The Smiley Smile Message Board

Was going thru my collection of 45s and realised I have quite a few mono and stereo promo singles where the same single is on both sides, one in mono, one in stereo.

My question is, are these dedicated mono mixes, or are they just fold-downs of the stereo mixes?

Any insights would be appreciated.

I've got for example Mike's "Looking Back With Love", BBs "It's OK", "Peggy Sue", "Honkin' Down The Highway".

From Steve Hoffman:

"Fun, Fun, Fun" was mixed three times back then.

Mix number one was the mono 45 RPM hit mix. You can recognize it by the "push" in volume during the instrumental
break and the organ highlighted. Has a nice long fade. Mixed by JOHN KRAUS at Capitol Tower from the Western
Recorders three-track.

Mix number two was the mono 33 1/3 LP mix. Easily picked out by the favoring of the GUITAR over the organ in the
instrumental section. (Note that one of the lead guitars was on the vocal channel so easy to bump up). Hard to miss.
Mixed by Chuck Britz at Western Recorders. On the great Capitol BB's CD MADE IN THE USA as well as the LP "Shut
Down, Volume 2".

Mix number three was the infamous "Chuck Britz one handed fade out" stereo mix. Done for the stereo version of the
"Shut Down, Volume 2" LP version. This is the version used on the DCC Gold CD and countless others. Great sounding
mix except for the ending where Mr. Britz (in a hurry to go to lunch) decided to fade the thing right down and catch a
smoke. He did his famous one handed fade. In other words, he faded the music channel right on down really fast leaving
the two vocals tracks hanging in the wind. Then he reached back up and faded them down quickly. Why he didn't use the
master fader and get them all down at the same time is anyone's guess. Probably the master fader was noisy or some
problem or another at that point. Many stereo BB songs from this time period were faded out like this (Wendy, Little
Deuce Coup, etc. Heck, on WENDY he faded out the middle vocal channel first leaving the two music tracks hanging in
the wind. Very silly).

Why Do Fools Fall in Love, there are two mixes of the song. First mix done at Gold Star for the album. Second mix done
at Capitol from the Gold Star three-track. They sound pretty much alike. The Capitol mix has the voices further down in
the mix. They took a dub of the Capitol mix and switched the parts around, starting with the middle a capella part at the
beginning. I used the LP mix, unedited. Better mix, the one with Brian in attendance during mixing. He would have been the one
to pick the "good" mix, eh?

There are 3 versions/mixes of Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

1. The LP mix from the twin-track done at Gold Star (ala Phil Spector) by Larry Levine with Brian Wilson that I used, as
stored on mono LP master of SHUT DOWN, VOLUME II.

2. The Capitol 45 remix from the twin-track done without Brian's OK with lowered vocal track and filtered top and bottom
to make it easier to cut. Unused, stored in the old "S" reel section, marked "reject".

3. The Capitol SPLICED version which totally screws up the song (actually the same mix as number 2 but with the A&R
guy's idea of a better intro). Duped from number 2. Stored in the "S" reel section (Singles). This is the version that was
the "B" side of the single. If you like this "arrangement", make your own digital edits to create it; it's easy.

Note From Andrew Sandoval:
FYI: The Capitol/EMI vault had a safety phono reel tape of the "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" single version when I worked
The Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2 CD's (on which it was almost included) in 1999.

All very useful info, but not pertaining to the 45s queried here.

As for the OP, I’ve found these singles for the most part to be folds, but sometimes with unique processing to make them works little better, be they EQ or compression. Nothing essential for collectors of the music itself, but fascinating for people like me that love to hear the continuous proliferation of mono, even if falsely.

Thanks for your input FFP.

I agree - very interesting info from petsite, which I'm glad to have read, but marginally related to what I asked.

The whole issue of different official mixes is one that fascinates me.