Brian Wilson's home studio & Brother Studios

[guitarfool2002]

This is Craig, aka guitarfool2002. I wanted to clear the air a bit and make a few comments, then hopefully move ahead and make sure there are no misunderstandings or perceptions of what I said that were not intended.

I am a music teacher, and a musician who also was a previous co-owner and operator of a music recording and production business in Pennsylvania. The amount of red ink on my financial statements from that time buying equipment and maintaining it will confirm that...  I love researching and discussing these topics, have been studying them since the 1980's, and I don't claim anything beyond that. I love to share and dialogue with anyone interested in these topics. I made sure in that initial post to say in my first sentence "Not knowing the exact specs on the Dualux, I would imagine..." and ending with "Am I understanding that correctly...". In no way was I claiming to state a fact, or suggesting what I said was fact - I was going on information I had seen and read earlier, and admitting I did not know for sure but was putting it out there for discussion. I tried to be as clear as I could on that, perhaps my words were not clear enough, but in no way was I throwing down a challenge or blindly stating something as fact when I knew I did not have it.

I would respectfully ask that the perception of the Classic Studio Sessions page be reconsidered. That was something Josh and I set up to share and exchange information, and it is something we care about and wish we had more time in the past year to update with new things. Speaking for myself, I invested a lot of time and effort into what I posted there, talking personally with people directly involved, fact-checking then re-checking, compiling as much information as I could, and trying to ensure that the information posted there was as airtight and factual (and complete) as possible given the resources at hand. I stand by what I submitted there, and am also proud to have uncovered information which had not been published before. There was nothing asked for in return, and nothing expected, other than the hope that like-minded people would read it and take away something new and interesting as we had from similar sites.

If there was a dream involved, it would be in my case a chance to get a little closer to those musicians whom I have admired from afar and will never get a chance to work with or speak with in person, and if adding something to the pool of information about them did anything positive in adding to the story, I'm glad to have a small role in doing so. And that is the extent of it.

We hope to have new information and projects posted there in the near future, and it was exciting to learn that some of the information will also be published as part of a book and will hopefully be enjoyed by many more readers than have visited the site itself.

I just wanted to put all of that on the table, and again clear up what I believe to have been a misunderstanding. In the best spirit of communicating and continuing to learn and discover new things, I hope this will help.


In the spirit of asking additional questions, there are some parts of silent films from 1967 showing Jim working in a control room, with a TV monitor clearly seen showing video of the Beach Boys - donning the striped shirts - playing the Hawaii show in '67. If and when I can get the proper video format of that film to allow me to capture that video into still frames to post, I would love to post them here and ask Mr. Desper what we are seeing unfold in that piece of video. And I will also be looking forward to buying a copy of the Recording The Beach Boys book, as I missed it in the first run.

- (the other) Craig

[Cam Mott]

Someone needs to interview Bill Halverson also.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Someone needs to interview Bill Halverson also.

He's alive?  That's good news.

[Cam Mott]

Someone needs to interview Bill Halverson also.

He's alive?  That's good news.

Well, he was 10 years ago or around the time Jimmy Lockert passed away. I thought he was going to write a memoir or something but I don't think he did.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm with SWD re: the use of nommes de guerre. Maybe I'm being a killjoy but I really don't see the point of hiding behind one (and yes, I've used them, but as my writing style is very easily recognized, there wasn't much point). Especially on a forum such as this. On the Bloo... understandable.

[bgas]

Someone needs to interview Bill Halverson also.

He's alive?  That's good news.

Well, he was 10 years ago or around the time Jimmy Lockert passed away. I thought he was going to write a memoir or something but I don't think he did.

Looking at his website doesn't really show whether it's kept up to date, tho there is a MIX magazine article that would appear to be from this month: http://www.billhalverson.com/index.html

[Stephen W. Desper]

This guitarfool2002.
I would respectfully ask that the perception of the Classic Studio Sessions page be reconsidered. That was something Josh and I set up to share and exchange information, and it is something we care about and wish we had more time in the past year to update with new things. Speaking for myself, I invested a lot of time and effort into what I posted there, talking personally with people directly involved, fact-checking then re-checking, compiling as much information as I could, and trying to ensure that the information posted there was as airtight and factual (and complete) as possible given the resources at hand. I stand by what I submitted there, and am also proud to have uncovered information which had not been published before. There was nothing asked for in return, and nothing expected, other than the hope that like-minded people would read it and take away something new and interesting as we had from similar sites.

