Chuck Britz stereo mixes of Today and Summer Days

[Bicyclerider]

I thought I posted this last week, but either it fell off the board from lack of interest or somehow it didn't post.  Anyway, Steve Hoffman has commented on the fact that Chuck made stereo mixes of Today and Summer Days (and four songs from Pet Sounds), which I hadn't heard before.

"I only go by the actual Capitol Studio files and they tell me that Capitol had a standing order for every Beach Boys recording to be sent to Capitol in a mono and stereophonic form. Brian cut Capitol off with ALL SUMMER LONG and I GET AROUND and refused to let Chuck Britz mix them in stereo. Capitol just redubbed the mono to awful DUOPHONIC and issued them that way. Chuck Britz mixed TODAY in stereo but Brian refused to OK the test cut. Capitol let it slide for a few weeks and then just shrugged and redubbed the entire MONO album to fake stereo and issued it anyway. Why? They made one dollar pure extra profit on every stereo record they issued.

The SUMMER DAZE album was mixed to stereo AT CAPITOL FROM THE WESTERN MULTIS. Brian again nixed the test cut so Capitol shrugged their shoulders and redubbed the mono to fake stereo.

Brian ordered that NO MORE MULTI TRACK TAPES WERE TO BE SENT OVER TO CAPITOL so PET SOUNDS never had a chance for a true stereo mix.

Chuck Britz did make a stereo tape of four songs from PET SOUNDS for a Jukebox disk for another country. Unissued but the stereo was: MUSIC CENTER, VOICES LEFT/RIGHT. In fact, exactly like the mix of LITTLE DEUCE COUPE or whatever.

What I am not clear on is WHY Brian thought the DUOPHONIC stuff sounded OK. I doubt he ever heard it."

[smile-holland]

You probably did post it last week Bicyclerider. Last Saturday the board switched to a new webhost. And during that conversion unfortunately post of ca. the last 24 hours got lost. Sorry for that.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Some of that sounds pretty strange to me.  Doesn't "fit" though nothing is impossible.

[drbeachboy]

What doesn't fit? Chuck did all the stereos from Surfin' USA to All Summer Long. SH claims IIRC that there was written evidence at Capitol regarding both albums being mixed to stereo and that Brian nixed both test cuts. AGD, have you heard about this, as well?

[c-man]

Nice story...not saying it ain't true, but one thing that doesn't "fit" is that some "Summer Days" (and some "Pet Sounds") multis were 8 tracks, and reportedly the only L.A. studio who had 8 track at that time was Columbia.  So for the mixes to have been done at Capitol would have meant a bounce from the Western or Gold Star 3-tracks to the Columbia 8-track, then after the vocals were added, another bounce from the Columbia 8-tracks down to new 3-tracks for the mix at Western or Capitol.  Not saying it didn't happen, but...

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

That was my main yellow flag, Craig--the 8-track issue.  Plus, it seems odd that Chuck would do mixes behind Brian's back.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Nice story...not saying it ain't true, but one thing that doesn't "fit" is that some "Summer Days" (and some "Pet Sounds") multis were 8 tracks, and reportedly the only L.A. studio who had 8 track at that time was Columbia.  So for the mixes to have been done at Capitol would have meant a bounce from the Western or Gold Star 3-tracks to the Columbia 8-track, then after the vocals were added, another bounce from the Columbia 8-tracks down to new 3-tracks for the mix at Western or Capitol.  Not saying it didn't happen, but...

Plus, remember, the vocal 8-tracks for at least one Summer Days... song - "California Girls" - were lost until the call went out for material for the 1993 box set and they turned up unexpectedly on tapes sent in from the Columbia studio (actually, pretty much all the SD vocals were recorded on Columbia's 8-track, reportedly after Bruce urged Brian to try it out). Also, given union and company procedures, would Chuck be allowed work the board at Capitol studios ? Further, stating that "I only go by the actual Capitol Studio files and they tell me that Capitol had a standing order for every Beach Boys recording to be sent to Capitol in a mono and stereophonic form" doesn't actually prove anything as, patently, Brian stopped doing that in 1965. And... why would the multitrack tapes be sent to Capitol anyway - surely all they needed (wanted) were the mono and stereo masters. So, yes, doesn't fit in several places. I'd like to see those files.

Also, I'd be very leery of a music historian, however respected, who referred to The Beach Boys second album of 1965 as Summer Daze.

One more point, and this is me being famously picky: Chuck didn't actually do any mixing as we understand it, rather he balanced and EQ'd the raw 3-track master to produce form of stereo - hard left-middle-hard right.

