AlternateBrianWilson Presents Smile

[pancakerecords]

Round 2...  If there's any questions you have the I don't address here, let me know. 

CYCLE OF LIFE:
 
Wonderful
Not too much going on here.  Stereo mix of the completed track, with a little intro from Brian Wilson and a snippet of H&V background vocals at the beginning, and a mix of the “Wonderful” tag and Mike Love’s “Rock with me Henry” vocal from an aborted take of the song at the end.
 
Look
A listener posting about this track on a Beach Boys message board noted that this mix of “Look” reminded him of “Pet Sounds”.  Although I didn’t consciously go for that, I think it’s probably the thud of Hal Blaine’s drums and Carol Kaye’s picked bass guitar part (which I tried to highlight in the mix) that’s responsible for that.  I also left the bit of “12th Street Rag” that Brian Wilson chose not to use in 2004, along with a piece of dialogue from his attempts to record comedy bits to either use on SMiLE or release on a spoken word album.  If you’ve ever tried sitting through these “comedy” sessions, by the way, you’ll know how cringe-worthy they can be.  I know – in preparation for this project I sat at my desk and listened to all of it.   When I found something interesting I would hit the pause button, take note of the time the bit occurred along with a description of the quote and the song I thought it mike work in (if any).  I did this so that you, the listener, never have to.  You’ll thank me for it one day.
 
I also included a bit of the “legendary” “George Fell into His French Horn” track to lead into the next song.  This was an idea (like another one coming up in the next song) that I picked up from MoK’s SMiLE.  He trimmed the original track quite a bit, and I’ve knocked it down to about fifteen seconds, which is all I can take.
 
Child is Father of the Man
Here we start with another idea lifted from Mok, with the vibes leading into the piano/vocal “Child is father of the man part”, which I’ve edited down considerably. 
 
This is followed by something I pulled from the infamous “Help Me Rhonda” vocal sessions featuring the many moods (most of them bad) of Murry Wilson.  Initially, I thought I was going to use the “I’m a genius, too” quote.  But something about the elder Wilson imploring his son to “forget who you are” struck me as poignant, so that’s what I decided to go with.  To me, it adds something emotional (and somewhat creepy) to the track that wasn’t there before.
 
After that, it was just a case of putting my favorite sections of CIFotM together in an order that was pleasing to the ear.  Several sections were vetoed for poor sound quality and/or lack of a stereo mix.  The little piece of dialog at the end is meant to imply the “full circle” concept of the songs title.  Not so sure I managed to pull that off though.
 
Surf’s Up
How to you try to put your stamp on a masterpiece without screwing it up?
 
That’s a question I came face to face with throughout my work on this album, but never more than on this track.  In fact, I saved this mix for last because I had no idea what I was going to do.  The temptation to just drop in Brian Wilson’s piano/vocal performance and leave it at that was pretty good.  Then I heard a cover version of the song that gave me an idea – not one of my own, but an idea nonetheless.
 
The basis of the first part of the song is once again lifted from PurpleChick.  I tried to do a better job on the mixing of Brian’s solo piece and the backing track, but it wasn’t happening.  So why spend hours working to improve what’s already damn good to begin with?  The only things I did (aside from my ever-present eq) was to add a bit of the vocal from the Surf’s Up album version on the word “domino” and the second “canvas the town and brush the backdrop”, which created a nice harmony since Brian and Carl sing that line differently.  For the choir-type vocal that leads into the middle section, I used the same “vocals only” version of the track that I pulled the extra vocals in the first part for, and added a swirling stereo effect to the so they travel around your head when your wearing headphones.  For the middle section, I used Brian’s solo version again along with the Surf’s Up version. The “Auld Lang Syne” line that shows up in the appropriate place was inspired by (or stolen from, whichever you prefer) Stephen Newcomb's cover of this very song (http://thewrongbutton.blogspot.com/2008/02/surfs-up.html).   
 
The whole thing leads back into PurpleChick’s edit again, although I think I did a little sweetening, cutting, and pasting with the “vocals only” track for this too.

[DSamore]

Awesome! Thanks for the info!!!

