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Two minutes ago; The right time w/Al/David just soared on Norwegian radio - world premiere🎯
... and here, Norway?!🏂

Um, what? You're lying? Or you're incredibly lucky to have heard that....  ;D

About fuckin' time, actually much overdue, for a single from an album that's been "done" for several months by now.


Link to stream?


I'm also going to need your transcribed lyrics, chords, harmony stacks, & tabs/sheet music for the guitar solo. Thanks.

I am on holiday up in the mountains - far away from both California and stable Internett connection - but
check out NRK.no and the programme NITIMEN - (sorry, very Norwegian) - but
the best i can do for the moment (the streaming is available in an hour from now, I guess)

But it is true👼

Excellent, thanks for the link. I'm in California, too.  ;D Almost 2AM, I was about to go to sleep until I saw your thread, I'm very much looking forward to what I'm going to hear in the near future.  ;D


Enjoy your holiday in the mountains!!! I'd love to be in the mountains too right now.....

this seems to be it:

http://radio.nrk.no/serie/nitimen/MUHR01004015/16-02-2015

You can hor Brian Wilson's nyeste single!

Pleasant and catchy MOR. Like a cross between something from the Imagination album and TWGMTR. Brian sounds good in his places.

BUT Robo Al is in full effect. There are places where it doesn't even sound like Al, the processing is so heavy.

Scroll to 45 mins in.

****For those interested in accurate chords and notation, please see GuitarFools wonderful transcription further on in this thread****
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,19916.msg499684.html#msg499684

The Right Time

(I haven't quite nailed the chords)
intro
Dave? lead guitar
acoustic guitars - pedal steel sound, hammond, clicking things and percussion

The instrumental arrangement, but not the song, is a little bit like Orange Crate Art sans the strings

Verse 1 - rim-shots, and light percussion, acoustic guitars
Al sings

4/4

Am                               F       G                          
Whatever happened to me and you
and everything we’ve been going through
Am                        Dm                              F                   G
So many pieces but never in a very straight line

(A/B)

Chorus - Al and Brian
(Full drums kick in)

C                                       Am
Right, could it be the right
                        Em
could it be the right time
      F
for getting’ together


Right, could it be the right
could it be the right time
I’m thinking forever

Verse 2
So many times you get fooled again…
with everything that’s been happen’
like changing places with someone in the back of the line

But not this time

Chorus 2
Right, could it be the right
could it be the right time
for thinking it over

Right, could it be the right
could it be the right time
for getting to know her

quiet middle eight (no snare, just mellow percussion)
F  (2 bars)
Right time
                      Em (bars)
Could it be the right time
x 3

instrumental verse with solo and ooh ahhs
chorus
intro
tag - hammond and guitars

There are some other little bridging chords I haven't noted.

I liked the song. The production and realization not so. Brian's work with Thomas, or Thomas' imprint in Brian's music, is something to be considered: those two get things done, in an extremely profesional way, there are no flubs, etc. But I don't know... Brian's best music always had overtones rooted in the very essence and origins of american music, its sentimentality was always informed and enriched by jazzy and bluesy colors; there's been always a rock'n roll sensibilty, even in his most elaborate ballads. What can I say? I miss that. I want that. I want more nicotine in his music.

I agree with this post 100%

Amazing! I love it. Thanks so much for the chord chart Alan. Can you do the whole album once it's released....for us  :angel:


No. Just no.

Interestingly, the song does not fade out...it has a clear ending. Unusual for BW songs.

Those guitar licks have no place in a Brian Wilson production.

Take it or leave it.

Sorry, didn't realise opinions are not allowed. Silly me.

First impressions - the percussion is flippin great, reminds me a bit of Summer's Gone in places. I'm really diggin' those flutes during the last chorus/tag. Also, I'm hearing a few nods to the Sloop John B opening riff. Save for the "getting to know her" lyric, this sounds more like a song to Mike than a love song.

As for the robo Al comments - I'm not hearing it, at least I'm not hearing a heavily processed Al. What I am hearing is a song going through a very digitized stream. The C50 Live album - those are robo vocals.

Overall, it sounds like a really nice/catchy Beach Boys song!

*thanks anders wyller and Loaf for the news and link!

I love the song! ;D

I dig it. The chorus is a tad bland, but overall it's a good song.

The blend of instruments is iconic BW...its the way all those interesting parts are there if you listen for them, but otherwise simply embellish the overall sound of the tune.

I like it......don't really hear the Robo Al.....he sounds good to me, and if it is a bit doctored......come on, the guy is 70+ years old and still sings great.

That's not what I said. I meant if you like it or not, that's what Brian chose to do, so if Brian's opinion is that those guitar licks suit the song fine, you will have to live with it. I have to too.

It blows me away that this unbelievably terrible auto tune makes it past the engineers, record label execs etc.

It blows me away people are hearing auto-tune that isn't there.

Not having that. Just don't say anything if thats the case.

Agreed. Am I the only one, so far that is picking up some "Lay Down Burden" melodies going on here?

If someone shouldn't say anything, let's start with YOU

Its not there.

It blows me away that so many don't seem to realize that the sound of the vocals is an INTENTIONAL choice.  Would I prefer a vocal sound that is closer to what Al Jardine went for on his solo album, probably.  But do I think that this is a result of poor engineering, no.  This is clearly what Thomas and co feel is a contemporary or modern vocal sound.  The effects on Al's vocal sound a bit more restrained to me here than Al's (still killer) vocals on the TWGMTR album.  Happy to hear these guys singing together on record again.  Lovin' it.  I enjoyed this tune when I heard it live in Vegas a few times but enjoy the studio version even more.  Is that Matt Jardine sounding wonderful on the high parts there?  Think so.  Nice.  This album can't come fast enough for me!

I doubt it. I was just blanking on the tune, but it's an everywhere good call

Why me? or are you just looking for an argument as usual?

Sure, whatever; Micha's explanation was perfectly clear, yet you seem to think you're the only one fit to post. get over yourself please

Yep, sounds like a cousin to "Lay Down Burden". Even the same key, right?

Yeah of course...I'm the king of the internet  ??? anyway, not gonna derail this thread...back to topic

Sounds like an outtake from "Imagination."

Just curious, trying to start an even-tempered debate... :)

What is it that causes the Robo Al effect that i can hear? Ray said it's not Auto-tune, but that's just one brand of pitch correction software. Are you saying, Ray, that there is no pitch correction on the track, or that it's just not the Auto-tune brand?

I can hear something "unnatural" on Al's voice. It's not on every syllable of every word, but there is some vocal effect going on in many places. Whether it's an intentional effect to get it sounding modern and shiny for teh internetz, or whether it's the production team not allowing a single (human) off-key note, IMO, i would prefer to hear Al's voice without this effect. I'm not against pitch correction itself, I actually like Cher's song and Kanye West, but i don't like it with the Beach Boys.



And i too tried singing Lay Down Burden over the track. The intro and the chorus reminded me of LDB especially. The drum fills and guitar licks.

I'm about the earn the wrath of comments but here goes my impressions of Right Time:
It sounds bland.  Like Imagination meets That's Why God Made the Radio.  Brian Wilson and Joe Thomas' production is so full of reverb it is distracting to my ears.  The production sounds like a middle-of-the-road adult contemporary track and those guitar licks are unnecessary.  In fact I only hear little Brian Wilson production techniques in this song, the click noise, the drums, and the vocals.  The rest sounds like an average Thomas production.  The auto-tune is poor on Al Jardine's vocal while Brian's vocal sounds tolerable.  The verse and chorus sound way too much like Lay Down Burden, so much so that it sounds like the same song. 

Overall, I did not like this song, and I am getting worried whether No Pier Pressure will actually be a good record.

 I'm heartbroken.  :(

Me neither. I'm not inclined to keep quarreling. Opinions are allowed. It's perfectly ok if you don't like those licks. What can we do if Brian likes them?

Hmmm... This is a dissappointment. The production is bland, like so many others have stated. The song itself is also somehow boring. I don't know what to think about it. It's not bad, but easily the weakest of the NPP songs we've heard up to this day.

You have basically two choices of pitch correction software mate: Antares' Autotune and Celemony's Melodyne.  I believe it is the latter being used because Melodyne is built to correct specific notes in a recording and can add harmonies on the fly.

There is no pitch correction.  Brian corrects pitch live as he is cutting the vocals .  For example at the "I'm Into Something Good' session ; Carole King had not started singing the second verse when Brian pitch corrected..." Carole , your flatting" . He did it to Macca , to  EJ , to Nate Reuss, to everyone.  My understanding is the vocals are double tracked and buried with echo .

So does David Marks

There is pitch correction.  If Brian does it live, then he uses one of these tools to do it.  Also, Brian is not a computer person so we can assume he is using a fellow engineer to do it for him while he watches over the engineer's shoulder.  The double tracked vocals heard are used to try to mask the effect of auto-tune, which rarely ever works.

That lack of enthusiasm for this song here is strange. ::)

It sounds good in a 1979 Christopher Cross/Player sort of way. It's unambitious songwriting and production for sure, but still very pleasant. If the whole album is like this I guess I might be a little disappointed, but I would still like and listen to it.

I finally heard the song for the first time just a few minutes ago. My opinion: not a bad song. Al's voice sounds great, Brian sounds good, the song itself sounds like something I expect to hear on the piped-in music at the local pharmacy, but not a bad song. It didn't knock me off my seat or anything, and with time I may end up liking it more. Honestly it's just what I expected. Now to hear the rest of the tunes...

I thought this too.

Ok ,  whatever

I love it!! What an excellent day!!  ;D

I can't wait for the rest of the album! How blessed we are to have new music from Brian, Al, and David in 2015...

David Marks on those guitar licks, as noted.

Song's not bad.  Would have fit well on the 2012 reunion album.  But I think an important question persists:  how the hell is Norway getting to hear this song before everyone else?!

They obviously sent vikings to Los Angeles to pillage the song  :)

No worries Ray.  Just like Frasier Crane...I'm listening.  Perhaps a picture just to actually show the experts that you were THERE might assist in keeping the discussion from submerging into the cess...oops...guess pool of artificial expertise.

There is definitely an Auto tune or pitch-correcting effect on the vocals, however I think it serves as a stylistic choice here more than anything else.  

Didn't BW once admit in an interview that he uses pitch correction?

Dear Mr. Lawlor,

Please do not argue with ForHerCryingSoul.  He is an expert.  Don't you realize that Brian has been using doubletracked vocals for nearly 50 years for the purpose of "masking" the auto-tune.  

In all seriousness it is great to have someone here who has attended sessions, been a good friend to Brian, and can weigh in when some folks' musings get out of hand.  Thanks for posting here Ray, you class the place up!  I am looking forward to the album.  I hope we hear a taste of the studio version of Saturday Night on Hollywood BLVD next or soon.  I really enjoyed Nate's vocals during the Vegas show and want to hear how the album version came out.

For the musicians who want to jam along with Brian, Al, David, and the song: Adding to Alan Smith's earlier post, here is a chord chart I did in the key of the recording. Many of the chords are anticipated going into the next bar, but it's difficult to notate in this format - listen for those changes. Those who prefer open guitar chords, you can capo at the 3rd fret and transpose all of these down three half-steps, C minor becomes open A minor, Eb becomes open C, etc. Lot of those nice hybrid "Brian chords" to be found, some where the notes played in the bass imply a different harmony than the chord on top, a few I'm not 100% sure of but they worked this morning.  ;D


THE RIGHT TIME

INTRO
Cm    Bb/D | Eb/F     | Cm    Bb/D | Eb/F     |

Cm    Bb/D | Eb/F     | F          | F        |

VERSE
Cm     Bb/D | Cm7/F     | Cm    Bb/D | Cm7/F    |

Eb     Dm7  | Cm7       | F          | F        |

CHORUS
Bb          | Gm        | Dm         | Eb     F |
 
Bb          | Gm        | Dm         | Eb     F |

REPEAT VERSE

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE
Ebmaj7     | Ebmaj7     | Dm7      | Dm7      |

Ebmaj7     | Ebmaj7     | Dm7      | Dm7      |

Ebmaj7     | Ebmaj7     | Dm7      | F        | F       |

VOCAL/GUITAR BREAK: REPEAT CHORUS X2

CHORUS X2

OUTTRO
Ebmaj7     Dm7 | Cm7/Eb     | Ebmaj7     Dm7 | Cm7/Eb     |

Ebmaj7     Dm7 | Cm7/Eb     | Bbmaj7     |

I can see why people might be put off by the similarity to "Lay Down Burden," but not by the pitch correction.  This is not "unbelievably terrible", C50 Live-level Autotune.
Very nice song, to my ears.

Lol the chorus is just Lay Down Burden.

Agreed Judd, it's Brian freaking wilson making art in 2015.

Absolutely!! And how fortunate we are that he is. I've listened to it like 10 times-so far.  :woot

I'd suggest putting a smiley/emoticon after the first paragraph to further enhance the sarcasm... ;D  Like that one !  ;)

My guess, checking the notes at the bottom of the link, is they got this from someone in NYC..
>> Per Sundnes er i New York City og rapporterer direkte fra the Big Apple. ( Per Sundnes is in New York City and reports directly from the Big Apple. )<  

I got another 30 listens to go! ;D

Yeah, Brian's never been known to re-imagine older tracks. I'm off to listen to Land Ahoy and Cherry Cherry Coupe...

Did I imply this was a one-time thing?
What's your point? That he's done it before so just don't bring it up?

EVERYONE STOP FIGHTING

Love the song!  Although it does feel a bit like a reworked Lay Down Burden, but there's nothing really wrong with that.  After hearing this and the songs from the Vegas show, I'm feeling much better about the album than when I first heard Our Special Love.

I guess I'm missing the humor then....didn't realize that Brian re-working a melody/chord progression calls for a "Lol"

I enjoy the song..
As for Al's part,  I agree with the "double tracked and buried with echo" conclusion and I like it!

Well...I enjoyed the HECK outta that.  I had a chance to listen w/o interuption and thoroughly 'felt' it.  A unique sound with that guitar for what turns out to be a Beach Boys kind of effort.  Yes I enjoyed It's OK and Good Timin' a LOT and Kokomo a little but as a Beach Boys [based] release...this is the first NEW something I've enjoyed to this extent since Holland hit the shelves.  [that's after 1 listen...]

Like all Beach Boys and Brian material some folks like the A pile.  Some prefer the B choices and others are better satiated by C, D, or E.  This song, then, would be no exception in that regard.  But as a LONG TIME fan...I dig it BIG TIME. :hat

Nicely done Brian...Al...David.  Thanks for NOT trying to be anyone other than yourselves.  Timeless pounds the livin' daylights outta trendy everytime.

