Anatomy of a recording session:Cutting WIBN at Gold Star

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I've longed for several years now to be able to take a time machine back to 1965 and 66 to attend the Pet Sounds sessions.  There is something about them that draws me in.  So I've tried to put myself there by learning as much about what happened as I can.  It's been terribly frustrating, as info is extremely difficult to find.  Engineers that were there don't remember much, the musicians weren't concerned with certain details, etc, etc.  Information is there, but very little of it is up to the specificity I'd desire.

So, for the benefit of others, and mostly for my own fun, I've put together this little piece to help us feel a little closer to those sessions.  Now, it's fairly technical in terms of recording, so most people may not find it interesting from a personal standpoint, but hopefully somebody will like it.

I've divided it into three sections:

The Players
The Set-Up
The Sound

Keep in mind throughout that a lot of what I'm writing is educated speculation.  Assume as much unless I say otherwise.  If I know something for sure as a fact I will indicate that.  If not, it's just my guesses aided by whatever info I could find.  I try to indicate my sources wherever possible.


Anatomy of a recording session:  Cutting Wouldn't it be Nice at Gold Star Studio A.

The Players

Sometime in the early part of the year 1966, likely January...possibly the 22nd, Brian Wilson presumably placed a call to a contractor, possibly Hal Blaine, or possibly straight through to one of the contracting services.  Hal prefered to use Arlyn Henry's service.

Whoever it ended up being called the following sixteen players to appear at 7pm at Gold Star:

Hal Blaine
Steve Douglas
Frankie Capp
Roy Caton
Al de Lory
Carl Fortina
Plas Johnson
Carol Kaye
Larry Knechtel
Barney Kessel
Jerry Cole
Frank Marocco
Jay Migliori
Bill Pitman
Ray Pohlman
Lyle Ritz

Presumably, they start shuffling in sometime before 7, to get ready to work.

Hal Blaine, Drums - studio drummer extraordinaire. 


Steve Douglas, Tenor Sax


Frank Capp, Percussion and Timpani


Roy Caton, Trumpet (he's the one in back, w/glasses)


Al de Lory, Piano
http://www.aldelory.com

Carl Fortina, Accordion

Plas Johnson, Tenor Sax


Carol Kaye, Fender Bass
http://www.carolkaye.com

Larry Knechtel, Piano


Barney Kessel, Guitar (of some sort, more on this later)


Jerry Cole, Guitar


Frank Marocco, Accordion


Jay Migliori, Baritone Sax


Bill Pitman, Guitar

Ray Pohlman, Danelectro Bass

Lyle Ritz, String Bass (Now a major ukelele star, btw)



So, picture those players ambling in, saying a quick hello to Larry and Brian, and staring to get ready.  I'll put up part 2 in a bit.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Part 2:  The Set-Up

I guess if you're picturing those players, it'd probably help to picture the place they were setting up in:  Gold Star Studio.

Studio A was a small room.  Not quite as small as Western 3, but cozy.  Very roughly 20 ft. by 30 ft.

http://www.goldstarrecordingstudios.com



That's roughly 3/4 of the studio, and features many of the players here tonight.

Disregard the way the musicians are set up in that picture, that was a one-off experiment.

Hal learned early that he needed to have two drumsets.  His drum tech would follow him around town and pre-set up the set at Hal's next session.  Hal was not playing the monster 12 piece set he made famous later at this point.  He likely had a four piece set up this evening, a bass drum, two tom-toms, and his Ludwig supraphonic chrome snare.

The drums were usually set up in the back of the room.

Neither of those guys were at this session, but it gives you an idea of the back center of the studio.  Note the little sound walls used to section off the instruments.  This was an attempt at controlling the sound a little bit.

One thing that needs to be noted, is that for two reasons, Hal may not have set up in back for this song.  For one, Brian liked Hal up front by the booth for easy visual contact, and Hal has confirmed that he set up close to the glass for Brian at Western, so he may have done the same at Gold Star.

