The Smiley Smile Message Board

These figures aren't as accurate as those for overall gigs, mostly because purely vocal sessions are - obviously - not documented with an AFM contract. That said, it's a pretty good indication (say, ±5%) of how many sessions the band did 1961-69... and where. These are exclusively for Beach Boys sessions:

Western - 135
home studio - 95
Columbia - 45
Gold Star - 26
Sunset Sound -  19
Capitol - 15
Wally Heider - 15
Sound Recorders - 11
ID Sound - 10
Valentine - 4
World-Pacific - 2
Radio Recorders - 2
RCA - 2
Capitol NYC - 2
Conway - 1
Colombia Nashville TN - 1
Bell Sound NYC - 1

Very nice list, thank you.

Do you have a breakdown of what the home studios were?

Brian's living room, Red Barn Studios(?), where else?

I assume the "home studio" in the Capitol era is 100% Brian's house.

I'm absolutely fascinated by this kind of stuff.
Not sure if that's good or bad.
Either way, thank you very much!

This list is just for 1961-1969. Those studios are on the extended list.

The 'home studio' refers to the ad-hoc setup at 10452 before SWD installed the 16-track facility, October 1969.

I have a feeling this list will need to be amended, ever so slightly, in the coming weeks...
:)

I'm curious, what was recorded in Nashville TN?

Cottonfields?

The alternate Dance, Dance, Dance was recorded in Nashville.  

And didn't they record some (or all) of Stars & Stripes in Nashville?

I think the single version of Cottonfields (at least part of it) was recorded in a mobile truck parked outside 10452 Bellagio. If I remember right, it was rented from Wally Heider or ID Sound or somebody in L.A. Steve could probably confirm/clarify this.

Most of it - the Willie track was cut at his studio in Pedernales and some tracks were cut at River North in Illinois. I think the strings on "Caroline, No" were recorded at Capitol.

Again, this list covers only the Capitol years 1961-69.

I know David recalls "The Rocking Surfer" as being recorded at Wentzell's studio in Downey. Additions and corrections welcomed with open arms and a big wet kiss.  ;D

Wentzel's? As In Wentzel's Music Town in Downey? That's where I bought my Surfin'/Luau single on the  'X' label back in the 70's! Wow, Wentzel had a recording studio there too, eh?

  Gee, it'd be worth contributing an addition or correction just for the big wet kiss.....

Take a number, join the line.  :)

...but start antibiotics first... :)

This right here ^^ is the shocker for me. I always assumed Brian was *way* more fond of Gold Star. I wonder how much of his outside production stuff was cut there, if any. Very nice list, Andrew.

I'll list the non-BB sessions studios used in time.

I was just curious because some of those Honeys sides Brian was in charge of seemed to have more of a Spector vibe to them than the Beach Boys ever did. Looking forward to your results.

The first two Honeys singles were cut at the Capitol tower (co-produced by Brian and Nik Venet), as was "From Jimmy With Tears" and the outtake "Raindrops" (both produced by Venet alone). "The One You Can't Have". "He's A Doll", and I think "The Love Of A Boy And Girl" were all done at Gold Star. Jumping ahead to '68, the Murry-produced stuff was done at Sunset Sound, while for their final Brian-produced Capitol single, "Tonight You Belong To Me" b/w "Goodnight My Love": the tracks were done at United and the vocals at Heider's.

It seems like it should be a higher number based on the legend/reputation, right? I felt the same way!

I think this speaks to the era itself, and how the way studios were operated, booked, and even thought of for cutting records was in the 60's era versus what it would soon become.

I don't believe many "indie" studios like Gold Star and Western, or even Stax and Chips Moman at American...Sigma in Philly, any of the famous hit factories...were "booking out" their rooms to a single artist for a week, a month, or whatever the case. The next decade saw bands and artists camping out at studios which they had blocked in for a week or more to work steadily on a project.

I think in the 60's it was both a case of focusing on getting things done fast and efficient, as well as keeping a sense of openness for booking as a draw for more clients. If you were looking to book a room, and a place like Gold Star came back and said "sorry, Artist X is in here for the next month solid, no openings...", they'd essentially be losing a potentially better client than Artist X if their career tanked that same year.

So these places had both a demand...a huge demand when they started racking up the hits and people wanted to get in on the "hit sound" from the studio cutting those records...and they left available a supply where it may have been tough as hell to get studio time at a hit studio but it still could be done.

In the 70's and beyond you had bands which may as well have brought beds and a chef into the building to cut an album, well actually some did!

And tracing it back to Brian again, remember the talk of the frustrations with not being able to book a studio when he was hot to record around the Smile era, so he did something which kind of foreshadowed the way studios started working after the 60's and had a studio where the artist could go beyond blocking out a room and practically camping out there for a project, to where he actually could live where the studio was. And it was beyond the usual "home studio" setup of the kind rock stars from Lennon to Townshend to Papa John had in the 60's, you could actually cut an audiophile quality record at the place.