Hey does anybody hear Shortin' Bread in this song? No? Well neither do I.But I digress. It amazes me how everybody is now an expert on recording techniques and really has better  taste than Brian Wilson whenit comes to producing a song. There is a weird vibe on this board sometimes, almost as if you wanted the Beach Boys to be something different then they really were. When the album does come out I think this is the last place I'd want to be, too much negativity .Unless Brian Wilson visits, than everyone is on their best behavior.

For all we know, the Most Honoured Guest himself is reading this thread right now... if he is, hi Brian!

lol I'm really not an expert, but thank you.  I still can't wait to hear the other tracks in store for No Pier Pressure.  If that link for the song ends up being taken down, PM me.  I recorded it for reference.

So you can't wait to hear the rest of the album so you can critique the sh*t out of it?

Nice uplifting song!  Thank you Brian and friends! ;D

Didn't mean to sound prudish when it came to reviewing the track.  It's just my two cents and my opinion on it based on the sounds of his earlier work, which is probably not a fair comparison.  I personally liked the sound of Brian Wilson's Lucky Old Sun album, Gershwin album and That's Why God Made the Radio, even with auto-tune (I use that word interchangeably with software that corrects pitch). 

Back to the song, it's a lot better than the Sweet Insanity sessions.  I hope we can all agree on that.  :)

Honestly no.  I just would like to hear Brian Wilson continue to make art.  I only critiqued to observe and predict what is to come.  I didn't mean to completely trash it...  I'm sorry.

Brian is one hell of a vocal coach if he can get people to sing a completely straight note with no pitch variation at all

I liked it.  In fact it's absolute ear candy.  Everytime you forget how amazing that Beach Boys blend (even without M&B here) can be it comes right back and surprises the heck out of you.  If the rest of the record is anything like this I think we are in for a treat!

Thank you for the link!

I like it. It has a sentimental sound with cool harmonies that - yeah it has to be said here - would have made this an interesting song for the Beach Boys.

Who does the falsetto? This doesn't sound like Jeff.


Thanks for the song Brian, Al and Dave!

Professor just hearing this for the first time: total Hawthorne reunion! Well,no Mike.  I love Dave's guitar,and whoever does not......well, I am baffled.

Chorus goes on a bit too long--or rather the chorus repeated as an extended bridge before the solo goes on a few bars too long. Dave's outtro is great.  Listen, this is not some revolutionary new sound nor some philosophical statement like Summer's gone, but I would listen to 5 albums full of BW, AJ, and DM playing together. Mike and Bruce on this? I wish. Mike and Brice on Our Special Love? I wish.

all this makes me want a new BB album with all the boys together.

love David's parts! what a joy to see the Lost BB found again and again!

 

Have to wonder who's on top of the mix?  Is it Brian Eichenberger, cause it doesn't really sound like Matt. Mind you, I haven't heard Matt doing much over the last few(ish) years so maybe his voice has changed a bit.

Still, I love the song, a wonderful 2:40 of ear candy  :)

I liked this track too.... In a L.A. Kind of way.

Out of the songs I've heard from the album id definitely rate it below Saturday Night and Our Special Love. But still a solid song nonetheless!

I never cared much about Lay Down Burden. This one isn't bad but doesn't spark either.

Waiting for the rest of the tracks.

Brian just came here a few weeks ago to state that he dislikes the sound of hi-hats, so I'd say he has pretty good taste, and that his true preferences may not account for the (in my opinion) 1970s schlock rock arrangement on this track.

I'm sure the album will have stronger material.

I'd suggest listening to the Pet Sounds Sessions for one, then some of the comments from Carl, Dennis, Bruce, Mike, etc regarding how Brian would have them sing parts in the studio over and over again until it was just right. Listen to some of the longer sustained notes sung by various Beach Boys on those 60's records, like Mike on "That's Not Me", the various voices that "answer" Brian's falsetto on the vocal break of "You Still Believe In Me", and some of the vocals-only remixes that have appeared. On a majority of those 60's vintage tracks, if you applied Autotune or other software it wouldn't even trigger in noticeably on the notes because it wouldn't detect anything as being "out", enough to trigger the digital process to correct it. The only way you could have an audible Autotuned effect on most of Pet Sounds, for example, would be to deliberately program it to trigger in another key. The notes as is are/were right on the money for the most part. And that includes taking the correct breath before sustaining one of the longer-held notes to avoid flatting that note before the next phrase.

Unless someone had access to a time machine, hopped in that time machine carrying some version of Antares AutoTune software or rackmount effects unit or other effects, hopped into Western's control room, hooked it up for mixdown, then hopped back in the time machine and came back...

...how would they be able to get those completely straight notes on an album like Pet Sounds 40 years before Autotune was developed? Maybe the Beach Boys in those interviews and comments have the ultimate answer when they say they would sing these notes and phrases until it was just right.

And based on what at least one of the artists who sang on the upcoming album has said about the recording process for the new tracks in a television interview, Brian Wilson still does the same thing regarding singing on pitch in the studio. Take after take until it's right. Calling out flat or off-pitch notes from the control room. Just like the 60's.  :)

This !

Ray,

Is this a lead single, or did these DJs just get a copy of the album and decide to play this song?  Do you know if there will be a lead single, and when it will be released?

Thanks,
Matt

That's really interesting!  I can see it now, I think you can even see it a little bit on the That's Why God Made the Radio promo videos.  I will however stand by my belief that there is some pitch correction software being used during post-production on this new album.   :-D

Some of the comments comparing/equating/confusing/substituting pitch correction to/for Brian's recording techniques in the '60s are...well, interesting.  Guess I'll leave it at that.  As has been implied, if we weren't actually in the studio leaning over someone's shoulder, it would be impossible to intuit from mere listening how things were done, no matter how good one's ears are.  I guess.

The falsetto on this is fabulous. I wonder if it's the new guy?  Best I've heard in yonks.

The - um - well since it's a hotly debated topic, I will say what I perceived to be pitch correction on the band and in particular on Al's voice on the last album marred my enjoyment of same, and I am not a fan of pitch correction as "the sound" of current pop radio at all.  To me, it sucks the life out of everything.  Having said that, within those perimeters this one doesn't sound that egregious to me -- Joe Thomas' (for that matter, most current pop producers') engineering choices aren't to my taste, so I guess I was prepared for worse -- and I found the vibe and chord progression intriguing.  It's very early '70s Carole King-y with an ever so slight hint of the HOLLAND sound.  

I don't think hardcore Beach Boys fans are the target demo for this tune, but I think there is stuff here to like.

I dig what you say. Brian worked hard to achieve the best possible performances. He was not, however, a perfectionist in a contemporary way, I think. Of course, he used the technology he had to his advantage, but part of the reason he produced so much music and of such a great quality in a short time had to do, for me, with the pace he worked at, even if meant having to live with some mistakes or shortcomings. For instance, Brian + Joe 2015 would probably pitch-correct or re-record Brian's vocals for You Still Believe in Me. There's plenty of flat notes, easily noticeably in the voice-only track. Of course Brian knew that it wouldn't be of importance against the track once the vocals were doubled. But still, certain things that wouldn't be accepted today on an AC recording were part of the working day for Brian.

I believe this is Matt Jardine on the high parts here.  Evidence being that the album was fully recorded before Eichenberger joined the band.  Jeff is on the record NPP but that sure doesn't sound like him on this track.  Also, during the live show in Vegas' performance of the song Matt Jardine was singing the high parts.

Sounds like Matt to me as well. Besides the evidence that Rich states, just listen to the blend of the high voice with Al's part right below. It sounds like an extension of Al's voice into a higher register. That genetic thang.

I completely disagree. I love David Marks playing! It sounds to me like a Fender Telecaster, very Ventures meets  David Marks. It reminds me of a very blues oriented David Marks,who used to play guitar in The Beach Boys when he was like 11. And now he's lived his life and has an actual style. I think he fits very well! Great job Brian including him on your new album.

Well...it ain't carrots or celery. ;)  Guitars-Shmitars.  :-D

Hard to believe David...or Brian...progressed beyond the Surfin'  USA album.   :o

The freekin' 'nerve'!!!  :lol

As much as the Professor wants a new BB album, for a 100 reasons, hearing Dave play so meaningfully and beautifully with B and A is just as good, since the song is good, and they seem emotionally pleased with the work. I would love to hear the three interviewed about their 2 songs, and I'm sure they would tell M and B, "come on back and be with us!"

Just the right level and style for the song IMO. Often a solo is so over blown it ruins a tune but this hits the spot.

Let me suggest that anders wyller ...in making what looks to have been only his 15th post here...really gave us something cool to listen to and to talk about today.  He dropped the song on us...made one more comment...and left. :hat

Hey... ... ...ANDERS... ... ...T H A N K  .  Y O U.

Has a sound that I would compare to a cross between imagination and the 2012 lp.   and I couldn't help but recall the song Night Time from the 88 Wilson LP.   this is very  MOR and hooky.    I anticipate hearing this later as background in a movie or at the supermarket.  In a good way.   sounds a bit dated but then so are the fans and the artist.   don't know a damn thing about auto tune but I do know raw and real from overproduced.     I will buy the lp.   

Meat and potatos BW post 1995.  Nice and pleasant - sounds kind of like the theme to a TV show.

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed it-- it sounds very 70s to me, which makes sense, as Brian has stated that he mostly listens to 60s and 70s music. I liked the harmonies but would have preferred a more natural sound for Al's voice. Maybe it's because I listened with earbuds, but I found the processing (or whatever it was) distracting. That's Brian and Joe's choice, but we as listeners have a right to our opinions. That said, I'm so glad Brian is making music.

I vote for Matt on the high parts as well. I can definitely hear him in the mix.

It's a nice, catchy song -- and it would have sounded so very, very much better if Joe Thomas had ditched the Autotune. [Rant on] Autotune and its ilk have thoroughly ruined listening to current music for me, by removing all the character and nuance out of vocals. IMHO, it's a crime to Autotune singers like Al and Matt Jardine -- their voices don't need help, Joe! [/Rant off]

I'll buy NPP, but if a version of it sans-Autotune was released, that would be the one I'd play.

Many thanks for the link!

A lovely, low-key tune. Between this and "Our Special Love," you can definitely see an approach that BW is taking to at least some of the NPP songs -- simple verse-chorus structures (common in his recent work), with a lot of cool vocal arranging ideas. The backing track is far more organic sounding than Imagination, too, even if some of Joe's touches remain.

I'm beginning to suspect that we're going to get an album of meticulously arranged, carefully sung pop miniatures. I would be excited by that! But it's definitely not Carl and the Passions, which Joe referred to at one point in the sessions.

I was planning to wait 'til after I'd reviewed the entire thread before I clicked on the link and listened.  But after all of this, I'm no longer sure I want to hear the song at all.  Perhaps I'll wait until these horrible images have faded from my consciousness.

People who hear autotune on "The Right Time" don't know what they are talking about.

On the song itself: pleasant track which will sneakily gather momentum in catchiness every time you hear it. Like many of BW's songs. There much more 'buried' here than meets the ear on first listen.

It's probably better to do the opposite-- listen, see what you think, then read the thread.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions. We haven't heard the Blondie material yet. I was in Vegas and the Blondie song with Al and Brian sounded more like Carl and the Passions. In fact they even did Hold On Dear Brother with the guy from fun. Maybe we should wait to hear more. I agree that this track sounds more organic, although why does everyone assume that less organic is always Thomas idea? They just played  the Dave Matthews Weekend On The Rocks  Soundstage on TV. That was a Thomas Production also. No auto tune no overdubs. Very organic. Can you Imagine trying to auto tune Dave Matthews? Or Umphrey's Mcgee? Or Tom Petty? All very organic shows that Thomas has produced. I checked after seeing that the Vegas show was  going to be a Soundstage. This auto tune thread  sounds like old news to me. Im agreeing with some of the others that maybe they are just double or triple tracking the vocals. or maybe more. Its a sound. These days with pro tools you can line up the timings of each track so sometimes what you perceive as auto tune is just three perfectly aligned tracks that blend together. How do we know that MR. Perfectionist Brian doesn't Love Pro Tools? And why is it that if its a good idea it must be Brian's and if its a bad idea it must be Thomas forcing Brian against his will to screw things up. As for the chords , I hear The Night was so Young and Lady Lindas altro also. so isn't that just Brian and whomever his co writer is at the time picking a great 1 3 4 5 or 1 6 3 4 5 chord progression and saying HEY LETS TRY THIS AGAIN!

‍

The song is an average album cut. Nice harmonies, but nothing special. Very much looking forward to the C&TP - sounding material.

Enjoyable.

Only gonna listen that once till the release cos I don't want to have heard half the album when it has its first complete sitting (slight exaggeration.  But I've played Our Special Love to death, not realising it was going to be on this release, although I'm hopeful we might get an alternative non-vocals only version).

For me the autotune (if it's there) was nothing like any of the more 'offending' lines in From There To Back Again.  I hear some modulation (chorus/flange), perhaps in addition to the natural double tracking.  What I noticed most was heavy compression, but I suspect this was more to do with the stream than the mix itself...

Looking forward to hearing the track again and the rest of the album on release day. :angel:

Okay, I finally got the courage to listen.  Liked the song; thought Al did a great job, and Marks' (I assume it was David) guitar licks added to the music, not otherwise, as some suggested.  Don't know squat about autotune (frankly, I think anyone who claims to know for certain that it was used is just guessing), but I'd guess it's used more often than not, so no big deal to me.  It's still the Beach Boys, or at least it's Brian, Al, David, and possibly Matt.

Thought the sound/production were very similar to TWGMTR.

Like I stated above: I liked it.

What else is there to add to these gentlemen's comments?  Agreed.  Brian likes perfect vocals and pretty music.  So do I, so I love this...now, back to listening and enjoying.

I can see there's a great song here, but I'm not entirely sold on the production yet. Hopefully it will grow on me, like TWGMTR did. I do love the track though, especially Dave's guitar licks. There's a lot of great BW touches in there - the flutes, Matt's falsetto.

I can't wait to hear this one live this summer!

Just got in from honestly the worst day of my entire life, so new BW/Al/David was most welcome. I really love it. An extremely pretty song.

I love when these threads come out of nowhere  ;D

A really nice song, as usual Al sounds great.

If this is one of the lesser songs on the album it means we're in for something good.

Anyone with the chops to make an mp3 out of the song is more than welcome to shoot me a PM  :p

How lucky are we to still have 3 of the Beach Boys putting out music of this quality in 2015.

Very lucky.

It's always great to hear Al and Brian singing together, having Dave on the song is the cherry on top.

