The Smiley Smile Message Board

On iTunes, I bought a version of Smiley Smile that contains both the stereo and mono mixes of the songs. When I compared songs side by side, it was almost like listening to two different albums. The mono version was creepier and more distorted sounding, while the stereo version made the songs sound more cinematic, like songs Pixar would use if they ever made a horror movie.

Then I went back to the other albums. Pet Sounds needs to be in Stereo for everything to be heard. Same with Smile. Surfer Girl actually sounded phenomenal in Stereo, especially "Your Summer Dream".

The other 60s albums sounded good enough in mono.

Depends on the song.

Heroes and Villains - Stereo all the way
California Girls - Mono

Gotta hear em all in both to know  :)

Yeah, H&V is way too muddy in mono

SMILE mono vinyl sounds fantastic but the CD's and files sound like crap, to my ears......

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I generally prefer stereo, unless it's really wanky sounding.  Example:  The Lonely Sea, one of the few Beach Boys songs that sounds worlds better in mono than stereo, IMO.

I prefer Wild Honey and anything before it to be in mono, and from Friends onward in stereo. That being said, I would love to hear Friends and 20/20 in mono...

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Usually I prefer Mono.

Stereo can have a slightly 'tinny', stale sound that i don't care for, whereas Mono is so much more full.

Listen to both versions of Please Let Me Wonder and you'll (possibly) see what i mean. Likewise, Catch a Wave sounds so much more full of life in Mono.

Stereo, in most cases

Hmm....

I didn't realize until recently how much of a difference there was between some mono/stereo mixes.  I much prefer nearly all of PS in stereo and probably stereo mixes when I have them, but I think I'd have to take it track-by-track.

I like both. The modern stereo mixes intrigue me, but I kinda lean more towards mono.

Oh man, varies wildly from song to song.

I seem to be the only person on this board who liked the first PLMW stereo mix, I don't care for the one one the 2012 Today!

Fun, Fun, Fun in stereo is just wimpy compared to mono.

Stereo California Girls is so, so, so good.

It may be blasphemous, but I prefer stereo Pet Sounds.

It's really kind of up in the air. I tend to prefer stereo, but not always.

Generally stereo, but I do understand speakers that cannot play stereo should always have a mono record playing if possible.

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Duophonic!!!

Honestly, I didn't really used to care. But then after learning more, I've come to prefer the music the way it came out originally. That means, for stuff like Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and Pet Sounds I go to the mono most of the time. However, I gotta say, something like the stereo mix of "Salt Lake City" really opens the song up.

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I think the more complex productions, Today, Summer Days, Pet Sounds, Smile, would have been preferable in stereo, but stereo done at the time. On CD at least, I always found some tracks on Today to sound rather flat in mono. And hearing Kiss Me Baby in stereo on the first pressing of Endless Harmony was a revelation. I wish the rest of the 2012 stereo Today was mixed as well as that track originally was

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Not rare at all - was released on a 1990s GH album. And as a 45.  ;D

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I'm a pretty radical guy... I live dangerously, I know.

Stereo. Without reservation. I like binaural too - the binaural mix of Surfer Girl. Too bad there can never be a complete true stereo Wild Honey album, but I'll take what Linett mixed and let the fan mixers fill the gaps. Do we have a true stereo Smiley Smile yet? And the Today and Summer Days albums. Are we almost there or are we there already? And we can never have true stereo versions of the Deuce Coupe album and much of the Shut Down album 'cause the multi-tracks are missing. How much of All Summer Long tracks do we have stereo versions of? And though there are some great stereo mixes of Good Vibrations, there can never be a true stereo version. Guess I'll go to my grave never hearing that.....

Stereo's where it's at, baby! I remember when I first heard Pet Sounds in stereo in '96. I completely rediscovered that album for about a year or two.

In the case of Little Deuce Coupe and Shut Down Vol. 2 those albums have real stereo mixes except 409  and A Young Man's Gone, those multis are missing. Don't forget the only song on Shut Down Vol. 2 that wasn't in Stereo since 1963, was Why Do Fools Fall In Love and now we have it!

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Surfer Moon still doesn't exist in true stereo, only in mono and duophonic.

Mono, the way Brian hears it.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT2pTH11-oc

That ain't duophonic, at least in the Capitol sense.  There's distinct stereo information there.  Duophonic would be taking a mono mix and adding a fractional delay to simulate stereo.  With Surfer Moon the mono backing track was reprocessed into fake stereo using EQ.  So you have low end EQ on left, high end EQ on the right, vocals in the center.  Not 100% true stereo, but also not entirely fake either.

I'm guessing they weren't satisfied with the raw stereo session master (heard on SOT Vol. 03) because it starts with Brian's lead vocal hard panned to the right.  Though they went on to release a few stereo mixes like that on Shut Down Vol. 2 only months later...so maybe not.

No I haven't----or hadn't. That sounds like a great idea. Is there a simple way of doing it? Like pressing a button or something? (Technology never was my strong point.)

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Denny's Drums is still mono-only.

This.

Dennys Drums was recorded with more instruments, but in the end the boys kept just the drums. Maybe Jon Stebbins could shed some light on whether Denny Drums was recorded in Stereo or Mono. He said a while back that when he heard the rediscovered masters, he heard more instruments on Dennys Drums!

Very interesting! Maybe the rediscovered masters could be released and retitled Denny's Orchestra.  ;D

I enjoy Pet Sounds in mono, but WIBN has to be heard in stereo, imo. I prefer the 2012 stereo version of Today over the mono mix. The 2009 stereo version of Don't Worry Baby is probably the greatest sounding song I've ever heard.

