I can try - though I dont have the technical ear that you do!

My ears are likely no better than yours, I just have a better vocab to express what I'm hearing.

i think you just called me dumb.

yeah uncalled for, trag. way out of line

Now I said basically, not exactly.
Which is why I love reading those posts.

Sorry, not trying to be a know-it-all. I just get uptight about the lineage of this stuff in the internet age. When the band is not issuing any sort of statement about the changes they make, and those concerned with audio fidelity have to search on a message board to find out from where their music is sourced, I just feel like it's important to leave some sort of trail of crumbs for the future consumer to know the difference between a track sourced from a 44/24 download and a 44/16 CD.

This might be the most trag post of all time, considering you are assuming 99% of "future consumers" don't even know what you are talking about, but you say it like they all should.

Looks as though I won't be donating any of my hard earned money to your irrelevant ice cream venture.

I have no opinion on what consumers should or should not know; I only believe that they should have access to accurate information, which the band has not provided (Incidentally, this is the same underlying belief that drives both my support of GMO labeling, and my disgust with the strong-arm marketing tactics of the Non-GMO Verified Project).

Technical rumors about audio are especially difficult to pin down. I had the immense pleasure of speaking with David Lewiston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lewiston) one night for several hours; he then put me to work on a major audio archival project of his. I didn't have access to his original Nonesuch tapes; I just had a hard drive of all the digital transfers that someone else had previously made. I spent a fair amount of time just converting the various digital formats to one uniform format, and had to make careful notation of the original source. It was a good learning lesson for me. His careful documentation of indigenous music from the around the world was really something special, and here I was in charge of the thankless task of converting it all so that Nonesuch could then get to work on a longterm reissue project...

Imagine if I had not taken the correct notes! This was to be the primary source of his recordings going forward, so it was important that those boring details be catalogued correctly. Why would it be any different for Pearl Jam? I personally think that the music trumps all other ephemera (recording quality, packaging, etc), but those things are nice to have, and the sourcing info is sure to be important to SOMEONE down the line. So no -- 24 bit and 16 bit audio are obviously not the same thing, and the band has done a disservice in not conveying these differences as they continue down Reissue Road.

Ouch man. You know I wasn't really trying to make you sound dumb, right? Your vinyl collection is way bigger than mine, and I have no doubt that you are regularly listening to music at a higher fidelity than I am (I'm typically just using AAC on my iphone). But I'm endlessly intrigued by how people convey their experiences in consuming art, because we all see/hear the same things, and then struggle to find the right words to share our experience. I was just suggesting that I have better verbage because I've spent a lot of time with the chuds of the world.

All I'm saying is that do you think the people over at the Pit, or most PJ fans, for that matter, the ones who just smother themselves in everything band related, care about something like that? I just don't see it being the case. It is a small minority of people (mostly here on RM, lol) that take stuff like that seriously. And in this PRAMG era, it just seems like the band's focus is not on things like that as much. That much is obvious in the production of the last 3 albums, as well as all this re-release crap that is failing.

i can confirm that riot act from hdtracks is no different than the original, but there is no claim that this is the newly released version either. i will be waiting on binaural until i read some reviews, and about to just give up on trying to find these re-releases digitally anyhow. avocado was never even announced as going to be remixed (that i know of), or where the hell to download it, found it on my own. stupid that they cant even give you the direction where to find these as digital downloads.

You grew up in a studio and you have plenty of knowledge regarding mixing, mastering, and recording techniques. I know what you meant. I was just poking you.

The avocado album was remixed for Vinyl, the rip going around is some sort of WEB rip.

trag worked in a studio? I had no idea!

Nah, I hear you. It just pisses me off that one of the most successful and ROCKING bands of all time doesn't care about the details.


You can poke me any time, good sir.

I sense the slightest whiff of sarcasm.

I would like Pearl Jam to be more considerate and careful regarding these issues as well. Since i've gotten into the Vinyl and spending money on the entire setup - it would be fantastic if my favorite band in the world seemed to care as much as I do and other bands I love.

Im not a purist to the degree of only buying certain original pressings, but I should be able to count on them to deliver me a high quality vinyl product or at least provide me with an avenue where I can hear the highest quality recording.

I think you are inhaling your own smugness.

I would like to introduce Exhibit "A", a t-shirt sent to their fan club members, MANY OF WHOM THEN WORE THEM TO PEARL JAM CONCERTS:

Spoiler: show