Decent catchy pop tune. Doesn't really jump out at me, though.

Yes wouldn't that be nice  ;D

Haha

The organ is more upfront than I'm used to in a BW arrangement. Almost has a Procol Harum-like sound.

It's a bit MOR, but still I like the song and the production.

I've got one.   >:D

I like it a lot. Don't understand the criticism it's getting. Doesn't sound robotic at all. It amazes me how people always find something wrong with everything.   :-\

Nice song. The chorus is reminiscent of Lay Down Burden but that doesn't bother me. Al sounds great and I love David's guitar playing in the last 20 seconds or so.

I think it's a great tune. really fits with the mood and theme of TWGMTR, and Al sounds fantastic. this is the sound of the Beach Boys in 2015, and it's a shame Mike and Bruce opted out of further collaboration. but as evidenced, Mike cares not about making new music and art, or returning the legacy of the band to its rightful founding members. he only cares about the bottom line, the safe and predictable setlist, the John Stamos, and of course himself at the center of it all.


and so it is. we've got more great music coming from Brian along with Al, Dave, Blondie, Matt and more. these are the modern-day Beach Boys as far as I'm concerned. we may have traded Mike for a mullet, but we definitely came out on top folks. No Pier Pressure... get it??!!!

and while the chorus is reminiscent of Lay Down Burden, this is very much its own song. and Brian has never been afraid to borrow from himself. he uses the same I-IIm-V progression in Don't Worry Baby, CA Girls, and Good Vibrations, among others

Those crazy Norwegians!  

I like how Brian has the balls to keep making such youthful music, and you can say what you want but good god he's still got an ear for a melody.  

The song is very simple, I love simple, well written songs.  Like usual, I don't think the lyrics are the greatest in the world, but the actual composition and how the song is structured is just fantastic.

I like how it sounds fresh, but also sounds vintage at the same time.  Very solid song.  Robo-al or whatever doesn't bother me, I think he sounds fantastic.  Love Al & Brian harmonizing after all these years, that's how sh*t ought to be with all these guys.  Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce, and David are meant to be singing beautiful sh*t like this and gifting the world with it, it's a damn shame 1 or 2 of them won't get with the program.  

He must have decided to do it the other way, instead of fading it out!

I think you will find that a lot about this album will be different! In a great way!

Don't know how long you've been here Gerry, but believe me: the pedantic, hipster, audiophile vibe has been here a long, long, long time.  Since the inception of the board 10 years ago!  Some people get it, some people don't. 

When you record the human voice, it is immediately processed.  If you amplify the human voice, it is processed.  If Brian isn't sitting in your immediate vicinity with an acoustic band playing this song, the damn thing is processed, we're all just arguing about the level of processing that's been done to it.  Everyone was cool with Brian recording sh*t in a swimming pool in 1966 but if he uses a little too much reverb now he's suddenly lost it and doesn't know what he's doing. 

Production sounds awesome to these ears.  To each his own.

Definately John; their harmony, even with just Al and Brian is simply fantastic in my opinion.  Brian's voice kind of adds the authenticity to the sound, it sounds like the Beach Boys if he's in the harmony, and Al like usual does the heavy lifting vocally imho.  Crazy even with just the two of them you get that same sound, this literally could be some harmonies off Sunflower...

I agree.  I don't know how the hell someone can say David Marks' guitar style doesn't belong on the album, if ANYTHING, it's giving us a taste of the 50 years of great guitar work we MISSED being on the BB's albums!  It's like a missing piece to the puzzle... that's been lost since the very beginning, but finally put back in.  I'll take it, and as much of it as we get out of these gentlemen in the next few years. 

Need I state the obvious? Lesley Gore just passed away today.  We're on borrowed time here.

Thank you for your input!

Yes! That's what I hear in it, too... the songs are very simple, not much there lyrically and simply constructed, but with lots of clever, bordering on brilliant little melodies and harmonic ideas going on.  Like he's trying to sprinkle a little magic dust on each track... It's kind of a new direction from even the stuff on That's why God Made the Radio, if you think about the Acapella song he did with that gentleman a few months ago, it was similar to this too.

it's almost like the really clever stuff you see 5 or 6 person church choirs or acapella groups do.  The instrumentation is kind of taking a back seat and being very non-obtrusive. 

I had to listen again with fresh ears, and heard more details. First, as mentioned, Al sounds terrific. I'm starting to think he found the vocal fountain of youth...man, this guy can deliver a lead vocal melody, right on the money. Very cool. I keyed in on the neat arrangement of the instrumental chorus after the bridge, it's cool how the vocal harmonies are swirling around their phrases (I especially like the way the bass voice is mixed, as well as the bass notes being sung) then get "answered" by a short guitar burst. Call and response between vocals and guitar rather than a full-blown guitar solo, very nice. Really nice falsetto part in there as well, I didn't expect some of the notes, especially the last part of the line.

What I keyed in on even more this time was the guitar arrangement. It's a pretty multi-textured and multi-purpose guitar arrangement, for all the parts. Actually, it felt like one of what I think is one of Brian's trademark arranging and orchestrating moves dating back to the Pet Sounds days...How he used multiple guitars in ways other than the usual ways guitars were used if that makes sense.  ;D

Besides having the standard rhythm part doing chords and lead part adding on top and possibly soloing, we heard guitars on various Pet Sounds tracks acting as percussion instruments, acting like horn sections of a big band phasing with each other, and doing the usual guitar stuff we'd expect.

I zeroed in on this new track, how the guitars are being used and layered - It's a great thing to hear, honestly of all the guitar playing I hear during an average week on many styles of music, I think this kind of sound stands out, even though it's mixed into the track and not a prominent sound.

Listen to how he has one guitar doing the percolating percussive or guitar-as-percussion sound on muted arpeggio-type chord figures, then there is the acoustic adding some chords and intertwined single notes in between, then there are the "lead" electric parts, and also what sounds like some additional layering of the muted arpeggio, percolating sound (or it could be just an effect of the soundscape, I'll need to break out the "good" headphones...).

Whatever the case, I thought it was refreshing to hear that kind of guitar arrangement on a song like this, but coming from the guy who did it so well 50 years ago, it's not as much a surprise as a grand return of a sound I really enjoy hearing, guitar-wise. (or guitar"S", since they're layered...).

Lot of cool stuff going on in there worth checking out.

Thank God it hit you that way, and not the way it's hit some others.  That's what music ultimately is for: to comfort you and entertain you.  You had a horrible day, then Brian Al and David had something beautiful waiting for you. 

Fucking AWESOME

Al sounds great!

 Thanks for the chords and insight, GF!

I loved this live with Matt Jardine, adds a lot of power and the chorus is ALMOST as catchy as "Sail Away."

The more I listen the more I feel it's just a great, fun Brian Wilson song when he's not in masterpiece mode.

Just Brian at the piano doing what he does best, writing great songs.

I dabble in guitar... I relistened, I can hear what you're talking about.  The guitar work, especially the base track stuff is very cool.  It'd be interesting to hear what David's contribution to the song was, if that's also him playing those little muted arpeggios the whole time that's really going to be cool.

There's lots of different textures, that part in the middle where it all drops out you hear a couple different guitars poke in and out before David's solo.  

Drums are very solid too, very long sticked, if you know what I mean.  Bap Bap bap Bap!  

I caught the organ too, very cool.  

As far as "Lay Down Burden" it just shares a vaugely similar ascending chorus harmony.  Right... could it be the RIGHT, could it be the RIIIIGHT

Down... lay me DOWN... lay me DOWWWWNNN...

That's a pretty minor similarity that could be even subconscious.  

Yup.  Neat little melody, simple, I guarantee you Brian could do a pretty bang up job of this with just a Piano, and I'll bet Al could do a pretty damn fine job with just guitar.  I'll bet there's people on this board that can already do a pretty good job with just guitar :)

I'll bet if you took the guy that sings the song 2 minutes after Brian's song on that radio brodcast who is no doubt a hot fresh artist, and had him record this same damn song with just a guitar, it'd be a huge hit.

16 year old girls would think it's awesome.

If Brian just would have stayed 20 years old, he probably could have kept the same exact, screaming, fainting audience they had at the beginning for the past 50 years...

Thanks Ron - and yup, however arduous today was here I am at 3 am still hitting replay every 20 minutes. I first came to The Beach Boys as a serious fan via Pet Sounds as many no doubt do and found the music such a tremendous comfort at a turbulent point in what has so far been a very turbulent life. Tonight Brian & co did that again for me.

I absolutely can't get over how incredible Al sounds. I'd wager that nobody in a million years who didn't know better would guess that this was a 70+ year old man singing. The best preserved voice in all of music for my money. He doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves outside of BB fan circles. Curse of being the quiet one with an unobtrusive personality I guess. A fun experiment would be to play someone this song sandwiched between Rhonda and Sloop and then casually mention that the song in the middle was recorded around 50 years after the others, then just watch their face.

Does anyone but me have an issue with the quality of the falsetto?

Not really... I quite liked it.  It's sure not the powerhouse falsetto that Brian possessed at one point, but it's very syrupy and fits well in my opinion. 

it's ALL a little bit different... but i'm glad Brian's tastefully trying new things, new falsetto sounds, etc.

I presumed that it was Jeff. I didn't know that Brian still had a falsetto in him.

Al's going to be one of those guys that gets his due after he dies, unfortunately.  Such a cool dude and such a good singer, he sounds youthful because he probably feels youthful.  I'm glad that he's willing to record with Brian and we get treated to such beautiful music from these guys.  He's literally EXACTLY like he's always been.  Little less hair, everything else is the same.

it's not Brian, it's presumably Matt Jardine.

I was just saying that it's not as good as Brian's voice was way back when, but it's a very good falsetto, and i"m glad Brian's trying new falsetto singers.

It is not Brian. :)

But of course it's BRian. Who else could take all this and make something special? 

Interesting - that's what what I liked instantly a lot about the falsetto, that it doesn't sound like Jeff's. Who I think is a very sympathetic guy with great musical skills and talent.

Very, very good song that gets better as it goes along. Just long enough, too. Al sounds amazing. How can this guy be 70?

Agreed, killer song, and it only gets better the more you listen to it!! Though to me, I get to near the end and think "damn I wish this was a minute longer."

Love the parts where Al's harmonizing with who I think is his son, Matt, on those high parts. Definitely has that "family sound" that we all know & love.


I absolutely freaking LOVE that breakdown or whatever you'd call it where it's all "bom bah, bom BAH" and "woooooooOOOO" at the same time.

Those David Marks guitar licks near the beginning remind me a little of Dennis' "You & I", which we know Dave's a fan of....


Love the line "like changin' places with someone in the back of the line" seems very Brianish to me.


THIS ALBUM IS MY FAVORITE ALREADY YA

Man that's a nice tune.

It's like Lay Down Burden Pt. 2- 'cept w/Al Jardine. I'm lovin' it.   :afro

Definite earworm - been ringing through my head all day long!

It's lovely, but I did a double take when Al started singing.. I thought it was Mike at first  :o

:lol  Imagine that.  The board server would have melted-down and heading towards China by now.

I'm so late in on this thread so apologies if this has been discussed before:

That last chord really reminds me of one of the TWGMTR songs - maybe Strange World? I can't listen at the moment as my kids have hijacked my spotify acct! It does seem odd that it ends with that clean break and suggestive chord - kind of feels like it is leading in to something.

Could this be one of the Life cycle songs?

It is quite bland MOR and imo one of BW's less remarkable melodies. However, I grew quite fond of the production sound of TWGMTR and this fits right in. I also found that songs that initially did nothing for me (like Strange World) were slow burners. This may be the same deal for me. I like the vocal break in the middle with the Mike Love style 'bows'.

Have any other NPP songs been released yet?

Only the one with Peter Hollens (Our Special Love).

Heya Al! :)    I was thinking a similar thing  :-D   

I think the new song is good and all, but is a cold ending really "ballsy"? I'll go ahead and assume "very few" songs have a clean ending anymore for the sake of this discussion. But it isn't like Brian busted out a two minute trumpet solo in the middle of the song. In the realm of recorded music, there's pretty much only two ways to end a track (other than the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" or the original "Help Me Ronda" or something), and this track uses one of those two ways. Not "ballsy" in the slightest in any way I can measure, nor does it need to be.

Thanks - I think I did check that one out when it was announced.

I don't want to start another 10-page autotune debate. I'm more than willing to call "autotune" when I hear it. But I'm not so sure Al is autotuned on this track. If he is, it's more subtle and not nearly as obvious as something like "From There to Back Again."

Some of the backing vocals with Brian sound a bit more "auto-tuney", and I agree it's difficult to know by listening, and probably difficult to know even if you're there watching the vocals being recorded (since it will often be applied long after the initial recording). But Al sounds much more organic on this recording. The track is awash in reverb, way too much for my taste, and that might account for a bit of the difficulty in discerning whether autotune is there.

Thanks so much Ron.  I desperately wanted to find a non-bitchy way to say this and failed, so edited myself into saying next to nothing.  A gentleman who speaks regularly to Brian and had access to this music months ago tells us what processing Brian used and people STILL argue the point?  Isn't one of the big reasons most of us are here that we love Brian's production techniques?  Gives me a headache.

Why was this song released in Norway of all places?

What's wrong with Norway?

"The Right Time" is now available when you pre-order on iTunes (and I think on Amazon as well).  Man, I cannot wait for the rest of the album!

Why not? Particularly these days, when a track can be heard all over the world within minutes of its debut, no matter where that happens to take place, it really doesn't matter.

I mean, we're all here, people from all over the planet, discussing it. We've all heard it already, even though it only aired in Norway just over 24 hours ago. Anyone who wants to has had the chance to listen to it about five hundred times by now. It's not like it only came out on a 10-inch 78rpm record in three stores in Trøndhejm and no-one else can hear it...   ;)

I say... Go Norway!

I think this is a gross oversimplification in terms of board member attitudes, and the comparison of various forms of “processing” is false equivalency.

There is a very wide margin between “singing into a microphone, running it through a mixing board, and then onto a recording device” and heavy use of a software plug-in (whether it’s “autotune” or some other software).

It is indeed always worth keeping in mind that other forms of studio tricks and processing have been at play for eons. But with some weird exceptions like running a voice through a Leslie speaker on “Be Here in the Morning”, nothing fundamentally alters the sound, tone, timbre, and actual notes of a singing performance the way autotune-type plug-ins do.

