What do you think is the best sounding recording of all time?

[David Klausner]

Two CD's I use when checking out systems are the Sheffield test CD for pure testing, and Dire Straits "Love Over Gold" for an extremely well recorded rock/pop album. Neil Dorfsman doesn't get the press some of his more famous cohorts do, but he is an incredible engineer.

[Shane]

All of these are some of the best sounding popular albums I'm aware of. Difficult to seperate liking the song from liking the album, but I'll try.

Nickel Creek. The vocal blend is foremost, but also the clarity and depth of the each instrument is among the best I'm aware of.

Alison Krauss - take your pick. Room for everything in the mix, with in your face but at the same time reserved vocals.

Sarah McLachlin - Surfacing. I love the mix of "Building in the Mystery", particularly the guitar. The entire album is probably the most complete beginning to end album I've heard in years.

[Unregistered]

Happy The Man, by Happy The Man, and Crafty Hands by Happy The Man...

Best all time sound I've ever heard...

Produced by Ken Scott. Awesome.

[Unregistered]

Anything on Donald Fagen's Nightfly or Kamakiriad. Roger Nichols' amazing clarity lets you listen in so deep - system limitations jump out at you! The music's good to!

[tubejay]

For recording quality, I'd go with Tom Petty WildFlowers. Great tight drum sounds.

For production, I'd have to go with Sgt. Pepper. The way everything is arranged is just awesome. Plus I enjoy the human feel of the recording. There are some slightly out of tune vocals, that just sound right to me. George Martin really captured humans making music.

[Tazboy]

Steely Dan - Aja: I use this disc to check the overall performance of a system. The clarity and crispness of this recording is amazing. The excellent musicianship is an added bonus.

Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs: I use this disc to check the reproduction of female vocals which can be difficult for some monitors. This is also a well produced recording with many subtle details that can hide in the mix with poor or inaccurate monitors.

[shrooms]

"Luck of the Draw" (Bonnie Rait) has been my reference CD for evaluating monitor speakers, room acoustics and headphones for about a year now. Not only do the instruments have their own space in the mix, the imaging is such that on my system at home I can close my eyes and visualize their placement in the room. Truly a remarkable performance by the musicians, wonderful production, pristine (transparant) capturing of the performance - not to mention the actual songwriting, which makes it all fun while letting me understand what I am evaluating. And then there's Bonnie Rait's voice: effortless, soulful, dynamic and expressive. The CD ranges from soulful ballad to R&B with "Classic" blues roots, often chargin into stright ahead, in your face rock and roll. There are always a few other tracks from other CD's I will use as well depending on the client and project, but "Lusk of the Draw" has become my standard.

[dougmack]

There's a recording of Charlie Haden from The Montreal Tapes series featuring Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell that sounds deep. The bass is outstanding, better to me than any other recording yet. And the drums and trumpet are exceptionally clear.

[Unregistered]

I use the Sting "I'll be watching you" cut.

It's a great recording for calibration because there is really very little in it.

But everthing that's there is doing it's job 10,000 percent.

I used to use some tracks that basically had the bandwidth filled, but personally I found that setting the systems with more head room open works out better for me.

[Wiz]

Full production: McCartney-"Say goodbye to Broadstreet" motion picture soundtrack. Why? Sounds the same at all volumes and on all systems; GREAT!

Less than full: J.T.

[Terry Wetzel]

You may think my response to this question humorous. Most people who don't appreciate true greatness do. However, to me Hello Marylou, the Rick Nelson classic featuring the great James Burton on lead guitar with Ricks usual band musicians, produced by Jimmy Haskell has to be the finest and best produced pop/rock record ever recorded. If you don't believe me, try listening(really listening) to it. It knocks my socks off!

Terry Wetzel

[dpd]

Obviously, impossible to name one...

How about the classic Mercury Living Presence recordings? Wilma Cozart / Bob Fine.

Almost anything on Reference Recordings Label - 'Professor' Keith O. Johnson

gobs of audiophile stuff that is truly stunning, but just isn't in vogue any more.

[soupbone]

A song called "Great Lengths" by PFR (Pray For Rain). I bought the cd because I was told they were comparable to Yes... which they aren't. But the quality of this song has always knocked me over -- clear, huge, everpresent, dyamically exciting, love the drums, pristine and warm all at once.

[gogoaudio]

I love the recording of AJA by Steely Dan. I am also amazed at what Pink Floyd did using tape.

[dwwave]

It's a tie with me

The Rolling Stones and "Time Waits for No One " f Mick Taylor's Guitar Playing (along with Keith's) is extraordinary

(imho) with this song the guitar duals

and Neil Youngs " A Man Needs a Maid " and this one lyrics, vocals and the less is more aspect

dwwave