--- SMiLE A.D.: A Stereo Mix.

[Jay]

I love how you put in the Bicycle Rider part near the end of DYLW, after a few seconds of silence. Nice surprise, and a nice touch.   It reminded me of one of Brian's "musical jokes", like the transition from the sublime fade out of Wind Chimes, to the abrupt loud organ of "Gettin' Hungry" from the Smiley Smile album.  

[seltaeb1012002]

I love how you put in the Bicycle Rider part near the end of DYLW, after a few seconds of silence. Nice surprise, and a nice touch.   It reminded me of one of Brian's "musical jokes", like the transition from the sublime fade out of Wind Chimes, to the abrupt loud organ of "Gettin' Hungry" from the Smiley Smile album.  

Yeah, definitely. When I was finalizing the mix, it occured to me that maybe Brian would've put a chorus where the instrumental tag usually is. It makes sense, song format wise (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus). Not that Brian Wilson limited himself to typical song structure for SMiLE.  

FLAC download now available: http://beachboyssmilead.blogspot.com/2011/11/smile-ad-stereo-mix.html

[bruno232]

Congratulations man, at its peaks - and those are multiple - this comes very very very close to a finished version of SMiLe in 1967.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

I loved it so much, I made a fun little cover for my iTunes.

[seltaeb1012002]

I loved it so much, I made a fun little cover for my iTunes.

Yooo love that!!!

[seltaeb1012002]

Here's a semi-complete rundown of the elements I used to make SMiLE A.D. - A Stereo Mix.

Our Prayer:
-TSS mix. Panned mono vocals slightly to the left, and added reverb panned to the right.

Heroes And Villians:
-All sections sourced from TSS.
-Modeled after Brian's 1966 mix.
-"Stand or Fall" isolated to emulate "3 score and 5" placement idea in the '66 mix.
-Bass enhancement in final section

Barnyard:
-Piano demo & Mono Backing track sourced from TSS.
-Main vocal isolated from Bruiteur's mix
-Double tracked vocal isolated from 2nd runthrough
-Harmony made in Melodyne using BW's vocal
-H&V verse harmonies over "Na na na" sections

I'm In Great Shape
-All materials sourced from TSS.
-Double tracked vocal effect made with Melodyne.
-End harmonies from H&V sessions

I Wanna Be Around / Friday Night

-All materials sourced from TSS.
-Stereo delay effect added to Workshop track.

Do You Like Worms

-Backing track sourced from SOT. Found this to be a much better mix than the TSS version. Bass enhanced.
-Verse vocals extracted from BWPS.
-Chorus & Bridge Vocals from TSS vocals mix, and SOT

Cabinessence

-TSS stereo track.
-Verse vocals extracted from TSS Disk 1 mix
-Stereo chorus vocals & "Grand Coulie" vocals from TSS
-"Truck Drivin Man" vocals extracted from 20/20 version
-"Over and Over" until the end extracted from 20/20 version

Wind Chimes

-Modeled after 1993 GV mix, as this is the mix I grew up with and love.
-1st two sections sourced from TSS stereo mix.
-Last section from TSS sessions.
-Hard edits restored

Vegetables

-TSS stereo mix with 1st chorus from the stereo piano/vocals sessions. Added reverb.

Child Is The Father Of The Man

-Backing track edited from TSS sessions
-Intro vocals from SOT & Can't Wait Too Long (intro acapella)
-Chorus vocals from newly found acetate, CWTL, & Surf's Up vocal isolated
-Drums raised and bass enhanced in chorus.
-Added snare drum at the end of every chorus, to match the loop of the acetate vocals
-Piano/Trumpet section shortened

The Old Master Painter / You Were My Sunshine

-Backing track from TSS.
-Vocal extracted from TSS Disk 1 mix.
-These are different takes, so extra effort was put in to make the "sticks" track synch up
-No phasing issues, due to it being different takes. However there is definitely some residue on the vocal track.

He Gives Speeches

-Sourced from SOT
-Intro snare from sessions.
-Reverse reverb added before vocal kicks in.
-Short delay added to vocal
-Even shorter delay added to backing track.
-Harmony made from BW's vocal in Melodyne.

I Love To Say Dada

-Stereo track from TSS.
-Brian's bass vocals (and unfortunately Carl's sped up CCW vocals) extracted from TSS Disk 1.
-BWPS vocal extracted from.. BWPS.
-End harmony from H&V section, slowed down one pitch.

Surf's Up

-1st section backing track from TSS.
-1st section vocals from TSS piano demo.
-Certain lines in 1st verse are now single tracked.
-Synched up the piano even in the section where Brian takes a break.
-2nd section from TSS piano demo. Vocals widened, so you can hear each vocal by itself by panning.
-2nd section Bass extracted from SU 71 and synched up to demo
-End section from SU 71 mix. Added high frequencies to match the demo.
-Drums at the end extracted from CITFOTM chorus. No pitch change, but had to line up every single beat, and do a lot of crossfading.
-Isolated CITFOTM vocals pop up a few times in the tag, subtly.