I totally buy the idea that an autotune-type effect is not at play on “The Right Time”, and a discussion of the recording and mixing (and mastering) techniques at play that are giving the recording that smooth type of effect would be a great discussion. I’m not sure how equipped most (including in some cases myself) are here to have such a conversation, as it requires a good ear and a familiarity with some recording techniques. Some still swear they can’t hear autotune on “Don’t Back Down” on the C50 live album or on “From There to Back Again.” It’s difficult to have discussion from that basis.  

Like any message board on any topic, folks can scrutinize too much or overanalyze, and jump to conclusions. But I’ve never seen some vast swath of audiophile snobs on this board. If anything, I’ve seen equal amounts of reactionary anti-audiophile sentiment. It’s tough to find someone here, for instance, that particularly loves the work of someone like Steve Hoffman, who in some audiophile circles is “the man”, or someone like Kevin Gray.

It may be wrong to assume that everything Joe Thomas touches will be bathed in autotune. We shouldn’t assume this. But, there is an explanation for why folks might assume this, and it’s worth mentioning that the reason is that two recent projects involving Thomas have used autotune (or autotune-type software), in some cases rather noticeably.

As to getting to the bottom of whether autotune-type effects are used on a recording, it will rarely if ever happen with any artist. With the exception of cases where it is painfully obvious that it is used as an “effect” rather than as a pitch correction tool, you’ll almost never get an artist, producer, or engineer to just come out and admit they used any sort of pitch correction plug-ins on their recordings. Can someone point to some cases where fans or critics screamed “autotune!” where the artist, producer, or engineer just said “yeah, we used it”, and it wasn’t being used as an “effect?”

I missed the part where the BB recorded mundane Steely Dan/Chicago/America/Eagles-styled soft rock in the 1970s -- or how that could have ever been a good thing, had it been the case.

We love a lot of Brian's production techniques. But we love the techniques because they are impressive, not because Brian did it. Brian has produced some s***ty-sounding recordings in his career too. So have pretty much all of our musical heroes. Sometimes, the production is both insanely impressive and sounds like crap. "Heroes and Villains" is one of the most amazing recordings *and* productions ever, and it also sounds like crapola sonically in places.

Brian and/or Joe Thomas (or someone else involved in the engineering or mixing, etc.) have, in the last few years, used what many feel is a detrimental audio effect, and more importantly, one that is *unneeded*. Jardine still has his pipes. Whoever decided to autotune his voice up the wazoo on "From There to Back Again" made a bad decision, whether it was Brian or Joe Thomas or Van Dyke Parks or Saul Goodman.

Nice post; my thoughts exactly. The only thing I would add is that autotune is sometimes used by the horribly misinformed so that vocals will 'sit better in the mix', as I once heard it phrased. It has nothing to do with the actual performances of the vocalists.

No matter which way you look at it, pushing autotune is a huge dishonor to Brian and the BB. They can still sing. They don't need it, and Brian doesn't need his songs ruined by it.

I wouldn't normally excerpt a post like this, but I wanted to address these three points in particular, in bold.

First point: You'd be surprised. Many variables are in play. There is no such thing as a pure signal chain as it seems you're suggesting and trying to compare to the plug-in signal chain. I could mention one of at least a dozen variables that could alter the sound of that natural voice going into a recording device.

Let me focus on one: The microphone. Are you using a large diaphragm or small diaphragm condenser? Are you using a condenser mic or a ribbon mic? Are you using a dynamic mic like a 57 or an old-school dynamic mic like a 666? Maybe a broadcast-style mic like the RE20, or an SM7? How about condensers, are you going for a vintage style tube mic like a C12 or a U47? Ribbon mics...RCA 44, 77, or a newer model like a Royer? Large diaphragm condensers, perhaps an AKG 414, maybe a Blue Bottle? Want a distorted sound, maybe a Green Bullet for that effect, or simply overdrive a preamp with any mic? Why use a 57 in a studio but not a 58? Omnidirectional, unidirectional, figure 8? Go for vintage Neumann or a modern Mojave?...yada yada yada.  :)

The point is that the choice of microphone is only one factor in the voice-microphone-recording device chain that can have a radical effect on how that voice sounds when recorded. Only one - and even the variables and choices I listed scratch the surface as far as what can alter the sound. How about the non-electronic or non-mechanical variables, such as mic placement, mic technique from the vocalist, placement within a room or a booth if you want an open sound versus a controlled sound...all that jazz. Then preamps, EQ's, the "voice" of one board versus another, type of cable, type of converter if it's digital or type of tape machine if it's analog...some very minor but among the pros, each can have enough of an effect on the sound to make a difference, and to influence certain choices as they're made in the process.

Two quotes from engineer Wesley Seidman's article in Mix magazine describing the recording process from Brian's No Pier Pressure sessions:

1. Seidman captured the performances to Pro Tools in all three of the studios at Ocean Way (A, B and D), but the engineer says Wilson prefers to do live band tracking and orchestral sections in Studio B, a room that has also hosted sessions for award-winning albums by Green Day, Radiohead, and Eric Clapton with B.B. King: “It’s just the sound and feel of the room itself, and the [custom 56-Input 8068/8088] Neve doesn’t hurt,” Seidman says. “He did almost all of the work on his solo records in there. But he also likes Studio A, where we cut a few tracks and is my favorite room for strings. We also cut a lot of the background vocals and guest vocals for the new album in D.”

2. Wilson’s vocals were recorded in all three rooms with a Neumann U 47. In Studio A, his voice went through the modified Focusrite console to a Teletronix LA-2A. “In D, we would go through the remote Neve pre’s into an [Universal Audio] 1176, and then toward the last third of the record, I purchased a modified API mic pre, which has amazing bandwidth, and sent the 47 through that, into an 1176. And this is all flat—Brian EQs himself by moving around the mic, which he does naturally. We also used a plethora of [UAD] reverb and delay plug-ins. This enabled us to automate the delay and reverb times for each section of the songs where desired. Brian and I both like the FX to be just right.


Note the choice between different rooms in the same studio complex to capture specific characteristics and for specific purposes. Note also the mentions of an LA-2A and 1176...why use an optical compressor versus a FET compressor, and what's the difference? It all seems minor, but again all of these factors can dramatically and noticeably change that so-called "pure sound" depending on how they are used.


Second:

But with some weird exceptions like running a voice through a Leslie speaker on “Be Here in the Morning”, nothing fundamentally alters the sound, tone, timbre, and actual notes of a singing performance the way autotune-type plug-ins do.

This is simply not true. The misconception or misunderstanding may be between the Cher, T-Pain, or Kanye deliberate over-use of the effect versus setting up the parameters as to be mostly unnoticeable. It could be shown by taking an unprocessed isolated vocal track and A-B'ing it with an Autotuned track done to smooth out rather than to deliberately create an effect. If anyone has problems with and can even hear the latter use on any number of vocal tracks across the musical spectrum, I'd suggest there is a very lucrative career in the audio mastering field waiting for such highly trained ears.  ;D

Last, I’m not sure how equipped most (including in some cases myself) are here to have such a conversation, as it requires a good ear and a familiarity with some recording techniques.

Sounds about right.  ;)  Which is why I don't understand making all of these things an ongoing issue, again and again and again.

From what I've heard (I can only go by the segment of it in the "sizzle reel" on YouTube), it's a pretty, pleasant song, but I find myself let down by the production.  I'm not even talking about the presence or absence of any pitch correction - if it's there, it's not bothering me much.  It's more the instrumental sound.  It's very clean, very slick, very professional, but just...I dunno, I wish for a more gutsy, lively production style.  Same issue I had with "Imagination."  Keeping the collaboration production style, I can't help but imagine how it'd sound with the input of a more lively indie rock-y producer rather than Thomas.

You're right, i'll go change my opinion.

You could argue the weather's too cold and the women are too hot.  Other than that, not much...

You're right.  I'll go change my opinion. 

I am no longer getting the link (rather, have the link but the song no longer appears as available); did not think to save the song. Any insights?

buy it on itunes

It appears that it is no longer available. The only way is to get a truncated version of the song is the video on the BW site.  >:( >:(

Album: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/no-pier-pressure-deluxe/id965343675 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/no-pier-pressure-deluxe/id965343675)
Single: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/right-time-feat.-al-jardine/id965343675?i=965343683 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/right-time-feat.-al-jardine/id965343675?i=965343683)

Of course, thanks: got it on amazon music for 1.29.

Can this, will this be "a hit"? Way better than Grammy winning songs....

in hope.

also: would it have killed M and B to have sung on this and released it as a BB new hit single?

If anyone wants to listen to it without buying it on iTunes, it is up on Spotify now.

Definitely agree with that. It does sound like Lay Down Burder part 2, but it also could have fit very well on TWGMR, particularly between Strange World and From There to Back Again

yes, and, among other links, Dave's guitar is similar. This is that mode you discuss married to commercial pop. I have to song on autoplay--20 times now--just love it.

I really wish I could like this :(

I like the verses, "what ever happened to me and you" etc. I like the way Al sings it, it has a bit of a Carl style phrasing to it. But that's the only but I like really. It feels a bit under developed to me. And the vocals sound over processed.

But I still have high hopes for NPP.

Having now listened to the entire song in good quality, I have to agree - I wish I could like this.  The song itself is pleasant, I love the presence of Al's voice, Brian sounds great, but I am just so not feeling that Joe Thomas-y bland instrumental production, those (IMHO) generic '70s soft rock guitar riffs, etc.

I still look forward to hearing the whole album.

Sorry if someone has already talked about this, but this almost sounds like it could be one of the songs from the "suite" on TWGMTR--the lyrics, and Al's vocal, have that "how can we keep ourselves vital as old age closes in" vibe to them. Would go great back to back with that other Al song from the suite...

Just sayin'.

I wish that a third verse would have been included instead of repeating right time, could it be the right time far too many times IMO.

I actually enjoy the technobabble in Mix Magazine and the like. I find dissertations on recording techniques quite compelling.

But I'm also interested in talking about what the end product sounds like. That’s the end of the chain that starts with microphone choices and placement, EQ, analog and digital outboard gear, and the million other things that the sound gets subjected to.

But I simply fundamentally disagree that copious use of pitch correction plug-ins can be equated to mic placement and the like. It’s kind of like saying, “I repainted your car a different color, then added a new clear coat, then I tinted your windows darker, did a wheel alignment, and oh yeah, I also crushed the car into a one foot square cube. Those are all changes I made to your car, and as you stand here looking at your car/cube, all of those changes equally affected how the car came out in the end.”

Now, much like artists in the 80s started recording real drums to make them *sound* like drum machines, perhaps some producers and engineers are trying to give stuff a slick, “autotuned” type of sound without actually using it. It’s quite true, with a bag of techniques, double tracking, EQ, echo, and so on, weird and wondrous things can be achieved.

I’m always willing and enthusiastic to read hard evidence that some perception we have is actually incorrect. Surely some fans/listeners are overanalyzing, and immediately jumping to the “autotune” conclusion, sometimes without knowing or thinking about the countless other factors that go into a recording. But I don’t agree with the “Hey, recording vocals in a swimming pool, switching the microphone polarity, switching studios, turning autotune to 11, they’re all just “techniques”, and we weren’t there in the studio watching the recording and mixing, so we shouldn’t make these things an ongoing issue.”  

I remember a discussion of “From There to Back Again” some time back, and someone offered a good deal of argument for why they felt it did *not* have any autotune applied. I thought the argument was interesting and compelling, and made me think about how seemingly common techniques from the past could perhaps produce such an effect. I ultimately felt that it was likely autotune was in fact applied to that recording (especially given later aural evidence, such as some of the tracks on the C50 live album, that spoke to the potential present-day work patterns of Joe Thomas), but it was all compelling information to digest.

The aural evidence of potential recent use of autotune-type effects on recent BB-related projects, along with other evidence we have at hand (who is working on these projects, what types of effects are in more common usage as time goes on, comparison to past and contemporaneous BB and BB-related projects, etc.) strongly suggest to me, that, simply put, it is most likely Joe Thomas who has introduced BB and BB-related projects to a more assertive use of pitch correction plug-ins/effects. No More, no less. It’s not Earth-shattering. I’m not throwing any of my CDs away. It doesn’t mean the end product isn’t still good or great in many cases; it doesn’t mean Thomas and Brian are using the pitch correction on every track; it doesn’t mean they aren’t also using a myriad of other common and ingenious recording and mixing methods, it doesn’t mean Joe Thomas shouldn’t be involved (I suspect C50 wouldn’t have happened without Thomas). But as much as it devolves into a simple semantic point, I’m not willing to completely dismiss the point that autotune is most likely being used simply because it theoretically has another explanation.

At this point, overuse of pitch correction isn’t some big ethical, moral question. It’s more simply a case of finding it artistically kind of monotonous, like if Frampton put his talkbox on half the songs on every album he did, or if Al Jardine added a spoken-word interlude to every other song he wrote, etc.

Hey professor - I think this song actually does have the potential to receive radio airplay, on the right radio stations. If you ask me, the song has somewhat of a folksy feel to it. I know some will disagree with me (wouldn't be the Smiley Smile board if someone didn't), but I could see the song getting airplay on country music stations, or adult contemporary stations. Classic rock stations, possibly, but probably not. I think this song has more hit potential than anything on "TWGMTR."

I love Mike and Bruce, they really are my heroes (along with the rest of the guys, of course!), but they really missed the boat on this one. If I were them, I'd be kicking myself after hearing this song, feeling very regretful for not participating. Perhaps they WILL feel that way, and this wonderful music will spur them to finish things off the right way, and end the Beach Boys' legacy on a high note. Get the gang back together for 2017 (or in 2018, who cares!), do one last album and tour, and ride off into the sunset, together... but, sigh. That probably won't happen. That would be the best... but sadly it is so unlikely.

I'm not saying this to be disrespectful to anyone, but that kind of thinking is what separates professional audio engineers from everyone else, including audiophiles. There are certain things that are learned, practiced, and perfected in the studio that go into creating the sounds of the end result, down to the basics of putting a mic in front of an acoustic guitar and choosing which mic to use, and those that are not or have not been in the business of recording and mixing professionally or even semi-professionally cannot fully appreciate the process until they actually do it hands-on and hear how much these seemingly tiny variables like mic placement and mic selection can alter and change the sound.

If you were to change the angle of a microphone on, say, an acoustic guitar even a slight bit off the soundhole and point it more toward the fretboard, it could have as much of an audible and consequential effect on the sound of that guitar in a mix as adding Autotune to pitch up some trailing notes on a sustained vocal note.

"Copious use" suggests the deliberate overuse of the effect, or of any effect, to the point where it is obviously audible in the mix. For this specific topic, and this specific track, do you specifically hear such a copious use of AutoTune on Al Jardine's lead vocal track? If not, I'm wondering why a detailed discussion of AutoTune is relevant to discussing this particular song in this thread.

