SY's Best Produced Album?
 

Let me start by saying that I dont mean best produced in a technical, commercial sense. I mean which record does everyone here think best captures SY's raw and overwhelming live sound on an album? Who do you think has been SY's best producer?

I was listening to the 2nd disc of DDN with all the live sounds and couldn't help but notice how some songs sounded amazingly better live. The sounds were more rich like the wall of sound moments on "Hyperstation" or the denseness of the sprawl. Listening to the live versions there was so much stuff that could have been better mixed I feel.

all of the other albums' production sounds like it was attempting the production of this album.

I tend to agree with suchfriends but i will add a coda and say sister is the worst produced out of every single album they have done (i love all the tracks, just the production sounds like shit).

I actually agree with Sonic Nurse as far as the pop albums. But then Bad Moon Rising and Confusion is Sex are absolutely brilliant on a different tip (actually two different tips as Bad Moon is layered sonic experimentalism while Confusion is much more letting the tonal noise echo with very little augumentation).

sonic nurse sounds the best, but it's amongst their worst.

sister sounds the worst, but it's amongst their best.

Is there some kind of lesson to be learned there?

The drums on most of Sister annoy me to no end. The ones on "Schizophrenia" just aren't loud or clear enough! For production, I say Murray Street.

all of sister sounds like the mics were in buckets of water

Oh well, there'll never be a deluxe edition. I'll live.

A Thousand Leaves, I thought, had really great production; it's how Sister and Bad Moon Rising should have sounded.

Really, just talking purely about drum sound (which is probably the most important aspect to me), I'd probably say Nurse...

The production of Bad Moon sounds "right" to me. 1000 Leaves is good, too.

Bad Moon Rising is perfect for what they were trying for. It's funny, because at the time I read an interview where they were seriously talking about how it was a "slicker" sound, which compared to the 8 track recording on Confusion is Sex, it was. But yeah, it's muddy in all the right ways in all the right places, and the drums sound like ships crashing into each other in the night more than a human keeping time on a kit. I think it is actually their most Branca influenced record in terms of sound and atmosphere, even though they were moving away from him personally at the time.

you guys are crazy, the production on sister is my favorite, that and bad moon rising. i love how sister sounds like it was recorded underwater. its like the early JAMC.
one of my favorite sounding albums ever.

you read my mind

hmm, i'd agree that the production on the older albums is a bit shit, but i like it.

the best ones would definately bee later ones, like, goo, dirty, washing machine and as everyone else said, nurse

Sonic Nurse, EVOL, Daydream Nation.

NYC G&F

But I like the "sound" of many albums. The "production flaws" add some flavor to each SY era, methinks.

NYC G&H had some nice guitar tones.

girls and hoes? :D

I think EVOL sounds just brilliant ... it's muddy, reverbey and stuff, but the atmosphere is haunting as fuck.

i really like the productions on confusion is sex, nycg&f and ejtns.

for me, 1000leaves, NYCGAF, Murray St and Nurse sound like what Sonic Youth should sound like (for me)

I wish :eek:

in fact i don't think it's easy to say. It depends on the angle.
- the production i like best is "Washing machine"'s becuz it really sounds bluesy and weird and classic. So powerful. Everything in its right place. On this record, the production is used as an instrument or a fifth member me think.

- if u listen to Murray St or Nurse, the production adds less "value" to the atmosphere of the record but it's way more powerful, clean so it gives you the opportunuity to really dig each instrument if u have a nice stereo system.

- each time i listen to "Sister" i regret the underwater feeling. This record should be remixed, remastered but we all know it's impossible for technical reasons, which is a shame if not a good anecdote.

- the production of BMR is muddy as fuck which perfectly fits intentions and the songs themselves and same goes for the idea of production being a fifth member on this one also. Imagine BMR with the Murray St production. meh.

- I deeply love the sound of SYR1 + SYR 2 + ATL (that go together) as it's sooooooooo emo? I mean the drums and the guitar tones are set up and played so precisely it gives me the creeps each time.

- the production i like the least would be NYCGF, but that's also because this LP is so minimalistic i was disappointed, but i learnt to listen to it a different way.

- AND what about Goo + Dirty? Well i love the sound of both. So much more powerful and sonic than the other LPs.

To each his own i guess
sorry i'm a fan.

maybe i dont know what emo means anymore but surely SYR's and ATL are anything but emo?

why cant they remaster Sister? Is it because they recorded over the Master tapes?

yah.

i think NYCGaF is the best technically produced - it's so fucking clean and clear. murray st would be up there, but it's so without personality.

EJSaNS has all my favourite sonic youth tonal moments, the open string Lee plays on Skink - droolworthy. the string resonates with each pluck before being attacked again. i feel so fucking wired to it, that one guitar part is the closest any band playing guitar has come to producing similar feelings in me to those first analogue synths. i think they expanded on this production through ATL and finally onto NYCGaF to get to what i'd call their digital era.

the production on dirty is awful. ok, awful is a bad choice. it's commercial. i adore that album, though.

bad moon rising is fantastic. whether intentional or not, it really is like having a 5th member.

i'm gonna have to give EJSTANS another go. Never got into it at first (or second)

EVOL - suits the atmosphere perfectly, the really weird bass tone on this album was so weird for me when I first heard it, I couldn't believe they settled on it... its not a dead thunk or a groovy-bass sound, its more wide open and reverby.

Murray Street - All the business going on the background is really cool, especially the subtle-Lee stuff during Karenology. Jim O'Rourke also pitched alot of weird guitar sounds, I like the flute-sounding guitar on 'Disconnection Notice'

Washing Machine - tape hiss in all the right spots.

that was a joke, only hinting at the fact ATL makes me feel so emotive and thoughtful.

After much thought, i think Goo sounds the worst, from every level.

Washing Machine and Sonic Nurse.

They both coinside the raw and elegant senses of sonic youth and its all crystal clear.

Best quote of 2008!!!

EVOL has the best production, suits it's intense but contained atmosphere.

Sister !!!
This album has a unique sounding, very particular, row, live... And the drums are tremendous on songs like Catholic block, Stereo sanctity, Tuff Gnarl, Pipeline/Kill time... and the guitars are realing cracking, no ?

agree with Atsonic concerning Goo... The 8 track demos sound better.

a-men!

It's just my opinion. Don't take it religiously.

do you still post on the emo board?

Well, I check it out less and less regularly, I haven't posted since a week. I'm fed up with the Miss-know-it-all and all those whining dickheads...

like a lot of people have said, i think Sonic Nurse is the clearest, richest, most colourful sounding recording they've done, its the jim o'rourke factor!
and also have to agree that sister is not a well recorded album, it sounds hollow, and its a testament to the quality of the material that stuff like white cross and catholic block still sounds so intense.