Song of the Moment: Swallowed Whole

[harmless]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

[WaitingForBluey]

Whereas Pendulum may sound like something that could've fit on Binaural and MFS would have definitely fit nicely on Riot Act, Swallowed Whole, at least to my ears, sounds like something that musically could fit on anything from Vitalogy to Backspacer. It's the most "classic Pearl Jam" sounding song on this album. Which is why I'm confused by the mixed reaction it gets.

[harmless]

The song's pretty great overall, this is just a glitch in the recording. At its best, it could have been on Vs.

[Birds in Hell]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

I just listened again, I don't think there's anything there.

There's some echoed transient sounds during that guitar intro (like a soft "tsss! tsss!" sound) but I'm certain that's a by-product of reverb or delay on the acoustic guitar track, nothing else; it's certainly not a "phantom drum track", at least to my ears.

[harmless]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

I just listened again, I don't think there's anything there.

There's some echoed transient sounds during that guitar intro (like a soft "tsss! tsss!" sound) but I'm certain that's a by-product of reverb or delay on the acoustic guitar track, nothing else; it's certainly not a "phantom drum track", at least to my ears.

Jorge turned it up and put it on an MP3 somewhere in this thread. It's there: some hi-hat and snare drum underneath that guitar intro.

[harmless]

It's even worse because it's slightly out of time. My guess is that they meant to cut it later, but forgot.

[Jorge]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

I just listened again, I don't think there's anything there.

There's some echoed transient sounds during that guitar intro (like a soft "tsss! tsss!" sound) but I'm certain that's a by-product of reverb or delay on the acoustic guitar track, nothing else; it's certainly not a "phantom drum track", at least to my ears.

It's pretty clearly drums bleeding into the guitar's channel. They sound like they might be picked up from somebody's headphones or something. Still don't think it's a big deal.

[Birds in Hell]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

I just listened again, I don't think there's anything there.

There's some echoed transient sounds during that guitar intro (like a soft "tsss! tsss!" sound) but I'm certain that's a by-product of reverb or delay on the acoustic guitar track, nothing else; it's certainly not a "phantom drum track", at least to my ears.

It's pretty clearly drums bleeding into the guitar's channel. They sound like they might be picked up from somebody's headphones or something. Still don't think it's a big deal.

Okay, after listening to Jorge's MP3, I concede I can hear it.

Agreed that it's no big deal.

[evenslow]

Agreed that it's no big deal. That it could ruin the enjoyment of the song for someone is pretty odd.

[Birds in Hell]

Agreed that it's no big deal. That it could ruin the enjoyment of the song for someone is pretty odd.

Now, the important question: is it more or less bothersome than Matt's perfectly OK drum fill from the Sirens video?

I wonder what Harmless thinks of that brief moment in Do the Evolution where all the high end drops out.

[ridleybradout]

Agreed that it's no big deal. That it could ruin the enjoyment of the song for someone is pretty odd.

Now, the important question: is it more or less bothersome than Matt's perfectly OK drum fill from the Sirens video?

I wonder what Harmless thinks of that brief moment in Do the Evolution where all the high end drops out.

I have no desire to find these supposed imperfections and I hope I never do.

Having said that I'm going to be a bastard and bring up one I noticed myself:

At 2:34 it sounds like there a very brief 'skip' kind of glitch - almost like a bad cut and paste job on the drum track.

Discuss!


PS> This song has held up much better to repeat listens than MFS

[mastaflatch]

I'm still finding it difficult to enjoy this song because of that phantom drum track at the beginning that I'm sure is not meant to be there.

You can't tune it out? It's like 5 seconds and barely audible.

Nope, it jumps out at me every time. I can enjoy the rest of the song, but it must be louder in my ears than other people's because I wouldn't call it barely audible.

[Kevin Davis]

At 2:34 it sounds like there a very brief 'skip' kind of glitch - almost like a bad cut and paste job on the drum track.

This is how I feel about the last chorus/bridge/whatever (the "metaphysically redeemed" part) in "Mind Your Manners"--it feels like a copy and paste of the previous chorus stuck onto the end to lengthen the track time.

To my ears this is easily the most atrociously produced of all of their studio records, "S/T"'s brickwalling be damned.

[Norah]

To my ears this is easily the most atrociously produced of all of their studio records, "S/T"'s brickwalling be damned.

I might agree with you.

[Birds in Hell]

To my ears this is easily the most atrociously produced of all of their studio records, "S/T"'s brickwalling be damned.

I might agree with you.

Me too, though I think this and Backspacer are pretty much tied.

[Norah]

To my ears this is easily the most atrociously produced of all of their studio records, "S/T"'s brickwalling be damned.

I might agree with you.

Me too, though I think this and Backspacer are pretty much tied.

Nah, this is a bit worse than Backspacer's production, though they are similar in feel.

[harmless]

Agreed that it's no big deal. That it could ruin the enjoyment of the song for someone is pretty odd.

Now, the important question: is it more or less bothersome than Matt's perfectly OK drum fill from the Sirens video?

I wonder what Harmless thinks of that brief moment in Do the Evolution where all the high end drops out.

Matt's drum fill was not "perfectly OK". It was out of time. If you can't hear that, it is no failing on my part. That said, I find this "no big deal" production issue quite a big deal, a fuck up which diminishes my enjoyment of the song. Apparently there are others, all over this record, and I'm sure you have your own. So it would be really nice, and respectful and stuff, to stop assuming that I'm obligated to have all the same subjective sense impressions as you.

[Birds in Hell]

So it would be really nice, and respectful and stuff, to stop assuming that I'm obligated to have all the same subjective sense impressions as you.

You're assuming an assumption that isn't there, man.

[harmless]

It's just getting old, not just from you but in general. Everyone on RM has their own small issues with the production / instrumentation / Ed's voice / live songs, etc. but so often when it's the harmless account expressing one, the problem is always "no big deal" and nothing to worry about, more often than not because the deal-breaking issues I have are to do with drums and not guitars or "room ambience". I get a lot of attempts to argue that what my ears are picking up as issues, detrimental to my enjoyment, are objectively nothing to worry about, and always from the same people who have plenty of complaints of their own.

[harmless]

But hey, it doesn't matter, I don't want to be called a "whiny bitch" by Soma again.