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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
please name some
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Like I said, and I'm sure Glice will agree, anything that is really fast, technical, or has a lot of instruments (aside from the GODSPEED album he did). Steve has ONE sound. It doesn't work for every band. That album he did for Shakuhachi Surprise and the one he did for Space Streakings would absolutely be considered essential classics but he fucked up the production, since all the songs are like 300bpm and have layers and layers of keys and weird ass electronic noises (not to mention jet-fueled guitars!). Also, again, those Melt Banana records sound awful.
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one of the hardest things to capture onto tape is the sound of feedback and harmonics that come from speakers
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Eh? I'm not sure about this one. I've been recording kinda-shitty sounding albums with a computer mic for 13 years but I've never had a problem getting harmonics or feedback sounds. That really has more to do with the band setup. If you want to talk about difficult, let's talk about recording multiple instrumentalists playing technical and fast. Which is something albini can't record properly.
No one is disputing that Albini has worked with some talented bands, and he knows how to set up mics to pick up certain sounds well. But his sound flat-out doesn't work on most bands. Really, now that you mention "Guitar oriented music", I really think he would have done a terrible job on something like Daydream Nation. Here's a good one: Imagine him producing Dillinger Escape Plan's "calculating Infinity". That would just sound AWFUL. And that's a band with the "harmonics" and "feedback" (calculated, fast as hell blasts of them), but the loud drums would be so damn lumbering that it wouldn't work. Like I said in my post, he seems to not allow guitar overdubs, always recording bands live, etc. That certainly works for a lot of bands -- especially bands people on here are fans of -- but once outside of his comfort range, it just does not work.
So, he's not a very diverse producer. That's probably his worst flaw.
Also, the absolute best way to get a great feedback or harmonic sound is hooking your amp into the mixing board directly. Mess with some equalization, or the compression, should sound great. I think you're just saying you dig his very very dry sound. But so many bands don't work with that sound.
[quote]steve captures that pureness better than anyone hands down. Point out a
better recording engineer/producer who does this?
Dave Friddman, Mukai Shitoku -- honestly, just about every Japanese producer I've heard; they production is always topnotch -- Brian Paulson, Chris Hufford, Ross Robinson (when he wants to), etc. Hell, Zappa! Listen to "trout mask replica" production -- the purity of the sound on that is mindboggling. Every producer Beefheart worked with, actually, aside from whoever did Strictly Personal, was fucking amazing. Whoever produced the first 10 Fall albums. Etc etc. Didn't John Frusciante self-record his first few albums? Those sound amazing!
The best producers are the ones who produce
for the band, not putting their own personal stamp on every recording they produce. That's why Albini doesn't even consider himself a producer! I have heard plenty of home recordings that are better than anything Albini has recorded. It's really not that difficult to achieve an Albini type sound. Mic up the drums, make them loud to hide any deficiencies in the mix, record live (seemingly with lots of gritty treble).
Albini certainly has a cool sound but he can't be arsed to take himself out of
his sound. Know what I mean? I mean, I'm a huge fan of his, his music, and he was a supernice dude when I met him. I used to actively seek out every album he had anything to do with at all, and have heard some absolute gems (Auteurs "After Murder Park" and that Fred from B-52's solo album! Incredible albums). But I can't really defend his approach to everything he's touched.