"The Like In I Love You" Is Streaming

[Louie Napoli]

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

Some folks need to read ENTIRE posts before they answer!!!!

[Wirestone]

Louie -- I did. Your post wasn't written clearly.

[Rocker]

Brian probably would've won at least one more Grammy if Ray Charles hadn't died so shortly before the ceremonies.

[Shady]

A Where's that R&R album anyway?

Back burner 

[Wirestone]

My understanding is that songs are written and recorded. I'm just not sure if the interest is there to release it.

[Shady]

Brian's interested, should be enough...

Oh wait *thinking of the people that surround Brian*, that's not enough  

[Wirestone]

Brian and the folks around him still like major label release and distribution, FWIW.

Listen, I (and a lot of people here) would have loved to see BW just chuck the major label machinery some 10 years ago and release everything he thought of or coughed up online. And from what I read, he's continued to write and record with Scott B. since TLOS.

But it seems like, right now, labels are more interested in "projects" that can be easily sold. And, in the Gershwin case, at least it's a project that really seemed to interest and involve Brian.

[Don_Zabu]

Did nobody besides me notice that Brian had hundreds of unfinished Gershwin segments to work with, and he only used two?

[Wirestone]

I think that's all they asked for. He was signed to do a Gershwin covers album, using mainly well-known songs. The "new" stuff is a bonus, and the estate controls access to those unpublished song fragments very tightly. (I believe the estate is parceling out a couple of more such fragments for a Phil Ramone-produced album that will come out later this year.)

[Sam_BFC]

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.)

Sorry to return to the subject of autotune/pitch correction, but do you know any more details about any pre-autotune pitch correction; it's interesting, I do for one gather that engineers would sometimes skillfully manipulate tape speeds to correct certain notes (?).

Cheers

[Wirestone]

There were lots of ways. On BW88, AGD suggests it was a Fairlight --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight

-- Which presumably would have allowed engineers to alter BW's pitch through drawing on a screen. You could pitch correct before digital, too, but it was a somewhat more arduous process.

A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.

[oldsurferdude]

My understanding is that songs are written and recorded. I'm just not sure if the interest is there to release it.

It would have been recorded using autotune  so it right away it would suck  no matter how great the songs were.

[rab2591]

I was having some doubts about this album...then I heard this song. WOW!!!!!!! One of the best from him I've heard in a long time.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Was it indeed a Fairlight? I could've sworn it was a Synclavier....

[Wirestone]

http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/gigs88.html

And correction -- the note about the Fairlight is for a single song -- "One For the Boys."

[Andrew G. Doe]

There were lots of ways. On BW88, AGD suggests it was a Fairlight --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight

-- Which presumably would have allowed engineers to alter BW's pitch through drawing on a screen. You could pitch correct before digital, too, but it was a somewhat more arduous process.

A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.

The intro vocals to "It's Gettin' late" have always sounded sampled to me, from first listen. The decay is way too abrupt.

[MZ6]

A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.

Yes, that was one application for the H3000. Back then the wonderfully named 'Publison Infernal Machine' was another option.

Along with the aforementioned method of varying the (tape) speed, a notch in the EQ at the right place can also give an apparent shift. Kind of hard to explain, but it removes anything that conflicts with another part of the track but still leaves much of the vocal intact. Maybe Stephen Desper or Mark Linnet could expand on that - without necessarily commenting on Brian's track - and add some more insight?
Perhaps the typically contemporary uses of Autotune makes some people quickly write it off as a bad thing or a sign of the artist needing a helping hand. But engineers have always been able to augment performances. I believe one of the benefits of such as Antares is simply to speed-up a process that once took a lot longer.
As for the track itself, I think 'The Like in I Love You' sounds very nice, and I'm happy to have new material from Brian to listen to.

[Andrew G. Doe]

There were lots of ways. On BW88, AGD suggests it was a Fairlight --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight

-- Which presumably would have allowed engineers to alter BW's pitch through drawing on a screen. You could pitch correct before digital, too, but it was a somewhat more arduous process.

A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.

Steve Desper told me he used a Harmonizer to prepare the tapes for Brian's "water machine" keyboard request during the Smile sessions.

Re: BW88, Andy Paley said a Synclavier was used "to correct a few bum notes", but I'm informed by a hugely reliable source that the AFM sheets refer to it as a Fairlight.

[adamghost]

What's interesting about ProTools is how similar it is in some ways to the '60s brand of recording.  What I understand is that in the '60s you didn't have very many tracks at your disposal and punching was difficult (at least punching out was), so engineers would do multiple takes and edit them together.  Savvy engineers were still doing this with basics in the '70s and beyond in analog, but with 24-track, it was much easier to punch in and out and create a master take on a track...e.g., you might have 1, 2, or 3 tracks for vocals, but the process was to cut into each individual track and perfect that take.

Now with ProTools, you can still do that, but it's more common to do multiple takes of a vocal (or another track) and edit the best parts together...which is more the '60s brand of recording, except now you're editing a bunch of individual tracks except for the whole thing.  Though what I was told by some old timers is some engineers were proficient enough with cutting tape that they could actually edit out specific tracks by cutting into PART of the tape.  That blows my mind, but apparently some people could do it.

Anyway, there have always been cheats of one form or another, at least ever since the invention of reverb and varispeed.  Some of your favorite "live" '60s singers may have had edits comped together from 25 different takes...which is very similar to how it's done today.

[MZ6]

Good post. And specifically -

Though what I was told by some old timers is some engineers were proficient enough with cutting tape that they could actually edit out specific tracks by cutting into PART of the tape.  That blows my mind, but apparently some people could do it.

I've seen an old BBC engineer doing this with a pair of scissors. Amazing.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Though what I was told by some old timers is some engineers were proficient enough with cutting tape that they could actually edit out specific tracks by cutting into PART of the tape.  That blows my mind, but apparently some people could do it.

Again, SWD told me he did just that with the horn "Take A Load Off Your Feet" for the final mix, where it swaps channels: the original master had both honks in one channel, so he did what he called a "window" edit and transferred just that single second "honk" from left to right.

Speaking of manual editing feats, apparently after Dennis Dragon had hand-spliced the master track for "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" from multiple takes, the result looked like a pedestrian crossing. A razor blade and edit tape are wonderful things in the right hands.

Going back to punch-ins, Bones Howe used to record The Association's more complex vocals one line at a time, and individually.

[Sam_BFC]

Ooo lots of interesting stuff there

[brother john]

My understanding is that songs are written and recorded. I'm just not sure if the interest is there to release it.

It would have been recorded using autotune  so it right away it would suck  no matter how great the songs were.

Actually, if Autotune was used at all (which is open to debate...) it would be applied post-recording, and the off notes would be corrected gradually, not while recording.

The other thing to bear in mind is that one can apply pitch correction to individual parts of individual notes, and you don't have to put a whole take through Autotune. So the BW vocal may well not be Autotuned, but could well be pitch-corrected! 

[Chris Brown]

I'm a little late to the party (and the inevitable autotune debate), but the track sounds great to me.  Brian sounds fantastic, the chords and arrangement are great, and the song has a polished feel that compliments the material.  I admit, at first I was a bit skeptical on the project, but hearing this track has me very excited to pick up the album.  Even if he had a little help, Brian sounds better than any 68 year old former chain smoker has any right to.   It defies logic, but Brian's voice has really improved as he's aged - plus, he's really seemed more engaged in his singing ever since BWPS.  It can only mean good things are still to come down the road, as long as Brian's drive to create stays intact.

[JaredLekites]

Brian's voice on this track really shines. Great blend of vocals and instruments.

I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.