Hope this helps. If u have any questions, shoot!  

[RadBooley]

Love the mix! Whatever happened to "Gee," though?

One quick question-- why did you go with Brian's 2004 vocal on Da Da versus having no main lead vocal on that track?

[seltaeb1012002]

Love the mix!

Thanks!

Whatever happened to "Gee," though?

I'm personally Gee-d out. Wanted to go with something different, but equally effective.

why did you go with Brian's 2004 vocal on Da Da versus having no main lead vocal on that track?

With SMiLE A.D., pretty much anything SMiLE related goes (1966 - 1971, 2003/2004). In this track in paticular, you can tell it's the same guys writing the words and melodies, so I had no problem throwing this into the mix. Not to mention, BW's vocal on IBH is one of my favorite vocals of his later period (and sounds great on a vintage track!).

Same goes for DYLW.
I wanted, and tried (and failed) a CITFOM verse vocal. If anyone has a clean isolation, send it my way!

[monicker]

So since you have responded to every message but mine, i take that to mean you are not okay with sharing the CIFOTM isolated chorus vocals from the acetate?

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

So since you have responded to every message but mine, i take that to mean you are not okay with sharing the CIFOTM isolated chorus vocals from the acetate?

I isolated them enough for my upcoming mix, are you interested in an okay isolation?

[Jeff]

Here's a semi-complete rundown of the elements I used to make SMiLE A.D. - A Stereo Mix.

He Gives Speeches

-Sourced from SOT
-Intro snare from sessions.
-Reverse reverb added before vocal kicks in.
-Short delay added to vocal
-Even shorter delay added to backing track.
-Harmony made from BW's vocal in Melodyne.

Hope this helps. If u have any questions, shoot!  

I haven't really had a chance to listen, but out of curiosity, why did you use SOT as the source for Speeches, rather than TSS?

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

It think it may be stereo, and easier to remix/isolate

[anazgnos]

Thanks for uploading the FLAC.  I noticed that some of the tracks still seem to have a lossy frequency profile.  Is something in your mix process chopping out the high frequencies before you get to a final 'master' file?

[runnersdialzero]

"Speeches" is a strange mix on TSS, and I think the mix may have been made by editing another mix. The background vocals, something very essential to the song, being buried really hurts it on TSS.

[Austin]

Very interesting mix. Nice work. I'll just add a few things that stood out to me.

My favorite parts of any Smile fan mix are the unorthodox creative decisions, where there is less focus on technicals and more just on feel. It's hard to articulate, but sometimes the former has the effect of making it seem like a particular edit was only done for the sake of it. Above a certain threshold, I don't really care about sound quality or intent ("I'm using the draft tracklisting!" "I'm going to do the exact opposite of BWPS!") as long as I can pull myself back and still find it purely musically interesting.

For example, I thought having three extra-vocal choruses in CIFOTM was excessive -- it felt like it was repeated only because it was recently discovered -- but I absolutely loved the introduction, especially the insert of "Can't Wait Too Long". That's something I've never heard before, let alone even considered, and it fits great. One of the very few times I've ever thought, "Gee, I wish the official release had that."

There were other elements of your mix too that, even if I wouldn't have done it that way, were refreshing to hear in a new light. I'm normally not a "He Gives Speeches" fan, but that doubled melody was clever. And even though this could be considered filling something in, I was surprised at how much I liked the 2004 BW fly-ins. Not because they sounded exact, but because I didn't find it hard to reconcile the age difference. Especially on "Dada", it's not hard to tell it's the same guy.

Being the kind of person who is more than content with the official releases, and doesn't usually listen to fan mixes, there were sections of this one that were very eye-opening. Thanks.

[STE]

I love that there's no GV!

[seltaeb1012002]

Thanks for uploading the FLAC.  I noticed that some of the tracks still seem to have a lossy frequency profile.  Is something in your mix process chopping out the high frequencies before you get to a final 'master' file?

It's possible that some of the sources were in less than lossless quality. I will look into that for the revised edition.

"Speeches" is a strange mix on TSS, and I think the mix may have been made by editing another mix. The background vocals, something very essential to the song, being buried really hurts it on TSS.

Agreed!

Very interesting mix. Nice work. I'll just add a few things that stood out to me.

My favorite parts of any Smile fan mix are the unorthodox creative decisions, where there is less focus on technicals and more just on feel. It's hard to articulate, but sometimes the former has the effect of making it seem like a particular edit was only done for the sake of it. Above a certain threshold, I don't really care about sound quality or intent ("I'm using the draft tracklisting!" "I'm going to do the exact opposite of BWPS!") as long as I can pull myself back and still find it purely musically interesting.

