Josh Evans the producer

[evenslow]

seems like an amiable young man.

[adamhewett]

Hoping for some awesome guitar stuff on Gigaton with this guy behind the controls.

does stone even play guitar anymore? the last couple shows i watched on youtube it seems he can't wait to have his hands off his guitar and just stares at matt.

i know it sounds dick'sh to say, but i'm not kidding. dude is in a 15 year "less is more/simple means more" thing.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Hoping for some awesome guitar stuff on Gigaton with this guy behind the controls.

does stone even play guitar anymore? the last couple shows i watched on youtube it seems he can't wait to have his hands off his guitar and just stares at matt.

i know it sounds dick'sh to say, but i'm not kidding. dude is in a 15 year "less is more/simple means more" thing.

Stone often looks bored and not in the moment. It's like he's going through the motions of his day job and daydreaming about finishing and going home to play video games.

[scrub12]

They always play that Stone quote on PJ radio where he says something about not wanting to write anything that’s too difficult to play live, and I hate it.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Stone: "I'm lazy as fuck".

[adamhewett]

Hoping for some awesome guitar stuff on Gigaton with this guy behind the controls.

does stone even play guitar anymore? the last couple shows i watched on youtube it seems he can't wait to have his hands off his guitar and just stares at matt.

i know it sounds dick'sh to say, but i'm not kidding. dude is in a 15 year "less is more/simple means more" thing.

Stone often looks bored and not in the moment. It's like he's going through the motions of his day job and daydreaming about finishing and going home to play video games.

careerist.

[verb_to_trust]

If you had to work with BoB and Ed on total crap, would you show up to work ready to go all out? Like, do you get mad at the guy running the fryer at McDonald's for not acting like he's changing the world?

[adamhewett]

If you had to work with BoB and Ed on total crap, would you show up to work ready to go all out? Like, do you get mad at the guy running the fryer at McDonald's for not acting like he's changing the world?

maybe i only go to mcdonald's for the fries. maybe i expect quality. maybe if that fryer is slacking for the paycheck someone should remind them there's an edward already doubling up his spot.

[96583UP]

oh look, it's josh evans. thayil's guitar tech.

i loved this interview when it came out

help us Evans Josh Kenobi, you're our only hope

maybe he was wise enough to just make Ed's vocals so quiet they just sound like white noise and are overpowered by Jeff's bulging bass

[joostone]

The producer did a fine job on Dance of the Clairvoyants.

Eddie sounds great! Listen to this track with headphones, it's blowing my mind and I want to fix and fire things ahhhhh

[warehouse]

this dude clearly had an impact on the band. first single is way different than other stuff they've done, especially singles. really pumped for this album now.

[stip]

how many xmas card lists did this guy just get on?

[evenslow]

how many xmas card lists did this guy just get on?

not BOB's.

[EJ]

I love the production of DOTC. Really bodes well for this album. We need some of the experts to chime in here.

[stip]

trag had a nice post somewhere in the DotC thread

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[EJ]

need some production specific criticism from trag and mcp and spenno here.

I have literally no criticisms -- I think it sounds amazing. It's the best sounding PJ track since Riot Act, and it really bring a level of atmospherics into play not heard since Binaural (NAIS and Of The Girl), but it's still its own thing.

I'm surprised to hear that's a live snare track; I had guessed based on the earlier snippets that it was a live kick and toms, but that the snare was sampled. But it's an incredibly easy sound to get with a live snare: dampen the thing so that there's no decay, then add some distortion/extremely heavy compression on your snare track.

Other things I love? How those tom hits fill out the space in the front of the mix, with the synth and layered vocals filling up the wider sides of the stereo field. Ed's voice is mixed at a comfortable level, not overtaking the track at all. Mike's guitar is sitting right in the pocket, and the shimmery acoustic guitar really makes the chorus feel lush.

But most importantly, and this is HUGE if it's continued throughout the album: Ed doesn't seem to be using a condenser mic anymore. I've always believed he was using a dynamic mic from Ten-Binaural, and then he switched over to a condenser mic on Riot Act...

They're very different vocal mics, with a condenser mic picking up WAY much more of the breath and air around a singer's voice. It's been such a confounding creative choice given how his voice was aging. By going back to a dynamic mic, we're not stuck hearing all every little breath he takes, and we can just focus on his lovely baritone. It's much more flattering on his current voice, and I hope it's applied through the entire album.

It's almost like Ed hasn't sounded awful on the last couple albums. Here he sounds incredible -- older, less limber in his larynx, and yeah, it's an obvious Byrne approach. But to my ears it fucking rules, and it's so great to hear a deep, layered, colorful mix built around a flattering capture of his voice, rather than the LB approach of "Everything's loud and up front, but nothing's louder or more up front than Ed!"

Nice writeup, thanks. Talk about Jeff and Stone when you get a chance.

[Bammer]

That interview was great and it totally makes sense that after 7 years since LB and 3 years recording, they would have like 8 million ideas/parts to cobble together. It’s no wonder so many songs have like 8 different parts and don’t repeat the verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structure.

[oneway23]

Love the info from Trag on the dynamic mic as compared to the condenser...That stuff sets my heart a'flutter.

Oh, and that Evans kid has a future

[ghost]

I wish they could go back and have a do-over on Lightning Bolt with Evans. Not all the songs are salvageable, but Getaway, My Father's Son, LB, Swallowed Whole, and Yellow Moon would probably improve dramatically. And who knows what he might have done with Sirens and Infallible.