Second, Hal had to wear headphones for the song, because the intro guitars were direct into the system and not audible in the studio.  Hal was the only one wearing phones, at that time it was not that common for people to be wearing phones during a tracking sesion.  So, I'm not positive if the studio would have been prepared to have a long 25 foot plus run of heaphone cable all the way to the back.

The drums were almost certainly mic-ed up with only two microphones.  It's been hard to pin down, but according to three Larry Levine interviews, plus two "classic tracks" recollections about tracks made in that time period, I feel fairly confident that the standard set-up was a Neumann U67 over the set and an RCA 44 a few feet back from the bass drum.




The Percussion, played by Frankie Capp, would have consisted of what sounds like a tamborine, and a set of Timpani.



Frankie would likely be positioned somewhere near the drums.  I have no idea what mics were used.  Due to input limitations, it may very well have been one Condenser or Dynamic over the timpani that was also expected to pick up the percussion during the verses.  There is photographic evidence of somebody using a Shure 545 on tambourine at Gold Star during a session, somewhere.

The basses would be close to the back, along the wall, likely the left wall.

In this case, the bass players were Carol Kaye and Lyle Ritz.

Carol would have definitely been playing her Fender Precision Bass through her Fender Super Reverb Amplifier.




The Amplifier would have been captured by some sort of dynamic microphone.  Really no way to know, but Gold Star seems to have favoured Electro Voice, either the 666 model or the RE-15.  Shure 57s and 545 are other candidates.


Lyle Ritz' upright string bass had an extension on it that allowed him to go down to a low C if necessary.  Little else is known.  According to a few photos of one of Brian's two Pet Sounds sessions at Gold Star, it would appear that at one of them, a Sennheiser 421 was used to capture the String bass.



More tomorrow...

[mike thornton]

"...so most people may not find it interesting from a personal stand."

as a musician/songwriter who's completely into the nuances of recording, i love this stuff. it's your forte, josh. you're passionate and talented. keep up the great work! 

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

This is THE greatest thread EVER made in the history of Beach Boys message boards. That picture of the musician's in the room, all crowded in cozily is so amazing. I now understand why you can no longer go about music alone, Josh. It's all about that feeling shared by those people when playing the groove so perfectly together.

I have a question about the drum mic'ing. If it were one overheard, and one a few feet off of the kick, did they ever experience any problems with the volume surges of either tom or cymbal? Often when I've recorded our drums in a similar mic'ing technique we've encountered problems with the cymbals. Could this be why cymbals are rarely used heavily in Brian's sessions?

[Mitchell]

Yeah, this is a great thread. I'll follow it closely,

[Sheriff John Stone]

aeijtzsche,
      Your post is one of the greatest and most informative that I have ever seen. The obvious time, care, and effort you put into it is much appreciated. Thank you...

[Surfer Joe]

Add my thanks to the list.  This kind of insight and information certainly adds to my appreciation of the work and the people behind it, and enhances the listening experience.

[c-man]

Good job, man. 
One minor correction:  the engineer would've been Larry (Levine), not Chuck (Britz), since it
was Gold Star, not Western.

Possible minor correction:  I don't think Ray played the Dano bass on this session...for one, I don't hear it, for another, I think he's nomally credited with one of the two mandolins on this song.

But what do you think about this:  the opening guitar...two guitars, actually...the main part, maybe it's a bouzouki?  Have you ever seen one?  Could that be the 12-string mando/guitar looking thing Barney is pictured holding in the "PS" box set booklet (the green one)?  Brian once praised Barney for his "ring-a-ding" guitar on this song. 

C-Man

[NimrodsSon]

Great thread! I look forward to reading more. I never kknew Carol used a Super Reverb. I have a super and a precision, but it doesn't sound that great through it (I guess it's my settings). It sounds much better through my Twin Reverb. Any tips on what settings to use?

