SOT source

[Clare]

Sorry for the ignorance but what does SOT stand for?

[hypehat]

Sea Of Tunes

[Paulos]

Gimme the vocal sessions for Good Vibrations. The SOT set as 3 CD's dedicated to it - most of which include the tracking sessions and the lead vocal with the alternate lyrics.  I would LOVE to hear a CD's worth of vocal sessions for that.

There's also quite a bit missing from a couple of early albums.  I'd like to hear the vocal sessions for "Fun, Fun, Fun" and the recently aquired "Don't Worry Baby". And the "I Get Around" vocal session where Brian threw Murry against the wall.....

I would love to hear the I Get Around session that Mikie has mentioned, wonder if it even still exists?

I haven't got any of the SOT CD's but I have been, errrr, 'obtaining' the Life's A Beach series, is the guy who is putting LAB out using the SOT stuff?

[Andrew G. Doe]

I would love to hear the I Get Around session that Mikie has mentioned, wonder if it even still exists?

I haven't got any of the SOT CD's but I have been, errrr, 'obtaining' the Life's A Beach series,is the guys putting LAB using the SOT stuff?

SOT, Dumb Angel, anything he can lay hands on. Er, allegedly.

[lupinofan]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

They'd have only really needed one console - providing the wiring is in place, a 3-track tape can just as easily be played through, say, a 42-input desk as through a three-way mixer.

Certain Ampex and Studer tape machines had interchangeable heads, circuit boards and (in a rare case) tape paths. With the correct hardware and somebody suitably trained to line the machine up post-modification, it is possible to play a 1" 8-track tape on the same transport (machine) as a half-inch, 3-track tape. It's possible it was all done through one or two playback machines. I find it most interesting that the series stopped before the switch to two-inch, 16-track (and more) tape. That may have had something to do with the 2" tapes being inaccessible to the bootleggers, mind.

I love your work, Andrew, but hate to leave somebody so knowledgable under a technical misapprehension.

[Alan Boyd]

Alan Boyd has insisted that tapes were signed out and signed back in appropriately by the Am Band producers and that they and/or production company personnel were not responsible for the leaked SOT tapes.  What I got from that is that someone working for the BB tape storage facility at the time must have been responsible - because only they would be able to copy tapes on the sly without documentation, or allow tapes to leave the facility and come back (or not) without documentation.  That person could have worked with someone with the Am Band production, or someone else entirely.

Well.... this is not quite accurate.

At the time of the AMERICAN BAND project, the facility where the Beach Boys' tapes were being stored (and are currently stored) was / is one of the most secure media vault facilities in LA.  Security is stringent, to say the least, and every item has to be signed out and approved.  The vault documentation from the American Band project is still extant, and it's obvious that the only tapes checked out during the years they were working on that production were masters relevant to the film.  Every item pulled from the racks had to be approved by the group's management. 

There's just no way that anyone from that film would have been able to simply walk out with hundreds of reels.  This had to have been done by someone with an ENORMOUS amount of time on their hands, and access to the appropriate playback gear, not to mention a mixing console, most likely in a studio environment (FYI - there is no audio equipment on site at the vaults).

This did not happen during AMERICAN BAND.  The people involved with that film are not the culprits here.  As a matter of fact, Ron Furmanek, who worked closely with Malcolm Leo and supervised the audio for that documentary, has been a great help to us in recent years, and he's also the fellow responsible for bringing "The Lost Concert" to light. 

We don't know how or when the SOT masters were copied and mixed down, or by whom.  There have been periods, both before and after AMERICAN BAND, when the tapes were moved to other, possibly less secure locations.  Recently I've been going through the SOT CDs and matching the tracks with the tape masters we have in the vaults, and it's been awfully frustrating to discover a number of tracks deriving from tapes which are now missing - in some cases, the tape boxes are there but they're empty.... and according to previous inventory files they've been empty for many years.  That seems to indicate that these SOT dubs were made quite a long time ago.  Argh.