COMMENT:  Here is link to Guitarfool2002's CLASSIC STUDIO SESSIONS >>> http://www.classicstudiosessions.blogspot.com/

An extremely interesting read !!    ~swd

[c-man]

The Bellagio studio was referred to as "Brother Studio" on several AFM sheets.

Yes...on the AFMs, it's referred to as "Beach Boys Studio" from the "Smiley Smile" days until some of the later "Sunflower" sessions, at which point it's referred to interchangably as "Brother Recording Studio" on some, "Beach Boys Studio" on others, and simply by the "10452 Beallagio Road" address on still others.  By the time of the "So Tough" sessions, it's referred to as "Brother Studio" consistently, as it is on that album's inner gatefold sleeve.  After the return from Holland, Brother Studio become the 4th Street, Santa Monica location.

I know you meant 5th St., C-man.  Brother Studio at 1454 5th St, Santa Monica.

Uh, yeah...momentarily confused the location in my mind with Sound Solutions, aka 4th Street Studio, nearby (also home of many Beach Boys '80s sessions).

[Stephen W. Desper]

When the Gates was at the house, along with it were many Pultec midrange and/or program EQs and UA1176 limiters. These two units are all you need to make great sounding records. Lockart had access to anything he wanted from Heider’s. Jimmy grew up with these units and taught me a few tricks with them.

What sort of tricks?  Any random example will do me   I mean - a UA1176 hasn't got a great deal of controls (not that this should matter particularly).

Really looking forward to the revised version of your book Stephen.

ATB

COMMENT:

The 1176 has a "little known" input jack in the back, called side-chain. Usually the limiter is driven into limiting action by the sound that is being inputted to the limiter. However, you can introduce a signal from another source to control the limiter. The controlling sound is not heard, but only drives the input signal at the limiter into limiting action. Useful to have the kick drum control limiting action of the bass guitar, thus making the kick "punch" through the bass.

Use one Pultec to overdrive a second Pultec. An early form of "fuzz guitar" sound. Give body, by driving the low end into harmonic distortion. Only possible with tubes.

2 examples for you.     ~swd

[Stephen W. Desper]

I thought your post was fine, Craig ...

But I think the root of the issue is that we tend to elaborate/guess and fill in the gaps where there is no info. I'm the one who stated the Gates was likely not used for anything other than monitoring (which seems as if it might be incorrect?), based specifically on Desper's previous posts which indicated that they used outboard preamps. Here's how it was used. The mic signal went to the Gates mic-pre, next the signal went out of the console through a side-chain connection to an outboard piece of equipment such as an EQ unit or Limiter or both, thereafter the signal is returned to the console and is sent to a combining network. Therein all channel signals are blended into one or two channels. The output of combining networks continues to a line amplifier which brings the level to balanced, line-level. Then it goes to the speaker monitor, headphone feeds and to the tape recorder. A monitor section, that is a mix of the track outputs would be possible on this console, but only controlling volume. No EQ, panning, or filters.  
But a lot of times, we are just guessing based on the info that is available. When more info is presented, we can then form a better picture.

I was actually about to make a list of the tape machines, tape types that were used for this Wiki but stopped myself because I'm not 100% sure and I don't want to go down on record as being the guy who provided false info for the Wiki.

I do know the 3M M23 was used in '68-'69, and the 3M M56 after that. And Desper has mentioned most masters being recorded on Agfa PER-525. Of course, this was the '68-'71 era. I would also guess that 'Friends' was not recorded or mixed on Agfa tape ... just a guess based on a sound character. It sounds like Scotch 201 to me. Of course, the tapes may always go through several generations of dubs on different stock and a variety of machines before they reach our ears. This is all accurate from my experience. I used Agfa because of its oxide binders. The formula seemed more stable to me. This has proven true over the years as the Agfa Masters do NOT require "pre-baking" a rather dangerous procedure used to make stable, binders that have become unstable. The Agfa tape does not flake off oxide when played. Started using Agfa with Sunflower.
Not sure what mix decks were used -- probably a variety of rented machines? Likely suspects: 3M M23, Scully 280, Ampex AG-350, Ampex AG-300, Ampex AG-440. It's possible the older Ampex tube machines (300, 354, 350, 351) were utilized as well. In Hollywood studios around that time Scully 280 (good no-nonsense design, a workhorse) Ampex AG-440 (just out, editing features, good sound), the Ampex multi-track. Not too many of the 3M's, although the best, and quite a few studios had Studer 800's. The other models you listed were more for movie studio use and broadcast and radio/TV studio applications.  