[Chris Brown]

This is the coolest thread idea ever Josh!  I greatly look forward to seeing where it goes.  That studio pic of the whole group is awesome, it's amazing how they got such a big sound out of such a little room. 

[Alex M]

That really is a fantastic piece of work. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Cheers,
Alex

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Could this be why cymbals are rarely used heavily in Brian's sessions?

It definitely contributed to less cymbal use.

the engineer would've been Larry (Levine), not Chuck (Britz), since it
was Gold Star, not Western.

Whoops.  I think I corrected all the instances of saying Chuck instead of Larry.  Interesting that Larry says he didn't work with Brian much and that Stan Ross did. 

Possible minor correction:  I don't think Ray played the Dano bass on this session...for one, I don't hear it, for another, I think he's nomally credited with one of the two mandolins on this song.

Well, since there aren't mandolins on the song, he couldn't have been playing a mandolin.  If you listen carefully right after take 19 or so you can hear him roll down the strings of the Dano.  E-B-G-D-A-E, letting them all ring, so it has to be a 6-string rather than Carol strumming her Fender.  Plus, it's the Dano doubles the bass line an octave above at the "you know it's gonna make it that much better" chorus parts, and then doubles the bridge in the same octave.  If you listen for it, you'll hear that the bassline suddenly gets a little fatter.

But what do you think about this:  the opening guitar...two guitars, actually...the main part, maybe it's a bouzouki?  Have you ever seen one?  Could that be the 12-string mando/guitar looking thing Barney is pictured holding in the "PS" box set booklet (the green one)?  Brian once praised Barney for his "ring-a-ding" guitar on this song.

My cousin owns a Bouzouki and I've played it extensively.  What Barney has is certainly not a traditional bouzouki, but probably does the job of one.  Whatever it was had to have had a pickup though, to go direct...

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Ok, moving along on part 2:

Larry Knechtel and Al DeLory would have been playing two seperate pianos.  Apparently Gold Star was stocked with a small grand piano as well as an upright piano with hardened hammers to create the "Tack Piano" effect.  Unlike these days, the piano was not mic-ed in stereo at all, obviously since mono was the final goal.  So each piano would have had it's own mic.  Again, some dynamic mic, probably (but not limited to) from the folllowing list:

Electro-Voice 666


Electro-Voice RE-15


Shure 545


Shure 546

Shure 57


For a rock session like this, it seems the mics would be in there pretty good, often with the lids of the pianos almost closed with the mics inside.

The keyboards on this session were likely somewhere to the left side of the room, towards the front middle.

There were four guitars on this date.  Of those four, two were in the booth and two were out in the studio.  For a typical Gold Star session, the guitar players sat with their backs against the right wall.



If they had amps, they would be facing them, so they could monitor their own sound.



Tonight, Bill Pitman is in the studio on guitar.  After trying a few different ones for Brian, Brian decides he wants to hear the round, indistinct click of a strummed box guitar.  Brian wanted a little percussive rhythm from the guitar, so rather than ampfliy the guitar, he mic-ed it acoustically.

I have no idea what kind of Guitar Bill was using, but it looked something like this:


Ray Pohlman was playing a 6-string Bass Guitar, made by Danelectro.


This would certainly have been amplified by a Fender Bassman


And here are both in action, though not at Gold Star.  Ray is the guy to the right, farthest right in the foreground.


Let's go in the booth to talk about the guitar players in there.

Tonight, Barney Kessel and Jerry Cole have plugged their guitars right into the console's inputs, bypassing the need for an amp.  In addition to saving space in what was a crowded studio, it's also a great sound for 12-strings, especially when awash in Gold Star's famous reverb chamber.

Each guitarist would have plugged into some kind of tube, passive Direct Injection box, which would take their signal and make it more agreeable to the kind of volume the console works with.

Jerry was playing some kind of 12-string electric guitar.  The Fender XII was the de facto studio standard:


But it could have been a Mosrite, or another guitar maker.

