Are There Any BB Songs Where Brian Sings All The Parts?

[Smilin Ed H]

Thought Al is in the Winter Symphony mix.

[groganb]

One problem I have with theories about Brian singing all the parts on any pre-16-track song is that surely, in most cases we'd have additional bounces to tape.  Which is of course possible, but not desirable for a producer if it can be avoided.  For instance, if Brian did a demo of WIBN with all the parts, at its thickest, WIBN has what 6 bgs and the lead?  If a lead is double tracked then you're already using 3 tracks of an 8-track, leaving 5 to play around with.

On IWFTD, some of the bgs are double-tracked as well, so there would have had to be internal bouncing to accommodate everything.  So I feel like there would probably be singers other than Brian on that.

I mean, he probably used Bruce on K.O.M.A. for the same reason, in that case, wanting double-tracked texture on a limited track situation--so he and Bruce sang both their parts on the same track.

Just something to have in consideration.

This is certainly a consideration, and I thought about it. Still, with eight tracks, minus one for the backing -- I'm thinking "Salt Lake City" here -- and four- or even five-part doubled harmony, the required bouncing wouldn't be too insane. Certainly not something you'd wanna do every day, obviously.

[Andrew G. Doe]

A correspondent of mine told me that, during the Pet Sounds and Smile eras, Brian would often make vocal tracks of him on all the parts as a reference for the rest of the Boys.

Can anyone back me up on this? Do any bootlegs exist?

Theres an inference that Brian did that with "I'm Waiting for the Day," but the jury is still out.

Higher bits definitely sound like Brian, but since when could anyone other than Mike hit those low notes?

Bass vocal on unreleased BB version of "Shortenin' Bread" - Brian.  

I've just done some basic tweaking on "Wipe Out", and if you Oops it, then filter what's left and add a little subtle EQ, to these ears the following points emerge:

All the bvs are Brian. Fact.

The bass vocal - whoever it is (and I still say it's Brian), it sure ain't Mike in 1986/87: the tone and timbre is all wrong. Mike has a very recognisable bass voice: this is not it. Compare it with his work on "Somewhere Near Japan" - not close.

[Stegibo]

For me, the bass vocal sounds exactly like Mike's.

[runnersdialzero]

A correspondent of mine told me that, during the Pet Sounds and Smile eras, Brian would often make vocal tracks of him on all the parts as a reference for the rest of the Boys.

Can anyone back me up on this? Do any bootlegs exist?

Theres an inference that Brian did that with "I'm Waiting for the Day," but the jury is still out.

Higher bits definitely sound like Brian, but since when could anyone other than Mike hit those low notes?

Those bass notes aren't very low, though.

Brian, even prior to "the change" in the mid 70s, could pull off a pretty good bass vocal. I don't think Mike is doing them on this song.

[Wirestone]

Brian actually has quite a powerful bass register. His work on OCA is pretty impressive -- listen to the low notes in Summer in Monterey.

I was listening to Wipe Out this last week for the same reason -- and yeah, the bass could definitely have been Brian. The sound isn't quite Mike.

[Don_Zabu]

So what we can infer from this is, while his voice was still good in the 60's, he could pretty much make it do whatever he wanted?

That's awesome.

[Wirestone]

I'd say he could make it do nearly everything he wanted through the early to mid 90s. The second bout of smoking caused some problems for a few years afterward, and now he's a bit aged. But certainly in the 80s and the early 90s, Brian could multi track to beat the band.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

My wife thinks  it's Brian also, but that there was a bit of "doctoring". Wouldn't surprise me though, as it wouldn't be the first time (Too Much Sugar and such).

[grillo]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

[Alex]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

Me too, and dammit, I'm RIGHT !!! 

[c-man]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

Me too, and dammit, I'm RIGHT !!! 

Second (or third) that.  Mike does the "wa wa hoo wa"s on "Love To Say Da-Da".

[runnersdialzero]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

Me too, and dammit, I'm RIGHT !!! 

Second (or third) that.  Mike does the "wa wa hoo wa"s on "Love To Say Da-Da".

Put me in the "That's Brian, dammit" camp. Sounds absolutely nothing like Mike and everything like I'd imagine a 1967 Brian singing a bass vocal to sound.

If not Brian, then someone else who is not Mike.

[Chris Brown]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

Me too, and dammit, I'm RIGHT !!! 

Second (or third) that.  Mike does the "wa wa hoo wa"s on "Love To Say Da-Da".

Put me in the "That's Brian, dammit" camp. Sounds absolutely nothing like Mike and everything like I'd imagine a 1967 Brian singing a bass vocal to sound.

If not Brian, then someone else who is not Mike.

I agree, I've always thought that was Brian...even though it's a low part, it doesn't have Mike's nasal quality to it.  Brian's "Don't Talk" demo is more than enough to prove that he could pull off a great bass vocal back then, and given that he did a lot of work on Smile by himself while the Boys were on tour, I can very easily see Brian just going in and doing it. 

[c-man]

Definitely just brian on Da-Da.

I could swear it's Mike doing the "wa wa hoo wa"s.

Me too, and dammit, I'm RIGHT !!! 

Second (or third) that.  Mike does the "wa wa hoo wa"s on "Love To Say Da-Da".

Put me in the "That's Brian, dammit" camp. Sounds absolutely nothing like Mike and everything like I'd imagine a 1967 Brian singing a bass vocal to sound.

If not Brian, then someone else who is not Mike.

I agree, I've always thought that was Brian...even though it's a low part, it doesn't have Mike's nasal quality to it.  Brian's "Don't Talk" demo is more than enough to prove that he could pull off a great bass vocal back then, and given that he did a lot of work on Smile by himself while the Boys were on tour, I can very easily see Brian just going in and doing it. 

Mike doesn't typically sound nasally on his low (bass) parts.  Come to think of it, I don't think anyone does.  So that's not a good criteria to go by.  Brian could definitely have sung the part, but I believe it's Mike.

[Wrightfan]

You know...could it be Mike AND Brian on Da-Da? The end sounds like 2 voices instead of the one throughout most of the song.