And they had the Quad-8 board after the Gates. Also, I don't think the Gates board was used on 'Friends', but can't be certain. Friends and SmileySmile were both recorded at the same time, that is to say, there was a long over-lap in the productions ending in one album and beginning in the next. The songs of those two albums plus other songs not used, were recorded in part on the Gates board, outside studio boards, and the quad-8 board.

Hope that helps,  ~swd

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Friends and SmileySmile were both recorded at the same time, that is to say, there was a long over-lap in the productions ending in one album and beginning in the next."

Stephen, with all due respect to your unquestionable engineering genius and the fact that you were there, while we weren't, I find that comment to be irreconcilable with the available documentation unless a whole mess of AFM sheets have been either misdated or faked. Between Smiley Smile and Friends the band recorded another full album of new material, Wild Honey. Thus:

Smiley Smile sessions - June 3rd-July 14th 1967, album assembled (and presumably mastered) July 20th

Wild Honey sessions - October 11th-November 15th

Friends sessions - late February-April 12th 1968

All dates extracted from AFM contracts.

[Stephen W. Desper]

"Friends and SmileySmile were both recorded at the same time, that is to say, there was a long over-lap in the productions ending in one album and beginning in the next."

Stephen, with all due respect to your unquestionable engineering genius and the fact that you were there, while we weren't, I find that comment to be irreconcilable with the available documentation unless a whole mess of AFM sheets have been either misdated or faked. Between Smiley Smile and Friends the band recorded another full album of new material, Wild Honey. Thus:

Smiley Smile sessions - June 3rd-July 14th 1967, album assembled (and presumably mastered) July 20th

Wild Honey sessions - October 11th-November 15th

Friends sessions - late February-April 12th 1968

All dates extracted from AFM contracts.

COMMENT:  Thanks for your considered disagreement to my statement. When I wrote that Friends and SmileySmile were overlapped, I knew I would get pushback from someone.   I know you have all these AFM sheets of dated paper, many of which are submitted after the fact, and all looking quite official, but that is not how this group writes music.  It is a continuous stream. It is not that a group of songs is written, sang, produced, mixed, mastered and released. It is not an open and close situation. No one says, this month we will work on Wild Honey and songs for that album, release the album and wake up the next day saying, this month we will work on Friends and the songs for that album. That is not how it's done. Rather, song after song after song is written, worked on in the studio where it may stay in some stage of production for weeks, months, or even years. Whenever the urge to work on a particular song comes to the creator of that song, it is work on.  Meanwhile the wheels of demand are turning at the record company. They call and say, it is time, as you agreed to in your contract, to give us an album full of songs that we deem will sell. You name the album, put the songs you have finished into that album and we will pass judgement as to its commercial value. So some of the songs started during the release time of SmileySmile may be put onto that album because they are finished, but other songs still in production at that time may not. Those songs may go on at a later date and be finished in time for the next required release date for the next album. Maybe not. Maybe some songs may take even longer for the creative juices to flow long enough for them to be finished in time for another album.  So a song that was recorded at Sunset may be further worked on through the Gates console or the Quad-8 console and maybe come back to Capital for some sweetening, etc. It is all a very fluid situation and cannot be pigeonholed into a structured time-line. Therefore, I stand behind my original statement and I hope you see how I can say what I did.  By way of another example, look at Sunflower or Surf's Up. Some songs for those albums were actually started back at Columbia Studios, Capital Studios, Sunset Sound and United Artists. Some of the songs that wound up on Surf's Up were recorded during Sunflower, but were rejected by Warner's, then reworked for later release. Sail On, Sailor is a good example. I recall working on that song as far back as 20/20, then it wasn't finshed for Sunflower, not enough room for release on Surf's Up even with additional sweetening, and finally was included on the Holland playlist. Will your AMF papers show all the production, re-recording, an such for every aspect of this song?  I seriously doubt it. The AMF paperwork tries to keep up with all this confusion, but it fails in detailing what exactly is being sweetened and/or what is being worked on and when. I can tell you, having filled out more than a few of those reports, that many details are left out or bunched together just to get through "the damn paperwork."  I hope this shines a better light on how the business necessities of the music business and the creative aspect of the music business can sometimes seem apart, depending on your viewpoint.    

