That snippet is a thing of beauty.

Right on ! I couldn't spot the right term to describe it...

Hey Rab ! Very good one ! I love your vocal production ...

Sad Saturday is great too, you should definitely complete it !!! 

Well thanks a lot for your kind words ! Yes it's been very pleasant and honoring to do stuff like that, unfortunately, I had no time, a very low budget, and I was very ill at the time ...

Here's another one, just in case: http://soundcloud.com/jmzmusic/jmz-surfer-ghost

Wow !

I really like it ! The songwritting is genius, it reminds me of Burt Bacharrach ... And Brian of course (but more Bacharrach I think).

Too bad there are a few uncertain drum fills and harmonies. But your arrangements are killers ! Especially the strings.

I can't wait to hear further mixes. 

Hey there, I've been asked to quickly produce a few tracks for a surf documentary, here one of those:

http://soundcloud.com/jmzmusic/jmz-young-get-out-your-boards

it really sounds like classic surf/Beach Boys clichés but I like it 

[KNOW]

I KNOW it is a prank 

I'm sure it's a fake, just like this girl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_Sings

I sang that, I felt like it needed more poppiness then the regular lead.

Great version ! I don't like the drums sound much, but I guess the mix isn't finished yet ?

The singers are great ! 

I join those who think the orchestral basic tracks for the verse and the chorus are  ytoo muddy. IMO, the recording is too "distant from sources", it works when you play the track alone, but when you add all the vocal layers, the instrumental track sounds thin and unclear. It's mostly a production/arrangement problem.  

Hello There ! I konw it's been a while since my last visit, but I remember Adam told me there was more to the "Add Some Music" cover on the way...

I imagine it's too late to join in, but if you need anything, just ask 

I can play (and own) guitars (strat, tele, folk, 12strings etc), bass (danelectro longhorn and bass VI). Though I'm not a virtuoso on these, I can also play (and own) drums (original 1967 Black Oyster Pearl), piano (vintage 1908 Gaveau), ukulele, mandolin.

I can sing in the mid range and also falsetto. For now I didn't take the time to read the full thread, but the begining of it sounds promising !

Hello there, I know it's been a while I've not posted here, but I'm soooo busy working on my SMiLE "post-TSS" upgrade  

For those who would be interested, here's another song for my virtual band "Happy Trobadors":

You can hear it online here : http://www.deezer.com/en/#/music/happy-trobadors/pastel-shades-1558081

And you can also buy it on iTunes and elsewhere (just type "Pastel Shades" by Happy Trobadors).


All the best,
JMZ

Bawww. I'm not dissin'.

Yeah, no problem. Me too, I was just kidding ... Sorry 

He done a good job, as did someone else here, but there's still too much in the way of sonic oddities imo.

Can you point these sonic oddities precisely ? I'll try to improve for my next works.

Awright, my next goal: make a seemless/artefactless mix to the ears of runnersdialzero. If I manage to please him, I'll please everyone else, no doubt. 

I was talking legit stereo mixes. I've never heard a stereo fan mix of "Good Vibrations" (among others) that didn't have phasing, timing issues, etc., In cases like that, I think folks should leave well enough alone (imo), especially when "Good Vibrations" is the single 100% finished and approved song from this era.

Maybe you should listen to mine.   

OMP/YAMS - no, Denny's lead is missing
Cabinessence - no, Carl's lead is missing,
Wonderful - no
CITFOTM - Some sections yes, others, I don't know. The 2nd verse on disc 1, no.
Good Vibrations - no, vocal tracks are missing

Not completely right here, have you noticed that -let's say- 70% of the songs you heard in your life (whatever artist, whatever period) are in the center of the stereo field ?

So it doesn't matter if the vocals we have are in mono, as long as the intrumental backing tracks and some backing vocs are in stereo.  

For YAMS and Cabinessence: the vocals have not been doubled (ok, there's ADT on Carl's voice on the 20/20 mix) so this means there's no point in having them in stereo.

On Wonderful: Brian's vocals have obviously been recorder twice, but they are both panned center.

On Good Vibrations: some backing vocals are available in stereo ("hum de hum" overdubs in e.g.)

So to answer: YES, with the release of TSS, SMiLE can be mixed in full stereo. The only doubt I have is for "Our Prayer": can someone confirm they recorded in front of a single mic ? If it's the case, then the only stereo thing in the mix will be the added reverb (BTW, that's what happens in my mix).

Welcome to the Internet, AGD.

Thanks. 

My sentiments exactly. Ugh. This wait is atrociously agonizing!