For example, I thought having three extra-vocal choruses in CIFOTM was excessive -- it felt like it was repeated only because it was recently discovered -- but I absolutely loved the introduction, especially the insert of "Can't Wait Too Long". That's something I've never heard before, let alone even considered, and it fits great. One of the very few times I've ever thought, "Gee, I wish the official release had that."

There were other elements of your mix too that, even if I wouldn't have done it that way, were refreshing to hear in a new light. I'm normally not a "He Gives Speeches" fan, but that doubled melody was clever. And even though this could be considered filling something in, I was surprised at how much I liked the 2004 BW fly-ins. Not because they sounded exact, but because I didn't find it hard to reconcile the age difference. Especially on "Dada", it's not hard to tell it's the same guy.

Being the kind of person who is more than content with the official releases, and doesn't usually listen to fan mixes, there were sections of this one that were very eye-opening. Thanks.

Thanks. Like any fan mix, the whole thing was experimental and I'm 100% sure it can be taken further.

As for CIFOTM, that thought occurred to me. Ultimately I'd love to have a version with the other chorus vocals isolated for the 1st two choruses, as well as BWPS's verse.

I love that there's no GV!

Haha, yeah. Big fan of the song, but... GV's been beaten to death. Although, I guess it's pretty safe to say that song was going to be on the original album.

[Cabinessenceking]

the end of Surf's Up is very similar as to how it was perforemd live right? I recall hearing some 1971-73 live versions where you really hear the SU tag is CIFOTM, very nice

[Zach95]

Sonically, this is really fantastic! I'm really impressed with what you did, and I'm really glad that you didn't try to create stereo mixes of things that just can't be done in stereo, making this a true stereo release.

[seltaeb1012002]

the end of Surf's Up is very similar as to how it was perforemd live right? I recall hearing some 1971-73 live versions where you really hear the SU tag is CIFOTM, very nice

Definitely! Love those early-mid 70's live versions of Surf's Up.

Sonically, this is really fantastic! I'm really impressed with what you did, and I'm really glad that you didn't try to create stereo mixes of things that just can't be done in stereo, making this a true stereo release.

Thanks man, I tried to keep the quality as high as possible throughout.
Right now I'm already working on an upgraded version. Managed to isolate a vocal yesterday that I didn't think was possible. 

[Dave Modny]

Thanks for the great review! For some reason when I did Surf's Up, I had it in my head that this would be the anti-TSS version. Different synching, no Carl in the 1st section, CITFOTM drums at the end etc. But it's certainly possible that could change for the revised edition!

Ya know...it totally slipped my mind that Surf's Up got a 5.1 remix for the Endless Harmony DVD! I'd reckon there's probably some decent isolated elements there to be had.

That is, if you didn't tap that "well" already...lol.

[Summertime Blooz]

I love how you put in the Bicycle Rider part near the end of DYLW, after a few seconds of silence. Nice surprise, and a nice touch.   It reminded me of one of Brian's "musical jokes", like the transition from the sublime fade out of Wind Chimes, to the abrupt loud organ of "Gettin' Hungry" from the Smiley Smile album.  

I second this- it sounds quite cool and gives it a real ending.  The vocals from BWPS also sound very legit on DYLW- good job on blending them in so seamlessly. It will be interesting to see what else you come up with.

[seltaeb1012002]

Ya know...it totally slipped my mind that Surf's Up got a 5.1 remix for the Endless Harmony DVD! I'd reckon there's probably some decent isolated elements there to be had.

That is, if you didn't tap that "well" already...lol.

Good idea. I've actually been working on isolating Brian's lead on Surf's Up, which I will post as soon as it's done.

In the meantime, here's an in-the-works snippet of the end: http://beachboyssmilead.blogspot.com/2011/12/surfs-up-vocals-only-preview.html

I love how you put in the Bicycle Rider part near the end of DYLW, after a few seconds of silence. Nice surprise, and a nice touch.   It reminded me of one of Brian's "musical jokes", like the transition from the sublime fade out of Wind Chimes, to the abrupt loud organ of "Gettin' Hungry" from the Smiley Smile album.  

I second this- it sounds quite cool and gives it a real ending.  The vocals from BWPS also sound very legit on DYLW- good job on blending them in so seamlessly. It will be interesting to see what else you come up with.

Thanks for listening. I think the lo-fi rendering of the BWPS vocals helped match it with the '66 track. Sure helps when the source material is great.

[P.J.]

Vegetables[/u]

-TSS stereo mix with 1st chorus from the stereo piano/vocals sessions. Added reverb.

How did you get such a clean rip of the stereo from the vinyl?

[seltaeb1012002]

Vegetables[/u]

-TSS stereo mix with 1st chorus from the stereo piano/vocals sessions. Added reverb.

How did you get such a clean rip of the stereo from the vinyl?

High quality FLAC transfer.


BTW, work is already underway for SMiLE AD 2.0. Gonna be some cool surprises in there.