Recording or Playing ? - Poll.

[Macca]

I thought that Oasis CD's sound the way they do because they were engineered by clowns who didn't have a clue what they were doing.

You are the head of a succesful record label, you sign a band who you are hoping, nay expecting to be really big. So to record their first album you hire a clown who doesn't know what he is doing? Why would you do that? Lets face it that is a scenario that is very unlikely to happen.

[Daniel Quinn]

Oasis signed to Akan McGee's label creation . Nobody forsaw how big they would be , mcgee loved them and spent most of time coked up with them , thats why they signed .

oasis money made creation professional , they were simply playing at it before then .

[Macca]

I think he had an inkling of their potential. He signed them after seeing them once. And he's no fool. In any case the struggle to get the first album to sound how it does is a well-documented fact.

from Wikipedia:

Oasis booked Monnow Valley Studio, near Monmouth, at the start of 1994 to record their debut album. Their producer was Dave Batchelor, who Noel Gallagher knew from his days working as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets. The sessions were unsatisfactory. "It wasn't happening," Arthurs recalled. "He was the wrong person for the job ... We'd play in this great big room, buzzing to be in this studio, playing like we always played. He'd say, 'Come in and have a listen.' And we'd be like, 'That doesn't sound like it sounded in that room. What's that?' It was thin. Weak. Too clean."[9]

The sessions at Monnow Valley were costing £800 a day. As the sessions proved increasingly fruitless, the group began to panic. Arthurs said, "Noel was frantically on the phone to the management, going, 'This ain't working.' For it not to be happening was a bit frightening."[9] Batchelor was let go, and Gallagher tried to make use of the music already recorded by taking the tapes to a number of London studios. Tim Abbot of Creation Records said while visiting the band in Chiswick, "McGee, Noel, me and various people had a great sesh, and we listened to it over and over again. And all I could think was, 'It ain't got the attack.' There was no immediacy."[10]

In February the group returned from an ill-fated trip to Amsterdam and set about re-recording the album at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall. This time the sessions were produced by Noel Gallagher and Mark Coyle. The group decided the only way to replicate their live sound on record was to record together without soundproofing beTtween individual instruments. Over the tracks, Gallagher overdubbed numerous guitars. Arthurs said, "That was Noel's favourite trick: get the drums, bass and rhythm guitar down, and then he'd cane it. 'Less is more' didn't really work then."[10]

The results were still deemed unsatisfactory, and there was little chance of another attempt at recording the album. The recordings already made had to be used. In desperation, Creation's Marcus Russell contacted engineer-turned-producer Owen Morris. "I just thought, 'They've messed up here,'" Morris recalled after hearing the Sawmills recordings. "I guessed at that stage Noel was completely fucked off. Marcus was like, 'You can do what you like – literally, whatever you want." Among Morris's first tasks was to strip away the layers of guitar overdubs Gallagher had added. Morris completed his final mix of the record on the bank holiday weekend in May. Music journalist John Harris noted, "The miracle was that music that had passed through so many hands sounded so dynamic: the guitar-heavy stew that Morris had inherited had been remoulded into something positively pile-driving."[10]


I've got it on vinyl and it sounds excellent. Anyone who doesn't believe me is welcome to come round and have a listen. if it sounds shit on your system that's your system to blame - get rid of those crappy belt drives

[zebbo]

I wouldn't soil my stylus!

[Macca]

I wouldn't soil my stylus!

[Daniel Quinn]

If i had just spent 2k on a stylus , im not sure i could summon up the courage to play it on anything

And Macca to say definitely maybe sounds excellent is absurd . It a wall of sound in your face recording , I can listen to it getting ready to go to the pub , but sitting down and listening to it is a no no .

I like to listen to it as i get ready and pretend I am still a rebel not a father of four .

Is it worth the aggravation
To find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
It's a crazy situation
But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol!

You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line
Cos when it comes on top . . .

[Macca]

I can sit and listen to it, I just imagine I'm getting ready to go to the pub

Can't believe it is over 20 years since that record - where did that go?

[SteveTheShadow]

And Macca to say definitely maybe sounds excellent is absurd . It a wall of sound in your face recording , I can listen to it getting ready to go to the pub , but sitting down and listening to it is a no no.

Phil Spector's productions are also a wall of sound (he invented it) All of his productions are pop gems and if your system is good enough to make the best of them, there is a surprising amount going on in there. Da Doo Ron Ron is full of saxes, double time pianos and shakers as well as the thunder drums of course. Pure genius on the right gear, and as for The Righteous Brothers, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", that is total magic. Get some Walker Bros in too, though not Spector,their records are fabulous if your system can do them justice."The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" is just wonderful.
Check out the beginning;
the four violin notes between the lines,
"Loneliness....is a cloak you wear" and,
"A deep shade of blue ...is always there" ...should not screech. If they do your system is at fault.
There you are; I'm even giving a few concrete examples of tests folk could carry out.

Of course yer average audiophile would dismiss many of these productions out of hand. That's their loss and more of a reflection of a poor system, than anything wrong with the recordings.

If you want the best out of your hi-fi, use these types of recordings for auditioning gear rather than the usual audiophile fodder, they'll tell you more about your system than any so called reference recording ever could. You know it makes sense.

[_D_S_J_R_]

'After the lights go out, what will I do?
After the lights go out, facing the night without you'

[edit] I readily agree about a good system really bringing more out in these tracks, technical imperfections and all...

[Lindsayt]

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list? ... definitely

Definitely Maybe has a Dynamic Range of 11 on the original vinyl and only 4 to 7 on the various CD versions. I've only got the CD version.

Any album that's supposed to be recreating live sound that has a DR of 4 to 7 has been engineered by clowns that don't know what they're doing.