New Beach Boys 2012 Remasters!

[Quzi]

What's the difference? Is this less bright than the 2000 release? That was my main qualm with Sandoval's job, a little too much high end, but apart from that, it's pretty decent.

[Andrew G. Doe]

By the way, a high quality tape-derived source for the mono single mixes of the songs "Friends" & "Little Bird" can be heard on the Vigotone label bootleg 5-CD box "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God".

Mono single mix of "Friends" is available on a legit CD release and has been for over 10 years.

[sea of tunes]

What's the difference? Is this less bright than the 2000 release? That was my main qualm with Sandoval's job, a little too much high end, but apart from that, it's pretty decent.

I decided to do a side by side comparison after reading your note about the brightness of the 2000 release.  I think I have decided to give the edge to the 2012 (2009) master because of this.  I don't think I ever really noticed the high end much but Linett's master does sound more "flat" (good thing).

So I guess I'm going to amend myself (AGAIN!)

Sunflower & Surf's Up 2012 (2009)

[sea of tunes]

I need to go back and re-listen to past Linett masterings of Pet Sounds now to decide how I feel conclusively.  I think (know?) the 2012 Pet Sounds uses the same 1988 tape used for the 1990 cd and the 2006 cd.  Edited song intro's for WIBN, IWFTD, GOK (and maybe others).  Conversely, Linett did not do this on the 1996/97 Pet Sounds Sessions box (disc 4).  There's even a comment about it in the booklet "no remixing was attempted as it would not be true to Brian's vision".  I think (know?) Linett also used the same source for the 2001 two-fer with a few slight EQ changes. 

Going to do some comparison listening today between the 1996, 2012 and maybe the Hoffman DCC (bass heavy....).

[tansen]

I need to go back and re-listen to past Linett masterings of Pet Sounds now to decide how I feel conclusively.  I think (know?) the 2012 Pet Sounds uses the same 1988 tape used for the 1990 cd and the 2006 cd.  Edited song intro's for WIBN, IWFTD, GOK (and maybe others).  Conversely, Linett did not do this on the 1996/97 Pet Sounds Sessions box (disc 4).  There's even a comment about it in the booklet "no remixing was attempted as it would not be true to Brian's vision".  I think (know?) Linett also used the same source for the 2001 two-fer with a few slight EQ changes. 

Going to do some comparison listening today between the 1996, 2012 and maybe the Hoffman DCC (bass heavy....).

What about in comparison to the SACD?

[TV Forces]

If there are more remastered  & remixed Japanese Beach Boys CD's in the future, it's not a problem.......but, if this is all we're ever going to get........

If this all we are to get, and they are releasing a select 12 albums to remaster, you can't leave "Pet Sounds" out of that group.

[EgoHanger1966]

I need to go back and re-listen to past Linett masterings of Pet Sounds now to decide how I feel conclusively.  I think (know?) the 2012 Pet Sounds uses the same 1988 tape used for the 1990 cd and the 2006 cd.  Edited song intro's for WIBN, IWFTD, GOK (and maybe others).  Conversely, Linett did not do this on the 1996/97 Pet Sounds Sessions box (disc 4).  There's even a comment about it in the booklet "no remixing was attempted as it would not be true to Brian's vision".  I think (know?) Linett also used the same source for the 2001 two-fer with a few slight EQ changes. 

Going to do some comparison listening today between the 1996, 2012 and maybe the Hoffman DCC (bass heavy....).

It's odd that the mono version on this current remaster uses the one with remixed intros, because Mark himself here has said that his favorite (or the best) mono version was the one he issued on the 2007 '40th Anniversary' pack with the fuzzy green cover, which utilises a newly found tape source.

