The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi all - - this is my first post here, although I've enjoyed reading many topics and comments on this board for months now.
Anyhoo - I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed here before or not but........does anyone know the reason for the strange, momentary loss of volume in Carl's voice and/or the keyboard part as he sings the line "And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair'' at the beginning of Good Vibrations? Seeing as Brian is such a perfectionist in the studio, this strange drop out in volume has always baffled me.
Thoughts?

I forget who told the original story; during or after the mixdown process the tape accidentally came loose from the reel and fell all over the floor in the recording studio (forget which). In the accident, a few feet of the tape were slightly damaged by crumbling, like a crumbling of paper. This is the reason for the "flanging" in the beginning of the song, even though the tape was "repaired" by, as best as possible, smoothing it out flat.

Okay, thanks. This has vexed me for years. When I was a kid, I thought my record was faulty - - but of course I learned later that  the error was on the recording itself.

I heard the same story as TRBB, but that someone stepped on it.

I never noticed this. I am certain that from now on, it will haunt me for the rest of my life... :'(

Actually, listening closely, I believe I hear a BOOST in the initial volume on the words "clothes she wears", followed by a return to the original volume level immediately afterwards.

Two years ago, while hanging with The Beach Boys band backstage, Randell and I were discussing this very thing when Mike came into the room.  Randell asked him if he knew the reason for this audio anomoly.  Mike kinda shrugged & said "I dunno, that's how Brian mixed it?".

Next time a similar thing happens, do what I do: Quickly expunge the information from your mind and DEFINITELY DON'T TRY TO FIND THE ERROR BY LISTENING TO THE SONG. This technique has allowed me to listen to Strawberry Fields Forever for years without having any idea where 'the join' is.

I never noticed this. I am certain that from now on, it will haunt me for the rest of my life... :(

First post here too  :)

I hear it too, I remember I came across a post on it here once. Was it Carl who tried to fix it?



I know what you mean, it's like the tape bleed at the start of <a certain track off Pet Sounds> - once you hear it, it never goes away  :-\


I wonder if there are many other notable errors, all else I can think of is the cough on Wendy.

How about the chatter on the mono version of "Here Today"?

Here is my stab at transcribing it, as isolated for our listening pleasure on The Pet Sounds Sessions box set.

(In the background you can hear the instrumental break in "Here Today".)
Voice I (after singing a few casual falsetto notes): Do you have that attached to the flash that you've rigged up?
Voice II (softer and lower) Yeah I do.
Voice I (sounding impressed): Very good!
Voice II (very softly): Here we go...
Brian (rather loudly): Top, please! (This might be some sort of musicians' jargon for stop (talking), or what he might have said was: "(Don't) talk, please!" Afterthought: Might he have meant "From the top"? But why would he say that at that moment?

Oh, and welcome Originals and Sunflower Seed from another "newbie". ;=)

Thanks :)

Is this on the backing track or vocals, john k? (And what time should we be listening?)


Nevermind - it can be heard very clearly at the end of the backing track.

I've always heard something going wrong with the record at the "l" part of "I hear the sound of a gentle word" (at :14).  The tambourine seems to break up a bit.

One of the voices is Bruce I think (he said once that the conversation involved cameras, plus it sounds like him). I think the "top, please" is most likely the latter explanation (i.e. "From the top").

Here is the post I was thinking of which talks about the damaged tape (Good Vibrations)

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,277.msg108800.html#msg108800

How about the error at the start of BWPS, you can here a very noticable "click" as soon as the vocals come in on track one!

"Top, please" does mean start the song from the beginning. Another one you only hear in jazz circles is the main melody of a song being called the "head". I can't remember if any of the jazzers Brian had playing on his sessions can be heard using that term on any of the session tapes.

Speaking of Good Vibrations... when will the Smile Sessions Box Set see the light of day? Or will we be discussing 'errors' and 'dropouts' et cetera till Chinese Democracy has become a reality?  8)

Chinese Democracy, the Axl Rose/GnR album? Or the actual spread of democracy in China?

Sorry!   :lol

i heard this when i was a kid.  always wondered what had happened there. 

Brian's reputation as a perfectionist is way overblown. He has demonstrated incredible drive in attaining something he hears in his head, but will just as soon thrown something together to be done with it. Certainly when it comes to mixing, he does not have a lot of patience. There is odd chatter and noises cropping up on virtually every Beach Boys album from the beginning.

Also, when you start listening for little "clicks" and edits, etc. you'll find that precious few recordings by anybody are flawless. This situation is even worse in films when you start examining continuity.

It's fun to discuss this stuff, buy don't let it ruin the songs for you - enjoy them for what they are!

It's exactly one minute in.  ;D

I am listening closely and don't hear anything wrong on Good Vibrations. Maybe I am so used to 'it' that I believe its suppose to be that way. But honestly can't tell there is a dip in volume or whatever.

It's more in the EQ, it does a slight tape phasing "woosh" then comes back in. It's not unlike a lot of Les Paul's early songs like "Lover" that have the same residual effect from overdubbing and other sonic maladies, although Les later claimed he did it on purpose to simulate a shortwave radio drifting in and out of a frequency.

I think some would call Brian's inclusion of all the noise and chatter on his final mixes a neat quirk, if you're into that kind of concept which Lowell George and Todd Rundgren also used where you capture that kind of thing and don't get too fussy with cutting things out. Others might feel Brian could have spent more time making "clean" mixes without all that stuff. I've grown to love all the sonic quirks, noises, and accidents on mixes - it makes them more real and alive. Revolver is full of them - listen with high-end headphones and you'll hear edits, cuts, fader moves - it's all very cool. Although I also love meticulously perfect records from groups like Steely Dan who were sonic obsessives, and who made some of the finest analog recordings in all of rock, probably as far as one could go with that style of analog recording.

Ha ha! Sorry.

Sadist   :)

Strange - I remember reading not too long ago that the sonic difference is caused by a splice, that Brian used another mono mix for the first few bars because he liked the presence of the vocal "I" better on that one. The organ seems to drop down because it's mixed softer in the mix that was used for the remaining part of the verse, that's how it was identified. I could swear I read it on this board, but I may have dreamt it.

The 'error' is not on the 40th anniversary stereo instrumental mix FWIW.

When you pay close attention to the 'error' its really quite a big change in level/timbre - try comparing it to the second verse where the organ retains its high end presence throughout.

Because the "error" is on the final mix.