[Beach Head]

some "Summer Days" (and some "Pet Sounds") multis were 8 tracks, and reportedly the only L.A. studio who had 8 track at that time was Columbia.  So for the mixes to have been done at Capitol would have meant a bounce from the Western or Gold Star 3-tracks to the Columbia 8-track, then after the vocals were added, another bounce from the Columbia 8-tracks down to new 3-tracks for the mix at Western or Capitol.  Not saying it didn't happen, but...

Actually, I'd always assumed something like that (a bounce from the Columbia 8-tracks down to new 3-tracks for the mix) is what was done.  Otherwise, how did Chuck mix SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS down to mono?  He was a Western staff engineer and probably wouldn't have been able to do mixes at Columbia, which was (according to the stories) such a strict by-the-rules shop that they wouldn't even let Brian touch the board. I think it would be a stretch to assume that they'd have let an interloper from another studio do it!

So where and how did Chuck mix SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS into mono? If we can accept that he did (and come up with some convoluted explanation of how), then it's not that much of a stretch to suppose that he might also have mixed the albums to stereo, is it?

[Andrew G. Doe]

So where and how did Chuck mix SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS into mono? If we can accept that he did (and come up with some convoluted explanation of how), then it's not that much of a stretch to suppose that he might also have mixed the albums to stereo, is it?

The tracks were already mixed to mono at Western prior to the vocal sessions so no problem there, and I'd assume that the vocals were mixed to mono at Columbia under Brian's supervision - had to be really, as theirs was the only 8-track in town at the time: also, remember that during the Summer Days sessions at least, Bruce was still under contract to Columbia where he was a staff producer so, and I'm assuming here, possibly he had a quiet word...

Also, which would be easier, more logical - do a reduction mix to 4-track at Columbia then mix again to mono at Western... or do a straight mono mix at Columbia ?

[Bicyclerider]

Presumably there is paperwork documentation to back up Steve' s claims, as he says - I'm with AGD, I'd like to see it.  But we still have the problem of how did Chuck do the mono Pet Sounds mixes (and Summer Days) - from some kind of preliminary mixdown to four track at Columbia by their engineer or from the 8 tracks?  I find it hard to believe there would be a "premixdown" reduction mix - you've already limited your ability to mix the vocals, why not just mix to mono then?  If Brian wanted Chuck to do the mix with him, I can't see why he couldn't get an 8 track for him to use at Western (technical people - without the studio set up for an 8 track, could you bring an 8 track recorded/playback and mix it at a previously 4 track studio?) or more probably bring Chuck to Columbia specifically for the mixdown.  Is there any documentation of where the mixes for the album were done?  Even Capitol could have borrowed/rented an 8 track for a stereo mix to be done if that is what they wanted/stipulated.

The other big question is - if these were done at Capitol, and Capitol paid for them to be done, would they have destroyed the tapes after Brian rejected the mix?  I kind of doubt it.  So where are they?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Columbia had, in 1965, the only 8-track in town, ergo tapes recorded on it couldn't be played in any other studio. Probably I'm missing some glaring historical or technical point here, but I can't see any other logical route than to do a mono mixdown at Columbia. Western didn't have 8-track capability until much later (hence Brian using Columbia as he did - last known sessions there was 4/7/67, for "Vega-Tables" vocals. I think Armin Steiner had the 2nd 8-track*). I'm inclined to believe that Columbia's strict union policy might be something of an urban myth. Lookit - you tell Brian Wilson in 1965/66 he can't touch the board, I'd call that very poor customer relations. I can see Brian saying "foda this, I'll go somewhere else". And mixing down to 4-track, then again to mono would play merry hell with the signal/noise ratio. Nope, I say they mixed to mono at Columbia.


* I was right, they did. Funny story regarding this: Jimmy Webb recorded the tracks for the first Richard Harris album at Sound Recorders, then took the tapes to Dublin where Harris was to add his vocals. Small problem - no 8-tracks in Europe, never mind Dublin. So they cobbled together an 8-track, reportedly out of spare Scully parts.  Apparently Western had two 8-tracks installed in May 1967 (a 3M C 401 model): however, prior to that they had a 3M 4-channel Dynatrack, which used two tracks per channel: one set at a higher recording level with the playback signal seamlessly switched between the two tracks to achieve the desired result, so technically, while it did have 8 tracks, it was still only a 4-track setup.

[JaredLekites]

I'd take everything Steve Hoffman says with a grain of salt or two. I can say no more.

[Bicyclerider]

I thought of another supporting fact for the multis being mixed to mono at Columbia - if the multis were last used to mix down at Capitol or Western, wouldn't they have been left at one of those studios?  Yet the multis appear to have stayed at Columbia - for California Girls and apparently others.  So that would support that mixdowns were done there, and the multis left there.