Let me be clear. As I previously mentioned, I buy that autotune is not present on “The Right Time.” The discussion has indeed moved from a specific citation of autotune on that track to a more general discussion of autotune, and of how listeners who might hear it or discuss it are being portrayed. In addition, we’ve been touching on whether autotune is present on some or any recent BB/Brian recordings.

I’ve been discussing a more sort of semantic point about autotune in general; specifically that I disagree with the dismissal of a listener “hearing” autotune as an opinion of either ignorance or an opinion of no consequence (e.g. “mic placement can or does impact a final, finished, mastered recording as much as autotune, therefore why discuss it?). Both my own knowledge on these topics, in addition to my own ability to analyze various forms of rhetoric, suggest to me that, to generalize, “you don’t work in a studio, so you don’t know” is not *always* an answer I trust.

“Copious” use does not imply a deliberate overuse. Rather, it simply means something in abundance or quantity. There is a copious amount of autotune or other pitch-correction on items including the C50 live album and some of the TWGMTR album. I’m happy to absorb any studio professional’s knowledge on this and any related topics, and I’m happy to entertain analyses of specific recordings and why other studio techniques were at play instead of autotune. But I haven’t yet found someone who can produce compelling evidence that pitch correction hasn’t been used on some recent BB releases. If one acknowledges that it *has* been used, then it’s much more difficult to dismiss subsequent theories that it has been used on later recordings. It doesn’t mean that every theory or accusation is correct. But again, I simply don’t agree with the “microphones, mic placement, mixing, autotune, who knows?” angle, especially when it seems to imply, I guess, that anything or everything we’ve been hearing as potentially “autotune” on recent BB-related recordings isn’t autotune.

Implicit in any dissection of recordings is the fact that, with few exceptions, we weren’t there. We never know anything for sure. But I know I’m going to listen to an industry professional who says Recording A doesn’t have autotune if they also acknowledge that it has been used in other cases. If the discussion starts with an assertion or implication that we don’t know if it has *ever* been used (or an assertion that we’re not professionals, so we shouldn’t even wonder), I have trouble heavily weighing that opinion.  

I think, with the exception of a really weird fluke, the days of any BB-related material getting much airplay (on any format, even getting new songs played on classic rock radio) are pretty long gone. Howie Edelson has posted on this topic a few times in the past. Simply put, radio is there more to talk up a new Brian or BB album than it is to actually play anything.

I’m a HUGE fan of the fact that Brian let Al take the *entire* lead vocal on this track (for the most part anyway), and I’m surprised they’re pushing essentially a Brian-penned Al Jardine track as the first “single” from Brian’s album.

I think it’s plausible that the album could see some sort of grammy in one of the categories like “Best Rock Album” (very loose definition of “rock” of course, essentially one of the sub-“album of the year” album categories). Brian has name recognition and respect that can garner him a grammy nod potentially.

I like the new track. I don’t think critics will be blown away by a track like this. It’s a pleasant song with a great Al lead. I could easily see a critic not being a fan of the 70’s yacht vibe (or whatever one wants to call it) and production.

As for Mike and Bruce, I certainly *wish* they’d see this as a missed opportunity. But given Mike’s own words from the last few years, his idea of the BB’s constitutes, primarily, he and Brian writing. “The Right Time” written by Brian and Joe (and/or whomever else; not Mike) and sung by Al is cut from the same cloth as TWGMTR. I like that, but Mike has made it clear he’s not a fan of that format.

What a lovely tune.  Listening to "The Right Time" served to ratchet-up my interest in a project which I was already really excited about.

Very cool.   :hat

In 1985 yes...not a chance now.  That said...I. LOVE. IT.

Agree with this post 100%

This track has really grown on me, man.

At first I thought the chorus was bland, but it's been stuck in my head all day.

This album is looking to be amazing!

The entire point of using autotune is to massage something that's a bit off (not off in a good way), and to have its presence be *invisible and undetectable*. Or virtually so. I've used pitch correction before, and I will only use it if its presence is invisible to my ears in the mix.

That is, unless an artist is manipulating the vocals with autotune intentionally to make weird, noticeable odd sounds (as is the case with some pop artists - see Cher's "Believe" as a primary example) - I find that type of use of autotune to be atrocious.

Or then there's the middle ground of using autotune, where the producer tries to make something have a slightly too-perfect "modern" sheen, which I think may be the case here.

While I admit that it's possible I'm mishearing things that aren't there, I feel pretty certain there are some odd warbly autotune artifacts that I am hearing, which I wish I wasn't hearing. Like near the beginning on the word "never" when Al sings "but ne--ver in a very straight line". Maybe a cigar is just a cigar, and maybe it's just the way he sung it and I'm tripping to think it's autotune. But to my ears, it sounds like an autotune artifact that could have been made much less noticeable.

That said, it's a cool tune that will probably grow more on me in subsequent listens. I like the songwriting a lot, and I love hearing Brian and Al together. I was really, really put off by the autotune on the TWGMTR album upon my initial listens of it, but over time I've come to just accept it as a tolerable nuisance, and I try to appreciate the cool ear candy underneath it.

Interesting discussion, even if I'm having to bite my tongue for a lot of it!  But I agree that whatever tuning may be used is not egregious on this track.

Something to consider about autotune is that in my view, it is to 2015 what gated snare drums were to 1985.  Yes, they sounded great on "in The Air Tonight," but once that effect took hold, it just became silly, artificial and as others have noted, monotonous.  And now when we hear that effect, the song is no longer timeless.  It screams "1985!!!"  That's the degree to which the tuned "sound" is the sound of pop music in our era.  It may be that a lot of people don't perceive it...yet.  But it's rather like CGI, at first you're like "holy cow!  That movie looks amazing!"  But as everyone starts to use it, and uses it willy-nilly, you become fatigued of it and it takes you out of the moment.  I have my own issues with autotune as a producer in terms of how it affects both the performance and the final mix -- I never, ever use it personally, and I don't buy the argument that it's a necessary evil -- but I'm not making that argument.  Others use it tastefully and that's fine.  The question is...does it take you out of the moment or not?  Is it like a subtle part of the background of a movie, or a bad special effect like a toy boat substituting for a real one?  There's a wonderful pop tune that came out a year or two ago called "It Just Hasn't Happened Yet".  It's a total slice of 1974 except the lead singer's vocal is egregiously, mechanically processed.  It actively prevents me from enjoying the song, because it is distracting, counter to the vibe of the recording, and unnecessary.  I assume they did that to fit in with the prevailing tenor of the times and to get it on the radio, which is a valid business decision.  But it takes us back to the gated snare drum, and whether a recording effect actually serves the song, or is catering to a short-term trend that may not last.

I remember around 1985 or 1986 when low cost samplers first came out (I was young, but I was around), I had another keyboard player enthusiastically telling me that you didn't need horn players or string players anymore, that samples sounded exactly the same.  They're a lot closer now but I couldn't believe what I was hearing - either from the samples, or out of this guy's mouth.  But that was the prevailing attitude at the time.  It's always that way when a new thing rolls around.

I personally believe in 10-15 years we're going to hear the "autotune sound" and go, "oh yeah, that's what they were doing back in the 2010s."

But I'm with others who say that, for this particular tune, if it's there (and I suspect there's a bit at the margins, but I haven't listened with headphones, which may account for the difference in perceptions), it doesn't bug me.  I like Al's vocals a lot.

Adam, are you referring to "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJmKkU5POA) It's bizarre, because he can really, seriously sing in the crooner/belter sense of the word. And yes, the tuning on his vocal is crazy on the track.

Yep that's it, sorry on the title mix-up.

No, no, it's cool! It's just that I've always used that song as my prime example of AT overuse whenever it came up. It's a fun song, with a skilled singer -- and they still slather it on. It's probably helped make it a hit, but still.

Another thing to think about is that Brian, and in particular lately in his “solo career” era (1998 or so onwards) seems to prefer very wet, dense, lush arrangements and performances (with some exceptions as always of course). I’ve long wished that Brian would do something much more dry and sparse. It doesn’t have to be solo voice with one acoustic guitar necessarily, but long story short, we’re probably never going to hear Brian do something that sounds like, say, Tom Petty’s “Highway Companion”, just with more voices. He doesn’t want dry vocals, he doesn’t want much of anything dry.

Someone who is more inclined to dense arrangements and recordings (and mixes) might be more inclined to like some use of autotune (or be less likely to dismiss it). To him, it may well seem like simply another tool, like the flanging effect on “Itchycoo Park” or something. (I’ve always hoped that that was what he was going for during part of “Spring Vacation” for instance; parts of that song are so autotuned that it does essentially go into “phasey/flange vocal effect” territory).

If he were doing bone-dry solo lead vocals (and bone-dry backing arrangements), any use of autotune would probably stick out even more.

I’m not sure precisely where Al’s voice has or hasn’t been pitch-corrected on BB/Brian stuff, but a very rough comparison can be drawn with his “Postcard from California” CD. While the vocals on that date from all over the place, I’m pretty sure there’s no autotune anywhere near Al’s voice. You can hear when his voice cracks, you can hear the little vocal hiccups. You can hear that he’s nearly singing out of his vocal range on one of the versions “Waves of Love.” But it all sounds very organic. Some if not most (or all?) of those tracks were at least tracked on analog tape, and I think Al still uses some vintage gear as well. It probably all got dumped into ProTools to mix. But listen to his voice on “California Feelin’.” That sounds like an organic recording and performance. It’s a guy nearing 70 years old who still has a great voice.

Wirestone sounds pumped for the new album! ;D

That's not necessarily true. I still hear Good Vibrations on the radio quite often

I was speaking to the idea of *new* music getting played. I'm sure they still get some of the "classics" played on oldies radio.

Yeah.  But, y'know, with a "wet" arrangement there are just so many ways to deal with a pitchy vocal without it.  I'm a big fan of digital editing.  Basically the same result but you're not running the vocal through a smasher to get there - you still have the spontaneity of a real performance.  But you have to have the ears to be able to audition and assemble the various takes, and to be able to coach in the room, which a lot of guys can't or don't want to do these days.

Something else that's seldom discussed is how overuse of plug-ins, and autotune, compromises the fidelity and particularly the high frequency on the end product.  If you'll notice there's not a lot of high end on TWGMTR...if you add it manually, the digital fixes and such kind of fly out, unfortunately.  This is a lot of the reason people complain modern recordings sound "sterile" and "monotonous".  There's a sort of midrange gunk that piles on when you just run everything through the box.  This can happen with or without autotune but you really notice it with the autotune processing.

But again, there's an argument to be made that that's the sound of the radio, and that's how records are made nowadays, and so that's what people do.  And that's cool, because if everyone applied the old methods to the new technology, I might not have a recording business.  ;)

You should listen to more music if you really think most songs don't have a clear ending anymore.

NO PIER PRESSURE SIZZLE REEL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_vj5u-CXkE

At this point, it's more like hearing gated snare drums in 1995. I'm reminded of Sean O'Hagan's quote about Joe Thomas toward Imagination: "...He wanted Brian to make a big Eighties ballad record, all cavernous snares. He kept referring to Brian's potential as an Adult Contemporary crossover artist..."

Thomas' "adult contemporary" leanings have always been evident in his work with Brian, and problematic for many fans. It has been somewhat (and in cases quite) tone-down on the recent projects compared to "Imagination", I would imagine in part because Thomas' place is a bit less prominent this time around. He no longer yields a co-production credit, he's nowhere to be seen on stage, and oddly few photos of him with Brian or the BB's exist in the 2011-present timeframe.

The stuff that Thomas still may be adding to the mix that I'm not a fan of are things like the plinky percussion-ish guitars (and actual plinky percussion), the overuse of woodwinds (oboes, etc.) that make the beginning of something like "Strange World" sound like a the background music to a TV documentary or something. But it all seems to be toned-down these days compared to the late 90s. How much of that is due to a less prominent role for Thomas and how much of that is due to Thomas himself changing his production style is of course up for debate.

We have heard reports that at least some sessions for the new album were done without Thomas in attendance at all.

I've had Al's voice stuck in my head all day, damn you Al.

Just purchased the download and listened to the track several times with headphones. Good, solid stuff. Upon repeated listening, it's pretty simple and I think the instrumental interludes kind of drag the song a bit.

The instrumental track on the choruses is indeed essentially "Lay Down Burden."

Setting aside any testimony we've heard, just using my own ears, I couldn't tell if autotune-type effects are in use here. If I can't tell, then it's certainly not heinous enough to complain about. I do think Al's voice (which is doubled) is way over-processed. His voice is recorded/mixed much better on his own solo album.

But I have to reiterate that I really dig that Brian have Al the *entire* lead. Al's voice continues to amaze. Someone needs to get him to buckle down and record more solo stuff, and/or get Brian to write him an album or something.

The Al Jardine Folk album, produced by Brian Wilson

Cool song, but I liked it better when it was called Lay Down Burden. That middle 8 is a bit repetitious, too.

DONT WORRY, RON. IM ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITH YOU AND VICE VERSA.

Do most people hear compressors in use on recordings? Limiters? Aural Exciters or Sonic Maximizers depending on the brand? How about EQ, can most people tell that a track was sent through an expensive Pultec versus a 80 dollar Behringer? How about Eventides, they were even more of a rage at some points in the 80's than the gated snare sounds, can anyone spot them on a record?

When you listen to broadcast radio, can you tell what kind of compressor is on the host's voice?

Perhaps only if and when those devices and "effects" are deliberately overused to the point where they are noticeable, because above all these effects were designed primarily to be transparent. Which is how Autotune was designed too, and how I join Century Deprived in preferring it be used transparently to the point of not noticing it at all when I did use it. It was when various artists and engineers/producers found out that by deliberately over-working or over-using these tools, sometimes unique new sounds could be found as a result. Thus, we got Cher's "Believe" becoming a massive dance hit with deliberate overuse of Autotune for a sonic hook, followed by legions of artists like Kanye and T-Pain who literally made a career out of it. And we also got untold thousands of classic "heavy" drum sounds that came as a result of someone simply pushing in all the buttons of an 1176 FET compressor at the same time...which it was not meant to do, but which it did as a result of someone asking "what would happen if I did this?", and it became a trademark sound. If you know enough about what it sounds like to pick it out.

I doubt you could ask 100 people on the street what an 1176 did and find more than one or two who could answer, if that. Yet they've likely heard that "all in" sound many times, without realizing it was really messing with the natural sound of drums, for example.

Sound familiar? For all those who know Autotune via T-Pain and Kanye, would they be able to spot it on a recording that applied it transparently, as it was designed to do? Doubtful. Those people might just enjoy the music, or at least base it on a more visceral level than assuming the worst through assuming it's been "autotuned".

