Barnyard Mistake in Pressing of Smile Sessions CD?

[egon spengler]

Just thought I'd add a little something. So you guys think the Cabinessence hiss can't be heard in "normal conditions"?

There I am, putting my Smile CD in my car's CD player. It's a 2001 mid-range car, with the stock speakers, and an Alpine head unit. A pretty basic setup. The presets for the head unit are the default ones, no custom eq's. Volume set at 9, the max level being something like 30. The disc starts playing, I'm driving along (windy day, so lots of aerodynamic noises, plus the sound of the tires on the road, and the sound of the engine - about 4000 rpm @ 75 mph), the songs flow into each other brilliantly, I'm not even thinking about the hiss, as if I had completely forgotten its presence. Then the Cabinessence chorus comes on, and *CLICK* - I heard the click, over ALL these noises, without even thinking about it / waiting for it. It was LOUD.

So, yeah, I think it can be heard without headphones.

I find this very hard to believe.

I actually had a long post written up the other day (that I decided not to submit) that said almost the exact same thing about the car stereo--I could hear nearly every glitch mentioned in here on my '03 Chevy cavalier stereo at low/mid-volume, before I even saw this thread. I understand both sides of the argument on here about whether the glitches matter, but whether they exist? They're on the disc just as much as Wonderful is.

[SunBurn]

Glitches and gratuitous hiss are certainly not good. And the pitch shifting and manipulations on “SMiLE” sometimes remind me of Tony Soprano’s mother when they digitally disinterred the poor actress’s head on that “closure” episode.

Personally, however, I had more-or-less written off the “SMiLE” portion of disc 1 already, because it makes no sense at all i.m.h.o. to abide by historical restraint and mix in mono, while simultaneously availing themselves of all the modern convenience of digital crossfades, pitch shifting, etcetera.

The other 4 1/2 discs are phenomenally edited and compiled. Not to mention the fantastic packaging. And imagine how many glitches, rough edits, hiss et al would have been present had the LP been put together on schedule in early ’67. Too bad...but count your blessings!

[monicker]

Anyone else noticed that the H&V transition from the first chorus into the La La La sounds perfect now compared to the video contest version that first leaked?! It must have either been fixed in the interim or the file from the video contest was a working file that wasn't finalized!

And they say i’m all negativity.

[37!ws]

Seriously, monicker, I noticed that too...it's much better.

[Jeff]

Glitches and gratuitous hiss are certainly not good. And the pitch shifting and manipulations on “SMiLE” sometimes remind me of Tony Soprano’s mother when they digitally disinterred the poor actress’s head on that “closure” episode.

Personally, however, I had more-or-less written off the “SMiLE” portion of disc 1 already, because it makes no sense at all i.m.h.o. to abide by historical restraint and mix in mono, while simultaneously availing themselves of all the modern convenience of digital crossfades, pitch shifting, etcetera.

The other 4 1/2 discs are phenomenally edited and compiled. Not to mention the fantastic packaging. And imagine how many glitches, rough edits, hiss et al would have been present had the LP been put together on schedule in early ’67. Too bad...but count your blessings!

They mixed in mono because some of the stuff CAN'T be mixed in true stereo, including Good Vibrations.  So yes, it makes sense.

I'm sure that won't change yourmind, but it's a shame you've chosen to "write off" SMiLE proper.

[Andrew G. Doe]

OK, here's the true gen on the Amazing Disappearing Barnyard Backing Vocals.

Basically, it was an editorial decision... Seems the review streams were sourced from a pre-final set of masters.

I'm surprised nobody else asked the rather obvious question - what else of significance changed from the streams to the final version?

Very little, if anything, as far as I can discern. That was the most obvious.

[runnersdialzero]

It's me and Brian Wilson and we're high on lucigenics
I'm behind the barn, I'm praying with the praying mantis

Out in the barnyard, my foot is stuck in pig shit
Out in the barnyard, there ain't no hos to get with

[bruiteur]

I posted this in the Barnyard thread...

They could have digitally removed the piano from the demo and just added the vocals to the acetate like this: http://oron.com/qcxlb2ls4ib7
It takes a little bit of work, but I think it sounds significantly better.

I haven't got the box yet but isn't the mixed version with lead, bvs and animal sounds on CD1?  If so, this isn't a big deal.

I posted this on another thread but the online sample of "I'm in Great Shape" sounds really bad when the vocal kicks in.  Is this the case on the CD or just a result of a bad mp3 conversion?

It doesn't sound amazing as all they had was the radio demo of that and Barnyard to get the vocals from. Not much else they could do sadly.

Gotcha.  Thought Barnyard sounded better than my boots so I guess I expected better for "Shape".  Thanks for the info!  Looking fwd to getting my box.

[bossaroo]

very nice. thanks for posting that

[seanmurd]

I posted this in the Barnyard thread...

They could have digitally removed the piano from the demo and just added the vocals to the acetate like this: http://oron.com/qcxlb2ls4ib7
It takes a little bit of work, but I think it sounds significantly better.

How did you accomplish this?

[Matt Bielewicz]

How did you accomplish this?

Question seconded! Would love to know more!

MattB

[Austin]

Good extraction. Although, I don't agree with your assertion in the other thread that this is better than the released version. I can still hear some artifacts, which to me are no less distracting than the piano. I probably would've liked it fine if that's what Linett and Boyd went with, but I don't think they made the wrong choice, either.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Unless I'm mistaken, it's not an extraction as such, as the 'demo' it was taken from is not a multitrack, and is a low-quality mono recording. This makes it all the more impressive, as the piano has been removed without hurting the vocal too badly. And that is a tough thing to do!