[RadBooley]

Hate to be annoying but is there any hope for run-through of the 3rd part, "The Elements"? I really enjoy reading about all of the work that made this excellent version of SMiLE possible!

[pancakerecords]

Soon - maybe this weekend.

[pancakerecords]

THE ELEMENTS
 
I’m in Great Shape
Not much going on here, just a sync of Brian playing it solo on the piano and the stereo backing track.  I actually used the version without the sax, just because I like it better.  The piece of music preceding it is from “Can’t Wait Too Long”, I think.  At least that’s where it is on the “Smiley Smile” CD.
 
I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night
Eq’d and mixed to make the construction noise just a little more subtle.  To be brutally honest, I’ve never cared about this track one way or another.  But it just isn’t SMiLE without it.
 
To properly introduce “The Elements”, I used a short bit of Brian Wilson’s “Smog” rant that seemed appropriate.  This leads into quick bursts of the actual released versions of “Vegetables”, “Wind Chimes” “Cool, Cool, Water”, and “Fall Breaks…”.  Originally I had a much longer part of “Smog” here where Brian’s voice leapt from one end of the stereo spectrum to the other throughout the whole thing, like you were being shouted at by some lunatic on the street who kept circling you as he spoke.  In the end, though, I felt like it slowed things down too much.
 
Vega-tables
I was in the car, on my way home from work, when I realized that the faster version of “With Me Tonight” that appears on the “Hawthorne, CA” CD was essentially the same as the verse melody of “Vega-tables”.  I am sure that others figured this out before me, but this “eureka” moment sort of opened up the proverbial floodgates for me concerning Brian Wilson’s recycling of material.  He Gives Speeches/She’s Goin’ Bald was obvious (though this mix came first), but there was also the Fall Breaks/Mrs. O’Leary thing, Wind Chimes/Can’t Wait Too Long and so on.  I decided I would take advantage of as many of these as I could.
 
So – “With Me Tonight” mixed with the “scat” verse of “Vega-tables” kicks things off here, followed by the “cornucopia” verse, which I fattened up with the piano and vocal from another take.  The two vocals are actually slightly off-key, but I liked the way they sounded so I did absolutely nothing to fix that.  Plenty of off-key Beach Boys vocals made it to official releases, so who am I to judge?  The song progresses in what seemed to me a logical and pleasing manner until we reach the final “sleep a lot, eat a lot” portion.  After doing my original mix for this track, I dropped it on a CD and spent the next day or so listening to it – living with it a little bit to see if it passed muster.  The first couple of times I listened to this, in my car, I made a note to edit the aforementioned section down.  Then a listened to it a few more times at my desk at work, in headphones.  I was probably half-a-dozen listened into it when it dawned on me that each time this part played, I completely zoned out.  Something about the repetition and Mike Love’s bizarre background vocal (which always sounded like Huttese to me) just forced my mind to go blank.
 
So I left it there.
 
Hal Blaine brings you back to reality, imploring you to buy your own vegetables.  This little section was my opportunity to try George Martin’s “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite” trick of cutting a section up, tossing it in the air, and putting the pieces back together at random.  Of course, I did this digitally- but my heart was in the right place.  I sat through what seemed like six or seven hours of vegetable-themed comedy bits and chose the phrases I liked best.  Then I randomly adjusted the volume and stereo balance of each sound bite, and dropped them over the backing track.  My personal favorites?  “Those aren’t carrots, those are dildoes” and, of course, “filthy turnip”, which I think would make a great, if obscure, band name.
 
 
Holidays
So far as I know, no actual stereo mix of this track has ever circulated.  So I faked it.  What I did what take the song and break it down into separate tracks, with each track eq’d to highlight specific audio frequencies.  Then I mixed those together panning them in different directions to give it a stereo “feel”.  The reverb used in each channel is slightly different too.  The only other thing I did was drop in a little vocal exclamation in a couple of spots and that’s all she wrote.
 
Wind Chimes
This starts with the stereo track featuring a little cameo form the “Smiley Smiley” version of the song during the verses.  I tried to eq it so that the drums stand out a bit more during the second part.  Other than that I essentially left well-enough alone, until we get to the piano solo towards then end, where the acapella vocal from “Can’t Wait Too Long” appears as if by magic! This ushers in a quick appearance of that “Wind Chimes” inspired track.

