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Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am
by Mister Freeze
Heard Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" today for the first time in years. Immediately realized Jim Steinman was the producer. Pompous piano. Check. Creepy, operatic background vocals. Check, check. Overwrought ballad. Check, check, check.
Made me realize how much I can't stand that sound. Bat Out of Hell is a classic, but an outlier. Most of his stuff is dated and weird. Never liked "Total Eclipse of the Heart" either.
I can't imagine how Hysteria would've turned out if this guy was kept on as producer.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
by Gibsonite
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:30 pm
by DangerZone
Gibsonite wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
same sound on George Harrison’s “cloud 9”
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:47 pm
by SterileEyes1
Not typical Sludge music, but, Howard Benson.
A Sludge friendly comment is it’s what I didn’t particularly like about WVH’s album. It’s that early 2000s super-reverby-and-triggered drums thing.
It really worked for Cole’s “Year Of The Spider” but the rest of his stuff has a similar sonic template and just doesn’t do it for me.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 2:18 pm
by Gibsonite
DangerZone wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:30 pm
Gibsonite wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
same sound on George Harrison’s “cloud 9”
It is. It's awful. All the "oohs" and "aahs" in the background can fuck right off
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 3:47 pm
by Mister Freeze
DangerZone wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:30 pm
Gibsonite wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
same sound on George Harrison’s “cloud 9”
I absolutely love both albums.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:16 pm
by Sleek
Gibsonite wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
Saaame. I play in a Tom Petty trib sometimes, and I fucking hate trying to figure out which of the 20,000 guitar parts to play on the Jeff Lynne stuff.
And I mean, the drum sound on the Jimmy Iovine produced albums is one of the best ever.
Mister Freeze wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am
Heard Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" today for the first time in years. Immediately realized Jim Steinman was the producer. Pompous piano. Check. Creepy, operatic background vocals. Check, check. Overwrought ballad. Check, check, check.
Made me realize how much I can't stand that sound. Bat Out of Hell is a classic, but an outlier. Most of his stuff is dated and weird. Never liked "Total Eclipse of the Heart" either.
ummmmm....don't mean to burst your bubble, but Todd Rundgren produced Bat out of Hell.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:18 pm
by BDG135
When Phil Spector used that wall of echo.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:19 pm
by pieceofme
Rick Rubin
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:41 pm
by JizzySynatra
Tom Allom
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:56 pm
by Sleek
Oh man, I love Tom Allom's early eighties sound...obvs Bristish Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance, but also Kix' first record and Krokus' Headhunter are all just great punchy hard rock sounds.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:23 pm
by ElectricBallroom
Kevin Shirley, for sure. The stuff he mixes is tolerable, depending on the band. Produce and engineer, forget it. That snare sound is vomit.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:26 pm
by daveg
Mister Freeze wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am
Heard Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" today for the first time in years. Immediately realized Jim Steinman was the producer. Pompous piano. Check. Creepy, operatic background vocals. Check, check. Overwrought ballad. Check, check, check.
Made me realize how much I can't stand that sound. Bat Out of Hell is a classic, but an outlier. Most of his stuff is dated and weird. Never liked "Total Eclipse of the Heart" either.
I can't imagine how Hysteria would've turned out if this guy was kept on as producer.
I generally like your contributions here....but once you start in on Air Supply, we got a problem
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:25 pm
by Traxan
Andy Sneap. I don't know what his problem is with the bass but he totally fucking buries it. Just look at Testament's "The Gathering." You got one of the best bassists in all of metal in Steve DiGiorgio and he is barely audible in the mix.
The same thing happened with Nevermore. Neil Kernon produced "Dreaming Neon Black" and Jim Sheppard was audible in the mix. Overall, that album sounds amazing. Then the in comes the Sneapster and Sheppard vanishes.
He even killed the bass for his own band, Hell. The bass on their records is nonexistent.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:33 pm
by Whatever Happened To…
ElectricBallroom wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:23 pm
Kevin Shirley, for sure. The stuff he mixes is tolerable, depending on the band. Produce and engineer, forget it. That snare sound is vomit.
Was going to say the same. There are producers with a signature sound that I don't particularly like but it doesn't ruin the music, but with Shirley it makes me question the hearing ability of everyone involved. His albums are a hard, fatiguing slog on the ears.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:34 pm
by BernieTaupson
BDG135 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:18 pm
When Phil Spector used that wall of echo.
And even when he didn’t he was dog shit. Those 70s Lennon albums he did are mostly garbage. Way too much horrible sax.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:36 pm
by BernieTaupson
Paul Stanley’s production/co-production credits stand for themselves :
All the shitty sounding stuff on PS78
Animalize
Asylum
Hot in the Shade
Sonic Boom
Monster
The fact that he’s only got one fucking ear seems to be lost on him. Probably sounds great to him but dogshit to everyone else.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 2:53 am
by DangerZone
BernieTaupson wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:34 pm
BDG135 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:18 pm
When Phil Spector used that wall of echo.
And even when he didn’t he was dog shit. Those 70s Lennon albums he did are mostly garbage. Way too much horrible sax.
Plastic ono band & imagine sound great
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 4:02 am
by Love_Industry
Michael Beinhorn and Richie Zito made previously great sounding bands / artists sound like arse.
Heart, Soundgarden, Cheap Trick, Ozzy, Bad English (compared to Journey..)
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:15 am
by CrankerBait
Mister Freeze wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 3:47 pm
DangerZone wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:30 pm
Gibsonite wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:21 pm
I love Tom Petty, but I can't stand the sound of the Jeff Lynne-produced albums. The drum sound and layered vocals on Full Moon Fever drive me up the wall
same sound on George Harrison’s “cloud 9”
I absolutely love both albums.
