bad in terms of compression but it is bad. Likewise Californication but it is still playable. Worst I have is a Best Of The Bee Gees. 99p Motorway service station buy. The compression is beyond belief. And some compilation CDs that came free with The News Of The World are pretty bad. Mastering aside I can't think of anything on vinyl or CD that I have that I would say is bad in terms of the actual recording. Although I don't have a copy of the Joshua Tree.

[danilo]

Hmmm Recently heard PJ Harveys' 'Let England Shake' as a Youtube video MP3.
Liked it enough to buy the CD version.
Effing thing proved as virtually unlistenable. Utter crap recording, worst one I've bought, as quick descriptor.
MP3 via Utube was/is (went back to it for comparison) Much Much better. Which is really Strange. Yes it's a Genuine CD.
Bought it from Amazon. In retrospect I should have had Amazon refund me. Their customer service is first rate.
I suspect a Lot of garbage recordings go out the production door.

[Rothchild]

Yeah, my hifi would be so much better if it wasn't for all these dreadful records I have to play on it.....

Sly and the Stone 'There's a Riot Goin on' is a great example of bad recording (from a technical perspective) but it doesn't matter because it sounds great.

[Clifford.T Ward]

Don't know if anyone listens to this but one of the worst recordings at the mastering/engineering level is the CD reissue "Refugee" by Refugee .....it is so disorted in places....sad because the vinyl from the 70s is excellent.