Alan

[c-man]

Here's a crazy thought...maybe Murry copied all those tapes in the late '60s, to archive everything in the Sea Of Tunes catalog before he sold it to A&M...hence the brand name of the series!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Here's a crazy thought...maybe Murry copied all those tapes in the late '60s, to archive everything in the Sea Of Tunes catalog before he sold it to A&M...hence the brand name of the series!

Your theory is crazy... but not crazy enough to be true. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

They'd have only really needed one console - providing the wiring is in place, a 3-track tape can just as easily be played through, say, a 42-input desk as through a three-way mixer.

Certain Ampex and Studer tape machines had interchangeable heads, circuit boards and (in a rare case) tape paths. With the correct hardware and somebody suitably trained to line the machine up post-modification, it is possible to play a 1" 8-track tape on the same transport (machine) as a half-inch, 3-track tape. It's possible it was all done through one or two playback machines. I find it most interesting that the series stopped before the switch to two-inch, 16-track (and more) tape. That may have had something to do with the 2" tapes being inaccessible to the bootleggers, mind.

I love your work, Andrew, but hate to leave somebody so knowledgable under a technical misapprehension.

Thanks for setting me straight - I'm embarrassed that I said that considering I just did research on 8-tracks in Hollywood in the 60s and of course read exactly what you just said. I think my dissolute past is beginning to catch up with me... 

[Shane]

There is a very old boot out there called, I believe, "Capitol Punishment", which has some sessions for "Please Let Me Wonder".  It's an alternate version of the song, where most of the background vocals are on the "ahhh" syllable instead of the "oooo" syllable, as in the released version.  It has a partially acapella version of the background vocals (i.e. the fader for the music was pushed down at several points).  In my book, this is one of the most amazing moments I've ever heard from the group.  I could only imagine what it would be like to hear it in pristine audio. 

I'm hoping someone could tell me that the tapes for this are still in the vaults, and did not disappear 20 years ago.  (please?)

 For those who haven't heard, I was able to find it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1rd9I_Wk6I

[Mikie]

There is a very old boot out there called, I believe, "Capitol Punishment", which has some sessions for "Please Let Me Wonder". In my book, this is one of the most amazing moments I've ever heard from the group.  I could only imagine what it would be like to hear it in pristine audio. 

The Please Let Me Wonder backing vocal overdub session (take 5) is one of my all-time favorite Beach Boys vocal sessions segments. If anyone in this world doubts that the Beach Boys can do great harmony, this is an excellent example. I've heard this part in better audio than on the Capitol Punishment boot, but was surprised it wasn't included on the SOT disc in the same quality as the rest of the session takes. Just outstanding. It's mixed down into the final vocals of the song, so you really can't hear it well unless it's isolated.

[DonnyL]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

That and coming directly from the raw multitracks with no compression or mastering EQ and almost no generational signal degredation. Oh, and the Ampex tapes that used a whale oil lubricant.  

most of the beach boys' '60s masters are on Scotch brand type incidentally (look at the cover of stack-o-tracks and you can see the "scotch" logo removed from all the boxes!).  while the tapes may indeed use whale oil, the issue with later era tapes that have "sticky shed syndrome" is the binder material on tapes that have a backcoating.  backcoated tapes did not come out until 1969, so none of the '60s beach boys stock would have this problem.  the tapes do likely have their own set of issues though, scotch 202 and 203 (which many of the beach boys masters are recorded on) have a known problem where the oxide literally will come off the tape itself and you are left with a clear (or partially clear) strip of tape.  this is particularly problematic on areas of tape where a splice was made.   the acetate version of this formula (scotch 201) does not suffer from this issue, although the acetate can curl and become brittle.  202 (1.5 mil) and 203 (1.0 mil) were among the earliest polyester (plastic) tapes instead of acetate.  i personally work with this tape for my own music and it must be handled with care but it is very durable and much more stable than later era tape in my opinion.  

scotch 206 was the first backcoated tape and it does not suffer from sticky shed, even when they switched from whale oil to synthetic lube (due to environmental restrictions).  so i think the whale oil thing is a myth!

