Song of the Moment: Pendulum

[---]

I don't think you can shelve the blame on O'Brien either, I presume the band must be really happy with how he makes them sound.

Regardless of who deserves the "blame," I do think O'Brien being in the captain's chair is the x factor--more than any other record they've made I feel like his prints are all over this album in a bad way, such that I almost feel like I can hear parts in certain songs (the chords picked out behind the chorus of "Infallible," for example) that just don't sound like the kinds of things the band would come up with, like I can almost see O'Brien leaning over the console saying, "Hey, Stoney baby, let's spread a little arpeggio-flavored frosting on that chorus, whaddya say?" and then using "da-da-da"s to explain how he expects the part to sound. Just because the band is happy with it doesn't mean he's not the guy filling their heads full of bad ideas, and from what he's been saying in interviews it seems like he has no shortage of them.

That moment of distortion on the vocals where Ed sings "easy left me a long time ago" is just the worst. It sounds garish and completely amateurish.

i like that effect and the way it kind of bleeds into the guitar part that follows. Theres a few moments like that in the record. I can understand not liking it for the artifice, though

of course you do

[harmless]

Recording engineers:

Tom Syrowski, Martin Cooke, Billy Joe Bowers, John Burton, Lowell Reynolds, Nick DiDia, Tom Tapley, Floyd Reitsma.

[---]

It's just strange to me.

Jeff, Stone and Ed's solo records all sound fine - relatively unadorned recordings of musicians simply playing songs - but then they make a Pearl Jam record and it comes out sounding like (what I imagine) Kelly Clarkson records sound like.

I don't think you can shelve the blame on O'Brien either, I presume the band must be really happy with how he makes them sound.

Which kills me because the last guy produced the best sounding record they've done.

no code is the best sounding record they've recorded, though riot act is a very, very close second. what happened to o'brien between '96 and now?

[harmless]

I don't think you can shelve the blame on O'Brien either, I presume the band must be really happy with how he makes them sound.

Regardless of who deserves the "blame," I do think O'Brien being in the captain's chair is the x factor--more than any other record they've made I feel like his prints are all over this album in a bad way, such that I almost feel like I can hear parts in certain songs (the chords picked out behind the chorus of "Infallible," for example) that just don't sound like the kinds of things the band would come up with, like I can almost see O'Brien leaning over the console saying, "Hey, Stoney baby, let's spread a little arpeggio-flavored frosting on that chorus, whaddya say?" and then using "da-da-da"s to explain how he expects the part to sound. Just because the band is happy with it doesn't mean he's not the guy filling their heads full of bad ideas, and from what he's been saying in interviews it seems like he has no shortage of them.

That moment of distortion on the vocals where Ed sings "easy left me a long time ago" is just the worst. It sounds garish and completely amateurish.

i like that effect and the way it kind of bleeds into the guitar part that follows. Theres a few moments like that in the record. I can understand not liking it for the artifice, though

of course you do

Seriously, all the other BoB problems notwithstanding, I don't see what's wrong with this particular vocal effect. There's tons of similar shit applied throughout Binaural.

[harmless]

It's just strange to me.

Jeff, Stone and Ed's solo records all sound fine - relatively unadorned recordings of musicians simply playing songs - but then they make a Pearl Jam record and it comes out sounding like (what I imagine) Kelly Clarkson records sound like.

I don't think you can shelve the blame on O'Brien either, I presume the band must be really happy with how he makes them sound.

Which kills me because the last guy produced the best sounding record they've done.

no code is the best sounding record they've recorded, though riot act is a very, very close second. what happened to o'brien between '96 and now?

Cash.

[---]

I don't think you can shelve the blame on O'Brien either, I presume the band must be really happy with how he makes them sound.