[sea of tunes]

I need to go back and re-listen to past Linett masterings of Pet Sounds now to decide how I feel conclusively.  I think (know?) the 2012 Pet Sounds uses the same 1988 tape used for the 1990 cd and the 2006 cd.  Edited song intro's for WIBN, IWFTD, GOK (and maybe others).  Conversely, Linett did not do this on the 1996/97 Pet Sounds Sessions box (disc 4).  There's even a comment about it in the booklet "no remixing was attempted as it would not be true to Brian's vision".  I think (know?) Linett also used the same source for the 2001 two-fer with a few slight EQ changes.  

Going to do some comparison listening today between the 1996, 2012 and maybe the Hoffman DCC (bass heavy....).

What about in comparison to the SACD?

I should have specified that I am strictly speakin gof the mono mix.  Sorry.

[sea of tunes]

It's odd that the mono version on this current remaster uses the one with remixed intros, because Mark himself here has said that his favorite (or the best) mono version was the one he issued on the 2007 '40th Anniversary' pack with the fuzzy green cover, which utilises a newly found tape source.

I could be totally wrong but the 2006 (40th Anniversary) utilizes the 1988 copy again.

Mark Linett, from Keyboard magazine (2006):

"Recently Capitol did a search in their library and discovered a tape that I thought had been destroyed, which was the original flat digital transfer we had done of the original mono master prior to working on it in Sonic; it was 16-bit, 44.1 transfer. We put it up and it sounded incredible. So I remastered the album from that, and I think finally the mono album sounds on CD the way Brian Wilson originally intended."

Now, don't get me wrong, I respect Mark and I'm not a mastering engineer; but I do trust my own ears.  This 2012 remaster sounds identical to the 2006 release and, minus the heavy-handed noise reduction, the 1990 release. 

It has long been my understanding that the tape Mark did in 1988 contains remixed intros for specific songs where there is noticable damage.  Listen to how clean the opening of WIBN is, as a prime example.  Now listen to it on the 1996 PSS Box (Disc 4) and then listen to the DCC.  Both of the latter titles it has a noticable amount of hiss and there is no distinct edit after the opening riff.  On the 1988 tape it sounds homogenized and lifeless.  Also, you can hear the edit right before "Wouldn't It Be Nice if we...".

It's still Pet Sounds, please don't misunderstand me.  But I feel like the natural, untouched, sound of Mark's 1996 mastering is the way to go, for authenticity.  I feel very comfortable saying that I prefer the 1996 mastering (also used on the 2001 two-fer) over the DCC and really any other mono cd release.

If I'm incorrect in any of my analysis, I would love to be enlightened.

[PhilCohen]

It must be flattering to Mr.Doe, that in his brief absence, that one of his followers/surrogates/robots(18th of May) continued the droning attacks against me. Obviously, your followers agree with the philosophy once espoused by the group Kraftwerk("We are programmed just to do/ Anything you want us to/ We are the robots"). Such loyalty is.....well......awe-inspiring!

[hypehat]

Wow Phil, you're a regular comic genius.

Do you actually have anything of note to contribute in this entire forum devoted to, y'know, The Beach Boys? Because it just looks like whinging in threads about release schedules and industry business really revs your engine, you depraved swine.

[runnersdialzero]

SUNFLOWER IN STEREO ZOMMGGMGmgggg

Well, at least the remaster is warranted - the tape is a lower gen than the one they used on the twofer (same goes for Surf's Up).
I think the only one that doesn't have anything new to cd is Pet Sounds.

Naw, I was just playin'. The tape being a lower generation than before is a big deal, really. Not a big enough deal for me to buy it for 45 dollars, but hay.

[ontor pertawst]

It must be flattering to Mr.Doe, that in his brief absence, that one of his followers/surrogates/robots(18th of May) continued the droning attacks against me. Obviously, your followers agree with the philosophy once espoused by the group Kraftwerk("We are programmed just to do/ Anything you want us to/ We are the robots"). Such loyalty is.....well......awe-inspiring!

Is it somewhat easier to believe you have an army of robots programmed by some guy you've never met out to attack you than it is to realize you have real difficulties reading social cues?