[Bicyclerider]

Alan - thanks for clarifying.  What I was trying to infer from what you had said previously was that IF the tapes had been copied during their stay in this secure L.A. facility, it had to be done with the help of an "insider" at that facility, bypassing approval from the group's management and bypassing the usual paperwork.  However, if there's material on the SOT's that's been documented as missing from the vaults dating back to the time of American Band (you don't say this exactly, but seem to imply it) then clearly the tapes were copied earlier when they likely were at a less secure location.

While I enjoy having the SOT's to listen to, the removal of master tapes to be lost forever is tragic.  Hopefully whomever has possession of these tapes will eventually return them to BRI.

[hypehat]

While I enjoy having the SOT's to listen to, the removal of master tapes to be lost forever is tragic.  Hopefully whomever has possession of these tapes will eventually return them to BRI.

I worry about this rather a lot, too. It does happen, though, as we did get Don't Worry Baby and other songs back into safe hands last year....

[Myk Luhv]

While I enjoy having the SOT's to listen to, the removal of master tapes to be lost forever is tragic.  Hopefully whomever has possession of these tapes will eventually return them to BRI.

I worry about this rather a lot, too. It does happen, though, as we did get Don't Worry Baby and other songs back into safe hands last year....

Yeah, too bad we'll probably not hear them any time soon now that they're back in these "safe" hands.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

Does anybody know if any of the SOT's were 'tampered' with before they were released? As in, did the person (s) who got these out into the public make their own edits or overdubs onto the tapes? One thing that always stuck out in my mind as sounding a bit 'fake' was the 'Look/I Ran' that had drums feature prominently through the song. Didn't know if that was an actual Brian edit, or SOT did it just to add to the 'rareness' of the tracks.

[Mikie]

I'm not sure about the other SOT's, but the complete Party! album in stereo was definitely tampered with. A small Asian boy's voice breaks into the middle of it and starts talking. It was an obvious mistake and I'm surprised that the bootlegger let it go. Maybe he had no choice to fix it because the interruption was on his original copy of the tape.

I'd also like to know if this SOT UM Vol. 10 Disc 4 Party! CD is the real deal stereo or fake stereo. It sure sounds good!

[c-man]

I'm not sure about the other SOT's, but the complete Party! album in stereo was definitely tampered with. A small Asian boy's voice breaks into the middle of it and starts talking. It was an obvious mistake and I'm surprised that the bootlegger let it go. Maybe he had no choice to fix it because the interruption was on his original copy of the tape.

I'd also like to know if this SOT UM Vol. 10 Disc 4 Party! CD is the real deal stereo or fake stereo. It sure sounds good!

Yeah, but it doesn't have the overdubbed "party" sounds...it's a stereo mix of the multi-tracks prior to those sound effects being added.

[Bicyclerider]

Does anybody know if any of the SOT's were 'tampered' with before they were released? As in, did the person (s) who got these out into the public make their own edits or overdubs onto the tapes? One thing that always stuck out in my mind as sounding a bit 'fake' was the 'Look/I Ran' that had drums feature prominently through the song. Didn't know if that was an actual Brian edit, or SOT did it just to add to the 'rareness' of the tracks.

I don't believe the SOT's were tampered with per se, but the tape source (whomever copied the three, four and eight track tapes) was mixing on the fly, and mistakes were made (perhaps explaining the voice in Party?).  The prominent drums in Look was on an earlier take, before Brian decided to change the arrangement.  That's the fascinating thing about the SOT's - you can hear the arrangements develop and get fine tuned or abruptly change course, although the latter was rare.  The SOT's are edited, and I suspect some of the editing was done by the tapers, and some by the bootleggers to fit the music on the CD's in some logical fashion.  The most editing was on SOT Vol. 16 - the single SMile CD that was supposed to represent what Brian might have released in 1967.  They included stuff copied from Capitol releases and edited it with some of their tapes to try and recreate Smile, not too successfully IMO.

[Mikie]

I think SOT Vol's 16 & 17 were/are great! Up to that point the only thing that rivaled them were the Japanese SMiLE and the Vigotone 2-CD set. I still listen to that SOT Smile Sessions box over the others.