Recording
For its fifth album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Brendan O'Brien, whom the band had worked with on its previous three records. Yield was recorded throughout 1997 in Seattle, Washington at Studio X and Studio Litho, the latter of which is owned by guitarist Stone Gossard. The album was then mixed by O'Brien at his mixing facility at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia. The album would be the last collaboration with O'Brien for several years. They would not work with the producer again until he was brought on board in 2008 to remix their debut album Ten and to produce 2009's Backspacer.
Compared with Vitalogy and No Code, Yield represented more of a team effort between all members of the group. Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder had made the final decisions for the albums Vitalogy and No Code; however, at the end of the No Code recording sessions, Vedder suggested to bassist Jeff Ament that it would be better for the other members to write and bring in more complete songs so Vedder would be under less pressure to finish the songs. Ament said that "everybody took that to heart," and O'Brien added that most of the songs came to the studio finished. Ament also said that Vedder's reaction to the rest of the band's new material kept "everybody energized about their place in the band." Vedder worked with the other band members on their own material before work was started on his. Guitarist Mike McCready noticed a change in Vedder's attitude during the recording of Yield, stating, "I used to be afraid of him and not want to confront him on things ... We talk more now, and hang out ... He seems very, very centered now."
Vedder said that the band was able to "team up" and have a "partnership" while the album was being recorded. The band spent a large amount of time rehearsing the songs to get the best takes possible. Gossard commented that there was more "contouring" and "honing" of demo material than on previous records. Regarding the recording sessions, drummer Jack Irons said, "We didn't put any time limit on it. It was like, 'When this record's done, we call it a record.' We took out time to come up with ideal sounds and feel for every song, so that each had its own identity. We would cut a track and go back and listen to it and openly discuss it." Ament stated that "Yield was a superfun record to make. And so much of it was Ed kind of sitting back." He added that "everybody really got a little bit of their say on the record...because of that, everybody feels like they're an integral part of the band." The band discussed the album's production on the documentary Single Video Theory.
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