Man, maybe I am getting old but.. I've been listening to the album on Spotify since Friday and I don't hear an issue. Or maybe I am not understanding what everyone means by "compressed".
Personally, I cant STAND when every instrument and the vocals all stand on their own... to me that has been the problem with the last few PJ albums, way over produced and everything sounds "perfect" and Ed's vocals seem to be sitting on top of the mix. I actually prefer the more "muddied", garage rock mix of the earlier albums (minus Ten) where Ed's vocals were mixed in and not smacked in your face.
Am I just misunderstanding "compressed" because again... the Spotify version sounds just fine. Honestly, in terms of sound quality, doesnt sound any different to me than the last 3 albums.
I think the main criticism around "compression" or "brickwalling" is that everything in the mix is basically the same volume and there's no dynamic range in the mix or space between the instruments. Vs. is a good example of a muddy / garage-y sounding album with a lot of dynamic range. The quiet parts are quiet, the loud parts are loud and you can turn the volume up to 11 without it being fatiguing.
I think the overall sound of Dark Matter is great, it's just that the stereo mix is lacking some dynamics that would make it a more enjoyable listen.
I have to agree with you on that front. Hell, just the opening song has the guitars sitting in specific places and you can hear them individually. Another thing I keep reading on reddit is "you can't hear the solos!" and...yeah you can? I get that everyone has different ears but the wild swings in quality that people are describing is really weird.
I dunno, does it matter I've only listened to the wavs that came from the 10C itself? There should not be different masters of that stereo mix so the relative quality (wav/flac/streaming) shouldn't have this much disparity.
The songs sound pretty good and I think they will be much better live. I think the drums (especially the snare) sound like absolute crap, and the instruments sound a little pushed together too much IMO. Vedder sounds great, similar to Earthlings. Again it seems like the sound is setup mainly for him. Not a fan of this production at all...some songs sound like demos besides the vocals (ex. Waiting For Stevie)
Dark Matter made me revisit Gigaton; the only album I did not like. It is, however, slowly growing on me
The album is Ok, but i liked "Gigaton" a bit more,
I was digging the experimentation they did in tracks like "Dance of the Clairvoyants", that is almost absent in this album, still it's a good listen.
Got a ticket for the show next week; realized that in life - for both myself and the band - this is close to one of those "see them while you can" times.
https://pearljam.com/news/2024-world-tour-apparel-gear
Have to say the idea of buying a duffel bag at a show is weird.
lol I did not know they were fans of the Puss n Boots sequel.
Huh, I read on Reddit about the videos but never did I ever...
Would be wild to see him tomorrow night. Very slim chance but wild.Originally Posted by Rob Sheridan
So apparently waiting until this week to buy tickets paid off: I was supposed to be in a stage right obstructed view seat and now I'm staring down the barrel of the floor from the $500 section. Apparently even though the tickets were sold to me they didn't open the area so they put me over here for my "trouble" lol.
If any one is interested, the show on Thursday is going to be broadcast live on PJ's Sirius channel. Rock & good news as it's the show I'm going to.
Ed covered hurt in Seattle last night !
I was there. Ed was a bit hammered (as he do) but it was fantastic! Great concert. The show started with Black which set a high bar for the rest of the show. My second night rule definitely was in play (PJ are always better last night of a multi night stand). I've been there with PJ since the beginning & this was the best show I've seen by them since 1991/92.
Not a huge PJ fan but am very impressed by what I've seen of the live shows thus far this year. With the great visuals by Rob I really hope there is some sort of pro-shot video release from this tour.
opener (!) for the show last night:
I was there last night as well - great show. They (Ed in particular) sound better than I can ever remember (my first show was the Mt. Baker Theater show in 2000).
That said, Climate Pledge has absolutely no business selling the 100-level "BAR" seats for any show / event where people will stand. These are at the back of the 100-level section and at the same height at the row immediately in front. Even with kneeling on the barstool seats, I could see about 5% of the stage. The only way I could really see what was happening was by holding my phone over my head and watching on a zoomed-in screen (which, thankfully, nobody was behind me, but...)
The tickets were indicated as view obstructed, but that's being pretty charitable when the only thing visible to someone not capable of kneeling for 2+ hours is the shoulders of the row in front of you...
I'm out of touch. Are there still scalpers selling paper tickets outside of shows anymore? I would like to see Rob's work. I'm not interested in paying three-figure prices.
Supposedly PJ, Foo FIghters, the Cure (probably others) have made their tickets non-transferable other than via Ticketmasters resale scam. I had an extra ticket for the Cure & sold it to a lady outside but she had to come in with me.
PS: PJ have been fantastic this year. For me, best since 1992-93. The show I went to was amazing & I've tapes of several others & they've all been excellent. & yes, the visuals were pretty cool.
Last edited by chuckrh; 08-16-2024 at 05:36 AM.
With these awesome visuals I'd love to see a Blu-ray Or 4K UHD release of this tour.
Kind of related to Pearl Jam (due to the producer), but I thought this video was interesting. Notice who is producing all of these songs. Did the law or something change due to Blurred Lines or Taylor Swift? Or was there a loophole discovered?