Massive Attack - Mezzanine / poorly recorded?

The whole album is heavily "produced", in that all sorts of effects are added to the vocals, and just about everything else, to give it's distinctive dark style. From memory, Black Milk has a vinyl-like crackle running through it. Maybe that's what making the vocals sound distorted? 

 

I haven't noticed any issues that could not be attributed to the deliberate production.

It's a good, not perfect, recording that can sound too up front and overpowering on lesser systems, but the good news is that it sounds better and better as your system quality improves.

 

And I love it, which is the main reason for replying

Massive Attack tends to sound better on systems with a more analog signature.  I prefer their releases on 12" when available.

 

The older stuff does lack a bit of 'cleanness' compared to their newer productions, and I'd put Mezzanine in the former category.

 

It's electronica and trip-hop, though, so I'm not really sure what you're expecting.  Pretty much everything in that genre (including downtempo) is going to have that rough, raw sound to it.  My only suggestion is to tweak your system until you get the sound you want for it, but trip-hop might take some effort.

 

I'm pretty sure what you're hearing with Mezzanine is completely intentional.  I don't think poorly recorded is a good characterization, as that general dark, gritty character is symptomatic of the genre.

This.

 

The vinyl effect is definitely what you're hearing.

 

It could be, but that reproduced vinyl crackle sounds a lot different than real distortion.  Ofc, not a lot of people can probably tell the difference.  Both the simulated vinyl crackle and samples from vinyl should be really easy to pick out, even on a poor system.

I am not hearing distortion beyond the vocal reverb that is present throughout the whole track.  The reverb appears to to get stronger toward the end, but no distortion.  The fake vinyl popping and crackles dwell in roughly the same frequency range as the vocals, so that doesn't help.

I don't know if reverberation on the vocals does that, but I do agree it doesn't sound smooth; but then I also agree that the whole album has the gritty, dark sound that goes with the genre, so probably wasn't meant to sound crisp in the first place.

your probably hearing the slight distortion from the kick in there. it kinda blends in with the vocals, but the vocals is not distorted. most Trip-hop is low-fi(God i hate this word) recording. it's about giving the music atmosphere, a certain feeling. portish head did same thing by using a broken down,beat up distorted piano they found on the streets to record an album cause they liked the sound it gave. it's more about setting a mood really. i like it and why i like lot of trip-hop and down-tempo stuff.

This is one of my favorite albums so I know it quite well.  I don't hear any distortion per se, but the vocal track is clearly processed/compressed just like the rest of the album. 

It's intentional.

 

Study in contrasts and in maximizing the sound/effect.

 

Enjoy...

Definitely intentional, not poorly recorded. Angel, the opener, is one of the first songs I listen to when testing new gear/settings. I love this band, I own all their albums on LP. 

 

The newest 12" EP collaberation with Burial is known for its terrible production, however (I don't have it, sold out before I was aware of the release  so I haven't heard it).

Edited by RazorJack - 12/21/11 at 1:27pm