A Ten-episodes official web series on the SMiLE Sessions is now on YouTube

[guitarfool2002]

That's interesting, because to my eyes (and it's very hard to see from the film) it looks like that upright piano is mic'ed up as it would be for a recording. But watching the footage, it looks just like the scenario described in the Pet Sounds box set, where Brian would demonstrate what he wanted each player to play by either singing it to each musician, or playing them the individual part. That film looks like Brian plays a part on the upright, then tells the white-shirted guy something, then the musician goes to the keyboard and plays it. If that's all the film of that guy, he'll probably remain a mystery.

I heard an interview with Dr. Paul Tanner directly related to his work with Brian, since we're waiting to see if the man makes an appearance in this film or not. I'll have to look for it and post it. Paraphrasing his story quite a bit:  He said when he went to the studio for the session with Brian, he asked Brian for the sheet music. Brian said they didn't have any, but he'd show him the notes he wanted Tanner to play. But Tanner wanted to be able to read the notes as he had done for years, as a trombonist and with his ElectroTheremin. Brian told him if you want to see the notes, you can write them down yourself... That in itself was a completely foreign idea to a big-band pro like Tanner, but the results of Brian's methods speak for themselves.

And Tanner also said he continued to get royalty checks from Good Vibrations, because part of the contract he and the other musicians were working under said if that music is used for something other than a record, they were entitled to royalty payments under a usage agreement. So any time you'd hear GV on television, or film, or whatever else, a royalty payment was added up. Not a bad gig.

[c-man]

My guess is the upright piano was mic'd up "in case" Brian wanted it used during the tracking...or he had the pianist start out on that piano, but asked him to switch to the grand after awhile...there's one "Good Vibes" session, can't remember which, where Brian had one of the players change pianos in between takes (might even have been just for a different section of the song).  Rather than send a tech out to spend a few minutes mic'ing up another piano (while potentially killing the momentum), it woulda made sense to have all instruments on the studio floor mic'd and ready in case they were needed. 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

My guess is the upright piano was mic'd up "in case" Brian wanted it used during the tracking...or he had the pianist start out on that piano, but asked him to switch to the grand after awhile...there's one "Good Vibes" session, can't remember which, where Brian had one of the players change pianos in between takes (might even have been just for a different section of the song).  Rather than send a tech out to spend a few minutes mic'ing up another piano (while potentially killing the momentum), it woulda made sense to have all instruments on the studio floor mic'd and ready in case they were needed. 

Assuming they had enough inputs to do it that way, I guess.  I'm always a little surprised at how messy the studios were.  I think they must have just sort of thrown stuff out there and re-patched as necessary throughout the session.

What's also interesting is how low the piano is mixed on a lot of Beach Boys tracks--even on it's own discrete track.  Often it sounds like it's not actually mic-ed at all, DYLW, Sloop, and there are others, where it sounds leaked rather than mic-ed.

[monicker]

The DYLW is to me the most puzzling. I thought that the multitrack source would reveal that what we had been hearing all these years was just a bleed-through signal and that the piano track was muted for whatever reason (and i always wondered why Brian would have done that). I expected to hear a fully present piano in DYLW with these new mixes, so i was surprised to hear that it sounds the same. It really does sound like it wasn't mic-ed at all.

[guitarfool2002]

My guess is the upright piano was mic'd up "in case" Brian wanted it used during the tracking...or he had the pianist start out on that piano, but asked him to switch to the grand after awhile...there's one "Good Vibes" session, can't remember which, where Brian had one of the players change pianos in between takes (might even have been just for a different section of the song).  Rather than send a tech out to spend a few minutes mic'ing up another piano (while potentially killing the momentum), it woulda made sense to have all instruments on the studio floor mic'd and ready in case they were needed. 

Assuming they had enough inputs to do it that way, I guess.  I'm always a little surprised at how messy the studios were.  I think they must have just sort of thrown stuff out there and re-patched as necessary throughout the session.

