Members dahkter Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I'm wrapping up a project that was made with some old four track tapes. Even with all of today's modern technology, it's still a bit on the muddy side. I don't consider this a bad thing, as they are good songs, and some of the albums I grew up enjoying were not so great sonically.When I think of lofi albums that I enjoy, here's what comes to mind:Velvet UndergroundClashPunk Musicmixtapesdubbed cassettesold muddy waters / robert johnson / folklore type musica lot of pre 1950 musicI'm curious if anyone has any of their own recordings of low fidelity that they enjoy listening to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Music Calgary Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 FWIW the Clash Sandanista is one of the finest album recordings I have ever heard. Pure gold. Some Bob Marley recordings are beautiful-but-sketchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I'd go for Velvet Underground!!!! The one with the banana.Hey man ,..I'm still in the process but I figured out you knew that,..Don't be impatient. To top it off,.....I got the Best rapper of our country who's doing 16 bars also,..He's signed but can't wait to work with me on a few tracks. Booshy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 When I think of lofi albums that I enjoy, here's what comes to mind:U2 Unforgettable Fire Um... what? That's a lo-fi recording? I never thought of "Pride" as a poorly-recorded tune in any definition. It's pretty sparkly, if you ask me. I thought Eno and Lanois produced that album brilliantly. I guess my fav would be "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen. Also, not so much a lo-fi than a "loose" recording that's a favorite of mine would be "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" by Dylan, off Blonde on Blonde. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 The Residents: Meet the Residents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 12, 2008 Moderators Share Posted September 12, 2008 The early Cramps stuff The Stooges stuff I always dug Sheryl Crow's 1st one for it's less than ideal recording vibe. It's harsh at times but sounds like the real deal. The Dap Kings have that "{censored}ty is pretty" aesthetic down. The 1st Black Sabbath album! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Frantag Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Smashing Pumkins, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Not lo fi overall but lofi used very effectively throughout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 FWIW the Clash Sandanista is one of the finest album recordings I have ever heard. Pure gold.Some Bob Marley recordings are beautiful-but-sketchy. Good call on Marley/Wailers... I love some of that super lo fi stuff the Wailers were doing before the move to Island. Mind you, I've got a soft spot for the first few Island/Tuff Gong things, too. It isn't until Exodus (1977) that they [or more like it, Marley] started really losing me. But that early stuff is magical, musically speaking. You can put up with a lot of hiss and scratches for that music, seems to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I'd also have to say Black Sabbath, but I was thinking more of "Vol. 4". More recently I'd say "Third" from Portishead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Exile on Main Street Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alfonso Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Soft Machine's "Third", bad recordings but stellar music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Does an intentional lofi sound count? In my opinion, using a good studio to create a lofi sound is just a creative decision or just another effect, like using reverb. Its not a limitation imposed on an artist due to lack of access to better equipment or expertise. Its a "lofi" sounding record, but no a real lofi recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 On older Bollywood songs-the amount of distortion on some of the vocals and the string sections is often appalling, yet somehow charming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted September 12, 2008 Moderators Share Posted September 12, 2008 On older Bollywood songs-the amount of distortion on some of the vocals and the string sections is often appalling, yet somehow charming. Yeah! A lot of that is overdriving the delay. Whatever that delay is they use, and it does seem to be a universal effect in that genre, it's awesome in its cheesy, dirty goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kendrix Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Most of Elvis Costellos stuff stikes me as just a bit challenged sonically.I love R. Haven's Mixed Bag. The tape hiss on it is terrible.These days there are numerous releases that have been ruined by over limiting. Foo Fighters and Counting Crows come to mind.J. Joplin's Cheap Thrills is a favorite but it's a bit choppy production -wise. Some very early CD re-releses of vintage albums were horribly harsh.Musta used the first converters ever built.A Stevie. Wonder disc (forget the name) circa 1985 comes to mind - but there are several ugly ones from that era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theboywho Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Early Bright Eyes stuff is pretty lo-fi, proper bedroom recording style with lots of tape hiss and such. Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska was recorded on a home 4 track, so I guess thats fairly lo-fi, but I think there must have been a fair amount of post-recording work done on it, it sounds pretty clean. The Trinity Sessions by the Cowboy Junkies was recorded live in a church with one microphone, gives it an awesome haunting sound. Most of the Black Keys stuff was recorded on fairly lo-fi equipment too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3red Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 skygreen leopards - one thousand bird ceremonyxeltrei - litotesjohn lee hooker - house of the blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Exile on Main Street See, there's another one. {censored}ing great album, nice and loose, but I don't think of it as "lo-fi" at all. Maybe we need to define what we mean by "lo-fi". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 So much stuff that I love... The first two Pavement Albums, Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. The latter, to me, sounds wonderful. But it is not hi-fi How about Magnetic Fields? Some of their stuff sounds just godawful, as if to prove that Stephen Merritt is brilliant under any circumstances... When Tom Waits aimed for that "Library of Congress Field Recording" sound, well, it's an aesthetic, more than a "fi." But that spacious open roomy sound with distant sounding instruments is very in vogue now, and I think that is not a bad thing. While Rain Dogs is my fav, Bone Machine is the most sonically challenged/challenging, I would say. Lo-fi is quite often intended as time travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members russrags Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Genesis - "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" To me, this record is like eating a gourmet meal off the floor. U2 Muddy Waters RussNashville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dahkter Posted September 12, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 U2 LOL at Russ and Jeff with the ANGER... Let me explain myself. Compared to Boy/War/Joshua Tree, Unforgettable fire is very very muted. To my ears, it seems they pulled some of those tracks straight from a four track with no noise reduction. I also note that Eno basically neglected the hi hats on the majority of the songs (with the exception of Pride and the title track). When you hear "A Sort of Homecoming" live, it's almost a comletely different song. Same thing with MLK and America on side 2. Same thing with Bad live versus Bad on that album. Plerase note I also had a real {censored}ty cassette copy of it. But the CD was also pretty damn hissy and the tracks are definitely murky compared to anything else in their catalog. To Hard Truth:IMO, you can certainly "count" when it's intentional, however most of the time it just isn't the same. How about those vinyl crackle VSTFx? Cool idea, but that absolutely sucks compared to hearing real crackle on a real record. At the end of the day, it's the song that counts, so if they intended it to be lo-fi / muddy/ boxy / sharp / harsh / noisy, I'm cool with it if the track is good. Come to think of it, my U2 example is a bit overreaching, so if you come back to this post tomorrow and see that I've deleted that line, now you know why:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I fully agree about the Genesis Lamb album, their other 70s albums also sound bad to me. (IMO The Lamb album would be a good candidate for a remix) Like many 70s recordings i think the bad sound is due to bad aesthetics more than any lack of access to resources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 See, there's another one. {censored}ing great album, nice and loose, but I don't think of it as "lo-fi" at all. Maybe we need to define what we mean by "lo-fi". Okay, maybe it's not lo-fi But I do think that Andy and Glyn Johns must have been a tad hungover during the sessions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I don't think of "The Unforgettable Fire" as lo-fi either. It's murky in parts, but seems to be still full, with the vocals still having a lot of top end. Some stuff: Bollywood stuff (Kishore Kumar, "Meher Booba" and other stuff from "Sholay", etc. from the 1970s Gravitar Velvet Underground 1950s Cuban stuff (Celia Cruz, etc. and some of the gorgeous big band and son stuff) Early field recordings of Africa and elsewhere - super important and fascinating documented stuff of cultures and music that have since vanished or are not so common anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 See, there's another one. {censored}ing great album, nice and loose, but I don't think of it as "lo-fi" at all.Maybe we need to define what we mean by "lo-fi". "Exile On Main Street" is almost lo-fi. To me, that's almost there, but not quite. Regardless, I think it sounds great, a great job on recording that really captures the band as they were at the time. Absolutely freakin' amazing stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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