"The Like In I Love You" Is Streaming

[b00ts]

Well, anybody else hear autotune, or some form of pitch correction, wanna back me up?

Hey Jammer,

I am a musician/producer and a musician friend of mine, upon listening to The Like in I Love You, pointed out the autotune to me. I had already noticed it earlier but had not mentioned it to him. I am not a fan of autotune and I never use it on my vocals, but once you know how to pick out the sound, it is impossible to ignore it. If there is no autotune on Brian's vocals here, I'll eat my hat.

[b00ts]

It must be horrible to be caught with the bug that anytime you hear something beautiful your mind starts picking apart reasons why it's not really beautiful.

The way I hear it, that's a damn beautiful song well written well produced well arranged well recorded and well sung.  

IF he's autotuning I hope the hell he keeps it up.  Maybe throw a little more on there, drown that sucker in autotune if that's the result.

Autotune isn't responsible for the tone of Brian's vocal - that's all him. Removing the autotune and possibly using a bit of tasteful pitch correction would likely make his vocal even better.

And there's nothing wrong with pointing out a serious flaw. Yes, this is a great listen, but the fact that it's plagued by something very modern and something that's gonna sound horribly dated in a decade (i.e. autotune) really takes it from being absolutely great to just really good.

It's scary that it's used so commonly that a lot of people seemingly can't tell anymore. Yes, when used for effect ala Ke$ha it's blatantly obvious, but it's used so commonly for "perfection' now that people are becoming numb to it and it's a little sad.

Agreed 100%, RunnersDialZero.  Unfortunately, a lot of the time autotune is demanded by the people bankrolling the production. The corporate masters determine that all vocals must be run through antares or autotune or whatever, and it is done. And yes, it already sounds dated even though it is still in vogue. I hear it a bit on the backing vocals as well as Brian's, which leads me to believe that unlike SMiLe, where autotune was used here and there for sweetening (still noticeable to me but tasteful at least) the Disney brass demanded that all the vocals be run through autotune or similar.

Anyway, the song is beautiful, and I am not going to let the autotune ruin it for me!

EDIT: I just read through the rest of the thread and I didn't mean to stir up the pot any more by throwing in my two cents. I want to go on record as saying that this song is absolutely gorgeous, both the production/mixing and Brian's vocal (aside from the above) - we will soon be able to officially call this a 'trifecta' for Brian's late-period career. Next, what do we get? An album of Disney tunes called "Pleasure Island?" Or an album of Disney tunes, then Pleasure Island? I can't wait! Ten years ago we had exactly two Brian Wilson studio albums. Incredible how times have changed.

[Yorick]

I also hear autotune and while it doesn't bother me and it doesn't matter to me if it's used as long as it's used to make a good performance better instead of making a bad performance good enough, Andrew's authoritarian attitude does bother me. Even though you are a respected Beach Boys historian with thousand times the knowledge and connections most of us here have, your connections can still try to make you believe stuff that isn't neccisarily true! They also have their own agendas Andrew! Just keep that in mind...Peace and love, as Ringo Starr would say, Yorick

[RONDEMON]

This song is a beauty. Love the clavinet on the verses. Really clever arrangement and tastefully done. I don't think this will sound dated any time soon. Even "Love You" is a product of it's time but still stands up, while "Imagination" (IMO) sounds totally cheesy.
I don't want to get in on the autotune discussion but as a musician/producer who records big harmonies - oranjuly.com : )
I hear it very subtly on the longer notes BW is singing.
The most obvious and bad autotuning (filter type - NOT sweetening) is indeed Mike Love's Live at Knebworth as AGD pointed out lol.
Before I knew what Autotune was, I thought he was literally trying to sing like a robot.

[The Shift]

And also it would be nice if one could hear the individual parts as I bet these are gorgeous harmonies, but just sound like a vague wash. TLOS suffered from the same problem) Could be due to the low bitrate of the stream/mp3 and perhaps a little related over-compression.

Hmm - this sounds like the difference between the mono and stereo Pet Sounds mixes. I haven't listened to the stream yet (low connection speed here out in the ... thanks for nothing BT) but what you're describing could be a deliberate, desired effect.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Why would this person who Andrew has supposedly talked to not want fans to know his/her identity?

As you say, "supposedly"...

I've been a fan for 35 years now, and through all that time, two things have remained constant:

1 - in any given situation with multiple options, you can rely on The Beach Boys, collectively and individually, to invariably make the wrong choice.

2 - if you divulge the identity of a source, or sometimes even admit to having one, it's amazing how rapidly that source dries up. Especially if confidentiality has been stipulated.

I've been lucky: I've been in the right place at the right time more often than I would have thought possible, but, as has been pointed out to me by 'interested parties', any such luck has had an increasingly generous dusting of mutual trust.

And that's why, when you ask for a name, however much I may want to, I can't come out and say "Melinda told me".

Oh...  

[jammer730]

Why would this person who Andrew has supposedly talked to not want fans to know his/her identity?

As you say, "supposedly"...

I've been a fan for 35 years now, and through all that time, two things have remained constant:

1 - in any given situation with multiple options, you can rely on The Beach Boys, collectively and individually, to invariably make the wrong choice.

2 - if you divulge the identity of a source, or sometimes even admit to having one, it's amazing how rapidly that source dries up. Especially if confidentiality has been stipulated.