You were supposed to be surprising people about not being inhuman with your great show of "concern," right? Now you're back to weird robot conspiracies.

Anyway, we are showroom dummies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuUuBt7nrE

[EgoHanger1966]

Wow Phil, you're a regular comic genius.

Do you actually have anything of note to contribute in this entire forum devoted to, y'know, The Beach Boys? Because it just looks like whinging in threads about release schedules and industry business really revs your engine, you depraved swine.

Just ignore it - if no one takes the bait, maybe he'll go away.

[The Shift]

It must be flattering to Mr.Doe, that in his brief absence, that one of his followers/surrogates/robots(18th of May) continued the droning attacks against me. Obviously, your followers agree with the philosophy once espoused by the group Kraftwerk("We are programmed just to do/ Anything you want us to/ We are the robots"). Such loyalty is.....well......awe-inspiring!

Is it somewhat easier to believe you have an army of robots programmed by some guy you've never met out to attack you than it is to realize you have real difficulties reading social cues?

You were supposed to be surprising people about not being inhuman with your great show of "concern," right? Now you're back to weird robot conspiracies.

Anyway, we are showroom dummies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuUuBt7nrE

Me a dummy too…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1PE3n-uXVM

[Justin]

A very interesting tidbit from a poster on the Steve Hoffman board:

DiskUnion says these remasters are "advance releases" for Japan to promote the band's Japanese tour in August. I'm not sure if it means anything but I'll wait for their US releases, as long as I can hold out.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=7939866&postcount=344

[DonnyL]

By the way, a high quality tape-derived source for the mono single mixes of the songs "Friends" & "Little Bird" can be heard on the Vigotone label bootleg 5-CD box "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God".

Mono single mix of "Friends" is available on a legit CD release and has been for over 10 years.

Yeh, GH Vol. 2 ... that's actually one of my favorite comps. Has the mono for 'Bluebirds Over the Mountain' and some other mixes that are harder to find on CD as well. The sound is good on that disc.

Is this the complete list of real mono mixes that were released '68-??:

Any others (not fold-downs) ?

1. Friends
2. Little Bird
3. Wake the World
4. Do It Again
5. Bluebirds Over the Mountain
6. Never Learn Not to Love
7. Cottonfields
8. Add Some Music
9. Susie Cincinatti

[Heysaboda]

Got my order today, I'm very impressed by the seller on eBay.

Anyway...pics...





Obviously, I opened Pet Sounds first.  The part of the booklet that is in English states "Mastered by Mark Linett at Your Place Or Mine Recording, 2012.  Compiled and Produced by Mark Linett, Alan Boyd & Dennis Wolfe".  The disc is HDCD encoded.

I haven't really had a chance to listen, children screaming in the background.  I did skim it and it is very obvious that the mono version contains re-mixed intro's found on the 1990 and 2006 Pet Sounds.  These edits were I believe done in 1988 in lieu of the original CD release.  Anyway, that was kind of a bummer, to say the least.  

DROOL..............................................

SLOBBER..........................................................................

CCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..........................

[PhilCohen]

That the stereo mix of "409" is an extraction mix confirms what I have always suspected: that the multitrack tapes for the very first Western Studios session don't exist, if they ever existed(the session that produced "409", "Surfin' Safari", "Their Hearts were Full of Spring" and the original version of "The Lonely Sea"), and therefore the only songs from the "Surfin' Safari" album that can be presented in true stereo are the songs recorded at Capitol Studios. The mono copy tape of the first Western Studios session(the tape box is shown in the booklet in the 5-CD "Good Vibrations:30 Years of The Beach Boys" box set) is apparently the best existing tape of the first Western Studios session. It has never been confirmed that the first Western Studios session was a 3-track recording. The mono copy tape of the first Western Studios session was filled out with copies of a few Morgan-produced tracks(the Morgans still had a financial stake in The Beach Boys' career, UNTIL Murry Wilson sold the tape of the first Western session to Capitol Records)

Western Studios had 3-track, but they also had facilities for purely mono recording. Keith Badman's book "The Beach Boys" infers that The Beach Boys' first use of Western Studios' 3-track facilities was on January 5,1963, AFTER the recording of the instrumental "Punchline", when sessions for the "Surfin' U.S.A." album began..