What's also interesting is how low the piano is mixed on a lot of Beach Boys tracks--even on it's own discrete track.  Often it sounds like it's not actually mic-ed at all, DYLW, Sloop, and there are others, where it sounds leaked rather than mic-ed.

Did you see where the mics were placed outside that upright, if indeed they were "live" on that session? Pretty far away. In '66 one of the only engineers close-mic'ing much of anything was a young Geoff Emerick, and he caught hell for doing that, "breaking the rules", from EMI and from the musicians themselves. But after Revolver everyone wanted that present sound.

Look at the 6/16 film and the stills I posted, those mics are pretty far off the source.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

My guess is the upright piano was mic'd up "in case" Brian wanted it used during the tracking...or he had the pianist start out on that piano, but asked him to switch to the grand after awhile...there's one "Good Vibes" session, can't remember which, where Brian had one of the players change pianos in between takes (might even have been just for a different section of the song).  Rather than send a tech out to spend a few minutes mic'ing up another piano (while potentially killing the momentum), it woulda made sense to have all instruments on the studio floor mic'd and ready in case they were needed.  

Assuming they had enough inputs to do it that way, I guess.  I'm always a little surprised at how messy the studios were.  I think they must have just sort of thrown stuff out there and re-patched as necessary throughout the session.

What's also interesting is how low the piano is mixed on a lot of Beach Boys tracks--even on it's own discrete track.  Often it sounds like it's not actually mic-ed at all, DYLW, Sloop, and there are others, where it sounds leaked rather than mic-ed.

Did you see where the mics were placed outside that upright, if indeed they were "live" on that session? Pretty far away. In '66 one of the only engineers close-mic'ing much of anything was a young Geoff Emerick, and he caught hell for doing that, "breaking the rules", from EMI and from the musicians themselves. But after Revolver everyone wanted that present sound.

Look at the 6/16 film and the stills I posted, those mics are pretty far off the source.

I really can't tell if the piano in the film is mic-ed at all.  I can't pick out any mics on it, only stands nearby.  I don't disagree that engineers weren't quite as into close mic-ing as they would be, but there are some shots of pianos mic-ed pretty close out there.  I can think of a Gold Star shot or two with a Sennheiser 421 about a foot from the hammers.  I can't find one right now.

Then there's something like this:

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/73999437/Michael-Ochs-Archives

Obviously, I'm talking about Grand Pianos here, and of course no two sessions will be engineered the same.  But I think in the US, engineers were pretty close mic-ing.  Certainly guitar amps were, in not right on the speaker, not far away:

Ok, so apparently you're not allowed to write a certain word in this url so I'll have to be tricky for you to see the photo copy this:

http://img.metblogs.com/la/files/2008/08/wre

Then this:  ckingcrew.jpg

Put them together in your address line and you should get something.
This is certainly not to say that Brian wasn't setting up distant mics for pianos, but at what point does distant become so distant that it's not even really a piano mic anymore?  There's semi-distant mic-ing, and then there's just being off-mic, which is what it sounds like on DYLW or Sloop, as I mentioned, and I'm sure someone can come up with other examples.  I can't think of other instruments that are treated the same way on Brian's records.  To me, it sounds like a Spector thing, have more instruments going than you even have mics for...

[Been Too Long]

My guess is the upright piano was mic'd up "in case" Brian wanted it used during the tracking...or he had the pianist start out on that piano, but asked him to switch to the grand after awhile...there's one "Good Vibes" session, can't remember which, where Brian had one of the players change pianos in between takes (might even have been just for a different section of the song).  Rather than send a tech out to spend a few minutes mic'ing up another piano (while potentially killing the momentum), it woulda made sense to have all instruments on the studio floor mic'd and ready in case they were needed.  

Assuming they had enough inputs to do it that way, I guess.  I'm always a little surprised at how messy the studios were.  I think they must have just sort of thrown stuff out there and re-patched as necessary throughout the session.

