Eddie Vedder’s classic wet vocal production sound on Pearl Jam’s Ten is reportedly something he regretted, according to engineer Dave Hillis on the Cobras & Fire podcast.
The interviewer asked about Brendan O’Brien’s remix of Ten, “Were you offended when they had Brendan O’Brien come in and strip it all down and re-do it?”
Hillis responded, “Well, I kind of saw it coming. There’s a two-part answer to that – I really liked [mixer] Tim Palmer and what Tim Palmer did for the mixes. I think how he mixed it is what made it do so well in the radio for that particular moment in time.
But I also knew that Jeff [Ament, bass] wasn’t happy with the amount of wetness, and I know Eddie [Vedder, vocals] felt the same way, Ed was getting more and more into like the punk side of things. I kind of saw that they had regret and that they saw that’s where the new albums are going to go.
And I think they always in the back of their mind wanted to see what ‘Ten’ would have sounded like that way, so I wasn’t too shocked by them doing that. The record is one of the biggest records out.” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his comments.
