I feel that im in need of some new reference CD´s.
What are you guys listening to?

Sting's "Brand New Day" has been one I go back to here and there - A very wide spectrum of sounds and styles on one disc.

The first oscillation is a very low tone - then a wide, dynamic mix with a great bass line. Then, Desert Rose kicks in with its overly-compressed-to-death sound that makes my brain hurt. I'd love to hear that tune 3dB softer - I'd bet it would have been great.

The next track is a nylon-string guitar driven tune with very breathy vocals and a lot of space between the instruments.

It goes on - There's a "hip-hop-ish" tune, a country-twangy tune... A great sounding recording (with the exception of Desert Rose, at least - but it does provide a great contrast of "way overdone" without changing discs).

Sound's great, will check it out.

Heres my own:
Nicholas Payton - Paytons Place
Dire Straits - On every streets
Dr.Dre - 2001
Slayer - Diabolous in musica , god hates us all
Miles Davis - Some kind of blue

Lou Reed, Metal Machine Music

the absolute best cd to use for tweaking out systems.

Anyone else? or is it IPOD generation?

In case I'm so desperate that I have to use reference CDs I'll pull out
Rammstein - Rosenot
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
Some Jazz CDs - mostly for stereo imaging

But I don't do mastering so.......

quote:

In case I'm so desperate that I have to use reference CDs

uuhh...
Anyway, Rosenrot, i like that one, thnx for your reply

shpongle - tales of the inexperiencable

groundation - dub wars

bob marley - uprising

babazoola - mad professor remixs

liverpool sound collage - paul mcCarthney

erykah badu - mama's gun

quote:

Originally posted by Mastertone:

quote:

In case I'm so desperate that I have to use reference CDs

uuhh...
Anyway, Rosenrot, i like that one, thnx for your reply

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm so good that I don't need to reference it to anything. Personally for me as a recording & mixing engineer it doesn't make much sense to reference, I strongly believe that every mix should be looked at as an individual work of art. Reference makes sense when you have a new set of monitors or different environment to get used to, other than that it makes no sense to me. You can take a few different well recorded & mastered CD & see that most of them have nothing in common. Again I don't know how you do the mastering thing, so it can be different.

Well its quite often Clients drop references like what they want there material to sound like, But in this case im looking for stuff for myself, just like you said, breaking in new monitors plus checking new equipment, I have a DIY Transfer console plus a compressor that need serious testing.
Plus Im rebuilding my studio this fall
Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by nbarts:
In case I'm so desperate that I have to use reference CDs I'll pull out
Rammstein - Rosenot
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
Some Jazz CDs - mostly for stereo imaging

But I don't do mastering so.......

I think Rammstein have the best mix/masters out there, i'm partial to Reise Reise prolly just because i like the songs better than Rosenrot but Rosenrot sounds amazing too.

I also like Sons of the Desert "Change" from 2000 and Brad Paisley's "Mud on the Tires" from 2003

Tori Amos - Beekeeper

i like this album,the bass line is comfortable

My primary interest is bluegrass and hillbilly music.

Album that sounded like it was recorded in a great sounding room: Norman Blake, Whiskey Before Breakfast
Best sounding informal jam: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume I
Best sounding old school bluegrass: Jimmy Martin, Singing All Day and Dinner on the Ground or This World is Not My Home
Best sounding recent bluegrass CD: Whitehouse

nbarts. . .
how can you not reference? How do you deal with fatigue or a loss of perspective? I often lose perspective on levels as my ears adjust and need a reference to pull me back.

quote:

Originally posted by spandexstallion:
nbarts. . .
how can you not reference? How do you deal with fatigue or a loss of perspective? I often lose perspective on levels as my ears adjust and need a reference to pull me back.

How? First I don't track & mix the same day, not any more. When I mix I do it fast. Next after years of doing the same thing my mixes just come up to where they come up to. Not to mention that a month ago I completely stopped caring about levels at all after I went over some beautiful sounding tracks which were not anywhere near the RMS level of modern tracks, but sounded a lot better.

But don't worry, I'm in minority here, I guess for a reason - I'm a shitty engineer

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

Corinne Bailey Rae - Corrine Bailey Rae
Kim Richey - Glimmer
Thomas Dolby - Aliens ate my Buick
Perfume - soundtrack from the movie
Jurassic Park - soundtrack from the movie
Avril Lavigne - Let Go

It absolutely depends on the client. I've been known to buy an album the client's listening to.

I do a lot of country and southern gospel. The last Martina McBride album her husband enginered and she did a lot of old standards is one of the best sounds ive herd. Only problem is it was done all analog and Im all digital so Ill never get it to sound like that. Maybe as good and different. I still like to try and match that sound

Cake "Comfort Eagle" and Handsome Boy Modelling School are my current 'wake up my ears music right now.

Also a song from Control Machete called "Si Signor"