Song of the Moment: Swallowed Whole

[stip]

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.

That is a pretty bold statement. I am intrigued

[evenslow]

Yeah, I'm intrigued to hear something more descriptive than 'it's bad I don't like it.'

For I might agree.

[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.

That is a pretty bold statement. I am intrigued

It's hard to describe. But this is a very soulless record to me, there's no air in here at all. And then, it sounds like every trick used to tweak the sound was done about twice as strong as it needed to be. It makes everything sound very artificial to me. I hear it on Ed's voice, it's not just the warbling, but when when his voice tries to resonate it's like there's this weird metalic thing going on behind it. It's similar to how I describe autotune as an effect, but it's not that.

KD will be able to describe these sounds a lot better than me, that is if he's hearing the same things.

[Norah]

As much as I like the first 55 seconds of Lightning Bolt, I hate how Ed's voice sounds there.

[harmless]

As much as I like the first 55 seconds of Lightning Bolt, I hate how Ed's voice sounds there.

"...like oh-uh burning meteor...", "...uh-looking for a place to land..."

Why must he do this??

[stip]

Yeah it isn't the greatest. I can see not liking the production here, but this is (I think) the strongest set of dongs in a long time so these are minor annoyances

[mray10]

Yeah it isn't the greatest. I can see not liking the production here, but this is (I think) the strongest set of dongs in a long time so these are minor annoyances

Rank the dongs!

[Kevin Davis]

the strongest set of dongs

[EJ]

Yeah it isn't the greatest. I can see not liking the production here, but this is (I think) the strongest set of dongs in a long time so these are minor annoyances

Rank the dongs!

1. 50 foot Roman
...



The rest

[harmless]

Ride me a big wave.

[Norah]

As much as I like the first 55 seconds of Lightning Bolt, I hate how Ed's voice sounds there.

"...like oh-uh burning meteor...", "...uh-looking for a place to land..."

Why must he do this??

It's not just the warble itself. It's the resonance of the sound of his voice when he does the warble. Whatever's been down to the sound in production was done to the extend that it makes it sound very artificial. I hate it.

[harmless]

As much as I like the first 55 seconds of Lightning Bolt, I hate how Ed's voice sounds there.

"...like oh-uh burning meteor...", "...uh-looking for a place to land..."

Why must he do this??

It's not just the warble itself. It's the resonance of the sound of his voice when he does the warble. Whatever's been down to the sound in production was done to the extend that it makes it sound very artificial. I hate it.

Can't say I'm hearing exactly what you're hearing (it's so difficult to discuss this stuff) but I think I get what you mean. If it was just a bit quieter against the mix, the problem would be lessened.

[Norah]

If it was just a bit quieter against the mix, the problem would be lessened.

For sure.

[Birds in Hell]

For me, it's also the sense that you're not really hearing Pearl Jam so much as Pearl Jam as refracted through the Brendan O'Brien hit machine.

That isn't to say that I think the band wasn't entirely on-board with the production decisions he's made on the last two albums, I presume they were, but after listening to their work for a long time (both inside and outside of Pearl Jam) I think I have some sense of what kind of sounds and textures these guys usually default to and there's a lot of things I hear on those records that don't seem to fit with that aesthetic.

S/T has some blatant, and well-discussed, production issues but it at least it feels more like a Pearl Jam record (just one that sounds really bad). With the last two, there's been an extra voice in the room which has clearly had a significant impact on the end result.

[Norah]

S/T has some blatant, and well-discussed, production issues but it at least it feels more like a Pearl Jam record (just one that sounds really bad). With the last two, there's been an extra voice in the room which has clearly had a significant impact on the end result.

yup

[Mike]

It feels like every instrument is completely seperate from each other. I'm hearing every member of Pearl Jam put on top of each other in Pro Tools but I don't hear Pearl Jam. Backspacer while being super polished still felt more like a band playing than LB (Still not nearly as organic as earlier records).

[evenslow]

Yeah it isn't the greatest. I can see not liking the production here, but this is (I think) the strongest set of dongs in a long time so these are minor annoyances

Rank the dongs!

1. 50 foot Roman
...



The rest

[harmless]

S/T has some blatant, and well-discussed, production issues but it at least it feels more like a Pearl Jam record (just one that sounds really bad). With the last two, there's been an extra voice in the room which has clearly had a significant impact on the end result.

yup

[harmless]

I'm wondering whether to put down my hopes that they'll ever go for something new in that regard. Did they just want to shake things up aesthetically for a time, or is this it now?

[Mine]

For me, it's also the sense that you're not really hearing Pearl Jam so much as Pearl Jam as refracted through the Brendan O'Brien hit machine.

That isn't to say that I think the band wasn't entirely on-board with the production decisions he's made on the last two albums, I presume they were, but after listening to their work for a long time (both inside and outside of Pearl Jam) I think I have some sense of what kind of sounds and textures these guys usually default to and there's a lot of things I hear on those records that don't seem to fit with that aesthetic.

S/T has some blatant, and well-discussed, production issues but it at least it feels more like a Pearl Jam record (just one that sounds really bad). With the last two, there's been an extra voice in the room which has clearly had a significant impact on the end result.

IMO there being an extra voice isn't as much of an issue. I don't think so many of us would be bothered with it if the end results didn't sound as forced. O'Brien seems to take away from them to make room for himself instead of bringing the best out of them in the 1st place.