Same here. You can also hear Jeff Lynne's production touch on the Wilbury records, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" from the
Anthology series, and Paul McCartney's
Flaming Pie album. Having said that, my favorite Petty album is probably
Wildflowers, and that was co-produced with the love him or hate him, Rick Rubin.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:47 am
by Love_Industry
BernieTaupson wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:36 pm
Paul Stanley’s production/co-production credits stand for themselves :
All the shitty sounding stuff on PS78
Animalize
Asylum
Hot in the Shade
Sonic Boom
Monster
Great call. Never really thought about this, as the sound is not stand-out atrocious, just ranging from bland and average (Sonic Boom) to pretty bad (Animalize, HITS). But there's no good production among those. That said, the worst production Kiss had are Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise on the first two albums. Two completely different approaches to production (dull, sterile and lifeless vs muddy, sludgy and grungy) and both suck.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:05 am
by JizzySynatra
Sleek wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:56 pm
Oh man, I love Tom Allom's early eighties sound...obvs Bristish Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance, but also Kix' first record and Krokus' Headhunter are all just great punchy hard rock sounds.
Hate the drum sound on those Priest records and the guitar sound is overall weak to my ears. Painkiller fixed those issues.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:31 am
by Turner Coates
Hugh Padgham.
I quickly got tired of that gated verb drum sound he used with Phil Collins.
Phil even copied it himself on production work he did for other artists.
TONS of artists and bands tried to copy it.
Toys like the Yamaha Rev 7 came along and made it easy to fake live.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:11 am
by Love_Industry
JizzySynatra wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:05 am
Sleek wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:56 pm
Oh man, I love Tom Allom's early eighties sound...obvs Bristish Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance, but also Kix' first record and Krokus' Headhunter are all just great punchy hard rock sounds.
Hate the drum sound on those Priest records and the guitar sound is overall weak to my ears. Painkiller fixed those issues.
I love the 80s Priest records but the production wasn't very good and PoE and Defenders were plain bad. The drums on DotF have some ridiculous reverb, it's like he wanted them to sound lile Kiss on Creatures, the most overrated drum sound in metal.
Allom was lucky with Priest, they were a good sounding band when he started working with them so it couldn't get too bad. Take a band that didn't have a great sound to start with, like Krokus or early Leppard and Allom's production made the album sound like dogshit.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:19 am
by Sleek
JizzySynatra wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:05 am
Sleek wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:56 pm
Oh man, I love Tom Allom's early eighties sound...obvs Bristish Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance, but also Kix' first record and Krokus' Headhunter are all just great punchy hard rock sounds.
Hate the drum sound on those Priest records and the guitar sound is overall weak to my ears. Painkiller fixed those issues.
I guess it's just preference. I always thought Painkiller sounded tediously forced-modern, with that stupid clicky kick drum and over-distorted over-compressed guitars. To me, the real Priest sound IS that tighter, cleaner guitar sound mixed with those more natural sounding drums...liiike the first minute of Livin' After Midnight.
No individual instrument sounds amazing, but the gestalt is incredible. Pure punch, which they lost later on.
I always wished they would have done one more album using their old Marshalls and thrown all that digital sounding shit in a dumpster.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:25 am
by GreatWhiteSnake
Sleek wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:19 am
JizzySynatra wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:05 am
Sleek wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:56 pm
Oh man, I love Tom Allom's early eighties sound...obvs Bristish Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance, but also Kix' first record and Krokus' Headhunter are all just great punchy hard rock sounds.
Hate the drum sound on those Priest records and the guitar sound is overall weak to my ears. Painkiller fixed those issues.
I guess it's just preference. I always thought Painkiller sounded tediously forced-modern, with that stupid clicky kick drum and over-distorted over-compressed guitars. To me, the real Priest sound IS that tighter, cleaner guitar sound mixed with those more natural sounding drums...liiike the first minute of Livin' After Midnight.
No individual instrument sounds amazing, but the gestalt is incredible. Pure punch, which they lost later on.
I always wished they would have done one more album using their old Marshalls and thrown all that digital sounding shit in a dumpster.
Yes...
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:36 am
by Turner Coates
BernieTaupson wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:34 pm
BDG135 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:18 pm
When Phil Spector used that wall of echo.
And even when he didn’t he was dog shit. Those 70s Lennon albums he did are mostly garbage. Way too much horrible sax.
I'm sure am glad Bobby Keys can't see this post.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:59 am
by Mister Freeze
daveg wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:26 pm
Mister Freeze wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am
Heard Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" today for the first time in years. Immediately realized Jim Steinman was the producer. Pompous piano. Check. Creepy, operatic background vocals. Check, check. Overwrought ballad. Check, check, check.
Made me realize how much I can't stand that sound. Bat Out of Hell is a classic, but an outlier. Most of his stuff is dated and weird. Never liked "Total Eclipse of the Heart" either.
I can't imagine how Hysteria would've turned out if this guy was kept on as producer.
I generally like your contributions here....but once you start in on Air Supply, we got a problem
It wasn't voluntary. I'm on vacation and it was playing by the pool.
Also heard Guns n' Roses' version of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" - and actually enjoyed it. (I know everybody hates that song here.) But yes, odd playlist for sure.
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:00 pm
by DonJuanDeMarco
Can I blame Brendan O'Brien for Springsteen putting out like 8 shitty albums in a row?
Re: Producers you can't stand because of their signature sound
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:11 pm
by DonJuanDeMarco
SterileEyes1 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:47 pm
Not typical Sludge music, but, Howard Benson.
Wow, this guy has a LOT of credits!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Be ... iscography
Including LOTS of "Sludge music" bands early in his career...
Bang Tango
Child's Play
SouthGang
Tuff
Little Caesar
SouthGang
Motörhead
and the band that shall not be named