Pearl Jam Mastering credits

sesame975

Hi,

I noticed that several PJ studio albums were missing credits on mastering in their sleeve. Here is the listing :

- VS
- Vitalogy
- Binaural
- Riot act
- Pearl Jam

I'm into sound a lot and a beginer mastering engineer myself, that's why I'm curious about it.
I looked at the web unable to find who mastered those CD.

Bob Ludwig wrote on his website that he mastered "most of PJ catalog" (in fact he's credited on Ten, Ten redux, No Code and Backpascer), so I was wondering if he did some of the above listed albums also... ?

I hope I'll find help here.

Happy new year to you all

satchoroyale

I've always wondered that myself.
Can't imagine why you wouldn't credit the man who does the mastering.
A bad mastering job can completely screw up the finest engineered and mixed work.
I've been a recording musician over the years who always relied on other folks to do all of that work
and I ended up coming to the conclusion that no amount of money will ever make someone care as much
or feel as passionate about your work and your project as you do. I'm talking mostly about the realm of non-big time musicians and recordings done on very limited budgets. So I too reluctantly in the past year have tried to delve into the realm of mastering with the T-Racks suite of Mastering products and it really is an incredible talent and skill that should not go unnoticed or uncredited. Bob Ludwig's name is on just about every album I ever bought as a kid and he became some mythical figure to me. As a kid, I always wondered what he did to those records, but all the same, figured it had to be awesome to be involved with all of those albums. Now reading his stuff on the internet, I am even more in awe and feel that this guy has the ears of God. Man would I love to hear what he would do with some of my recordings. So keep up the efforts and when you master the art of mastering, let me beg you to take a crack at mastering a dozen of my homemade recordings for me.

dreamweaver

sesame975 wrote:

Hi,

I noticed that several PJ studio albums were missing credits on mastering in their sleeve. Here is the listing :

- VS
- Vitalogy
- Binaural
- Riot act
- Pearl Jam

I'm into sound a lot and a beginer mastering engineer myself, that's why I'm curious about it.
I looked at the web unable to find who mastered those CD.

Bob Ludwig wrote on his website that he mastered "most of PJ catalog" (in fact he's credited on Ten, Ten redux, No Code and Backpascer), so I was wondering if he did some of the above listed albums also... ?

I hope I'll find help here.

Happy new year to you all

I'm not a sound engineer but I've recorded a bunch over the years with my own bands. I always looked at Mastering as a small but important finishing touch to a recording. These days with new software and someone who's experienced, a basic mastering job could even be done in a matter of minutes. That being said, you could also ruin a record in a matter of minutes or not hear a significant change at all...
I think Bob Ludwig only gets credit on the Pearl Jam albums he Mastered, the other records could have easily been Mastered in the studio or not at all if Pearl Jam thought it sounded good as it was mixed (Yield is credited somewhere else). For instance I wouldn't be suprised if Avacado wasn't Mastered at all, because that record is really "muddy" to the point where I can't really listen to it- (I love the music, but the recording hurts my ears ).

DewieCox

dreamweaver wrote:

show previous quotes

sesame975 wrote:

Hi,

I noticed that several PJ studio albums were missing credits on mastering in their sleeve. Here is the listing :

- VS
- Vitalogy
- Binaural
- Riot act
- Pearl Jam

I'm into sound a lot and a beginer mastering engineer myself, that's why I'm curious about it.
I looked at the web unable to find who mastered those CD.

Bob Ludwig wrote on his website that he mastered "most of PJ catalog" (in fact he's credited on Ten, Ten redux, No Code and Backpascer), so I was wondering if he did some of the above listed albums also... ?

I hope I'll find help here.

Happy new year to you all

I'm not a sound engineer but I've recorded a bunch over the years with my own bands. I always looked at Mastering as a small but important finishing touch to a recording. These days with new software and someone who's experienced, a basic mastering job could even be done in a matter of minutes. That being said, you could also ruin a record in a matter of minutes or not hear a significant change at all...
I think Bob Ludwig only gets credit on the Pearl Jam albums he Mastered, the other records could have easily been Mastered in the studio or not at all if Pearl Jam thought it sounded good as it was mixed (Yield is credited somewhere else). For instance I wouldn't be suprised if Avacado wasn't Mastered at all, because that record is really "muddy" to the point where I can't really listen to it- (I love the music, but the recording hurts my ears ).

The mastering is what does that to S/T.

sesame975

I agree on mastering muddying the sound of S/T but I guess that it was also recorded and/or mixed in digital, I swear I can hear it everytime I listen to it. But I may be wrong...