What's also interesting is how low the piano is mixed on a lot of Beach Boys tracks--even on it's own discrete track.  Often it sounds like it's not actually mic-ed at all, DYLW, Sloop, and there are others, where it sounds leaked rather than mic-ed.

Did you see where the mics were placed outside that upright, if indeed they were "live" on that session? Pretty far away. In '66 one of the only engineers close-mic'ing much of anything was a young Geoff Emerick, and he caught hell for doing that, "breaking the rules", from EMI and from the musicians themselves. But after Revolver everyone wanted that present sound.

Look at the 6/16 film and the stills I posted, those mics are pretty far off the source.

I really can't tell if the piano in the film is mic-ed at all.  I can't pick out any mics on it, only stands nearby.  I don't disagree that engineers weren't quite as into close mic-ing as they would be, but there are some shots of pianos mic-ed pretty close out there.  I can think of a Gold Star shot or two with a Sennheiser 421 about a foot from the hammers.  I can't find one right now.

Then there's something like this:

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/73999437/Michael-Ochs-Archives

Obviously, I'm talking about Grand Pianos here, and of course no two sessions will be engineered the same.  But I think in the US, engineers were pretty close mic-ing.  Certainly guitar amps were, in not right on the speaker, not far away:

Ok, so apparently you're not allowed to write a certain word in this url so I'll have to be tricky for you to see the photo copy this:

http://img.metblogs.com/la/files/2008/08/wre

Then this:  ckingcrew.jpg

Put them together in your address line and you should get something.
This is certainly not to say that Brian wasn't setting up distant mics for pianos, but at what point does distant become so distant that it's not even really a piano mic anymore?  There's semi-distant mic-ing, and then there's just being off-mic, which is what it sounds like on DYLW or Sloop, as I mentioned, and I'm sure someone can come up with other examples.  I can't think of other instruments that are treated the same way on Brian's records.  To me, it sounds like a Spector thing, have more instruments going than you even have mics for...

On piano mic-ing, if I'm remembering right, on one of the sessions for the Cantina section Brian is recording the piano with the mic pretty far away from the piano and someone makes the comment "that's no way to record a piano" or something like that. Some one in the booth says that they are not getting a very strong signal and then you can what sounds like a mic stand being dragged across the floor, then the piano becomes more present. That was at Columbia, right?

[c-man]

On piano mic-ing, if I'm remembering right, on one of the sessions for the Cantina section Brian is recording the piano with the mic pretty far away from the piano and someone makes the comment "that's no way to record a piano" or something like that. Some one in the booth says that they are not getting a very strong signal and then you can what sounds like a mic stand being dragged across the floor, then the piano becomes more present. That was at Columbia, right?

Yep, that was a Columbia session...the engineer was the late Jerry Hockman (Mark L. discovered his last name for us to put in the sessionography, otherwise I think we woulda just had his first name & last initial).

[guitarfool2002]

On piano mic-ing, if I'm remembering right, on one of the sessions for the Cantina section Brian is recording the piano with the mic pretty far away from the piano and someone makes the comment "that's no way to record a piano" or something like that. Some one in the booth says that they are not getting a very strong signal and then you can what sounds like a mic stand being dragged across the floor, then the piano becomes more present. That was at Columbia, right?

Yep, that was a Columbia session...the engineer was the late Jerry Hockman (Mark L. discovered his last name for us to put in the sessionography, otherwise I think we woulda just had his first name & last initial).

Is this Jerry Hochman with an "h" or Hockman with a "k"? His credits on other Columbia albums are spelled Hochman. Wondering if it's a similar thing to the Jim Lockhart vs. Jim Lockert spelling deal.

Whatever it is, it's very cool to finally put a full name to that session. Let me say: that *amazing* session, it's been a favorite and I love hearing Brian play that part, I can listen over and over.