I've been lucky: I've been in the right place at the right time more often than I would have thought possible, but, as has been pointed out to me by 'interested parties', any such luck has had an increasingly generous dusting of mutual trust.

And that's why, when you ask for a name, however much I may want to, I can't come out and say "Melinda told me".

So Melinda produced the track, huh?

Thanks for the info. Andrew, always a pleasure.

In all seriousness through Mr. D, please realize that we are all loyal fans, and as stated earlier some of us hear strange effects used on Brian's voice on long notes here and there. We just want to hear our hero in his natural voice.

That's all

[Wirestone]

i'm a little confused why this song was chosen and given entirely new lyrics when it was basically a finished piece.
I'd really like to know what Brian's exact contributions were. And I haven't seen Scott Bennett's name mentioned anywhere yet. except here.

You should dig up the original song. Perhaps you should Meditate and you'll hear it. It sounds almost nothing like Brian's version -- he took a Gershwin rarity (cut from a show, recorded in its complete form once, on an album for enthusiasts), wrote a new melody for the chords, restructured it, re-arranged it and gave it new lyrics. (Kind of like his reported contributions to Let the Wind Blow, but more.)

Frankly, IMHO, if you heard the songs side by side and didn't know they were related -- you wouldn't notice. As for Scott writing lyrics, he's told some folks at a show that he contributed. And it sounds like him -- not Brian, and certainly not Ira Gershwin (whose words for the original tune are quite different).

Someone at a show (as reported on the Blue Board) also told a fan that the outside engineer was brought in to boost the Grammy chances, at Disney's behest.

[Cam Mott]

That pretty well sums up my reaction too, but it's just one song.

True, that.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Someone at a show (as reported on the Blue Board) also told a fan that the outside engineer was brought in to boost the Grammy chances, at Disney's behest.

Al Schmitt didn't engineer the sessions - Mark did, as per - rather,  he was asked to do a remix by Disney (which is confirmed by an old tweet which said over three months ago that "Brian was mixing his album"). Given how things work these days, sooner or later the original mix will doubtless leak out, hopefully while most of us here are still of this earth.  

[Menace Wilson]

Someone at a show (as reported on the Blue Board) also told a fan that the outside engineer was brought in to boost the Grammy chances, at Disney's behest.

Al Schmitt didn't engineer the sessions - Mark did, as per - rather,  he was asked to do a remix by Disney (which is confirmed by an old tweet which said over three months ago that "Brian was mixing his album"). Given how things work these days, sooner or later the original mix will doubtless leak out, hopefully while most of us here are still of this earth.  

Will be interesting to hear both, also to see what constitutes making a song more Grammy friendly.

[hypehat]

Autotune, apparently

[Wrightfan]

So the Brian Wilson/T-Pain duet is coming any day now eh? 

[Mr. Cohen]

I am no longer a fan of Brian Wilson because he used autotune.

[DSamore]

That is moronic. NOW you're not a fan of Brian? Shame on you, dude. You must not have been a real fan then. Brian has profoundly impacted my life and music and I am so grateful. This new song is excellent. Flawless writing. BW sounds in fine form.

[Wirestone]

If someone is no longer a fan of Brian because he used autotune -- they should have dropped out after BW88. (That used an early type of pitch correction -- or so AGD's site suggests.) They definitely should have dropped out after Imagination (that was tweaked on virtually every track).

And AGD -- I should have clarified, an outside engineer to mix the album, not to work the board during the session.

[brother john]

I am no longer a fan of Brian Wilson because he used autotune.

 

[Mr. Cohen]

No, it was a joke. I'm just shocked that Brian could make such a shockingly good song and all you people can do is go on for PAGES about autotune. I think it's appalling.

[Wirestone]

Okay, then let's talk about something else.

If anyone wants to hear the original Gershwin song, send some telegraphic signals my way.

[Amy B.]

That is moronic. NOW you're not a fan of Brian? Shame on you, dude. You must not have been a real fan then. Brian has profoundly impacted my life and music and I am so grateful. This new song is excellent. Flawless writing. BW sounds in fine form.

I think he was kidding.

Anyway, I think maybe certain NAMES are more Grammy-friendly, like Al Schmitt. The Grammies are such a sham anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, even if the sound is slick, I'm just grateful that it's beautiful work, and that Brian is still around to create--happily create, I think. There's so much musical dreck out there. He's still a rare talent.

[Louie Napoli]

A GRAMMY? Does anyone really think that Brian would win a grammy when they by-passed SMiLE? Even TLOS, to these ears deserved to win. So now they're going to take something that is sweet and nice and has only some of Brian's hand in it and say let's give him a grammy? That would be like what they did with Fire! Token award. And, not for anything but as sweet as this piece may be, after 7 or 8 listens I'm not exactly jumping up and down like I did when I first heard Morning Beat. Where's that R&R album anyway?

[Wirestone]

He did win a Grammy for Smile -- best rock instrumental. Har.

[TdHabib]

[runnersdialzero]

No, it was a joke. I'm just shocked that Brian could make such a shockingly good song and all you people can do is go on for PAGES about autotune. I think it's appalling.

Sorry, but it's a completely valid complaint. I just said on the last page that the song is good, Brian's vocal performance is great, etc. etc. etc.

[Don_Zabu]

Here's something else for us to complain about:

HE HAD OVER 100 GERSHWIN FRAGMENTS TO WORK WITH, AND HE ONLY PICKED TWO? FODA!