Barney Kessel was playing a 12-string instrument as well...however there is some debate about if it was just another 12-string guitar, or if it was something slightly different.  One of Barney's kids mentioned how his father had played Mandolin on the intro.  Brian seemed to hold the particular instrument used in some different regard than he would a regular 12-string.  Plus, the sound is just kind of "woodier" than a normal electric 12-string.

The visual evidence has Barney playing one of these:


It appears to be a standard Gibson 12-string neck attached to a fairly standard Mandolin body.  It's possible that if this instrument had a pickup, that is what Barney played on WIBN.

That's the rhythm section, next we'll move on to the Color Instruments.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Brian's classic Sax line-up was at the session.  Steve, Jay, and Plas had been around Brian enough to know what he liked.  Hopefully they were all friendly with each other, too, because due to input limitations, they likely would have had to crowd around one microphone.  Brian would then adjust the balance by having one of them move in or move farther away.

I have Larry Levine on record more than once saying that the saxes typically got an RE-15 for the lot of them.

Roy Caton on trumpet may have been asked to share the mic with the sax section, or he may have got his own mic.  There were a lot of players on tonights session, and they may have had to sacrifice somewhere.  However, if we was on his own, he would have probably been on the venerable RCA-44, see Drums, above.

The horn section seems to have been placed in the right back on Brian Wilson sections.  If you have the UM SOT Pet Sounds sessions, one of the CD liners has a picture in it that shows Steve Douglas in a cool hat in the position I've described.

And now, onto one of the most important parts:  The accordions.

Accordions generate sound by bellowing air through a system of reeds.  There are all kinds, from small to large.  Frank Marocco and Carl Fortina were likely using the full Accordion with bass keys.



At some point during the evening, Mr. Marocco showed Brian that he could do this "triple bellow shake", a demanding technique that you can hear during the the final, slowed chorus.  "It seems the more we talk about it..."  Using the violin reed setting, it sounds as if a violin section is playing a vigorous sustained tremolo figure, or perhaps sounds as if Mandolins are being tremolo picked (which is probably why somebody started crediting mandolin players in the liners).

This is another instance where I have no idea what mic was used.  Undoubtedly, they were both being mic-ed by the same microphone.  In my heart, I tend to think it would have been an RCA 77, a classic ribbon mic.  But I doubt there's any way to know.




coming soon, part 3...

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Any tips on what settings to use?

The key is more with the bass than the amp.  Either palm mute the bass, or use Carol's felt muting method.  It's essential to do some kind of muting.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

didn't Carl play the guitar intro?

Perhaps you're thinking of California Girls?  Carl was actually in Japan at the time of this session.

[c-man]

Whoops.  I think I corrected all the instances of saying Chuck instead of Larry.  Interesting that Larry says he didn't work with Brian much and that Stan Ross did. 

Possible minor correction:  I don't think Ray played the Dano bass on this session...for one, I don't hear it, for another, I think he's nomally credited with one of the two mandolins on this song.

Well, since there aren't mandolins on the song, he couldn't have been playing a mandolin.  If you listen carefully right after take 19 or so you can hear him roll down the strings of the Dano.  E-B-G-D-A-E, letting them all ring, so it has to be a 6-string rather than Carol strumming her Fender.  Plus, it's the Dano doubles the bass line an octave above at the "you know it's gonna make it that much better" chorus parts, and then doubles the bridge in the same octave.  If you listen for it, you'll hear that the bassline suddenly gets a little fatter.

But what do you think about this:  the opening guitar...two guitars, actually...the main part, maybe it's a bouzouki?  Have you ever seen one?  Could that be the 12-string mando/guitar looking thing Barney is pictured holding in the "PS" box set booklet (the green one)?  Brian once praised Barney for his "ring-a-ding" guitar on this song.

