Worst-sounding recordings?

[Progger58]

There are some recordings that are hard to listen to through a good, revealing system. Too much compression, poor/inexistent soundstage, anemic dynamic range, muffled sound, among other problems.

Some examples I can recall at the moment:

- RUSH – Vapor Trails

- ASIA – Live in Moscow

- NEKTAR – Remember the Future

- GENESIS – Trespass, Nursery Crime

- MARILLION – Script for a Jesters Tear, Fugazi

- U2 – many of their 80's recordings sound awful

- FLAMING LIPS – At War with the Mystics (over-compressed at worst)

- DREAM THEATER - many of their recordings sound over-compressed (a very common problem with virtually all prog metal recordings I know)

Other examples of poor-sounding recordings you know?

Demetrio.

 

[no. 5]

Chris Daughtry - Daughtry; waaaaay to much compression..... I'm glad I don't own a copy.

Beethoven piano sonatas, played by Alfred Brendel (Philip); dull and muffled.

 

[Lady Phoenix]

I can't remember the exact title of the album (I got rid of it because I disliked it so much!), but there's a CD of The Rite of Spring where Igor Stravinsky is actually conducting it that's truly awful. The sound quality is horrible with all kinds of noise, pops, and crackles throughout the entire recording.

Seriously, it reminded me of when my parents taped my high school band performance!

 

[skizzerflake]

String Cheese Incident - One Step Closer. The music isn't bad but the sound is gritty all the way through.

 

[jaxvon]

Nelly Furtado - Loose
This album takes compression and limiting to the EXTREME. Listen to track 8 on any system, no matter how lo-fi, and you will hear just how badly they destroyed the recording. To date, it is the worst sounding major-label recording I've listened to.

Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat
If a little bit of compression on the bass and vocals is good, a lot more must be a lot better. Seriously, this album sounds like trash compared to his other two solo albums. How you go from the fidelity of Nightfly and Kamakiriad to this beyond me.

Mr. B - Joybox
A solo boogie-woogie piano album from a local artist (local = Ann Arbor) that features some wonderful hard clipping from the microphones and/or microphone preamps.

Audioslave - Audioslave
Great music, but features too much compression as well as audible hard clipping or limiting on passages that would've been dynamic had they not been compressed to hell.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Most of the recordings that I have heard from the very beginning of the CD era (early 80s) sound bad to me. They were just thin, in a way that makes them seem excessively quiet no matter how loud they are played. An example would be Flying Cowboys by Ricky Lee Jones.
On the other hand, both At War with the Mystics and Morph the Cat rank among my reference discs, and I use them to show off what my system can do, so I can't imagine how you guys can find fault with either of them.

 

[stratman]

I must agree with Jax, Morph the Cat is (SQ wise) the worst effort by Fagen, I was taken aback by the quality when compared to his previous solos efforts.

 

[jaxvon]

Most of the recordings that I have heard from the very beginning of the CD era (early 80s) sound bad to me. They were just thin, in a way that makes them seem excessively quiet no matter how loud they are played. An example would be Flying Cowboys by Ricky Lee Jones.
On the other hand, both At War with the Mystics and Morph the Cat rank among my reference discs, and I use them to show off what my system can do, so I can't imagine how you guys can find fault with either of them.

I would recommend Nightfly or Kamakiriad for reference discs. They are very dynamic, and have superb mixing. Not to mention some good music, too.

 

[WmAx]

I will have to agree with Jaxvon in reference to Donald Fagen's Morph The Cat album. It is low sound quality compared to his older recordings. Compressed to death.

The Nellie Furtado album mentioned is one of the worst major releases from any artist, as far as sound quality, that I have experienced. It is horrific, in terms of compression/hard limiting. The distortion(s) created by this abuse of compression/limiting is a perfect showcase of what not to do. The attack/release volume changes due to the compressors are blatantly audible, and in some cases, such as track 8 especially, further heavy distortion results on the bass. Track 8, to me, sounds much like a subwoofer driven past it's linear limits. Whom ever is responsible must have terrible hearing acuity. This release makes any Britney Spears albums sound like an audiophile recording, in comparison.

-Chris

 

[dilznoofus]

The first two Blue Öyster Cult CDs were particularly bad. They were heavily compressed, noisy, distorted, almost unlistenable, and I have been a fan since 1972. You could tell that CBS was really interested in that whole "high quality sound" thing.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I would recommend Nightfly or Kamakiriad for reference discs. They are very dynamic, and have superb mixing. Not to mention some good music, too.

I will try one of those. Morph the Cat was the first Fagan solo CD I bought, and the only one I own so far. I love it, so if those others are even better, I am sure I will like them.
I don't believe it is possible that At War with the Mystics does not sound exactly as the band intended, as they were directly involved with the recording and production. The CD sounds psychedelic in the best sense of the term. It sprays out of the speakers and bounces off the walls like ocean waves. If that is what "compression" sounds like, I am in favor of it!

 

[Sheep]

I want you all to look up "Norma Jean - O'God, the Aftermath".

SheepStar

 

[skriefal]

A few that I've experienced recently:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
John Mayer - Heavier Things
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Most metal discs (Within Temptation, Leaves Eyes, etc)

 

[emorphien]

Audioslave - Audioslave
Great music, but features too much compression as well as audible hard clipping or limiting on passages that would've been dynamic had they not been compressed to hell.

I definitely noticed that one recently. I hadn't played it since I got my new speakers until a friend had come over. It's so compressed that the high frequencies are also very harsh and have no dynamics. Poor show of my speakers because I didn't really listen to that album closely enough on anything good enough before.

 

[abboudc]

The worst i've ever heard are the older Rolling Stones recordings. The guy that mastered them had to be deaf.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The worst i've ever heard are the older Rolling Stones recordings. The guy that mastered them had to be deaf.

Which ones? My CDs of Satanic Majesty and Beggar's banquet sound great, given their vintage.

 

[Audioholics]

Anything mainstream published in the past 5 years? lol

 

[Joe Schmoe]

All of the new releases that I have bought in the last 5 years have sounded great, and better than most of the ones from earlier than that. Either I am just lucky, or it is because very little of what I like is "mainstream".

 

[johndoe]

- DREAM THEATER - many of their recordings sound over-compressed (a very common problem with virtually all prog metal recordings I know)

Other examples of poor-sounding recordings you know?

Demetrio.

From DT, I only own Images & Words (recommended to me as "their best album"). It's probably the most compressed CD I own.
Rush's Vapor Trails sounds so bad that I can only think it's deliberate, since some of their previous albums are well recorded/mastered. I guess they wanted to accentuate the "rawness" of the sound.

How about UK's first album, "UK"? Both John Wetton's bass guitar and Bill Brufford's kick drum are nowhere to be found. There just is no bass in this album, even with eq, it just isn't there. Otherwise the recording is okay, and the music is wonderful.

 

[gene]

How about UK's first album, "UK"? Both John Wetton's bass guitar and Bill Brufford's kick drum are nowhere to be found. There just is no bass in this album, even with eq, it just isn't there. Otherwise the recording is okay, and the music is wonderful.

I hear you. I used to own both UK albums on Vinyl. I recently purchased them on CD and was very disappointed. I won't play these CDs on my home system so they stay in the car.