I console myself by convicing me the longer the waiting, the better the pleasure when the box will finally arrive: 

Your version of Worms is absolutely fantastic!

Thanks for pointing that Mr. Fishmonk.

I hope the 3 of you (JMZ, purplechick, and AlternateBrianWilson) are planning new mixes using the official releases. I'm excited to see where the box set takes fan mixes.

Thanks, but I'm afraid after the TSS release things will be 10 times easier. It will be so easy, it won't be challenging anymore (I speak using the future, because I'm still waiting for my box !!!   )

I am currently working on my own version of SMiLE, a version I've been working on for about half a year now, and with the arrival of TSS I got loads of new material to fill in blanks and bad quality clips.

I do however still have one problem, and that is missing vocals. Now I was hoping to just "re-tune" some BWPS vocals, but doing so would require isolated vocal tracks. Are these around?

There's also an instrumental version of "In Blue Hawaii" on the B side of the BWPS "Good Vibrations" 45RPM. I've always wanted to try to extract IBH vocals to put them on top of "ILTSDD" but I never found the 45.

I only heard the begining of it on Brian Wilson's facebook. It's beautiful.

Now a question: how many fan-mixes will try to sync it with the "1st movement" backing track ?

IMO, this would be a mistake. This 67 version seems to be so perfect in every ways. Maybe an over-produced backing would spoil its beauty...

[but]

And as Mark Linett humbly said himself: the official CD1 of TSS is "just" his take on SMiLE.

Not sure you can say its ML's version - it is the BW/BBs version - thinking about it where did he say it was just his take?

Yeah, you're right, he didn't say that in his own words, my mistake. 

But on the "Icon Fetch" (excellent) interview: http://www.iconfetch.com/great-music-interviews/2011-shows/418-mark-linett-beach-boys-smile-part-two-interview.html starting around 14'50" to 15'46" you know the (already famous) part where he says that Alan and him did their approved version "with some changes" it's not exactly like BWPS, but "if you feel the Mona Lisa looks better turned upside-down [...] now you cn roll your own".

[must]

I think someone disliking Mark's mix because it's not pieced together like their favorite fanmix is a little silly.

I still don't understand why you tell that. It's a situation you can't avoid, SMiLE is somewhat unique for that. Some fans can do their own mix and some other fans can express their likes and dislikes. You know, it's a democratic thing and personnaly I think it's great.

And as Mark Linett humbly said himself: the official CD1 of TSS is "just" his take on SMiLE. And fans have the right to like it or not, or to prefer it over Purple Chick's mix or mine, or to compare, etc.

Being silly is to say: "You must love Mark Linett version above any other" or "Mark Linett's version is inevitably better, because it's the official version". No: the only thing that is objectively better is sound quality (for obvious reasons). The rest belongs to each one's personnal taste.

Hey, I listened to some of it ! It's really, really funny !

I love how you sum up some parts, playing, say 2 instruments instead of 5, or singing 2 harmonies instead of 4, but that works anyway !

That's fun ! 
 

I had a mad, mad, mad conspiracy theory about the non-release of SMiLE:

1) Capitol is the label of the Beatles in the US
2) the Beatles was a bit more "hyp" in those days than the BBoys (just a little bit, but ...)
3) I swear I hear Paul McCartney apologize himself to Brian when he gets to hug him on the BWPS DVD.

And what if Capitol had scrapped the project because it would've been too much in concurrence with the upcoming Sgt. Pepper ? Brian Wilson, demoralized and vexed by his label preventing the release of his Big Masterpiece drowns into depression.

I know it sounds really silly, but we already seen cases of record companies signing bands that were too close to another they already had. They did that on purpose to shut them so they don't concurrence the first one. Pretty dumb, but it happened.

Given that we don't have a recording of the fully-arranged version with a Brian lead (which he could have easily done, given that he was in the studio when it was being recorded)

Yes, I agree, but there's one interesting thing with what people call the "Piano Demo" (track 9 of CD2 from the TSS 2CDs version): to me it's not really what we could call a demo or even a guide vocal track:

1) Brian's voice is doubled, he recorded his voice twice (and it's not ADT)
2) Brian sings really well on it, it's not the "humble Harv" tape type of singing see what I mean ?
3) Everything is well recorded, the piano sounds very well, there's reverb.


So what I mean is: at this point (12/15/66) maybe Brian planned to release it as is, or with further vocals or instrumental overdubs, but this could've been the core track of Surf's Up, implying that he would've sing the lead.