The early surf tunes are so sparse in instruments that stereo is almost distracting. So yeah, truly depends on the album and mix.

On the early stuff if the vocals are in stereo I prefer it - I can better appreciate the harmonies.  Otherwise mono for early stuff.  As the backing tracks become more complex, I prefer stereo although I wasn't enamored of the Today and Summer Days stereo mixes.  Smiley Smile is glorious in stereo, and I prefer the Smile stuff in stereo.

Really ?  Never heard that before: care to share the source with us ?

"TSM" - the BB version - recycles the track Brian recorded for "The Summer Moon" by Bob & Vicki 5/9/63 at United.

I think someone who had access to the recently acquired SDV2 said this. Maybe Jon Stebbins?

Depends on the song to me.  I have to admit, I'm an old soul so i want to rant and rave about how mono is where it's at, baby, but the truth is: I love listening to the Stereo Mixes Linett has done because everything is so clearly seperate that you can hear all kinds of little musical and vocal nuances you can't hear in the mono mixes. 

I read somewhere (and i'm sure someone knowledgeable will immediately tell me how wrong I am) years ago, that Brian had a special console built for mixing, that had some sort of setup that 'mimicked' Stereo for him.  Not sure how that would work, but it allowed him to hear the Stereo mixes a bit. 

I really don't care for the stereo Wild Honey mixes at all.

Darlin' sounds nice, but Country Air has had all the life sucked out of it - suddenly those gorgeous full harmonies sound flat - and I really don't like the echo on the 'sweeter, sweeter' part on stereo Wild Honey.

My only preference is not to hear the stereo mix of Don't Worry Baby with one of the speakers missing.

It was Jon Stebbins that said this when they obtained the lost Shut Vol. 2 Multi-Track Masters!

Just double-checked this w/Jon, and while there were other instruments - sparse bass & guitar - on an earlier take, the released version was as recorded: just drums.

And yes, it is Dennis.  :)

Like the original stereo mixes. If those aren't available I'm content with the original mono mixes, i.e., the "Wild Honey" or "Today" albums. I don't particularly care for the stereo mixes and remixes that have surfaced in the past decade. They always seem... off to me... somehow. 

Stereo all the way, to more distinctly hear all the instruments that Brian was directing.

I'd like to modify that: stereo for the above reason, and mono for sheer listening enjoyment. :=)

Mono or any originally released version - I'm not a fan of retcon remixes over the originals.

Having said that, the majority of the stereo remixes are well executed and usually provide a different way of hearing these great songs.

Good: Gettin' Hungry (background harmonies in the middle bit I'd not heard clearly previously)

Bad: When I grow up (think that's more to do with the original recordings tho), 1st attempt at Cal Girls (as per the first run of the EH CD)

Alan, the first EH had the Andrew Sandoval mix of California Girls. That stereo mix matches the mono 45 mix where the horns, drums and background vocals are more prominent in the mix. Linett's first try at it was on the revamped EH. That and his 2nd try both sound more like the mono LP mix.

Great observations, drbeachboy, re the Sandoval mix sounding akin to the mono 45; & I was definitely referring to the AS mix as the "problematic" one for me (the above "bad"was a lazy choice of words).

It's been a time since I've dug it out, but I recall thinking the vox are out of sync with the track - could be a dog's ears thing or hazy memories.

Sounds like it could be high time to dust it off and have a fresh listen.

Yep, Linett's first try at it was out of sync. The corrected mix showed up on Sounds of Summer and every compilation since.

Also, recheck out Sandoval's stereo mix of Kiss Me Baby on EH v1. Terrific mix, imho.

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Yes, that is the first release of EH. The second release of EH has the out of sync Linett mix. That mix was corrected back in sync on SOS.

If you listen to the mono California Girls on Greatest Hits, Vol 1. and the Summer Days LP mix, you will hear the differences. Then play the stereo Sandoval mix and the SOS Linett second mix and you'll hear the similarities.

Well this certainly clears things up (I think).  I had always heard that the Sandoval mix was out of synch, but it sounds fine to me.  Made me wonder if I was slipping in my old age!

One thing in particular that I like about the Sandoval mix is that it seems to be a bit wider stereo than the more recent mixes.  Why do the stereo remixes seem to be getting narrower all the time? 

Generally in mono.


The stereo version however does not nearly have the emotional impact for me that the mono version has. I mean, a human being does not work better if you place some of the inner organs on the left or right speaker so you can see them better. :o

Oh, like kidney's, lungs, tonsils, etc.? ;) Serious question, what does the mono have emotionally that the stereo lacks? I asked because emotionally the music affects me the same way whether I listen in mono or stereo. For me, the difference is only in sound quality; instruments and background vocals. Stereo separates them and makes them more clear, while mono squeezes everything down. For me the music is the emotion, not how it is/was recorded.

For want of a better term, the mono sounds "scrappier" to me, in terms of a tougher sound, including from Brian's vocals. This is one factor for me liking the mono mix. But I like the stereo better for overall sound.

I don't know, it's the way it is. Splattered over the stereo spectrum, my mind fails to put those clearer sounding parts together to that emotional experience the slightly muddled mono mix provides. If you experience the same affection with mono and stereo, that's fine, it just isn't the same for me, with Pet Sounds at least.

However, the stereo Darlin' I find more compelling than the original mono mix.

Thanks for the answer! I agree too about the stereo mix of Darlin'. It jumps right out at you. One of the few times that a stereo mix is punchier than the mono mix.