[naurispunk]

 
Finally my PA2V2 arrived! Well I say finally. It did arrive on time so thanks Airmail.
 
Anyway I was browsing through my 320 kbps mp3 collection and I realised that as much as I love my albums from SoCal punk bands like The Offspring and Pennywise they are not that great when It comes to recordings themselves. What I mean by that is I like the songs and everything but you can kind of tell that these were put together using computer. On the other hand when I listen to anything put out by say The White Stripes with this amp it becomes something amazing in that you can hear so many little sounds and glitches and all the stuff that (to me) makes records alive (stuff like hearing Alice In Chains fingerpicking or Cobain exhale in between words on Unplugged... ok this is creepy).
 
So I was wondering what other bands are there outhere that record their music for people who might listen to it using something better than 128 kbps mp3 format? 
 
By the way, Im not asking just about punk rock or rock in general. For example after recommendation I listened to Norah Jones and it also sounded really good (I mean really really good). Although I did fall asleep within the first 2 minutes or so

 

[TopspinTEC]

Rock:
A Day to Remember
Dead by April
Emarosa
 
Vocal:
Norah Jones
Frank Sinatra Collectors
 
 
Senses Fail and Anberlin are two of my favorite bands, but the recordings sound ewww

 

[zdkaiser]

Anything released or re-released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs will sound amazing.
 
Artists include:
 
Bob Marley, The Band, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra,  Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Thelonious Monk, Beck, Counting Crows, Metallica, etc. etc.
 
Some bands I find to pride themselves in the recording process:
 
Radiohead, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emperor, etc. etc.
 
Basically I feel that any artist releasing their material on Vinyl these days, has spent a somewhat considerable amount of time mixing and engineering the album. Then again, I could be overlooking a lot, especially punk/indie bands that still release 7inchers. Look for artists that release albums on 180g or 200g vinyl. They are the ones who care about sound.
 
 

 

[naurispunk]

 
Quote:

Anything released or re-released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs will sound amazing.
 
Artists include:
 
Bob Marley, The Band, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra,  Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Thelonious Monk, Beck, Counting Crows, Metallica, etc. etc.
 
Some bands I find to pride themselves in the recording process:
 
Radiohead, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emperor, etc. etc.
 
Basically I feel that any artist releasing their material on Vinyl these days, has spent a somewhat considerable amount of time mixing and engineering the album. Then again, I could be overlooking a lot, especially punk/indie bands that still release 7inchers. Look for artists that release albums on 180g or 200g vinyl. They are the ones who care about sound.
 
 

Thanks man! I'll look into this.
 

 

[rymd]

Gorillaz, Weezer, Flaming Lips, 
bands, I can barely think of any who engineer good recordings
but expand that to artists, and i can think of many
then it's like...
kanye west, norah jones, diana krall, eric clapton, imogen heap
I think most mainstream big name acts have pretty decent engineered records now a days
and uhh if you look into classical singers, electronica related music, production is usually pretty good

 

[Zombie_X]

Iced Earth's two newest albums sound pretty good IMO and don't have the typical bass bloat found in modern recordings.

 

[bisayaboi]

A Perfect Circle, Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, How to Destroy Angels, School Food Punishment, Radiohead... Fear Factory's newest album is produced quite well. Team Sleep and Tool are good mentions too.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Nine Inch Nails offer the their latest album, The Slip, in any format up to 24/96 completely free, as well as the first part of the instrumental albums Ghosts 1-4. I got The Slip in FLAC and Ghost 1 in MP3, and they are very well recorded and mastered. Some songs on both are not that great, but the good songs and the amazing sound quality more than make up for them. 

 

[Hi-Five]

+1
 
Any Radiohead album, always sounds great
Nine Inch Nails ("With Teeth" and later, earlier albums can be harsh, were mostly self-produced)
 
also...
Rage Against the Machine can sound good with right gear
Air (great quality, very widely panned, interesting listens, specifically "Talkie Walkie" is exceptional)
Most MTV Unlugged albums sound great (Nirvana, Alice in Chains)
Blue Note's 24-bit Remasters are a great collection for Jazz greats, Coltrane, Blakey, Tyner, etc.
 
Just off the top of my head to start!

 

[bisayaboi]

Cheers to NIN fans! Reznor is one who truly appreciates quality in his music.
 
Quote:

Rage Against the Machine can sound good with right gear

I honestly think it's more of RAtM sounding so good (skill/musicianship) rather than being recorded so well. Just me though.
 

 

[bisayaboi]

By the way to you NIN fans or simply fans of hi-fi recording I HIGHLY recommend listening to How to Destroy Angles. Their 6-track EP is FREE and it's upgradeable to FLAC/lossless file for only $2 and access to other goodies.
 
http://www.howtodestroyangels.com/store/

 

[Hi-Five]

Good point, recordings aren't great, but dial in the right set of cans and you'll have to duct tape them to your head so they don't fly off!  I love Rage on vinyl; full, raw, deep and just plain mean!
 
Quote:

I honestly think it's more of RAtM sounding so good (skill/musicianship) rather than being recorded so well. Just me though.
 

 

[naurispunk]

 
Thanks everyone for suggestions.
 
I totally forgot about NIN. Listened to And All That Could Have Been in the morning and decided to call in sick today
 
Also just listened to My Orphan Year by NOFX. PA2V2 really makes difference on acoustic stuff.
 
It is also amazing to listen to Billy Talent (feat Anti Flag) - Turn Your Back with this amp because when I use my XD-53 the bass line is just so clear and wonderful. At the same time if you listen to that song with Grados (i have SR80i) bass is so so but everything else just comes alive. 

 

[Permagrin]

You should check out the band Hurt. Their first album, Volume 1, was very well-recorded and is quite rewarding to listen to on a nice setup. Not sure about their subsequent albums though as I haven't got around to listening to 'em yet. Too much music, too little time...

 

[abhinit90]

Iron maiden AFAIK