[Jay]

That footage of him working stuff out with Hal is so bloody cool

Looking at that footage of Brian directing Hal on the drums...is it just me, or was Brian a little awkward, even then? 

[guitarfool2002]

The thing about close mic'ing and how Revolver changed the rules, so to speak, was more prominent on classical instruments, like brass, woodwinds, and strings, although Emerick did treat the pianos with more effects and EQ than most had. I think guitar amp mic'ing depended on the engineer, at least until 66-67. With other instruments, Emerick would have condenser mics jammed right down into the bell of saxes, right up against the strings of celli and violins, and so on. No one was doing that as radical as Emerick, from what I understand. Then he'd send it through a limiter (and EQ boost) and squash the heck out of it, and it gave a sheen that traditional recordings of those instruments didn't give. There was more presence as well as noise from those instruments, and it's so common to hear string and bow noise now, but apparently Eleanor Rigby's strings being that close mic'ed was a game-changer.

Guitar amps and bass cabinets, again I'd say the Beatles and Emerick broke some of the rules, but indie studios like Gold Star had no "rules" per se to break, so they'd do more adventurous mic'ing and recording than the Columbias or RCAs, etc, the corporate studios.

Pianos - We recorded a pianist playing on location at a lodge about 7 years ago, a nice grand piano well maintained, and stuck condensers all over it to experiment. There was a sweet spot for that particular cabinet inside with the close mics, but the best sound came from placing one just outside where the sound projects from out of the raised "lid" of the piano and blending it with another room mic for an ambient stereo effect. The distant mics were the most balanced, but it still wasn't far away, and that was a grand and not an upright, which sound kind of rinky-dink by design. Of course that was for a live performance feel and not something you'd compress to death for effect. The best part about that? Little or no EQ or tweaks necessary, a good grand mixes itself, practically.

I agree, from the photos, Brian was doing a Spector pack-the-room effect, and I'm thinking the more leakage and room noise, the better.

Would love to hear Mark Linett's thoughts on how and where he mic'ed the live pianos for Smile in 2004! Close or distant...

[guitarfool2002]

I really can't tell if the piano in the film is mic-ed at all.  I can't pick out any mics on it, only stands nearby.  

Take a look at this:



To the right of the #1, to me that looks like a small mic of some kind hanging down, but I can't tell what it could be.

 Just below the #2, doesn't that look like a mic similar to the shape of a Shure 545, or some other dynamic mic?

I've looked at that shot and others and still cannot say for sure if those are microphones or something else. I was basing my thoughts on those objects being mics, which admittedly is weak evidence.

[Jay]

I just went into Yahoo! and typed in "1967 shure 545 studio microphone" and clicked on the image feature. I came up with a bunch of clear, close up pictures of microphones. Perhaps this might be helpful to anybody here that is more knowledgable than I on this subject. Just thought I'd pass that along. 

[Shane]

Since we're talking about this film, does anyone know any information about it?  Was it always known to exist, or is this something recently "unearthed"?  Was this professionally shot as some sort of promotional thing, or was this just a friend of Brian's who showed at the studio with a camera one day? 

If you listen to the 6/16/66 session, you can hear Brian telling "Bob" to stop filming while a take is being recorded.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Since we're talking about this film, does anyone know any information about it?  Was it always known to exist, or is this something recently "unearthed"?  Was this professionally shot as some sort of promotional thing, or was this just a friend of Brian's who showed at the studio with a camera one day? 

If you listen to the 6/16/66 session, you can hear Brian telling "Bob" to stop filming while a take is being recorded.

It is freshly discovered.  We had hoped something was there because of the "Bob" mention on the session, but until the box promos started showing, it was unknown to all expect the people involved in making the box--at least, as far as I know.

I really can't tell if the piano in the film is mic-ed at all.  I can't pick out any mics on it, only stands nearby. 

Take a look at this:



To the right of the #1, to me that looks like a small mic of some kind hanging down, but I can't tell what it could be.

