Binaural / Riot Act / Avocado Vinyl Re-Issues?

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[bune]

I just can't imagine having a collection of songs that are performed and captured this well, and being incurious or unmotivated or SOMEthing enough to both let them get mastered into sounding like garbage and also making the album art every possible argument for hesitation in buying.

So is it Adam Kasper's fault for the initial mixing, or the person uncredited for the master (Bob Ludwig?).

IM pretty certain they just wanted the songs to sound as aggressive as possible. This was after the canadian tour, the failed VFC tour, and int he midst of the Iraq war.

I think that was their thought process. Just make it sound pushed to the limit and as aggressive as possible.

This actually sounds right.

Their angst worked in the early years, but it was through their writing and playing styles. Trying to force an aggressive sound through mixing/mastering is not ideal. These latest mixes/masters are proof of that.

it hasnt aged well, but it felt fresh and a powerful response to the generally perceived (at the time) shortcomings of binaural (closed off and distant) and Riot Act (passive). it was angry, fiery, immediate, aggressive, and what was needed in the moment. the problem arises when the moment passes and you are left with songs produced for a context and time that has passed. S/T (the formal mix) works best as a historical document. this spotify mix works better as a set of songs for any seaaon.

My reaction to first hearing the album was that an era had ended. Binaural was an experiment that they gave up on too soon, but this was the first record where they aimed at being Pearl Jam and came up embarrassingly short. "We've still got it," they announced, as they relentlessly demonstrated otherwise...and it's baffling the degree to which that "failure" now appears to have been good performances hidden by bad sound.

Ed's low end sounded like he had a head cold. Not, it turns out, because his voice had actually changed that much between 2002 and 2006, but because the smashed-up mastering robbed the vocals of room to live. His most resonant frequencies were overwhelmed while his least flattering were carried over. On songs like Life Wasted, his upper register sounded thin, teary-eyed, and almost desperately exerted, because the middles that gave it muscle, shape, and heart were stolen away by guitar tones that sounded like a raw hatred of all human hearing. On Marker, the background singing in the chorus swamped the lead vocal's frequencies until it was left sounding like pitchy mud. On Comatose, the gravel carried through so much more completely than the actual core voice that it sounded overdone. Less like a growl, and more like a very past-its-prime sore throat.

Basically, Ed sounded awful...and the emotion of his delivery was often sacrificed by the punishing treatment of the mix.

The musical performances, meanwhile, sounded meathead-direct. Play it hard and fast, and never mind the bollocks. The band that used to take pretty unaccomplished, or even embarrassing writing (Torture from you to me!) and turn it into cathartic emotion sounded like hurried professionals with better things to do (Matt and Mike notwithstanding). Lots of flashy rockstar moments went by, but the performances never felt like they really lived up to the writing. For a band that had just made *Riot Act* to sound so....robotic, maybe?...was a system shock.

None of that rings true, with the new mix. It has space and atmosphere, drama and resolution. Every part is well captured. We've all heard albums ruined by bad production or mastering, and heard some get "repaired" or revealed. New remixes come out. Bootlegs of unmastered recordings pop up. Etc. I've never heard one where the successes and the heart of a record were so brutally undercut by such a simple, simple process before.

There are too many tiny exposures in this mix to even track, but there's a squeal of guitar decoration from 0:55-1:10 in Big Wave, coming out of the left side, that I really, really enjoy.

[B]

I just can't imagine having a collection of songs that are performed and captured this well, and being incurious or unmotivated or SOMEthing enough to both let them get mastered into sounding like garbage and also making the album art every possible argument for hesitation in buying.

So is it Adam Kasper's fault for the initial mixing, or the person uncredited for the master (Bob Ludwig?).

IM pretty certain they just wanted the songs to sound as aggressive as possible. This was after the canadian tour, the failed VFC tour, and int he midst of the Iraq war.

I think that was their thought process. Just make it sound pushed to the limit and as aggressive as possible.

