Recording
For its second album, Pearl Jam felt the pressures of trying to match the success of its debut album, Ten. In a 2002 interview, guitarist Mike McCready said, "The band was blown up pretty big and everything was pretty crazy." Vs. was the first Pearl Jam album to have production duties handled by producer Brendan O'Brien. It was also the band's first album with drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who had joined the band in August 1991 and toured for the album Ten. Rehearsals for Vs. began in February 1993 at Potatohead Studio in Seattle, Washington. The band then moved to The Site in Nicasio, California in March 1993 to begin recording. Abbruzzese called the tranquil recording site "paradise" while lead vocalist Eddie Vedder said, "I fucking hate it here...I've had a hard time...How do you make a rock record here?"
The band took the approach of recording one song at a time, and agreed with O'Brien to mix the songs as each one was finished. O'Brien had the band members set up much as they do live, and most of the songs were developed out of jam sessions. Guitarist Stone Gossard said, "I think we allowed things to develop in a more natural, band-oriented sort of way, rather than me bringing in a bunch of stuff that was already arranged." Gossard added that most of the songs were arranged once Vedder joined in and started singing, elaborating, "You could tell when the music wanted to change just by the way he was singing." In a 2009 interview, Gossard stated, " was probably where it felt better recording wise. I saw how it could change and evolve which gave me a lot of inspiration to go we can do ballads, we can do fast stuff, we can do slow stuff, we can do punk stuff. That was where I realized there were gonna be a lot of places to go with Ed."
The first week of recording produced "Go", "Blood", "Rats", and "Leash" before the band hit a lull. In order to keep up his intensity, Vedder traveled into San Francisco and began sleeping in his truck, as well as the sauna at the recording studio. Bassist Jeff Ament said, "Recording Vs., there was a lot more pressure on Ed. The whole follow-up. I thought we were playing so well as a band that it would take care of itself...He was having a hard time finishing up the songs; the pressure, and not being comfortable being in such a nice place." Ament added that "toward the end it got fairly intense" and that the band "tried to make it as uncomfortable for as we could." Eventually the band was able to get "back on track" according to Ament as Vedder was allowed "to get in the space of his songs." The album was finished in May 1993. Vedder later said, "The second record, that was the one I enjoyed making the least...I just didn't feel comfortable in the place we were at because it was very comfortable. I didn't like that at all."
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