My cousin owns a Bouzouki and I've played it extensively.  What Barney has is certainly not a traditional bouzouki, but probably does the job of one.  Whatever it was had to have had a pickup though, to go direct...

Larry's being modest...I only know of maybe one Gold Star session that for sure was engineered by Stan.  Most of the Gold Star tapes we have show that Larry was behind the board (exceptions being the first "Good Vibes" session, which was Cal Harris, and the "Love To Say Da-Da" sessions, where it was James Hilton). 

Carol Kaye is the one who provided the info on the mandolins...and as we all know, she's far from 100% accurate on things.  But there is certainly some kind of acoustic stringed instrument being strummed during the "mentally handicapped person" of the bridge, right?  That's where I hear what I think are mandolin(s).

And yes, the thing that Barney plays on the intro is definitely electric.  Mark L. has referred to is as a 12-string guitar, but it sounds so "tinny", or "ring-a-dingy", that I'd go a step further...I think it's an electric bouzouki or electric mando-guitar.

Again though, great great job.  Really diggin' the pictures!

C-Man

[Mitchell]

But there is certainly some kind of acoustic stringed instrument being strummed during the "mentally handicapped person" of the bridge, right?  That's where I hear what I think are mandolin(s).

Apparently those are the accordions (I knew this before)! What a neat sound.

[c-man]

But there is certainly some kind of acoustic stringed instrument being strummed during the "mentally handicapped person" of the bridge, right?  That's where I hear what I think are mandolin(s).

Apparently those are the accordions (I knew this before)! What a neat sound.

No, I know the part you're referring to, where it does kinda sound like mandolins but is actually accordions...but I'm talking about the part right before that...the couple of bars right before Brian
starts singing and the tempo starts to slow.  Surely it's at least one acoustic guitar, mandolin, or
ukulele...

C-Man

[Mitchell]

Ah, I see. I can't pick out any mandoliny sounds there myself, but I'm not really good at that sort of thing.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

It's the acoustic guitar that's strumming during the ritard.  It actually plays for most of the song, but it's not really heard until then, since it's more of a foundation instrument, a technique sadly lost to today's individual tracked, fix-it-in-the-mix mentality.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

And yes, the thing that Barney plays on the intro is definitely electric.  Mark L. has referred to is as a 12-string guitar, but it sounds so "tinny", or "ring-a-dingy", that I'd go a step further...I think it's an electric bouzouki or electric mando-guitar.

I would heave a great sigh of relief if it could be pinned down definitively what it was.  The problem is, I've never experimented with amplified mandos or bouzoukis.  So I don't know what they sound like.  I've heard Bellzoukis and those pretty much sound just like electric 12-strings.  I imagine Brian would have some idea if he were asked, Larry probably wouldn't remember.  Sounds like Mar or some girl was in the booth, but who knows if Marilyn would remember such details.  Barney is gone, Jerry is still around, perhaps he could recall if pressed for more detail.  Cripes, somebody has to know!

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

PART 3:  The Sound

So, everybody's set up, comfortable with the music, microphones are set, and it's time to capture the sound.

All of the mics capturing the various instruments are plugged into the console, as are the two guitars that are bypassing microphones.  The console then reduces the number of different elements to three outputs that feed the tape machine.

In the 60s, most consoles were made in-house by the resident equipment guru.  In this case, Gold Star's go to guy was Dave Gold.  He fashioned the mainframe of the console.  At that time Bill Putnam's company, now known as Universal Audio, made the best input channels on the market, so Dave's console was built to accomodate those.

Here are the individual channel strips each microphone would have been plugged into:



The console fully assembled would looks something like this:



Actually, the above console is a lot more like the console at Western 3 than the Gold Star console, but so be it.

Here is the actual Gold Star Console:


You can read more about the consoles of the 60s here:
http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2004/august/index4.html

Now, Larry Levine has testified that their console was a 12 input console, meaning it could accomodate 12 mics.  He also has said that they had an additional little sidecar mixer to help them out if they needed more than 12 inputs.  I'm assuming that that system was in place by this time.