What failed in the VFC tour?

[bodysnatcher]

actually voting for change, probably

[McParadigm]

I just can't imagine having a collection of songs that are performed and captured this well, and being incurious or unmotivated or SOMEthing enough to both let them get mastered into sounding like garbage and also making the album art every possible argument for hesitation in buying.

So is it Adam Kasper's fault for the initial mixing, or the person uncredited for the master (Bob Ludwig?).

IM pretty certain they just wanted the songs to sound as aggressive as possible. This was after the canadian tour, the failed VFC tour, and int he midst of the Iraq war.

I think that was their thought process. Just make it sound pushed to the limit and as aggressive as possible.

What failed in the VFC tour?

The part where all of it?

Ed commented around that time that an inability to impact people when it really matters was a side effect of escaping the spotlight that he regretted.

[bodysnatcher]

makes sense.

i also think it was a common string directly connected to the Riot Act tour where Ed had frustrations being political, and getting backlash from a crowd that just wanted to be at a rock show. i think he blamed himself for not having as strong as a voice, when he should have been blaming himself for misinterpreting PJ's general fan base.

[stip]

In the spirit of this discussion, I would again HIGHLY recommend the backspacer new mix posted in the backspacer thread a little while back. It's just someone using the CD track and playing with levels, etc. but there are a few songs where it is incredibly transformative (Unthought Known and especially Got Some), and almost always interesting.

[stip]

Not sure if this is still a live link

Backspacer - The New Mixes (mp3)

PEARL JAM
=========
Backspacer - The New Mixes
=======================

Gonna See My Friend
Got Some
The Fixer
Just Breathe
Johnny Guitar
Supersonic
Amongst The Waves
Force Of Nature
Speed Of Sound
Unthought Known
The End

Mixes created with stems provided by potzorbie in Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SongStems/comm ... ackspacer/

https://mega.nz/#F!aFlFjZKa!cUugK7gCMHtwDXduiO88Gg

[bune]

Can't get to reddit, but did they do this with the stems from Rock Band?

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Can't get to reddit, but did they do this with the stems from Rock Band?

Yep.

[bodysnatcher]

are the Avocado tracks on Spotify (US) still the possible new versions? or were those removed?

[BootsToAsses]

Wow, the Backspacer remix is 10 times better than the official version!

Got Some and Unthought Known sound radically different. The main issue I have with the original mixing of the record is how flat and compressed the drums sounded. This new mix is totally better!

[ridleybradout]

are the Avocado tracks on Spotify (US) still the possible new versions? or were those removed?

Hard to say what you in particular will hear because of the way Spotify caches previously listened to tracks (so people can end up with a mix of old and newly mastered versions, live versions etc.).

Best to download the 320k rip I put together

[bodysnatcher]

are the Avocado tracks on Spotify (US) still the possible new versions? or were those removed?

Hard to say what you in particular will hear because of the way Spotify caches previously listened to tracks (so people can end up with a mix of old and newly mastered versions, live versions etc.).

Best to download the 320k rip I put together

you're a god amongst men

[bodysnatcher]

yeah this sounds really good, wow

[Bi_3]

yeah this sounds really good, wow

This has been a good seven days for the Jamily.

[stip]

Wow, the Backspacer remix is 10 times better than the official version!

Got Some and Unthought Known sound radically different. The main issue I have with the original mixing of the record is how flat and compressed the drums sounded. This new mix is totally better!

they do, right. Got Some is so powerful here, and so thin on backspacer

[stip]

I love the echo effect on the vocals in parts of Unthought Known

[evenslow]

Just started listening to the remixed Backspacer and you're right, Got Some is SO much more interesting now. You can hear each instrument and it just has more pop overall.

[Bi_3]

Just started listening to the remixed Backspacer and you're right, Got Some is SO much more interesting now. You can hear each instrument and it just has more pop overall.

So you're saying there's a chance I might be able to make it more than 40 seconds into this turd of a song?