Different eras, different mindsets...but again the number "26" is pretty striking.

COMMENT:  The Bel Aire Homeowner's Association would never allow a Sound Truck to be parked on a street in that community.  The Heider Sound Truck was rented for use at Al's Barn, before it was re-built as The Red Barn Studio. At that time it was just a big barn with horse stalls and hay stacked around and on the floor. There was a stage area for staging shows. All the hay helped the acoustics and being in the middle of a forest, the barn was stone quiet. So it was a good enviornment for recording, provided you liked horses and the smell of large animals living nearby. Everyone enjoyed the elements, but Brian was uncomfortable and went back to LA early. The rented truck was used both as a control room while recording in the "studio" of the barn, and also moved as far as possible away from civilization into the forest of Big Sur for vocal overdubs.

Cottonfields has been recorded several times. Each version has made it to various points in production. I don't know which version Al recorded at the barn or whether it made it to release.

By the way, during those barn sessions, the Beach Boys stayed at Al's Ranch (it had cabins on it). I, however, had to stay in this quaint little and very old motel. No warm water, no heat unless you stoked the potbelly stove in your room. You had to build the fire and keep it going all night -- and it was cold by the ocean in Northern California.  So for me it was quite the contrast, making my own heating fire at night and recording with state-of-the-art equipment during the day.

~swd

Just wanted to say thanks for the info, c-man. Nice to know your research confirms what my ears had been telling me about "He's a Doll" and "The One You Can't Have".

Steve, not to question your recollections, but I know the first version of "Cotton Fields" (track or vocals or final overdubs/mixing) was done on November 18, 1968 and released on the 20/20 album the following year. The second version, recorded August 15, 1969 and featuring Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar, was released as a single on April 20, 1970. Didn't Al move from L.A. to Big Sur in 1973, then begin setting up Red Barn Studio?

Brian's non-BB productions 1961-69:

Western - 15
Gold Star - 5
Wally Heider - 4
United - 3
Capitol - 2
Brian's home studio - 1*
ID Sound - 1
Harmony Recorders - 1

[* - almost all of A World Of Peace Must Come was recorded at 10452, but only one was documented: in like vein, at least one Sharon Marie session was at Brian's Crenshaw apartment]

COMMENT:   Do question my recalls, it was a long time ago.  Here's what I recall. 

Alan very much liked the Big Sur area (who wouldn't?) and found property to buy. At first it was undeveloped. As he modified the land and built some buildings, fixed up the house, etc. he was not actually living in Big Sur. It was a vacation home. At first the vacations were just work holidays -- and supervision of heavy construction. I'm not certain when Alan officially moved to a year-round residence in Big Sur, but the recording of Cottonfields was as I recall, or at least ONE of the versions recorded during that time, was recorded in Big Sur. It was just the basic track, and in the case of Cottonfields may have even been just Alan and his quitar with a scratch vocal.

Yes, at the time Alan's property was a project-in-progress, but still usable for getting Brian and the guys out of LA and into a more restful environment. That was the idea. There were enough cabins to house everyone, except me (which I talked about before). But peace and quiet make some people nervous, so after a few days Brian went back to LA while the guys and all the equipment, including the sound truck stayed for a while at Al's place.

I also recall carrying the 8-track around with me on tour and in-between shows working on 20/20 at various local studios. While in NYC Cottonfields sweeting was also carried out at Capitol in Manhattan as well as a trial mixdown. The monitoring situation was rather strange at that studio, so little was used from those sessions.

~swd

Great info and memories, thank you Mr. D!

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

Mikie - you might be thinking of "Come Go With Me". Al has says they rented a mobile track for a night (this would have been '75, years after the Bellagio studio was dismanted), and for some reason he was the only one who showed up to use it. So he started recording the old Del Vikings song, as he'd always wanted to do it. Brian was in bed but could hear Al working through the floorboards, and told Marilyn "He's gonna do the whole thing!". Why they didn't just book a session at their own Brother Studio is not known, but possibly they wanted to ensure Brian's participation, and therefore planned a session at his home (this was prior to the 15 Big Ones/Brian's Back days). In the end, Carl, Mike and Dennis didn't bother to show and Brian didn't bother to come downstairs!

 Guessing maybe no-one knows the answer, but is the early version of Big Sur you reference here, the same as the one on the track list of those Klay "Brother Proposed Reissue "CDs?
or something else entirely?

Same one. The 4/4 version. Shoulda been released on MIC.

That could be, C-man. I'd sure like to find that article though. I'm still thinking it was Cotton Fields.  The single version - the one that went up the charts to top 5 in the UK and number 1 in a few other countries.

Was the article you remember reading in an old magazine, or something that was new?

Dunno for sure. Either a fairly recent article/interview or an older one that I'd never read before. Doesn't matter.