~swd

[Andrew G. Doe]

Oh, I know all about tracks recorded during the sessions for album 'A' ending up on album 'Z' ! Did a 6000 word article for the 40th anniversary of Sunflower in ESQ which outlined the genesis and evolution of said album as best I could with the available documentation (which btw Steve, included an interview I did with you in 1985 in LA, for which, still, many thanks). Had to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of what when where and ended up where. Amazing period in the band's life. So much creativity.

And yes, once the band started recording at 10452, the AFM sheets could be... problematic, shall we say.

[Stephen W. Desper]

Oh, I know all about tracks recorded during the sessions for album 'A' ending up on album 'Z' ! Did a 6000 word article for the 40th anniversary of Sunflower in ESQ which outlined the genesis and evolution of said album as best I could with the available documentation (which btw Steve, included an interview I did with you in 1985 in LA, for which, still, many thanks). Had to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of what when where and ended up where. Amazing period in the band's life. So much creativity.

And yes, once the band started recording at 10452, the AFM sheets could be... problematic, shall we say.

COMMENT:  So then you do have an understanding of how various consoles could be host to songs that cover a three-album time period?  If so, why did you ask me, or correct me in my statement?  Am I missing something else?

To my knowledge the AFM sheets are submitted to pay the correct amount due union musicians, including the Beach Boys themselves, and also to show the record company of progress being made on the albums they have fronted money to cover for their creation. Ever think that when the boys do some sessions (in fact many sessions) they do not necessarily want to submit an AFM sheet. This keeps their internal costs down and the money due them via union payment comes to them later in higher royalty payment or writer's payment. The more a session reportedly costs the more the record company holds out of their advance. So why submit for remit?  Thus you see gaps in your paperwork trail.   

~swd 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Oh, I know all about tracks recorded during the sessions for album 'A' ending up on album 'Z' ! Did a 6000 word article for the 40th anniversary of Sunflower in ESQ which outlined the genesis and evolution of said album as best I could with the available documentation (which btw Steve, included an interview I did with you in 1985 in LA, for which, still, many thanks). Had to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of what when where and ended up where. Amazing period in the band's life. So much creativity.

And yes, once the band started recording at 10452, the AFM sheets could be... problematic, shall we say.

COMMENT:  So then you do have an understanding of how various consoles could be host to songs that cover a three-album time period?  If so, why did you ask me, or correct me in my statement?  Am I missing something else?

To my knowledge the AFM sheets are submitted to pay the correct amount due union musicians, including the Beach Boys themselves, and also to show the record company of progress being made on the albums they have fronted money to cover for their creation. Ever think that when the boys do some sessions (in fact many sessions) they do not necessarily want to submit an AFM sheet. This keeps their internal costs down and the money due them via union payment comes to them later in higher royalty payment or writer's payment. The more a session reportedly costs the more the record company holds out of their advance. So why submit for remit?  Thus you see gaps in your paperwork trail.   

~swd 

The best way to combat these gaps in the paperwork has been to math up the AFM sheets with their corresponding audio.  Since there is session tape for almost everything up after the very early albums until Wild Honey, and since there were not a lot of instrumental overdubs, our picture of the sessions is pretty good for that time.

But as SWD and AGD point out, moving to Brian's House plus the switch to 8-track makes it harder to compare paperwork against session tape, session tape that is increasingly rare going forward in history.  However, we can also match tape-box dates and such to put together a timeline.  And while certainly the creative process is fluid, at some point, it comes time to put out an album, and once that's out, presumably they stop working on the songs on that album (although we know that's not really true either with inveterate recyclers like Brian.)  So after Smiley Smile was out, anything recorded after that would be for another album, even if they didn't know just what that album would be yet.  So in this way, you can created a segmented timeline, using what info we do have.

Stephen, do you recall what the "maiden" session was after you did the complete overhaul of Brian's house and turned it into a proper, acoustically treated studio, with your custom console?  That must have been satisfying to preside over this creation of yours for the first time.  Or was it more like, let's just get back to business?

[Andrew G. Doe]

So then you do have an understanding of how various consoles could be host to songs that cover a three-album time period? 

~swd 

No, rather an understanding of how a song started at one session - say, "When Girls Get Together" from the Add Some Music sessions of late 1969 - could be released 11 years later on KTSA. Of course, the likes of c-man & I tend to cloud the issue slightly by assigning album titles retroactively to a set of sessions: I'm sure no-one called you and said "Steve, we need you today to work on a Surf's Up session". My opinion is that the AFM sheets became less reliable once the home studio was used because they were now being filled out by the band as opposed to either the contractor or someone on the studio staff (2nd tape op or whatever... tea boy more likely)... if at all.  That said, this kind of documentation is better than none at all.