Regardless of who deserves the "blame," I do think O'Brien being in the captain's chair is the x factor--more than any other record they've made I feel like his prints are all over this album in a bad way, such that I almost feel like I can hear parts in certain songs (the chords picked out behind the chorus of "Infallible," for example) that just don't sound like the kinds of things the band would come up with, like I can almost see O'Brien leaning over the console saying, "Hey, Stoney baby, let's spread a little arpeggio-flavored frosting on that chorus, whaddya say?" and then using "da-da-da"s to explain how he expects the part to sound. Just because the band is happy with it doesn't mean he's not the guy filling their heads full of bad ideas, and from what he's been saying in interviews it seems like he has no shortage of them.

That moment of distortion on the vocals where Ed sings "easy left me a long time ago" is just the worst. It sounds garish and completely amateurish.

i like that effect and the way it kind of bleeds into the guitar part that follows. Theres a few moments like that in the record. I can understand not liking it for the artifice, though

of course you do

Seriously, all the other BoB problems notwithstanding, I don't see what's wrong with this particular vocal effect. There's tons of similar shit applied throughout Binaural.

the biggest thing is that it's entirely unnecessary. listening to the live versions, ed nails the lyric's delivery, and it's exponentially more emotionally resonant. applying an entirely unnecessary technological treatment is consistent with BoB's - and thus, the band's - refusal to leave well enough alone.

what are you thinking of re: binaural? i'm not recalling such effects, but maybe they're there and i'm just not remembering.

[---]

WTF? why did it eat my reply?

edit: nevermind i did it wrong

[harmless]

I didn't mean that to look as reactionary as it sounded. I'm just not seeing why this little vocal effect is amongst people's biggest production complaints on the record.

[harmless]

Also, I've been reading about Bob Rock's influence on Metallica today. Very interesting.

[stip]

i haven't heard any of the live L-bolt performances yet. Maybe I'll feel differently about that effect after I do.

[---]

i haven't heard any of the live L-bolt performances yet. Maybe I'll feel differently about that effect after I do.

this sounds sooooo good

[---]

f*ck now i'm going to have to listen to that eight or nine times

[Kevin Davis]

I agree with your post on the whole KD, but a few have commented on that Pendulum line, and I don't get it. What's wrong with the distortion? It's obviously there, but to me it sounds fine.

It's just unduly harsh on the ears. That's one of those moments where Eddie's voice should be completely dominating the sonic space but instead it feels like it's being put through the aural equivalent of a paper shredder. I do like the song a lot.

[harmless]

I agree with your post on the whole KD, but a few have commented on that Pendulum line, and I don't get it. What's wrong with the distortion? It's obviously there, but to me it sounds fine.

It's just unduly harsh on the ears. That's one of those moments where Eddie's voice should be completely dominating the sonic space but instead it feels like it's being put through the aural equivalent of a paper shredder. I do like the song a lot.

OK yeah that makes sense; we're not getting the authentic reverberation of his own voice, the manipulation is unnecessary at best.

[stupidmop]

I didn't mean that to look as reactionary as it sounded. I'm just not seeing why this little vocal effect is amongst people's biggest production complaints on the record.

It's arguably the best song on the album, and they still mess it up with something stupid. It's shrill and weird and takes me out of the song everytime. What he's doing live sounds so much better. It's...just......why? It feels like a weird after thought. Like you finish a painting and decide lemme just fling some glitter at it while the paint is wet.

[---]

harmless, where are you hearing similar treatments on binaural?

[harmless]

I can get you feeling that way, but I just don't get why this particular effect -- reverb and distortion, whatever you call it -- is being picked out, in amongst so many other BoBisms. Voice distortion and reverb have been used tons by Pearl Jam. Breakerfall has tons of vocal effects / distortions that you could say were jarring, silly, whatever. And I guess I don't get why this one bothers anyone. It's distortion, it's not Will.I.Am-level autotune.

[harmless]

harmless, where are you hearing similar treatments on binaural?

Just posted. There's an oouuwwwww distorted vocal that comes in at the intro of Breakerfall, that's what I was thinking of specifically, but it's not the only example.

[harmless]

Tom Waits also uses a shit ton of distortion on his vocals. I don't hear any complaints about that stuff.

[stupidmop]

Breakerfall has weird effects throughout the whole song though. And none of sounds like a distorted chipmunk voice.

This is one word randomly in the middle of the song.