Dear all,
Since a few weeks I've got some spare time to fill (many of you probably have), and inevitably at some point I had to revisit my ongoing Smile tinkering/researching.
Been listening to / editing Child Is Father of the Man a lot. Such a mystery this track...always been one of my favorites. Especially the chorus. So I started to wonder again - is there actually still a multi-track of the vocal session available? I never found a definitive answer on this subject. Evidence points towards affirmative though...
-there's this track on Secret Smile, a vocal overdub session, including a count-in, some vocal warm ups..unless this was made into an acetate it probably originates from a still existing multitrack. (Is this a correct way of thinking?)
-the chorus on 2011 Smile is a newly made mix of the two existing choruses (as available on Vigotone among others). There don't seem to be any artifacts which you would expect if the 2011 mono mix would be an actual 'blend' of these two choruses. So to put it simply, it sounds like it was compiled from the multi-tracks. Or were the vocal parts digitally extracted and then mixed with the instrumental backing track?
-I found a quote floating around the internet in an article on BWPS. Not entirely clear if this is actually about the CIFOTM chorus...but it could be.
"And while listening to the multitracks for the song 'Child Is Father Of The Man', Darian soloed a chorus lead vocal by Brian's late brother Carl and made discoveries which were later incorporated into the finished arrangements. Mark Linett explains: "When he's not singing, you can hear faint background vocal parts that no longer exist on the multitrack. They must have been in his headphones, and were picked up by the vocal mic. It could be that Brian decided he didn't need them, or that he was going to re-record them, but never did. You hear this sort of stuff throughout the tapes." (
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/resurrection-brian-wilsons-smile)
-If the multi-tracks exist though, why would they not be in a stereo or vocal only track on the boxset? That would suggest they, in fact,
do not exist..
So, I'm very curious to hear opinions and thoughts from the rest of you.
Take care