I just wanted everyone to know that I've transferred the Backspacer LP to digital and compared it closely to the CD. Not only does the vinyl sound INFERIOR to the CD, it also has all the compression and limiting of the CD version, suggesting that they have once again used the CD as the vinyl master instead of transferring the analog tapes from scratch like you're supposed to.

So folks, don't be fooled by the shiny black circle. You're better off just listening to the CD.

In fact, I don't think I will be buying any more Pearl Jam vinyl after this. I'm tired of the poor quality.

Are you sure you just didn't have it overmodulated when you were transferring it digitally?

Positive. It's a solid brick wall just like the CD. No dynamic range at all.

It would be a solid brick wall if you had it overmodulated. I've looked at the CD waveforms, and the CD, though with a decent amount of compression, is not a solid brick wall. When I zoomed in there was very little actual clipping. I mean, it's not perfect or close to perfect by any means, but it's certainly a step in the right direction considering the times we live and and the trends of audio production.

When I say "brick wall" I mean that the waveform is compressed and limited exactly like the CD. There is no dynamic range...zoomed out it looks like a solid chunk. There is a good way to master vinyl and a bad way, and PJ unfortunately does it the bad way. The vinyl is a pointless release from an audio persepective. They might as well be selling a cassette version while they're at it.

i know what you're saying, and im not really arguing against it. im just saying that the brick wall you see when you're all the way zoomed out isnt AS bad as it looks. Brendan does a very good job of making the compression sound as best as it can. And yeah, it's a lot more than you'd like to have true dynamics, but relative to other releases in recent memory, it's not THAT bad.

Have you listened to both the vinyl and the CD through headphones?

Yes, I know what you're saying. My main point is that it doesn't sound as good as the CD anyway, despite being derived from it. If it sounded better then I wouldn't mind as much. Plus, I find vinyl releases like this to be rather pointless. It's almost like they are "humouring" folks who have vinyl nostalgia instead of treating it like a genuine alternate format.



Absolutely. The vinyl sounds like the CD only the high and low end have been rolled off a bit. Blah!

I didn't receive the vinyl in the mail yet but i downloaded a vinyl rip. It's not compressed at all and the frequency response goes up to 50 KHz and there's no roll off at the lower end. It apears to be eq-ed a bit darker than the CD version though.

the cd was the vinyl master

Why would a band who cares so much about the music allow this to happen? It's not like they put out an album a year and are just saying, "Fuck it, who cares."
I hope everyone is wrong. I'll be listening today since it came in the mail yesterday.

..because Pearl Jam have never made audiophile grade recordings.......but that aside the industry is making a joke of itself with these relentlessly loud CDs. Sounds great on the jukebox in the pub, but why not make a version for that and give us a product we can, you know, listen to

There is quite a discussion of the vinyl over here:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showt ... nyl&page=4
They seem to think it has been mastered from a compressed digital master. A few people praised it though, and they are picky over there

two other reasons:

cost and because pearl jam is the business end of this band , that is a huge factor

and fear fear of leaks .. in the past there wasn't the fear of leaks .. then with the internets , bands would release the vinyl some time after the initial release..... but now pj decided to release both at the same time while at the same time not wanting to expose the masters
so the cd with load of protection acts as the master

Thanks for that link. Interesting discussion.

Heres a couple of pictures they posted of Supersonic (CD top, vinyl bottom)

The last 30 seconds of the vinyl supersonic look to be FAR superior than the CD version.

Yep, not a lot of difference there then! The vinyl appears to have the same waveform

You can't expect a huge difference with the same mix of the same song that is aranged in a way to not have any real dynamics in the 1st place.
Oh and pretty much everything is sourced from a digital master this days.

It is, but usually that master wont have been smashed like the CD mix will have been. It should be 24bit 192kHz and so have a lot more dynamic range available.

At least it sounds better than Avocado. Also, without a different source it is hard to tell how much was done at the CD mastering stage and how much of this disease has crept back earlier in the recording process. Still, it is better than a lot of modern stuff. Bob Ludwig has to master this way these days, but he does a better job than most.

The vinyl being mastered that way however is unforgivable.

I think you got that wrong. The increased bit depth makes the waveform "smoother" while the increased frequency extends the frequency response which is definitely there on Backspacer. The available dynamic range is higher on a CD than on vinyl in theory it's just not taken advantage of in practice.