Which means Chuck could have made stereo mixdowns at Columbia as well.

[Bicyclerider]

Plus mixing at Columbia and leaving the multis would explain why these stereo tapes are MIA along with multis for Good Vibrations and the Smile tracks.

[TdHabib]

McCartney tells the story that EMI had an eight-track by 1966 or 67 but the stupid people at the head office had forgot to buy the plug.

[Andrew G. Doe]

McCartney tells the story that EMI had an eight-track by 1966 or 67 but the stupid people at the head office had forgot to buy the plug.

I recall the date being as summer 1968, after they'd used the Trident 8-track to cut "Hey Jude", and the reason being that they (the white coats) needed to test it. Definitely not 66 or 67. Decca had one of the very first UK 8-tracks installed in 1967 - The Moodies used it for Days Of Future Past - but I think Trident's was the very first.

[Beach Head]

The consensus seems to be that the SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDs tracks for which vocals were recorded on 8-track tape at Columbia Studios probably were not subjected to a preliminary 3- or 4-track mixdown to allow Chuck Britz to make the final mono mixes at Western. And the primary reason for that would be the generational loss of sound quality due to another bounce.

So that means that, regardless of who did them, the mono mixes of the tracks in question were done at Columbia Studios. I would postulate also that trying to avoid further generational loss of quality means the 3- or 4-track instrumental recordings were not mixed down to mono at Western either, because they would have been mixed to another 3- or 4-track tape (or possibly even a 2-track tape), which then would have been bounced to the 8-track tape at Columbia. To preserve the best sound quality, they'd have been bounced directly from the 3- or 4-track instrumental master to 8-track tape at Columbia. That makes sense, right?

That leaves us with the conclusion that the instrumental mono mixes (which were put on one track of an 8-tracks tape) and the final mono mixes (made up of that one instrumental track and up to 7 vocal tracks) all were done at Columbia. Had to be, because Columbia was the only place with an 8-track tape machine.

Which means that either Chuck Britz was allowed to do the mixes at Columbia (is there any way to verify that?), or he had absolutely nothing to do with the mixes of the SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS tracks for which vocals were done at Columbia. In which case, I have to ask: Who did the mixes? It not Chuck, then who?

And if it was Chuck and he did the mixes at Columbia, then why couldn't he have done stereo mixes there, too?

[Jason]

Decca had one of the very first UK 8-tracks installed in 1967 - The Moodies used it for Days Of Future Past

Days of Future PASSED.

Can't be a scholar at everything.

[c-man]

Who ever said Chuck did the final Summer Days and PS mixes anyway?  Could have been Ralph Ballatin or one of the other CBS engineers.

For what it's worth, Brian's on record saying the final "Good Vibrations" mono mix was done at Columbia.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Who ever said Chuck did the final Summer Days and PS mixes anyway?  Could have been Ralph Ballatin or one of the other CBS engineers.

Well, Hoffman is kind of implying it. 

I love Chuck, and am quite attached to him, but he certainly wasn't the only mixer Brian would use, and of course, mixing meant something different then than it does now.

[petsite]

Summer Days Tracks recorded (either inst or vox) @ Columbia:
California Girls
Summer Means New Love
Your Summer Dream


Pet Sounds Tracks recorded (either inst or vox) @ Columbia:
Wouldn't It Be Nice
I'm Waiting For The Day
God Only Knows
Here Today
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

[Beach Head]

Summer Days Tracks recorded (either inst or vox) @ Columbia:
California Girls
Summer Means New Love
Your Summer Dream

I think you mean "And Your Dream Comes True," not "Your Summer Dream," which was on Surfer Girl.

And add to the list:

You're So Good To Me
The Girl From New York City
I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man
Amusement Parks USA
Salt Lake City
Let Him Run Wild

[XY]

Just a thought: Who did the 4 Pet Sounds stereo mixes that are featured on AN AMERICAN BAND ?

"Here Today", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's not me" & "I Just Wasn't Made"

They all have missing vocals elements, but perhaps those (not so good) mixes date back to 66?

[Andrew G. Doe]

The consensus seems to be that the SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDs tracks for which vocals were recorded on 8-track tape at Columbia Studios probably were not subjected to a preliminary 3- or 4-track mixdown to allow Chuck Britz to make the final mono mixes at Western. And the primary reason for that would be the generational loss of sound quality due to another bounce.

So that means that, regardless of who did them, the mono mixes of the tracks in question were done at Columbia Studios. I would postulate also that trying to avoid further generational loss of quality means the 3- or 4-track instrumental recordings were not mixed down to mono at Western either, because they would have been mixed to another 3- or 4-track tape (or possibly even a 2-track tape), which then would have been bounced to the 8-track tape at Columbia. To preserve the best sound quality, they'd have been bounced directly from the 3- or 4-track instrumental master to 8-track tape at Columbia. That makes sense, right?