[Dr. Tim]

So a follow-up question for Mr. Desper on one of the tricks described above:

"Use one Pultec to overdrive a second Pultec. An early form of "fuzz guitar" sound. Give body, by driving the low end into harmonic distortion. Only possible with tubes. "

Is this how you got the whopping guitar sound on Student Demonstration Time?  I have always loved the sound of that track - though I know Brian didn't as he says in the Surf's Up CD booklet - and 10cc stole that guitar sound for their first two albums for Jonathan King.

[Stephen W. Desper]

So a follow-up question for Mr. Desper on one of the tricks described above:

"Use one Pultec to overdrive a second Pultec. An early form of "fuzz guitar" sound. Give body, by driving the low end into harmonic distortion. Only possible with tubes. "

Is this how you got the whopping guitar sound on Student Demonstration Time?  I have always loved the sound of that track - though I know Brian didn't as he says in the Surf's Up CD booklet - and 10cc stole that guitar sound for their first two albums for Jonathan King.

COMMENT:  Good try, but NO.  SDT will be explained in forthcoming edition of book.  ~swd

[Dr. Tim]

Aha!  Thanks for the heads-up, will be on the lookout for the new book when it's ready.

[Stephen W. Desper]

So then you do have an understanding of how various consoles could be host to songs that cover a three-album time period? 

~swd 

No, rather an understanding of how a song started at one session - say, "When Girls Get Together" from the Add Some Music sessions of late 1969 - could be released 11 years later on KTSA. Of course, the likes of c-man & I tend to cloud the issue slightly by assigning album titles retroactively to a set of sessions: I'm sure no-one called you and said "Steve, we need you today to work on a Surf's Up session". My opinion is that the AFM sheets became less reliable once the home studio was used because they were now being filled out by the band as opposed to either the contractor or someone on the studio staff (2nd tape op or whatever... tea boy more likely)... if at all.  That said, this kind of documentation is better than none at all.

COMMENT:  I suggest you get in touch with DIANNE REVELL, Brian's sister-in-law. She has always been the person who wrote those AFM things and booked the musicians for the sessions , unless a session leader submitted his own. Dian will shead much clearity on your quest.  Alan Boyd or someone in the current fold will have a contact number for her.  My number is years out-of-date. If you have difficulty finding her number, let me know and I'll call Brian for the number. 

~swd

[Stephen W. Desper]

Stephen, do you recall what the "maiden" session was after you did the complete overhaul of Brian's house and turned it into a proper, acoustically treated studio, with your custom console?  That must have been satisfying to preside over this creation of yours for the first time.  Or was it more like, let's just get back to business?

COMMENT:  All I can say is tape box dates are only as accurate as the person making them up. Sometimes the boxes were marked days or a week later with moderate accuracy.

No fanfare, no maiden session -- just "let's get to work, we have a record to make."  I'm not big on ceremony. That's why there are so few photos of Brian's House Studio.

~swd

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Sail On, Sailor is a good example. I recall working on that song as far back as 20/20, then it wasn't finshed for Sunflower, not enough room for release on Surf's Up even with additional sweetening, and finally was included on the Holland playlist.

As early as 20/20?! Wow...I had no idea it was that early, as I was under the impression it was written in 1971. Imagine how it would've sounded if they would have finished it in time for Sunflower!

-Billy

[Aegir]

I'm glad it ended up on Holland. Blondie's lead is perfect.

[Stephen W. Desper]

Sail On, Sailor is a good example. I recall working on that song as far back as 20/20, then it wasn't finshed for Sunflower, not enough room for release on Surf's Up even with additional sweetening, and finally was included on the Holland playlist.

As early as 20/20?! Wow...I had no idea it was that early, as I was under the impression it was written in 1971. Imagine how it would've sounded if they would have finished it in time for Sunflower!   -Billy

COMMENT:   It would have sounded about the same. I've heard that song in many stages of writting and production. The song was completely recorded by the time Sunflower was released. Surf's Up period saw some sweetening of vocals. Both times it was mixed as if done. I've mixed it in concert many times. In Holland it's the same song with a new vocal. Since I recorded it, expect it will be the subject of an upcoming study-video.~swd

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm looking forward to that!