 Just below the #2, doesn't that look like a mic similar to the shape of a Shure 545, or some other dynamic mic?

I've looked at that shot and others and still cannot say for sure if those are microphones or something else. I was basing my thoughts on those objects being mics, which admittedly is weak evidence.

I have no idea what no. 1 is...  no. 2 looks sort of like the counter-weight end of a mic stand to me.  But I don't think it's definitive either way.  We'll have to hope for a different angle.

[guitarfool2002]

Part 6 in the video series has been posted:

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

The latest reveal of the 1966 GV studio film is about 10 seconds of Brian showing Carl something at the piano, and shots of the group doing vocals at Columbia.

[TerryWogan]

ML touching on the subject of his perceived SMiLE antipathy. Interesting!

[Cam Mott]

Finally!

[SMiLE Brian]

Mike had interesting points about how fans in Omaha would think of SMiLE. Not sure I agree with him, but overall good comments from Mike.

[Jason]

Michael tells it how it is. More power to him.

[guitarfool2002]

It wasn't just in Omaha, this letter from a fan in New Jersey was printed Feb. 67 (re-posting this because it lines up with what Mike was saying, from one fan's perspective at the time...)

[JohnMill]

Well I appreciate Mike's candor and for me I've long since moved on from the idea that Mike's dispute with VDP over lyrics was the main reason for the project's collapse.  Now according to VDP, it was a mitigating factor in his personal abandonment of the project but ultimately I think there were far greater factors involved that spelled doom for the record.

As far as the fans in Omaha or New Jersey or wherever, I think while it's unfair to pigeonhole people as being "hip" it's also unfair to pigeonhole them as being "square".  Watch that "American Bandstand" where they debuted The Beatles' SFF/Penny Lane right?  The kids there really didn't get it.  They were watching something so innovative and so cool and yet they were basically caught up in the aesthetics of The Beatles.  

The thing though as history also shows us, the majority of these fans eventually became converts.  They may have never really gotten to the point of being "hip" (as to whatever you or I may define "hip" as being) but as music fans they either went with the new direction or they closed up their turntables one of the two.  

So while there would have been fans throughout the world who would have been initially befuddled as to the direction where not only Brian Wilson's music but music in general was going the period of inoculation would have been brief and as an addendum to that they would've bought the damn records by then anyway.  So either way initially The Beach Boys would've made money off of "SMiLE".

Which in turn brings me back to my other long-held belief and that is "hindsight is 20/20" and that being so, it's hard for me to cast Mike Love in the role of a villain for worrying about the bottom line.  In many ways it's just an inevitable bi-product of the era in which all this searching for the new sound was going on.

[Billgoodman]

As a human I can understand his point and have to agree with him on that level. But it's not about taking a stand for the people of Omaha. It's taking a stand for their money. As an artist you need to release yourself from that to achieve great things..

It's not a BW vs ML-thing, Brian also thinks about how much money is going in his pocket, he even said that recently when talking about a BB reunion. That's only human of course....

[runnersdialzero]

As I said in response to a typical know-nothing anti-Mike fan:

"Oh eat feces. Mike has said all along that he thought Smile, musically, was great, but maybe not appropriate for the Beach Boys. If it were your well being at hand and you questioned the direction, you'd speak up, too.

And yet Mike still sang EVERY note he was told to, because he trusted Brian's writing and opinions. Mike deserves some criticism, granted, but these Brian fanboys going on about, 'Mike broke Smile and induced mental illness in Brian!' need to be quiet."

"By the way, he uses 'product' as in what has been produced, not 'product" as in 'unit that's going to make me money'. He's saying, 'Are our fans going to like what we've produced?'"

The "He's trying to re-write history!" claims are tiring, too.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I like, and think it's telling, how Brian said "They sang like they liked it."  In other words--whatever issue anybody had, they set them aside because they were pros.