That leaves us with the conclusion that the instrumental mono mixes (which were put on one track of an 8-tracks tape) and the final mono mixes (made up of that one instrumental track and up to 7 vocal tracks) all were done at Columbia. Had to be, because Columbia was the only place with an 8-track tape machine.

Which means that either Chuck Britz was allowed to do the mixes at Columbia (is there any way to verify that?), or he had absolutely nothing to do with the mixes of the SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS tracks for which vocals were done at Columbia. In which case, I have to ask: Who did the mixes? It not Chuck, then who?

And if it was Chuck and he did the mixes at Columbia, then why couldn't he have done stereo mixes there, too?

Fair, balanced and valid points all. And as I'm sometimes prone to do, I've been speculating instead of going back to source material. This from Mark Linett's technical notes to the Pet Sounds Sessions box (emphasis mine):

"Starting with the Summer Days Aum in 1965, he began to make use of the new 8 track tape decks that a few of the studios in Los Angeles had recently received.

Neither United/Western (where Brian did most of his recording), nor Gold Star (his second favorite studio), had an 8-track. So, as he so often did, he adapted to the available technology and continued to cut his instrumental tracks on the 1/2" 3-track and 4-track machines that were then the industry standard.

The difference was that now, instead of cutting the entire band in mono onto a single track, leaving two or three tracks for vocals, the engineers (Chuck Britz, Larry Levine and others), began to spread out the band onto three tracks so that Brian would at least have some control over the mix when he dubbed the instrumental track to mono on a second tape before adding the vocals.

Recording the track in stereo was never the goal of using the four-track this way. The division of the instruments was only done with an ear toward what sounds Brian might want to highlight later. Typically, drums, keyboard, percussion, etc. would be on track one, horns on track two, and bass and additional percussion, or sometimes guitar, on track three.

Track four usually contained a rough reference mix in mono of the track which was used for playback at the session, and that would be erased and used for any additional instrumental overdubs (mostly strings) that Brian added. Amazingly, tracks like "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows" were completed in a single long session without any instrumental overdubs. 30 years later, the work on these sessions is an achievement in both production and engineering that in my view remains unsurpassed.

Although he dubbed some tracks down to mono onto another 4-track, leaving three tracks for vocal or instrumental overdubs, many of the tracks on the Summer Days... album (including such classics as "California Girls" and "Let Him Run Wild") were mixed in mono onto a single track of the 8-track machine (at CBS Recording Studios), allowing Brian the luxury of as many as seven additional tracks for vocals.

He even cut two tracks for that album -- "Summer Means New Love" and "I'm Bugged At My Old Man"--directly to the 8-track, but at this point in time these were exceptions, and Brian didn't record this way again until the legendary Smile sessions.

At any rate, depending upon his need, Brian continued to employ the method of recording sessions on 4-track, dubbing a mono instrumental mix to either a 4 or 8-track machine and then adding vocals. About a third of Pet Sounds ultimately ended up on 8-track, but either way, by the time the vocals were recorded, the backing track was already "locked" in mono."

Maybe I like making things harder than they need to be...  

I still find it hard to believe that Columbia wouldn't accede to Brian's wanting to run the board himself (which Chuck says he was perfectly capable of doing) for a mixdown, and given that, I can see Brian saying "OK, I'll bring my engineer too" - and of course, yes, Brian didn't use Chuck exclusively, nor was he a mixer. He was an engineer, an outstanding one... but Brian did the mixing, at least in the context of what we're discussing here, and any competent engineer would have sufficed. Think I know someone who might have at least a partial answer to this...

But, to sum up:

rough mono reference track mix done at Western/Gold Star...
final mono track mix done from 4- to 8-track at Columbia...
vocals/sweetening added...
final mono master mix done at Columbia.

And I think we've collectively proven (at least to my satisfaction) that, purely from the evidence of the prevailing technical conditions at the time, Chuck couldn't have mixed down parts of Summer Days... and Pet Sounds at Capitol, or indeed anywhere else except Columbia. Again. I would dearly love to see the documentation that Hoffman is citing.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Just a thought: Who did the 4 Pet Sounds stereo mixes that are featured on AN AMERICAN BAND ?

"Here Today", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's not me" & "I Just Wasn't Made"

They all have missing vocals elements, but perhaps those (not so good) mixes date back to 66?

Pretty sure those were done by the producers of the documentary. I spoke to them in LA just before it came out (they very kindly showed it to me, in fact) and I recall that being an answer to one of my questions.