Adamghost: Remember some time in the 90's when a criticism you'd hear was how a record had been "ProToolsed" to death? I remember hearing that about a Lenny Kravitz song. Are people still using that as a verb, "protoolsed" in 2015? Hmm.  :)

Again, I still can't see the place for an Autotune discussion on how it was used or wasn't used previously as being in any way relevant to a thread about a world premiere airing of a brand new single, that doesn't seem to have copious amounts of Autotune or anything remotely close to that.

So with that, I'll say enjoy the music, and check out the preview tracks to see what copious amounts of sonic goodness they contain as of 2015, and leave whatever was done or Autotuned or whatever else back in 2012, in the past.

It has no bearing on the new album or anyone's enjoyment of it. There, I said it.

<<It has no bearing on the new album or anyone's enjoyment of it. There, I said it.>>

Well, that's nonsense.  Obviously if people are talking about it, it bugs them (though I have to repeat, it didn't bother me much on this track, I'm just speaking in general).  Anything that takes you out of the moment messes with your experience.  I think the CGI analogy is a good one -- some people can't get enough of fake dinosaurs and backdrops that look sorta real, but others are visually fatigued with the effect and it takes them out of the film.  It's great if some people don't mind these effects, but others do, and they DO hear it, OK?  Of course no one gives a rat's toss what an 1176 is, but non-musicians are the best critics of a mix as they express things in non-technical terms:  "it lacks life," "it sounds muddy," "it sounds distant," "it sounds too gritty," etc.  These might be shorthand for an overly processed mix, a mix with too much midrange, a mix with too much reverb, or an overly compressed mix.  The fact that a listener can't articulate in technical terms what's bugging them in no way means that the misuse of technology doesn't bug them.  That's a totally bogus argument that I really have to take issue with.

Not to put words in your mouth but I think the idea you are trying to get at is if people enjoy it, and don't notice the artifacts, then who cares.  That's totally valid.  But to imply that people are just on a pedantic tangent about this stuff and it has no real world applications for the average listener just because they can't delineate what preamp is being used, that's not valid.  I know this stuff bugs me not just as an engineer, but as a listener (but then, it has since about 1983 or so, so I don't expect BW or anyone else to make records to please me personally, either -- which is another valid point...who is the target demographic?  You can't please all.  It's BW's right to do whatever he pleases, just as we can talk about whatever we want to talk about, respectfully, if that's OK.).

Do people hear the difference between different limiters, compressors, etc.?  Of course they do.  The fact that they don't know what they're hearing, or what it's called, doesn't mean they can't tell the difference.  Everybody's experience of music is subjective.  To turn this around, as it should be:  just because this kind of thing does not bother a great deal of people, does not invalidate the listening experience of those it does bother.  It's not all in everybody's heads and it's not random audiophile snobbery.

For people who think this in no way matters to them, that's totally valid.  For people who hear this stuff and it bugs them, it's valid too - and yes, to paraphrase your point, maybe people say "autotune" when they mean "overly processed mix" but it doesn't mean they're not hearing something real.  Everybody has a right to hear music their own way.

So it wouldn't bug you if a listener of your music were to form a negative opinion of one of your tracks based on their perception of hearing an effect - let's say Autotune - which you didn't even use on the track?

Forming an opinion is fine, but if the opinion is based squarely on something that isn't even a factor and beyond that, isn't even on the thing for which the opinion is being formed, isn't that just a little bit of bullshit being thrown around?

Let's be honest here, shall we?

That's exactly my point, GF.  It wouldn't - or shouldn't matter if the perception is right or wrong because most of the time the listener is really hearing something.  The fact that they can't name what it is or might say it's X when it's Y doesn't mean something isn't really bugging them.  I don't particularly want to critique this mix, because I don't think it's that bad, but I do think I understand what people are hearing even if it isn't specifically pitch correction.  And that's part of a good producer/artist/manager's bailiwick is to be able to interpret that stuff and correct it moving forward.  Case in point:  JT probably internalized peoples' criticism of TWGMTR and now we have a superior product this time 'round, at least for this one song.  It's not disrespect and it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.  It can be extremely valuable to the artist if it's taken with the proper grain of salt and self-respect.

So yeah, if someone said I autotuned something and I didn't (and I don't use it), I'd have to ask myself what then what are these folks hearing?  If you start getting into the weeds and analyzing these reactions and figuring out what they mean, you benefit a lot from that.  "Misinformed" opinions are often the best ones of all, because they're coming from a non-technical perspective, and those are usually the people you are trying to reach (we musicians are impossible to please as you well know).  Ignore that at your peril.

Anyhow, it's a nice track.  I didn't bring up the autotune thing per se, so if the idea is that it's verboten to discuss it tangentially in this new single thread, then I'm sorry I contributed to that.  Whatever BW wants to do is cool by me.

Nothing to ignore. I'll restate what I said in a slightly different way, and remember too (a point which I think has been lost, sadly) that there have been specific mentions of Autotune in relation to both this one song and the new Brian Wilson album in general, since word of it started to break last summer.

First, no matter what was done or heard on albums cut in 2012, it has no bearing at all on what will be done on an upcoming album. If that's not common sense, slap-the-forehead common sense considering only 10 seconds of a cel phone clip were heard when some of the "Autotune" nonsense started to appear, I don't know what is.

Let's say you were to record and produce a song for me. Vocals, vocal harmony stacks, and a simple acoustic guitar. We - and whoever else happened to be in on the process - know precisely what was done on that track, and who did it. We can hear it having spent countless hours mixing and fixing it, and recall the vocal drop-in where I had a coughing fit just before singing the phrase. With me so far?

Now, we release it and start reading the feedback. Someone says they don't like the use of Autotune, they wish it had been a more natural sound on vocals. Another says they wish all the backing vocal harmonies were organic, the Eventide made it sound too digital and too processed.

What would or should our reactions be? At that point, sure they may be hearing something, but when they specifically name an effect like Autotune or Eventide, should we as the people who know what went into every second of that track just take it in stride, or as constructive criticism? The "opinion" is totally invalid if that listener insists they're hearing something that simply, basically, is not anywhere to be found.

I'd say "there is no Autotune on those vocals", the listener says "but I hear it on there!". How much do you or I as the ones who did the work and know 100% truthfully what was and wasn't done to the track need to accept when the whole premise of that perception is false from the start?

Do we say "well, what do you hear? Because it's not Autotune and it was not pitch corrected." And have that listener again swear that they can hear Autotune or other pitch correction that exists only in their mind?

Again, I have to assume an honest response would include some level of frustration if not anger if someone is telling you something that you know is false but insisting it's true.

Are you seriously suggesting that shouldn't be called out for the bullshit that it is? If people directly involved in making that track say exactly how it was done, how and why should we accept an opinion or even welcome it if someone's perception completely ignores the reality of what actually happened?

It's not bullshit.  I read your whole premise.  Again, I restate:  if I recorded a song just as you say, and if more than one or two people complain about the autotune, then something is probably wrong.  It may not be autotune, but for me to say "but I didn't autotune it!" is actually a cop out.  I'm not really listening to what the listener is saying, which is "something here is bugging me."  Mind you, that's exactly what most musicians would do, but I've been at this for 20 years and quite a few albums, and I've had a lot of criticism I thought was unfair.  Later I realized it was very useful criticism, but the listener lacked the technical skills to articulate it.

I'm really fatigued to be getting into it on this thread because I like the tune, OK?  And I've gone out of my way to say nice things about it personally and I don't want someone to go "Adam doesn't like the new Brian single."  But as a practical matter, I actually take issue with your entire premise.  I understand why you think it makes sense.  It seems easy:  "well if there's no autotune on it" -- which we actually don't know -- "then these people are full of sh*t."  Well no they're not.  Those people are using the word "autotune" as an avatar for something else; possibly an overly sterile or processed sound.  By your own admission, nobody but musicians really can articulate the technical aspects of it.  Where your argument fails is your implication that because of that, their perception of the music is invalid.  It just simply isn't.  It's not "bullshit" because something is bugging them and they don't have the vocabulary to say what it is.  A smart producer or artist has an ear cocked to this very thing -- it doesn't mean they're going to slavishly follow what any one idiot has to say, but if a lot of people have some vague dissatisfaction with the product, it's worth it to know what it is, even if the customer can't articulate it properly.  Music isn't any different than any other business in that respect. 

So, you can keep up the incredulity for as many posts as you like, but I will keep saying yes, if multiple people registered an incorrect criticism of one of my tunes, it would still be valid.  They don't like it for some reason.  An artist does not need to, and should not, please everybody, but it's to my benefit to get at what's really bugging them.  Then I can say, "well who cares?" or "well, I like it, screw you" or "oh, now I see.  Yeah, I did squeeze the compressor too much, better fix that in the final mix."  Just going "it's not autotune, haha" misses the point.  The average listener, as you yourself pointed out, does not have the vocabulary to technically express what bothers them.  But if you think that that uninformed opinion is "bullshit" because of that, it's probably not going to bode well for fine tuning your recordings to reach a bigger audience.  Just sayin'.

But it's a cool tune and I myself don't mind the mix.  Think I'm gonna keep saying that.  Especially since I think you were saying earlier this discussion has no place on this thread.

If you expected me not to reply and discuss directly after it was aimed at me, especially where my intent and premise was described other than what it actually was, you were mistaken. I'll have a conversation, I'll get heated in the conversation and expect heat back, but I won't be patronized or talked down to by anyone. I've been "at this" for 20+ years too and now make a full time living with music which I'm thankful for and feel very blessed to do on a daily if not hourly basis, but I don't feel it necessary to throw that in someone's face to score points in a discussion.

If there's more to this personally that I should know, drop me a line off the board, the door is always open and the coffee is always brewin'.

This was about the new single, yeah it got sidetracked but I guess that's the way things go sometimes. I make no attempts to hide some frustrations any time "Autotune" is brought up as a negative in a discussion regarding a new Brian Wilson song, whether it is or is not relevant or even factual. It's been happening since the new album was announced. Call it my hangup and call it over and out.

The "more to this personally" thing got that "squirrely baffled look" face from me.  Not sure what the avatar for that would be but, nothing of the kind.  I'm seriously saying that if this is your take on peoples' criticism, and this is your living, you really oughta rethink how you process criticism.  That is not patronization.  That is advice, and the fact that you've been doing it as long as you have means that this is something that (from my perspective) it would have benefited you to internalize by now.  I wasn't "scoring points" so much as I was pointing out that, you kept throwing a hypothetical at me as if it was going to prove something or it was a phenomenon I'd never encountered.  If I hadn't backed it up with saying, "yes, I have actually done this and experienced this and your hypothetical doesn't change anything" it wouldn't be worth much, would it?

Yes, I know a lot of musicians get bent out of shape about stuff like this, but you actually made the best argument yourself:  people aren't very well informed, and no one cares.  But that doesn't mean their criticism is invalid, because those are the customers. It means our picayune excuses that "we didn't use any autotune" are invalid (it also means most people don't care either way).  If multiple peoples' perception is that it's there, then we helped create that somehow.  They're not musicians.  They don't know what they're hearing, they just know they don't like it and something sounds weird to them.  It's up to us to figure out what's bugging them and whether it need concern us or not.  We don't have to, but it's no skin off the audiences' back if we don't.  Only ours.

I think I'm saying the same things over and over again but if your feelings were hurt, I'm sorry.  Regardless of your experience -- and I know that there are a lot of experienced musicians who think the same as you do, so it doesn't in anyway invalidate that -- I think your premise is flat wrong.  It does not mean I think you're a moron or in someway a lesser being.  But I think it's something you probably would benefit from hearing.  If you think that's patronization, well -- kinda gets back to the same point I've been making: you can stand on your laurels, or you can listen and consider that even if something isn't said the way you might want it to be said, there might be a grain of truth there to benefit from.

/peaceout

p.s. And I like the new song. :)

In Sail Away we might hear more of rowboat-Al.

^ that was awesome

It is not, nor was it ever about me from the beginning and through every post I've made here. It was about a general notion of taking critical shots at a Brian Wilson album based on Autotune use before anyone heard a single note, then after a cel phone video clip was posted, then after a single was streamed online via a radio show, and now we have that track available in full quality to buy on iTunes - and the preview of the album on Google, much better items to judge and form opinions. The Autotune comments have appeared at every turn -  that's my issue as a fan, as mentioned, and I'm vocal about it.

Why you specifically directed any of this toward me and now have published for the board to read how I can better excel at my profession by taking criticism properly is the "personally" bit I referred to, and which I left a door open for further discussion or even clarification if necessary. But I wasn't expecting another lecture about taking criticism to appear publicly on the board.

Your comments and suggestions about professional criticism - Perhaps forward it to Brian Wilson regarding his new music. That's what the topic was, that's what I was writing about, that's what people reading wanted to read about, and what it should have been before it turned into a discussion about me.

I'll gladly take criticism about my work and career from those who actually know enough firsthand about it or about me in general to do so. Again, I won't have someone list what they think may be my professional shortcomings on a public forum and then give me suggestions on how to improve, if that person doesn't know me at all. Or, sadly, has not a clue what exactly it is that I do and how I do it. That's disrespect. I won't sit back and take that from anyone, either in person or on a message board. I hope you can understand that, Adam, as I wouldn't want to see someone like that start listing publicly what they think are your faults as a professional if they don't even know who you are or what you do when you clock in to work every day.

If you don't see what you just wrote in that reply as patronizing, and it was directed personally at me as in "I'm seriously saying that if this is your take on peoples' criticism, and this is your living, you really oughta rethink how you process criticism. ", it's more sad to see coming from you or anyone else than worth arguing about here.

I can say with pretty much 100% accuracy that you don't know enough about me or what I do, what I did or what happened to get to where I am now in Feb 2015, or even how I do things on a daily basis, to feel some of these comments are fit for a public message board, for all to read what you think are my .

If you have a beef with me, take it off the board which is the advice anyone else would get or give as well. This never was personal, this kind of thing should never be personal and aired out on a message board, I don't know how or why the focus became my professional or personal life and your giving opinions on how I could rethink or improve myself instead of opinions about Autotune and effects on some record or song, but I've had my fill of it and it needs to stop in general. I'll discuss and argue anything but taking this stuff into comments about professional/private life is going too far.

I can't believe anyone is going on about whether there might (or might not) be Auto-Tune on 'The Right Time' when there's a mix (admittedly possibly not the one that's on NPP) of that other album track 'Our Special Love' out there in which Brian is not so much Auto-Tuned as... Melodyned to Death. Now THAT is over-production on the vocals...