OK, so there are a couple artefacts, sure, but it's pretty damn good!

MattB

[armona]

My new favorite version by a mile. Thanks!

[seanmurd]

How did you accomplish this?

Question seconded! Would love to know more!

MattB

My guess would be some kind of spectral analysis editing -- that's what I expected Mark would have tried. Maybe he did, and didn't like the results. You can still hear the "ghost" of the piano on this new version, but it sounds very nice!

Incidentally, I don't mind the disc one "Barnyard" at all -- I think the fly-ins work very well. I can't stand how they sound on "Great Shape," however.

[monicker]

They could have digitally removed the piano from the demo and just added the vocals to the acetate like this: http://oron.com/qcxlb2ls4ib7
It takes a little bit of work, but I think it sounds significantly better.

There's a lot they could have done and not done. This is a fine example of the former. This sounds great, not flawless but infinitely better and more presentable than what's on the CD. And there's no way that it could validly be argued that the reason they didn't do this was because it would be tampering with the tapes or the "integrity" of the music, when on the Holidays tag we get pitch shifted flown-in vocals from another album that now sound like robots, complete with all sorts of very audible artifacts. Before the release i said that within a few days people would be doing this and getting good results, and i was shot down. And now here we are with this great example, in what is another instance of someone on the board doing better work than what's on the official release  Oh well. It's good that we have each other to pick up the slack.

Cheers to bruiteur! I want to buy you a beer. Is there any way you can do the same with Great Shape? That would be fantastic and much appreciated. 

P.S. What do you think is the official explanation for the loud click at 0:45 (which is on the CD and not unique to this file)? That it's on the master tape? 

[adam78]

Can I just say we're extremely lucky to have this guy posting something of this quality to us!!

That original piano demo is a poor, poor quality mono recording. The fact that he has seperated the vocal to this degree is nothing short of wizardry. And the fact he says it's his living says it all! There's not many just floating around forums that could. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the geniuses who split the mono beatles tracks to give us multitracks for beatles rockband!

Definitely, instantly, the best version of this nature of fly in i've ever heard by a country mile, and i'm very grateful to you bruiteur for sharing it.

Thank you so much.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Well, having heard the whole box for the first time today I have to say

1) I heard all the glitches that have been mentioned

2) They did not detract from my listening pleasure one iota

[SunBurn]

Overall, I must agree with Iron Horse. The catalogued glitches and hiss didn't detract from my enjoyment of disc one. Still not crazy about the decision to mix in mono. I understand that in a stereo mix, some of the source material would have necessitated switches from mono to stereo, but this is after all a de facto compilation.

By the way, did any one notice glitches in discs 2-5? I wasn't listening out for them, but didn't notice any.

[buddhahat]

I posted this in the Barnyard thread...

They could have digitally removed the piano from the demo and just added the vocals to the acetate like this: http://oron.com/qcxlb2ls4ib7
It takes a little bit of work, but I think it sounds significantly better.

I haven't got the box yet but isn't the mixed version with lead, bvs and animal sounds on CD1?  If so, this isn't a big deal.

I posted this on another thread but the online sample of "I'm in Great Shape" sounds really bad when the vocal kicks in.  Is this the case on the CD or just a result of a bad mp3 conversion?

It doesn't sound amazing as all they had was the radio demo of that and Barnyard to get the vocals from. Not much else they could do sadly.

Gotcha.  Thought Barnyard sounded better than my boots so I guess I expected better for "Shape".  Thanks for the info!  Looking fwd to getting my box.

That sounds great - thanks for posting. Have you tried the same with Great Shape?

[?]

Great work bruiteur!

[bruiteur]

Wow, I'm glad people have enjoyed my Barnyard tinkering. It was just a quick pass from the weekend. I felt compelled to do it after listening to the box set a couple of times. I'll try and give it my full attention as soon as I have free time to address the remaining artifacts and also add back some depth to Brian's voice after the piano removal. I believe that pop at around :45 is from the sourced acetate. Maybe it was missed? I'll take that out too in any revised version.

I'll certainly give I'm in Great Shape a go too when time permits.

I usually use different tools for different bits whenever doing cleaning-type jobs. I think for this I used reNOVAtor, sonicWORX, iZotope RX, and a couple other standbys--a hodge podge really. Also the Altiverb Cello Studios (AKA Western) echo chamber impulse responses for some authentic Brian reverb.

Thanks!

[tygerbug]

You do good work, Bruiteur; would love to hear Great Shape and more.


The much discussed glitches monicker brought up are a shame, but thankfully don't spoil a very good boxset. Depending on how you're listening to the album they may or may not pop out at you ...

[Dave Modny]

Damn...that's good, Bruiteur. Both the separation *and* the pacing. If the powers that be ever find it in their hearts to release the vanished backing track with the stereo bg vocals, please be the first in line to do that mix, too!

Also, I didn't check the indexing at the end of this, but will your version drop in perfectly and gap-free if I were to replace the one on disc 1 of TSS box?

Thanks again. I look forward to any other tweaks you might do to this. If you could indeed manage to give that vocal a little more body, tonally, that would be great!  That is, getting closer and closer to making it sound like an actual, discrete vocal track. Magic.

[bruiteur]

Yes, gap free.