Let's look at the input set-up:

Input #
1.  Drum overhead mic
2.  Kick/bass drum mic
3.  Percussion/Timpani
4.  Fender Bass
5.  String Bass
6.  Dano Bass
7.  Box Guitar
8.  Baby Grand Piano
9.  Upright Tack Piano
10.  Accordions
11.  Saxes
12. Trumpet
13. 12-string guitar, Direct Injection
14.  12-string guitary-thing, Direct Injection

If the sidecar mixer added a few more inputs, I'd imagine that would split the Timpani and Percussion/glock into two mics used.

Since Gold Star's console was built during the brief 3-track era, it probably has three program busses.

Busses are simply groupings of inputs that go to a common output.  In other words, if you look at the above list, you are able to split it up into three parts that will go to seperate tracks of tape.  This simply gave Brian a little more control if he needed to slightly adjust the volume of a certain element for the final mono bounce down.

The 610 input module generally had the buss selection setup as a three-position switch, labeled L-C-R, for "left, centrem and right."  Since Stereo was not the goal here, those terms were arbitrary designations.

According to my ears, this is how Larry and Brian decided to group the inputs:

1.  Horns.  The Saxes and Trumpet got their own track, and typically Brian would isolate the horns.  Since they aren't amplified electrically, it was crucial to have control over the volume.  The horns wouldn't really leak onto the other tracks, unlike the electric instruments, guitars, basses, organs, which are all over all the tracks.

2.  Main Rhythm.  Here we have the meat of the rhythm section.  Fender, Dano, and String basses, the Grand Piano, the Drums and Percussion.  As I mentioned, you could have this track all the way down and still hear most everything on it except the piano and string bass.

3.  Rhythm and Color.  The accordions dominate this track.  The Box Guitar and Tack Piano are also captured on this buss, and the 12-strings feature as well.

At this point, the decision would be made to add reverb to select inputs.  There is a small knob at the bottom of each console input that adds reverb and subtracts the un-effected, dry signal. 

In this case, it sounds like the accordions and 12-strings get the big treatment, with subtler reverb on other elements.  The reverbed signal simply follows it's instrument down the same buss and onto tape.

Many of you have asked me about compression on the tracks.  I have no idea if any way used at all, I doubt it.  If it was used, chances are it would be at this point.

So, at this point, the musicians and Brian launch into 21 takes of the song, get a usable take on tape, and that's that.

Chances are Brian mixed the track to mono for reference that night.

[c-man]

And yes, the thing that Barney plays on the intro is definitely electric.  Mark L. has referred to is as a 12-string guitar, but it sounds so "tinny", or "ring-a-dingy", that I'd go a step further...I think it's an electric bouzouki or electric mando-guitar.

I would heave a great sigh of relief if it could be pinned down definitively what it was.  The problem is, I've never experimented with amplified mandos or bouzoukis.  So I don't know what they sound like.  I've heard Bellzoukis and those pretty much sound just like electric 12-strings.  I imagine Brian would have some idea if he were asked, Larry probably wouldn't remember.  Sounds like Mar or some girl was in the booth, but who knows if Marilyn would remember such details.  Barney is gone, Jerry is still around, perhaps he could recall if pressed for more detail.  Cripes, somebody has to know!

The best bet would be if someone like Jerry Cole, Bill Pitman, or even Glen Campbell were to listen to it and tell us what he thought.  Glen wasn't on that session, but did many many sessions with Barney, and
would probably know.  Unfortunately, Carole Kaye listened in 1996 with David Leaf or Mark (or whomever it was that interviewed her for the box set booklet), and gave it her best shot, but wasn't 100% accurate.
This was one session out of possibly many these people played at that day, and it's now 40 years later. 
C-Man

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Well, the next time I'm having lunch with one of those guys, I'll play it for 'em!