I can't access the GooglePlay previews (fershenliggen regionalisation... the curse of the modern media experience), but I'm not feeling the NPP love so far (although I'll be the first to admit it if the rest of the material persuades me otherwise). The Adult Contemporary sound is still muzack to my ears (like drowning in horribly over-sweet honey), and although Al sounds good on The Right Time, it's a very thin rewrite of a (to my ears) already over-sugary AC album track that is itself 17 years old...

Perhaps I just need some coffee and another few listens... and a proxy to get me some GooglePlay action...

GuitarFool, I'm just shaking my head at your post.  

I'm not making any assumptions about you based on anything other than what you've written.  Nor have I personally criticized - once - Brian's track.  I just joined in a discussion other people were having, and you yourself got excised based on a proposition that I thought was bunk.  And I repeatedly said why.

I understand why you feel patronized - really do, though I don't agree - but honestly you're giving me nowhere to go here, because all I'm doing is pointing out the flaw in what you're saying, and how that plays into our work, and you're kinda sorta little by little freaking out on me and taking it all as a personal thing...and even by pointing that out, it could be taken as patronizing.  So what can I do?  

The thing is, you could take it as what it is - friendly advice from a fellow professional who's been there and who sees things differently.  And as an illustration of why I just don't buy your basic premise.  *shrug* I could be wrong, and you're free to ignore it.  I honestly believe I have things I can learn from everybody, and some of the best insight I have ever been given has initially made me absolutely furious.  I've felt patronized and undervalued for most of my life, and I finally figured out it was coming from my own sense of insecurity.  I was angry because people saw something in me that I didn't want to acknowledge and wanted to deny.  Until one day I let it go.  And I wasn't that guy anymore, and this stuff didn't bug me anymore.

It's true that I don't know you, and I have made absolutely zero judgments about your music, but the fact that you felt the need to go on such a lengthy post and construe my noodlings as a personal attack, when it really was the opposite of that -- well, again, I can't really write anything, can I?  Because whatever I say, or point out, would just inflame you further, or taken as, again, patronizing, or making judgments about someone I don't know.  All I can say is...I was simply going off what you wrote.

So again - as gently as I can - you can stand on your laurels and take things as an affront, or find insight in peoples' perceptions, even when they seem unfair or wrong, because there usually is a kernel of truth in them, which empowers you, and you can discard the rest.  I know how patronizing that sounds, but it's simply the truth, man!  So as in "autotune," so as in anything I might have written.  Rather than taking it as an attack, you can ask yourself why I might have gathered this wrong impression from what you wrote.  Just as a person who didn't autotune might ask what the listener was actually hearing, instead of just saying "but I didn't use autotune!"  You see what I mean?  It's the opposite of patronization to deal with someone fairly and honestly and call something as they see it.  It is a sign of respect and a belief in the maturity of the other person that they are going to be able to take it as it's meant.

But *shrug* if you think I'm out to get you or diss you, you truly don't see where I'm coming from at all.  And while that saddens me, because I have no intent to hurt or anger you, at the end of the day, I am not the one who might be hurt by it.

Be well, sir.  Seriously.

Hate to say this, but I think there's a cohort of posters who talk about this because they can; I dunno, maybe it makes them feel better that they can pick out something like this. When TWGMTR was released there was one insufferable asshole who would go on and on about the damn thing like he was the smartest guy in the world, though I suspect he's only just heard of it on here. Hey let's see if we can detect autotune on....

Unfortunately, this griping was picked up by newspaper writers (the hipster guy who writes for The Guardian being a prime example) who then banged on about it in their reviews - when I suspect it would never have crossed their minds to mention it because they, like most people, are well aware that electronic trickery has been going on for years, but if you want it to spoil your enjoyment of the music, wear yourself out.

The thing I keep thinking of, though, is that *everything* dates.  A random person listening to "Fun Fun Fun" or "Add Some Music" would be able to pin them down to within a few years of their recording just as much as someone listening to a gated-snare-fest would.

Being dated isn't a problem; the only question is whether you like the dates it sounds like!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Everybody everywhere talks about stuff "because they can". It's part of that whole "freedom of speech" thing. Of course some people act like twatasaurs about their alleged knowledge, and the sheeple just eat that stuff up. People with any modicum of intelligence learn to discount the majority of opinions of internet "experts" and have the eyes and ears and mouths and noses to make their own opinions.

It's when you start reading about the autotunes and melodynes in legitimate, printed, news sources that you need to start questioning the artistic integrity of Brian Wilson and his collaborators.

Wow, that hit the spot, I choked up listening to it. I want more, lol!

Wow, my plea backfired, eh? :)

Let's keep this friendly!

.

Unnfortunately, there are a lot sheeple and that includes those in legitimate, printed news sources.

Freedom of Speech? You had me going there, Stack

Very good point. Personally, I would have preferred if they had gone for the BBToday! soundscape rather than the Your Imagination soundscape with "The First Time"... But having been able to listen to the previews through the kindness of a fellow board member, it seems like there is a pretty wide diversity in the sounds of the different tracks. Some even seem to have an 80s dated sound! :-D

I know it's not my argument, but I'm really confused with guitarfool.

It's obvious that Adam is just basically pointing that those who complain about "autotune" may just be misidentifying the reason why the sound of the track doesn't work for them. Some hear vocals that might be processed in a certain way and they just say "autotune" because they don't really know much about the different programs and whatnot. I don't understand why guitarfool is getting so bugged about it. Usually he's a great poster and a very good moderator.

Personally, I think all the complaining about "autotune" or the vocals sounding over processed is much ado about nothing. The only time on TWGMTR that I thought the processing was really noticeable was on "Spring Vacation" and "Shelter". But whatever. People have their own opinions.

Critics didn’t pick up on the “autotune” issue as it pertains to the BBs because one guy mentioned it somewhere in a review in 2012. It has been an ongoing thing in the industry for a long time, and like many other perceived “blights” on any number of forms of art, there is a constant back and forth between people calling it out/criticizing it, people who don’t care, and people who say they like it or want to justify it.

I do think, somewhat ironically, it is the old fogey artists using autotune (and, let me remind again that we this is a genericized use of the word that could mean any number of pitch-correction tools) that sometimes garners more attention and criticism. Why? I can only think of the obvious reasons: Super young artists (with super young listeners) started out using it (and hearing it) from the get-go. Older artists that started out not using it (including artists from the 70s and 80s and even 90s who used plenty of *other* studio effects/tricks) and then moved to using it end up sounding much more noticeably different. Remember when older listeners actually thought some “autotune” effects were actually a vocoder or something similar?

I remember a few years back someone here tracked down a totally random quote from Burton Cummings:

“I was listening to a new Beach Boys album ( “That’s Why God Made The Radio”) and it was so obvious the vocals had been auto tuned,” fumed Cummings. “Obviously I was not impressed. I mean this is the same Beach Boys that recorded Pet Sounds and all those great vocal harmonies yet they felt they had to resort to auto-tuning!”

There was also a big hoopla not too long ago about Aretha Franklin’s cover of that Adele song, and all of a sudden everybody decided to go all “Wtf? Why is she using autotune?”, the implication being “We know most of the current popular artists use it, and we frown upon it (though not enough to not buy the stuff and heap praise on it), but Aretha?” Which leads me to this:

I think the CGI analogy that has been used is apt. But here’s a different analogy: Use of autotune is kind of like popular s****y movies. How many times has a movie been roundly criticized, made fun of, constantly referred to as if “who would go see that?”, yet the thing is #1 at the box office. That’s autotune. It’s like Kenny G or John Tesh music. Everybody makes fun of it and derides it, but many of those same people are probably buying it.

To quickly also go back to the assertion that 2012 (e.g. TWGMTR and the C50 live album) don’t matter, and we’re talking about 2015 now, I don’t agree. We shouldn’t assume everything (or anything) Brian and Joe Thomas does in 2015 will be awash in autotune, but to wonder or suggest after hearing a recording, I don’t think that’s out of line at all. Let’s be clear as well. In terms of the “you don’t know if you didn’t personally record and mix it” rule, we don’t know if anything was autotuned ever. Did anyone admit Mike was autotuned up the wazoo on “Don’t Back Down” on the C50 live album? No. Does anyone here disagree that it’s autotuned up the wazoo to the point of sounding like Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit”?

You should never take people who use the term "sheeple" seriously.

So how's about I just say "I don't like the way the vocals sound." Does that make me a hipster asshole? I mean, we criticize Dennis' double tracking on ItBoMM, don't we? Is that something you've all "had enough of"?

This autotune thing is a red herring, as adamghost has pointed out.

Preach it brother.

You mean you've had Joe Thomas' pro tools filter stuck in your head, right??? I mean lets not lose track of what's important here, Shady. 

Hi,

So great to hear this song and all the previews from the new album. I don't know if someone has mentioned it before but according to this article : http://classichits1015.com/2015/02/18/check-out-preview-of-brian-wilsons-upcoming-solo-album-no-pier-pressure/
There will be a video for the Right Time released Thursday at Yahoo Music.

I try not, but he's right.

Doesn't that now make you a sheeple?

Sheeple is a good word, I use it a lot.

And Bruce once wrote a song called Sheeple Eve's In Love Again.

 :lol

‍

Love it. I'm currently taking classes on production. That sound isn't autotune, it's just a more modern style of mixing double tracked vocals. Works well for Al IMHO, I think it was also used on Postcard.

Heard this for the first time today. From a writing perspective, it's got a some nice chords and interesting structure. The chorus is one of those that just keeps going round in my head, hours after listening. I'm not too keen on the production. There's something jarring about the quasi-pet sounds arrangement being as heavily processed and compressed as this. It'd sound a lot better if we could hear a much more dynamic mix, in my humble opinion.

I quite like it. Sure, the chorus is lifted from "Lay Down Burden" but this is Brian Wilson we're talking about here (All Dressed Up For School begat I Just Got My Pay begat Marcella, etc) and I'm fine with it. Actually, the tasty guitar parts presumably from David Marks really add something special to this track.

I've often wished that Brian would have Al sing leads on his solo albums because Al just has this timeless and youthful voice.

Are Al's vocals heavily processed? Yes, obviously. I don't know if it's auto-tune or whatever but the same can be said for TWGMTR and.. at this point in 2015, this is pretty much how everybody sounds. A friend of mine complained about how processed McCartney's vocals were on his latest album (although it's less than how Al is here) and it didn't bother me. Maybe I've just gotten used to it. Would I have wanted less of the hocus pocus? You bet, but I'm happy with what I'm hearing here.

Just a heads up that the original Norwegian radio link no longer seems to be working. Just went to give it a listen again but alas.  :(

Listened for 5 hours on a loop; love this song....so soothing and peaceful, as is Our Special Love.  I hope it charts. A video comes out tomorrow on Yahoo music: I hope it has great footage of B, A and D in the studio. This is the "single" from the album so far.

Video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTkM3uqWctg

ITS SO COOL

Great video, but where is Dave  :P

He is filming.

Brian wasn't feeling well the day David recorded his parts so they cancelled the camera-guy.  :-(

It wasn't the right time, was it...? :(

When I saw that it was listed as a “lyric video”, I got nervous, because those are nearly always awful. But at least this one has some actual studio footage. Probably mostly staged footage (e.g. they were obviously really in the studio, probably cutting stuff, but we’re probably not seeing the actual footage of the released vocal takes, etc.), but always cool to see Al and Brian in the studio together.

We obviously have to wait to see the album credits, but it’s certainly implied here that “The Right Time” is one of the tracks with Keltner on drums and Was on bass. Anybody know who the other guitarists are? I recognize Scott Bennett of course doing some apparent vocals, but there were one or two other dudes on guitar that I don’t recognize.

well, this is another serious problem; where is Jon S or perhaps Carrie herself on this subject?  What did Dave do on this song; there are many guitar parts, and he is nowhere to be seen on this staged video. Someone (not Dave) is depicted as playing the outro, no one doing the opening or solo guitar. I spend most of my BB time thinking about my fav. BB, and is it to much to ask from the producers,, again and again for 50 years, for an honest accounting and depiction of his work, especially since he is billed as one of the artists for this song. The word "featured" is not evident in this  otherwise inoffensive enough video, such as it is.

Hoping for clarification; obviously for the Professor the "best thing" about this song was that Dave was part of something so wonderful creatively.

That's a bummer. They should've put more thought into that. It now looks a bit weird, having everyone else there except him.

Carrie says Brian was ill the day David recorded so they cancelled the filming. I guess they could have scheduled a "shoot" at another time, but maybe schedules just didn't line up.

He’s playing the intro and the outro.

Thanks so much, Carrie.  If there's one thing I've learned from filmmakers, it's how upsetting it is to leave great stuff on the cutting room floor, and in this case, the shoot didn't work out.  Once again, decision processes for something like this are often - if not always - difficult for the filmmaker.  Hopefully, we'll see more of Dave on the PBS special, etc.

Nah, that was a considered response

Thank you so much Carrie. Did Dave also play those licks in the solo section, which is really an extended choral part, punctuated with surf guitar? Thank you for helping us to preserve and honor Dave's contribution. I speak only for myself, but I know so many here cherish Dave as well. Our affection and respect for him are such that every detail of his artistic and creative work means much to us. That the neighbor kid who played catch football with Brian in the front yard 50+ years ago is a creative collaborator with him in 2015 is ever amazing and also very spiritually satisfying. I always want to make sure that I know what and whom I am hearing for fear of misunderstanding or misrepresenting Dave's work.  The intro and the outro are masterful, contemplative and elegant, themselves a major contribution to the genius of the song. Please forgive me for hoping those other parts are his too.

again, thanks for your kind reply,
The Professor

The Vikings are angry because they've never won a Super Bowl!!!   :smokin

I liked the video, I really liked how Brian and Al were laughing together in the one spot,,,that was really cool,,,

This song is lovely, gorgeous, beautiful.  Yeah I admit I’m a fan of MOR type songs.  It really gives you a good feeling.  Love it!

It’s like Imagination, which is a personal favorite of mine.  It was Imagination that turned me into a Brian Wilson fan (and then later a BBs fan).  I’m admitting to previous ignorance here, but prior to Imagination I would not have been able to tell one Wilson brother from the other.

I love Al Jardine.  Great song, great vocal – this thing sounds radio friendly to me!

THANK you.

Thanks for this GF.

I also noticed the “muted guitar arpeggios” on From There to Back Again; reminded me a lot of Pet Sounds!

God what a great song this is!

I feel safe in saying that the Gershwin album is the very best use in the BW/BB catalog of Autotune being used transparently. While I know some people have been able to point out a few instances if they really listen closely, there's nothing that jumps out blatantly as sloppy Autotune work. Whoever was responsible for production/mixing vocals on that record did a really swell job.

