The Stephen Desper Thread

[zachrwolfe]

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[pixletwin]

Do not mean to steal this thread in any way, but for any of you interested in my Break Away cover I mentioned before, I posted the finished version in the musicians' forum: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15375.0.html

Post it in the appropriate thread. It's kind of rude to post it here; which maybe why no one will perpetuate or indulge your oversite with any kind of discussion.

[zachrwolfe]

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[RollPlymouthRock]

Hi Mr Desper not a question about your wonderful sound engineering work but I was wondering seeing as you engineered the American Spring album, what you know about the mysterious Floyd Tucker who was the writer of Awake.  After failing to find any info about him what so ever leads to me believe he is either a one hit wonder someone that Brian, Marilyn or Dianne  just happened to know who'd written a song or whether its a pseudonym like Reggie Dunbar (Murry Wilson).

[zachrwolfe]

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[Stephen W. Desper]

Any updates on the progress of the reprinting of your book, Mr. Desper? I too would greatly appreciate reading it.

COMMENT: If you look on my website (http://swdstudyvideos.com) you will see that the book is "under construction."  It will be released in three parts, each a study-video of an album under discussion. The first release will consist of thirteen songs, some extended. Currently all editorial commentary is finished as is the "mastering." Now we are putting it all together, which you can imagine, is quite an undertaking. Rendering takes forever.

As you may remember, a few months ago I put up a study-video of Break Away. Some fans heard clicks in the vocal parts, so we suspended the study-video to figure out how to remove the clicks. For the longest time we could not even find them. Some fans narrowed the search by pointing to the time-frame in which they heard the clicks. Frankly, I'm amazed at the accuracy the Internet can achieve, given how it works.

How the Internet works >>> http://www.wimp.com/internetworks/

I think, after five months, we have determined the source of the clicks and removed as many as we can. That  source is a poorly recorded clicky soundtrack from a YouTube video used for some of the vocal tracks. We are still trying to get the Break Away study-video as clean as possible without modifying the telling of the story.  Once BA is done we will return to completing part one of the book.  Sorry about the delay.

~swd

 

[zachrwolfe]

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[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:

Question:  Great to hear, Stephen. I didn't quite follow though, you referred to it both as a book and as study videos, so, is the information in the book along with more being repackaged in many study videos? Or are you actually reprinting physical copies and shipping them? Both?

Answer:  Eventually all information will be expanded and within the Study-Video format.

~swd

[Amazing Larry]

Stephen, you have no idea how thankful I am for these study videos. Especially the Cool, Cool Water one. Truly immaculate.
Do you have any plans for a video about All I Wanna Do? (Or any other Sunflower track, really)

[Stephen W. Desper]

Stephen, you have no idea how thankful I am for these study videos. Especially the Cool, Cool Water one. Truly immaculate.
Do you have any plans for a video about All I Wanna Do? (Or any other Sunflower track, really)

COMMENT:  Part one will be available soon. I'll let you know.  I believe AIWD is part of Sunflower.  ~swd

[sockittome]

Stephen, you have no idea how thankful I am for these study videos. Especially the Cool, Cool Water one. Truly immaculate.
Do you have any plans for a video about All I Wanna Do? (Or any other Sunflower track, really)

COMMENT:  Part one will be available soon. I'll let you know.  I believe AIWD is part of Sunflower.  ~swd

I am very much looking forward to this, Mr. Desper.  All of this knowledge and information you are sharing is very, very appreciated!

[brother john]

Hurrah!

[Dudd]

These study videos are incredible. Thank you!

[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:

FYI :: Today I have witnessed the Earth circling the Sun 71 times. In 51 days Brian will have also witnessed the Earth circling the Sun 71 times.

~swd

[Sam_BFC]

Many happy returns.

Look forward to hearing more from you soon.

[Heysaboda]

COMMENT:

FYI :: Today I have witnessed the Earth circling the Sun 71 times. In 51 days Brian will have also witnessed the Earth circling the Sun 71 times.

~swd

CONGRATULATIONS and Huzzah!!!

[pixletwin]

Happy Birthday Stephen! Thanks for the insights!

[Bill M]

Happy circle day!  And thanks for stopping by here from time to time. May the circle be unbroken!

[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:


Study-Videos can now be viewed via this link:

SWD Study-Videos  >>>  http://swdstudyvideos.com

The Break Away Study-Video is up and running.  Please visit. It's informative and fun.

It’s all there.

Good Listening,  ~Stephen W. Desper


And, Please leave any return comments here, at the Desper thread.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Fantastic and revelatory as always Stephen. Thank you for sharing.

One thing I've always noticed. The backing vox on the second chorus, (the "life turns around" one) are different from the first chorus, not just in arrangement, they sound slowed down.

I always thought these were a previous take of vox before the track was sped up. Obviously I'm wrong because you say all vox were down in one session. (and, more obviously, the vox would sound sped up, not slowed down if this were the case!!!!)

Just wondering why they've gone for this more bass-centric sound in this chorus? And it really does sound slowed down.

[monicker]

^ I always thought i heard Murry in the stack of the second chorus and only the second chorus. The blend never quite sounded the way it does in that chorus, it's peculiar. It's bass heavier than normal and it just has a slightly different sonic character, almost sounds like they're putting on different voices for effect/a laugh

[Scotty]

Stephen,
I just would like to say a big THANK YOU for the Break Away Study-Video (and the others ones too of course). Really appreciate it. The boys still sounds second to none while blasting through the studio monitors.

Cheers,
Scotty

[c-man]

^ I always thought i heard Murry in the stack of the second chorus and only the second chorus. The blend never quite sounded the way it does in that chorus, it's peculiar. It's bass heavier than normal and it just has a slightly different sonic character, almost sounds like they're putting on different voices for effect/a laugh

In the David Leaf book, Bruce makes the comment that in his opinion, Brian didn't really finish "Break Away", and that the background vocals sound like a bunch of old men (obviously referring to that second chorus).

[Glenn Greenberg]

Hi!

I'm a longtime member who's been away for a while and only now learned about the Stephen Desper study videos.

Do they still exist? I've been trying to check out Heroes and Villains and Break Away--two of my very favorite BB songs--but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it. The links to the password--and to the videos themselves--appear to be dead.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Stephen W. Desper]

Hi!

I'm a longtime member who's been away for a while and only now learned about the Stephen Desper study videos.

Do they still exist? I've been trying to check out Heroes and Villains and Break Away--two of my very favorite BB songs--but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it. The links to the password--and to the videos themselves--appear to be dead.

Any help would be appreciated!

COMMENT:  All you ask about is here >>> http://swdstudyvideos.com    ~swd