Why Modern Music Production Sounds like Ass....

[Klauth]

Not like they are now.

 

[DanTravis62]

Not like they are now.

Honestly I think online text based forums are one of the things that's changed the least since that time period

The big changes seem more like influencer culture in engineering, with youtubers and tiktokers and IG being hugely influential to the sounds of albums

And then how cheap and easy digital is now (compared to in the 90s, when it was about the same as analog recording - in some cases more expensive)

 

[skoora]

Early 2000’s, I’m not an emo guy but I do like Jimmy Eat World when they’re rockin’ out and Bleed American came on I’m my phone shuffle and I’m not sure there’s a better sounding rock record since, except for maybe their own follow up, Futures and 2003’s Blast Tyrant by Clutch.
Both powerful and loud without feeling brickwalled and amazing tones and mixing for all the instruments and vocals.

 

[DanTravis62]

Early 2000’s, I’m not an emo guy but I do like Jimmy Eat World when they’re rockin’ out and Bleed American came on I’m my phone shuffle and I’m not sure there’s a better sounding rock record since, except for maybe their own follow up, Futures and 2003’s Blast Tyrant by Clutch.
Both powerful and loud without feeling brickwalled and amazing tones and mixing for all the instruments and vocals.

That jimmy eat world record has fucking incredible guitar tones

"get it faster"

that harmonized breakdown, holy shit is that heavy (especially for an emo band)

 

[Techdeth]

Funny because I'm listening to an album right now that was recorded in 1992 and the guitars sound very good. I always just assumed it was because most albums were recorded to analog tape at that time.

I also love the way Nevermind sounded (all instruments) even if Kurt didn't like it. In Utero sounded even better to my ears, although I didn't like the album as much as Nevermind. Those are just two albums by one band and they both sounded very different, yet both were good sounding.

I love in utero so much . So nasty and the songs are oozing with a real edge

 

[DanTravis62]

I love in utero so much . So nasty and the songs are oozing with a real edge

The drums sound absolutely enormous on that record

 

[Techdeth]

The drums sound absolutely enormous on that record

I remember thinking wow …. All the fucking miking on the drums and how it mixed I was like this is fresh af . The reverbs on the drums sound like a guitar reverb almost . It’s super cool

 

[Soundstorm]

I'm a Nevermind man, myself. Everything Andy Wallace mixes is just audio perfection (imo). I agree that Albini's style worked in some cases, but not all. High on Fire's one of my favorite bands, and I think some of their strongest material is on Blessed Black Wings, but I think Albini's production style robbed some of their power on that album. Still, dude really knew his shit and I love watching his videos even though he was a sick pedo.

You also have to keep in mind that some of the albums you're talking about from the 90s were made at the absolute peak of the record industry. The best studios, engineers, and producers were all teaming up with some of the best acts at the time who had an actual budget to develop their songs with some of the best ears in the world working with them. It's just not like that anymore. Budgets are tight, studios are closing down left and right. Engineers are selling their old Neve consoles and outboard gear to lower their overhead and are just mixing everything with ProTools and plugins. And also, yes, the loudness wars had a lasting effect on music production that is still affecting the way albums sound in 2026. Everything gets crushed in an effort to keep up with the loudness of current releases.