MRS. O’LEARY’S COW
Stereo intro into the stereo track, eq’d to get the most out of Hal Blaine’s drums.  Vocals from “Fall Breaks…” flown in and (kinda) synced.  That was a big pain between isolating them as much as possible and trying to get the timing right.  The first “ooh” was the hardest, it seems to fall into place a bit more after that.  I dropped a bit of the version with the crackling fire effects at the end.
 
I LOVE TO SAY DADA
The “Water” section is rebuilt from the ground up, starting with the organ.  I used a half-dozen different sections from one of Brian Wilson’s comedy experiments here too, with people chanting “swim”, “fishy fishy” etc., then gave them an active stereo mix.  Pretty sure nobody’s used that before, but I can always be proven wrong.  The stereo track for “Dada” isn’t as clean-sounding as the mono, so I did some work on this, trying to make it cleaner without sacrificing too much of the top end.  A couple of flute bits were added from a separate take.  I had to grab my favorite Mike Love vocal ever and drop it in here too.  Brian Wilson’s isolated “Cool, Cool Water” vocal makes an appearance too.  This track can get a bit repetitive without a lead vocal, so I cut it down.
 
GOOD VIBRATIONS
There is absolutely nothing I can do to this track that doesn’t make it pale in comparison to what was released.  Every change made is a step backwards.  So what we have is here is an alternate track with the scrapped lyrics sweetened up a bit and in stereo.  I used the stereo track from the “Good Vibrations” anniversary single as my basic guide and laid over Brian Wilson’s rough vocal, doubled in places.  For the chorus portion, I used a few different versions, finishing with the released version.  The middle section includes the “hum deed um” vocals, and the whole thing comes to a close with more cellos than ever before.  (I got a little “more cowbell” with them actually, but can there ever be too many?).
 
YOU’RE WELCOME
Enhanced, doubled, sweetened, and remixed.  A suitable ending, as someone once commented.

[Don_Zabu]

Awesome. Thank you for everything.

Also, in case anyone else is wondering, the other instrumental bit in ABW's "You're Welcome" is from the Good Vibrations sessions.

[pancakerecords]

Awesome. Thank you for everything.

Also, in case anyone else is wondering, the other instrumental bit in ABW's "You're Welcome" is from the Good Vibrations sessions.

I knew I'd forget something...

And that's Hal Blaine telling Brian to go home.

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

[RadBooley]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

[Don_Zabu]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

[hypehat]

Yeah, i was wondering about that - it's from the 'Psychedelic Tapes' isn't it?

[RadBooley]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks! So... should that be in my version (and it just got cut out accidentally?)

[pancakerecords]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks! So... should that be in my version (and it just got cut out accidentally?)

It should be there - followed by a short piece of music and a snippet of dialogue.

[RadBooley]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks! So... should that be in my version (and it just got cut out accidentally?)

It should be there - followed by a short piece of music and a snippet of dialogue.

Hm... odd. Hate to belabor the point, especially since you've done so much (making the mix, doing the full writeup of the work entailed, etc... I really appreciate it all!  ) but what I downloaded has essentially this for You're Welcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JMukjnksE

[pancakerecords]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks! So... should that be in my version (and it just got cut out accidentally?)

It should be there - followed by a short piece of music and a snippet of dialogue.

Hm... odd. Hate to belabor the point, especially since you've done so much (making the mix, doing the full writeup of the work entailed, etc... I really appreciate it all!  ) but what I downloaded has essentially this for You're Welcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JMukjnksE

Sorry - I was mistaken - the only thing you (and the youtube poster) are missing is the "I'll see you guys later" line followed by a short giggle.

[RadBooley]

If there's anything you're curious about that I've failed to explain, please feel free to ask.

Well, since you offered... 

What exactly is said at the end of "You're Welcome"? I've never really been able to make it out completely and it seems like, at least in the version I downloaded anyway, it's sort of cut off.

Sounds like...
"Well?"
"Well."
"Look-"

Maybe? Was there more after that?

