The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/song-premiere-beach-boys-go-from-there-to-back-again-20120531

Sounds great. :)

You like Robo-Jardine? Man. I thought Al had the best voice of all of them, why'd they DO that?!

I have to agree.  It's a bit much, and a bit of a bummer in spots on the backing vocals too.  Brian's less-polished but still excellent vocal sounds awesome to me, I wish Al's had the same unvarnished quality.  They may well have tuned Brian too, but it's not bugging me if they did.

brian probably liked the effect

BRIAN LIKES EVERYTHING ON THIS RECORD DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS!

Robo-Jardine is annoying (how could they think we wouldn't notice), but the song itself is great. I love it.

Agreed.  I haven't heard the entire album yet, but I think this is a great tune.  It really is a shame that Al is doctored up so much.  It's the only flaw I'm hearing in the song.

I think it's fair to say that the autotuning wasn't done as a pitch correction.  Therefore....they probably liked how it sounded.  You ask how could they think we wouldn't notice but it's like, yeah they did know. 

I think Desper mentioned that Al loved the effect that was put onto "Lookin' at tomorrow" so much that he never wanted it to hear without it anymore. So yeah, I guess - at least to a part- they just like the sound of it. It's not unlike the doubling effect that Brian wanted and why he always doubled the boys' voices. It clearly wasn't done to hide anything

I've avoided clips so far, but gave in here. Very nice song, Brian sounds great...horrible, unnecessary pitch correction. Utterly obnoxious, and a damn shame.

I daresay at some point, we'll be reaching into our pockets again for 'corrected' (ie: natural sounding) versions of these songs.

Dare I say the autotune adds an emotional element to the record.

Also sounds like they were careful not to autotune the parts where Al added vibrato, which is cool.

Emotional element? How so?

To me, it adds to the haunting, creepy, and beautiful vibe.

I think it makes him sound like a robot, which is the opposite of human, which takes AWAY from the emotion. I don't hear any of the effect on Brian's voice, so now I'm wondering if Al asked for it on his voice and Brian decline to have it put on his?

or...OR...someone in the band thought it sounded cool.  I feel like this is plain as day.  Here's the guy with the best voice in the band, who doesn't need autotune and who elsewhere in the album didn't need the autotune but they added the effect here.  I don't think this is about "pitch correcting" at all.  Whether you like the effect is different, but I don't think we can say "why did they do this to him!", this looks like a creative choice to me. 

Agree to disagree  :) One could say I'm looking at the glass as half full, but honestly like I said, I think it adds a certain creepiness to the track. I'm glad they chose to use it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Brian wanted it. He mentioned in an interview a few years ago that he's a fan of pitch correction.

Right. That's why I said Al asked for the effect to be put on his voice.

You can set the parameters on the Autotune specifically to allow things like vibrato and breath sounds to come through naturally and have specific notes trigger the effect more prominently. It's explained a bit more in the long thread about using Autotune live, but it's a standard way of using the effect on vocals.

Yup, yup. Long time autotune user here. In fact I've been using it since I first started recording in 2003. So I guess that makes me part of the autotune generation.  ;D

I think in this case, they drew in the pitch in graphical mode, and just let certain (one or two) notes with vibrato slide with no pitch correction, which again I think was a great choice. Shows they definitely knew what they were doing. We would've heard more glitches (a la B-Pain) if it was just an overall setting.

Kinda wish they had opted for the more natural sounding melodyne on most of the album. But I dig the effect on this one.

We need more pet names:

B-Pain
Robo-Jardine
what else??

Great track anyway. I (kind of) think it's no more heinous using that than all the other 'effects' from the 60s and 70s. Echo chambers....

Radio Caroline in the UK has been playing this to great effect (on me). Radio Caroline - suddenly it's 1965.

Still sounds like the Beachboys.   I think you need a set of engineer/producer  ears to hear this stuff.  Al sounds a little Carl-like here....not a bad thing, and not the first time.

Mecha Love, of course.

The Autotune Generation - I like that term! I resisted it for too long, I guess. Finally had to get it - much too late to the party.

One problem with an effect becoming ubiquitous - it gets used so much and by so many people that it becomes a common sound when used the same way, and almost expected to be used for a record to "sound like a hit". Then when fans who don't like it hear the effect on their band's music, it's the Autotune's fault. It would be like blaming the wah-wah pedal if it's used on a track that someone doesn't like: It's just a tool among many available.

I don't mind it, actually, although it did become a bit of a joke in the hip-hop world because it was everywhere and probably overused.

In the end, though, who cares if Brian likes it if it sucks (in reference to the autotune)? Brian probably loved the production on Imagination when it first came out.

Nobody is gonna disagree with that.  I think I've been clear that I just wanna make sure it's disliked for the right reason  ;D

Actually, he didn't, and bitched about it in at least two interviews.

Mixed feelings about this song.  It sounds great. Nice arrangement, but I felt like it needed a chorus. I felt like one was coming up the whole time and was disappointed when there was none. I'm not saying every song needs a chorus but I felt like this one would've benefited from one. However, it still makes me excited to hear the album when it actually comes out (no offense to those who indulged in the leak)

I heard it in the samples when they first came out, but upon hearing the whole track, it becomes less obvious.  And with repeated listens, the listener gets used to it, and for me it virtually disappears.  This is my favorite track on the album.

I'm really hoping for the next record to not be produced by Joe Thomas.. but it's probably what it's going to happen.

i don't mind Joe T.  Brian likes him, he said Brian had a lot of fun recording with the band, so i think they got a good thing going. 

That is obviously not my problem, my problem is much more on the work Joe does with the sound of Brian's music.. why does it have to be soo clean, flat and polish? Bill And Sue sounds like a ringtone or a jingle for a tv spot.

Absolutely love this song, only bummer is, to me anyway, is the whistling bit at the end reminds me of Gilbert O'Sullivan's sugerfest hit  'Claire'.......(Aaaaarghh!!!!!!!)

I think Brian's music has been all those things since BW88

True, but it bothers me that it even follows The Beach Boys now..

Who produced That Lucky Old Sun ? Brian ? cause it sounds good enough for me.

lol

Figured I'd get at least one response like that. All good, you can keep waiting for an autotune-less version to pop up while I bask in all it's autotuned glory.  ;D

HAAALLEEEELUUU--UUU-UUUU--YAAAAA!!!!

Not trying to be a meanie. I love From There to Back Again and somehow am not annoyed by the autotune on that one.

Brian. Scott is listed credited as the co-producer and with "additional production" if you look at the fine print. Lots of people think TLOS is way too slick too, though.