Not to nitpick, but as I mentioned earlier: Does anyone doubt that when Al sings "but ne--ver in a very straight line" in "The Right Time" that this is anything but an Autotune glitch (or a glitch in a similar pitch correction program, if in fact it isn't Autotune that is specifically the program being used)? Does anyone think that this hiccup is just the natural way it was sung by Al? I'd like to know if anyone believes that. Maybe it is, but I'm very doubtful.

I almost want to make my own mix and try to edit that hiccup out. I know it amounts to nitpicking, the way people were nitpicking pops that were on The Smile Sessions (which were presumably introduced not by source material, but by an engineer forgetting to put a crossfade on a waveform)... but IMO it's worth talking about because I think it's a glitch that's not supposed to be there.

Maybe this has been posted already, "The Right Time" is now available on Rhapsody.

Al Jardine does get glitchy sometimes and needs a reboot, once a week you should defragment him. Excruciatingly painful apparently.

This is so encouraging.  I thought it was just happening to me and the people in my autotune support group, but now we have a celebrity poster child in Al. Yes, I too was autotuned, apparently.  It's good to be a survivor.  And I wouldn't have known without one of the experts here pointing it out...

In order to try to side-step the semantics of "autotuned vs. other pitch correction vs. processed in some other form up the wazoo", I can comfortably say that Al's voice is relatively heavily processed on the tracks, as are most of the vocals on most Brian-related albums for quite some time. It's the way Brian likes it, it also appears to be how Joe Thomas likes it, etc. I think some of what we've heard has been autotune, and some hasn't. But the vocals are often quite processed, much moreso than what the vocals were run through in the "olden days."

I think "The Right Time" is a cool track, and I dig hearing Brian and Al together. Sounds like I'll probably dig the new album.

But I do encourage people to listen to "California Feelin'" off *Al's* solo album. THAT is what an unprocessed latter-day Al Jardine sounds like, and that vocal was probably cut 5-10 years ago. Great voice. LOTS of warmth. GREAT tone. Now before someone comments that even *that* is processed in some form, of course it is! It's probably not running straight into the board and then to the recorder with nothing in the chain at all. But it's about as unprocessed as anything BB-related can be. You can hear the little cracks and croaks and slight warble that one hears when most human voices sing. He sounds great. You can even clearly hear Al double-tracking the vocal near the end of the song. It still sounds natural, just doubled up. (In other words, the argument that double tracking strongly starts to mimic the "autotune" sound isn't necessarily the case.)

Why precisely Brian or Joe or whomever is not just letting Al sound like *that*, I don't know. I suppose when some or most of the rest of the stuff on an album is autotuned or processed relatively heavily, maybe they're just going for a consistent vocal sound.

There are less processed moments on the TWGMTR album, for instance. The vocal intro to "Pacific Coast Highway" is a good example of less processing. That more than any other vocal interlude on the album sounds, to me, like "The Beach Boys."

Again, not crapping on the new track or album. I'm probably more excited about this than any solo Brian set since "Smile" in 2004.

posted also in another thread, here's today's Rolling Stone article on The Right Time & NPP:  http://tinyurl.com/m8zfnwx

Before they started to do that, data loss was quite frequent with Al. :-D

After listening to "The Right Time" yesterday, I was in a Brian solo mood, so I put on TLOS. Probably the first time I've listened to the LP front-to-back in 4 years. There is definitely processing on those vocals (you can especially hear it on sustained notes) but it - and the production overall - is so much more tasteful to my ears than what we've heard from No Pier Pressure so far or That's Why God Made The Radio. The production on these later releases is just so...slick and lifeless. I would much rather get a rougher version with a few bum notes then something so plastic sounding.

My personal preferences aside, I think that this kind of "perfection" is what Brian is going for. He chose to bring Joe Thomas back for a reason and I assume it's because this kind of adult contemporary sound was what he was after. At first I was thinking this whole album was just some marketing ploy by his management, with all the guest stars, but with Ray Lawlor's account and everything, it seems like Brian is driving this ship. I guess what I'm saying is, this is the way the artist wants it and that's really what it should be all about. Brian Wilson is all out of fucks to give and is making an album that sounds the way he thinks it should. And that's pretty cool, so I'm going to try to not let my hangups about the way it's produced get in the way of my enjoyment.

So far I'm not really impressed with this song. It sounds a bit uninspired and the chorus just reminds me too much of 'Lay Down Burden'. But hey, I still love 'That Lucky Old Sun' and 'That's Why God Made The Radio', so I'd be surprised if this won't be a really good album as well. And it's still amazing to me to hear a brand new song with more than one Beach Boy singing on it.

It certainly isn't a mind-blowing song compositionally (or in terms of production). It's a pleasant, catchy song.

I sense I'm not the only person who probably would find it less interesting if Al wasn't singing the lead. There is a lot of novelty in hearing Al get a chance to take the lead, and harmonize with Brian.

The chorus does indeed sound a lot like "Lay Down Burden", and in my mind at least some of that repetition is offset by Al singing it, since he didn't sing on "Lay Down Burden."

well, lay down burden does nothing for me. Similarities notwithstanding, The right time is a gem; so go figure.

When would this song itself chart? It appears to be officially released. Will it make the BB hot 100 or the AC charts?

I'm not sure precisely how downloads figure into the charts, but I do know that radio airplay is weighed heavily into the singles chart. So it's even less likely for Brian to get on the singles chart than the album charts.

A lot of old fogey bands that never have hit singles still can do well on the album charts, as it's measured by sales.

Also, while it doesn't much matter, they don't even really seem to marketing "The Right Time" as an actual *single.* It's not listed as a single with its own single cover art on iTunes for instance. It's simply the only purchasable track on the actual album. It's being marketed on Facebook and whatnot more as a case of "Pre-Order the album and download one of the songs RIGHT NOW!"

It's actually unfortunate, as the wording of some of the blurbs have implied you can't just buy the single track on its own. They obviously want lots of album pre-orders, but some idiots like me will buy the one download right now and then still buy the whole album on CD as well.

Don't quite see how that makes you an idiot, purchasing both.  Bill Maher was on last night with Aloe Blacc talking about composers making essentially no money these days, thanks to Spotify, etc.  Maher spoke to value for money and how he is STILL listening to music he bought 40 years ago, so he got real value for money there - sorry for the paraphrase, but that's the essence of what he said.  How many of your 40 year old purchases are still valuable to you?  We're still obsessing over Pet Sounds, Smile, Love You, etc...

I guess that's why I get on here sometimes annoyed with all the whining about money or nit-picking the work Brian has put his heart into.  HE'S the artist...and while you have a "right to your opinion," you don't get to vote on what he produces, other than whether you buy it or not.  It's that simple.  The autographed official surfboard is too expensive?  Don't buy it - just get the music.  Some other collector will buy it and love it.  

Brian has put his heart and soul into his work.  I can't tell you how many times in my brief time with him that I saw people running up to Brian thanking him for "saving my life," "getting me through a bad time," etc.  He's STILL giving us his heart with this new work.  Can't we just say thanks once in awhile?

.

As bgas mentioned, I don't know who wrote what above, but calling myself an idiot was 100% a self-deprecating comment. Just poking fun at myself for being too impatient to wait for the album, and paying for a lone track just to listen in decent fidelity for seven weeks or so. I guess I could criticize a release model that favors those who buy exclusively downloads versus physical releases. But ultimately it's just my enthusiasm and impatience.

I think that sums it up quite nicely. This is what Brian wants to make, so he's making it. That said, I think his daughter has clearly had a major influence on this album (artwork, guest artists). Heck, even on the more modern tracks, the production sounds like the type of music a father might hear coming out of his teenage daughter's bedroom.

Debbie; you have some solid points here; and Bill Maher is right on the mark.  I bought my original copy of Pet Sounds , day of release , at a store called Great Eastern Mills in Elmont, L.I. , NY.  I paid , if I recall correctly , $2.79.   I still have that copy, what 49 years later ? 17,800 days comes out to $0.00015 per day ? Pretty damn good value for a record I still play religiously.

I have been fortunate enough to have spent all sorts of time at Ocean Way and several other studio's with Brian.  Sometimes I would hear something I thought could be different or he could make better , in my mind , but I have an internal governor that always says to me: " he has sold 150 million records; I have sold exactly zero...shut the f..k up"  . Works like a charm for me.

It can be a case of replying and quoting where one of the HTML commands gets placed in a way that "quotes" the new post, it's a combination of how the original quote was done by the poster quoting it and how that HTML command could have gotten scrambled into the mix.

I can go in and edit the posts to separate them, after the fact, if that would make it easier to read and reply...and of course ***with everyone's permission*** to edit just the appearance of what they posted. 

Let me know and I'll do it with what appeared incorrectly in this thread.

Mr. Lawlor - your math is way better than mine.  My copy of Pet Sounds cost the same and I, too, bought mine on day one.  I did "wear it out" so to speak, as an LP and still have it. As tech advanced, and our beloved music became "portable" (which is a concept my kids can't understand,) I had to have that 8 track, cassette, and CD box set with those delicious sessions!

But, I still prefer the "tangible medium" to the virtual.  I like finding it in an CD aisle, the ceremony of ripping off the wrapping, digesting the inserts, and photos, like a birthday gift.  The download generation, for the convenience and instant reward, have somehow been robbed of that, through no fault of their own.  

On the flip side, my youngest bought me the new re-release vinyl LP of Summer Days...so while they might not fully appreciate the concept of their scouring the record aisles, back-in-the day, they now see that the "old has suddenly become new."  :lol

OK, I have to step in and try separating these posts...permission implied...lol...I won't change a word, just the formatting to make it easier to read.

Pemission granted!

And, I'm in such good company!  :lol

I just fixed it - Looks like there was a stray HTML quote command line that kept getting re-posted and causing the problems. Should be fixed now.

Anytime this happens again, let me know and I'll see what can be done to fix it.  :)

Ms Deplage;  I agree 1000%; I really miss going to the store , going to the bin and getting the record/CD in my hand; the whole experience.  The last time for me was BWPS.  It was going on sale at midnight , so I drove into Greenwich Village and parked outside Virgin Records and the line was around the block ..midnight !  When the clock struck 12 the line started moving; and about 40 minutes later I had my copies....that was the end of it for me. 

No Pier Pressure will be the first cd I've purchased in 3 years. I'm as excited as a 14 year old watching Porky's. 8)

:lol perfect analogy! Sadly I won't be purchasing this in the store, but I'm eagerly awaiting my vinyl copy in the mail, and for the 12AM iTunes pre-order to download to the computer. I've never been more excited about an album release!

Greenwich Village sounds so cool! We're lucky to have a few vestiges of record shopping. Newbury Comics is one.  When one of my kids finished basic training for the Army, he took me to the PX and could not wait to show me the then recently released Sounds of Summer DVD/ CD in stock just for me! I always buy BB CD's for those going to Basic Training to save for when they are allowed to have "electronics" after training is complete.  It is one of the "sounds of home" for our brave service members.

Best buy still carries CD's, and I did get the pre C50 Walmart Zinepak edition of the CD book, and TWGMTR.  And got an outside the US request to send one of the Zinepak where it wasn't available (you know those great collectors!)

But it was always part of the fun to shop and browse in a way that has almost become unfortunately extinct.  ;)

I know what you meant, Hey Jude.  I'm doing the same as you.  Several people here were complaining about prices, etc. so it got me going, that's all.  It's really inexpensive, given what we get...That was my point.  Sorry - I just sort of "riffed" on your sentence, more in response to others.  Kind of defending you to you(?)

$0.00015/day.  That's probably fair, I think..

Does that include the tax?

Wow, another factor I hadn't considered.  ;-) 

I'm beyond excited for this album. I listend to the samples on good earphones and the songs sound even better.

By the way, on earphones "Runaway dancer" really jumps, I never imagined a 72 year old Brian Wilson getting funky. I love it  ;D

Ya know, it’s entirely possible. He did multiple takes with different effects and those parts could have been mixed in and out in any number of ways. The solo section doesn’t jump out at me as sounding overly “David” like the outro does. However, he was playing a little more inside the box on this session than he usually does and David playing a tame (for him) solo could easily slip past my ear’s radar. I wish I could say for sure. 

Anyone who thinks this song is disappointing, I suggest they imagine it as a closing track for 'Today!' in place of 'Bull Session', realize it's 50 years later and reappraise.

Mr. Lawlor, that internal governor's argument would be only valid if you had spent about as much time making records as Brian has - and if then you had sold zero records, the governor's argument would stand. I say it's ok to make an suggestion once in a while, even to a genius. :)

Thank you Carrie. The more Dave the better, as I see it. I find his playing here akin to his work on Summer's Gone and Strange World (strangely un-credited on liner notes). It also sounds much like Dave's solo work, jazzy adaptation of surf themes in an artful, contemplative style--the mark of maturation and sophistication one would expect from a classic surf player, then academically trained, working with BW.

All in all, it's a major artistic accomplishment, and I hope the 3 boys get some love for it.

The Professor

Why do you call him Mr. Lawlor?

They haven't been formally/personally introduced?

Kind of out of respect - he's a close friend to Brian's so... you think it's inappropriate?

No, not at all.   I've seen it before on here.  I find it.. odd. 

It's not that odd, Ms Honey  ;D

That's Mr Wilson to you!

;D

Well it could be MRS Honey? ;)   
Yes, that's what I mean I suppose :)   I don't feel the need to call anyone Mr, Miss, Ms or Mrs on here.  Doesn't mean I don't respect them.   Anyway, enough derailment from me  :p

"Hi Honey, I'm home! Hope you haven't been posting on that Beach Boys site all day," said Mr Honey after a long day at the office.

I think that's what I would call him if I met him in person. OK, I'm odd. :)

let's get this back on track, please: I want to hear more about the song, it's art, its reception, its production, its fate, etc. I see 37000 listens on the youtube video. Is that a good start?

Over 56,000 if you count the trailer. 8)

Actually, I think that's either Ms. or Mrs. "Wild-Honey," based on the actual screen name, n'est-ce pas??  :3d

We have some very cool ladies here with hyphenated names! (BTW, no aspersions implied, filledeplage!)

I predict that we will all be happy and grateful for the greatest gift a BW fan can ever receive--a bumper crop of new music from BW. Shine on, Most Honored Guest!!

Might be a cultural thing, as calling someone by their first name is a different thing for us Germans than it is for Americans.

In the south it's considered a sign of respect you show someone until you know them personally, or they provide you a reason not to show them anymore respect :)