[PhilCohen]

Wow Phil, you're a regular comic genius.

Do you actually have anything of note to contribute in this entire forum devoted to, y'know, The Beach Boys? Because it just looks like whinging in threads about release schedules and industry business really revs your engine, you depraved swine.

Because that "industry business" will affect when or if we get U.S.A. Beach Boys archival CD's or the "career-spanning" box set. If there's no Capitol Records(or a Capitol Records held in limbo during an ownership transition) then there won't be U.S.A. CD's or a CD box set for the foreseeable future.

[ontor pertawst]

Could we just fast forward to the bit where they come out here and you howl like a stuck pig over being "forced" to buy the Japanese discs?

[PhilCohen]

Could we just fast forward to the bit where they come out here and you howl like a stuck pig over being "forced" to buy the Japanese discs?

I won't howl like a stuck pig, because:

1.We don't know if the discs will ever be released outside Japan, or whether "selected tracks" from the stereo remixes might appear in a future compilation.

2.I never planned on buying all 12 Japanese discs. To me, 3 of them are redundant & pointless("Pet Sounds", "Sunflower", "Surf's up"). I ordered the 3 that I consider essential("Today", "Summer Days...and Summer Nights!" & "Smiley Smile")
   Whatever stereo mixes debut on other discs in the Japanese series are simulated stereo. And as for the five albums whose mono mixes are making their CD debut, I don't consider those mono mixes to be essential, because I prefer stereo.

3.Buy "Pet Sounds" again? I already have eight official editions, and two bootleg 4-CD sets of "Pet Sounds" outtakes.

3. There's a way that I can recoup some of the expense of the Japanese discs, and hence, subsidize my purchase of a few more discs in the series. I may eventually buy "Beach Boys Party" from the Japanese series.

[PhilCohen]

It must be flattering to Mr.Doe, that in his brief absence, that one of his followers/surrogates/robots(18th of May) continued the droning attacks against me. Obviously, your followers agree with the philosophy once espoused by the group Kraftwerk("We are programmed just to do/ Anything you want us to/ We are the robots"). Such loyalty is.....well......awe-inspiring!

Is it somewhat easier to believe you have an army of robots programmed by some guy you've never met out to attack you than it is to realize you have real difficulties reading social cues?

You were supposed to be surprising people about not being inhuman with your great show of "concern," right? Now you're back to weird robot conspiracies.

Anyway, we are showroom dummies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuUuBt7nrE

 To my credit, during the brief absence of your leader, I could have assumed the position of forum meanie, but I opted not to. And besides, arson & pyromania are not my thing.

[ontor pertawst]

To my credit, during the brief absence of your leader,

My leader? I've been called a CIA agent before on the internet, but this is a new one! Sorry, I'm kind of an unaffiliated lunatic with my own incredibly limited sphere of influence. Not much of a cultist.

Generally you wait for other people to bestow credit on you, by the way. Pointing it out yourself doesn't really make the case so well.

Anyway, I broke down and ordered Smiley Smile. Those stereo bits were too nifty not to!

[PhilCohen]

To my credit, during the brief absence of your leader,

My leader? I've been called a CIA agent before on the internet, but this is a new one! Sorry, I'm kind of an unaffiliated lunatic with my own incredibly limited sphere of influence. Not much of a cultist.

Generally you wait for other people to bestow credit on you, by the way. Pointing it out yourself doesn't really make the case so well.

Anyway, I broke down and ordered Smiley Smile. Those stereo bits were too nifty not to!

The "leader" that I was refering to is Mr.Doe, because so many of you stand behind him when he launches offensives against me.