I can answer that:

The clip was cut off. In the full clip, he says "Well...look, I'll see you guys later."

Ah, that clears it up. Thanks! So... should that be in my version (and it just got cut out accidentally?)

It should be there - followed by a short piece of music and a snippet of dialogue.

Hm... odd. Hate to belabor the point, especially since you've done so much (making the mix, doing the full writeup of the work entailed, etc... I really appreciate it all!  ) but what I downloaded has essentially this for You're Welcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JMukjnksE

Sorry - I was mistaken - the only thing you (and the youtube poster) are missing is the "I'll see you guys later" line followed by a short giggle.

Would it be possible to...er... "acquire" the missing bit of dialogue?

[lance]

Hmmm...I've recently discovered the joys of FLAC...anybody want to helP Me out a little bit...I mean if it's not too much trouble.

[Lowbacca]

Marvelous, in many places perfect, SMiLE version. Awesome job!

[Vega-Table Man]

Wow. Just ... wow.

I just downloaded the mp3 version and cannot get over how fantastic this is. Awesome work!

Would be pleased very much to find a FLAC version.

[homeontherange]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. 

Just wanted to say that this Smile mix is incredible! Great job! Definitely one of the best ones out there. There are a couple of things that bother me a little bit though.

In the end of "Wind Chimes" when it goes to "Can't Wait Too Long" (at 13:27 on the elements), the vocals seem out of place, they're in a different key than the instruments which sounds weird and dissonant to me. "I Miss you darling, I miss you so hard" sounds strange and out of key here. But the rest of Wind Chimes/Can't Wait Too Long is the best I've heard.
A similar thing happens in "Good Vibrations" in the first chorus (21:10) where Brian for a few seconds sings a different key from what the instruments are playing.

Those are pretty much the only things that I don't like about this mix. I'm using your mix as a template for my own mix, which I'm currently working with.


Once again, great job!

[pancakerecords]

I made a concerted effort not to use pitch or time correction on the tracks, just to make it as natural sounding as possible.  I kind of liked the dissonance between the Wind Chimes/can't Wait vocals, and the Good Vibes piece was close enough for rock & roll, as far as I was concerned.  There are a couple of places where it was far enough off that I had to fix things (She's Goin' Bald/He Gives Speeches was one), but in general I kept it "au natural".

[homeontherange]

I made a concerted effort not to use pitch or time correction on the tracks, just to make it as natural sounding as possible.  I kind of liked the dissonance between the Wind Chimes/can't Wait vocals, and the Good Vibes piece was close enough for rock & roll, as far as I was concerned.  There are a couple of places where it was far enough off that I had to fix things (She's Goin' Bald/He Gives Speeches was one), but in general I kept it "au natural".

For me, the short Wind Chimes/Can't Wait part that I was talking about doesn't really sound "au natural" where different chords/harmonies are played at the same time, creating new chords, but I also think it's very enjoyable and interesting.
That Good Vibrations part is a little bit frustrating though because it's probably the best Good Vibes-version I've heard.

I have another question, what program did you use making this mix?

[pancakerecords]

Adobe Audition.  Started with 2, finished with 3.

[Runaways]

love this! great job. 

actually my favorite part might be using van dyke chatter during heroes and villains.  love how that flowed. 

[aaktt]

I gotta admit that out of many many various "SMiLE" bootlegs I've heard, this one is my favorite by far!
The only thing that sometimes puts me off a bit is that the songs are mixed into 3 large pieces and it's hard to "navigate" through this version. But on the other side I believe this mixing creates some of its grandeur. Anyway, great job

[rab2591]

I gotta admit that out of many many various "SMiLE" bootlegs I've heard, this one is my favorite by far!
The only thing that sometimes puts me off a bit is that the songs are mixed into 3 large pieces and it's hard to "navigate" through this version. But on the other side I believe this mixing creates some of its grandeur. Anyway, great job

Navigating is a good way of putting it; but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I find Purple-Chick's SMiLE to be very flat - if that makes sense. Whereas AlternateBrianWilson is full of so many nooks and crannies. It has humor, spirituality, adventure....it is like navigating a whole different world...unlike any other recording I've heard. Love it.