Beach Boys

[jrahrah]

I thought I'd start off by saying Beach Boys in order to turn back to a Beatles note.

The Endless Harmony DVD has some really nice 5.1 mixes of seven songs. Here we have some old master tapes that were certainly done using four track recording. I remember reading how on Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson used three tracks just for the vocals and condensed all the instruments to one. Yet on "God Only Knows", there is a nice 5.1 reproduction that uses the center channel for Carl's lead and throws the harmonies in surround as well as splitting up instrumentation.

Now, if they were able to do a good job on four track Beach Boys recordings, then the lack of technology excuse for the Beatles DVD seems to lose validity.

Overall, I liked the Beatles Anthology but it was like they didn't want to disrupt the holy grail. It seems to me that the technology is there but not the will.

I digress. The Beach Boys Endless harmony is a real good DVD and the cool 5.1 mixes are the bomb. isn't Pet Sounds being released in surround SACD? I need to get me one of those players but I'm waiting for a moderate priced universal player so I can downsize my components. Peace, Murph

 

[JonUrban]

Pet Sounds (and maybe Surf's Up) is due to be released in the DVD-A format. But at this rate, whi knows???

 

[daved64]

The february release date of Pet Sounds on DVD-A is what got me interested in multichannel music. I was more than ready to buy it, even though I didn't have a DVD-A player.....I just wanted to hear it in MC. Now that I am finally buying a player......still no Pet Sounds!

As far as the comment about Anthology and not wanting to mess with the mix, I am more than impressed with what I have seen/heard so far on the DVD's. When the mix was messed with (Yellow Submarine remixed songs), it was quite hit and miss (Lucy in the sky sounds crappy in the new mix). "Something" sounds unreal on Anthology, and I can't say enough about A Day in the Life or I am the Walrus.

 

[DPROKOPY]

Just to clarify, during the "Pet Sounds" period, Brian and the Beach Boys were actually using 8-track machines. Brian generally recorded the instrumental track on 4-track (although for some weird reason, he'd only use three tracks, saving the forth for a mono mixdown of the other three), then bounce that over to one track on an 8-track tape, and fill the remaining seven tracks with vocals (double-tracking leads, triple- or quadrouple-tracking group vocals, etc.). When it came time to do the stereo mixing for "Pet Sounds" a few years ago, the engineers actually went back and synched up the original 4-track instrumental tapes with the 8-track vocal tapes, creating (essentially) 10-track digital master tapes (3 instrumental, 7 vocal) from which the stereo mixes were then created. Presumably, they used these same "new" multitracks to create the surround mixes heard on the "Endless Harmony" disc, and for any future surround releases.

Pretty much anything beyond "Pet Sounds" was done in the more traditional manner, using anywhere from 8- to 24-track technology. It's also interesting to note that big chunks of some of their late-Sixties/early-Seventies albums (including "Surf's Up") were recorded in "true" stereo, using two well-placed mics to get a more natural stereo effect on vocals and certain instruments. I'm very curious if they'll try to preserve that effect when doing the surround mixes. That could make for some very cool-sounding stuff.

 

[bear]

Speaking of 'true stereo', I remember the older Peter, Paul, & Mary (sounds like an Easter group) albums having this incredible separation where their voices were split up in L/R channels. I'd love to hear some of their stuff in surround, either DTS or DVD-A.

Barry

 

[jrahrah]

Sorry, should have re-read the Pet Sounds notes. You are correct, the instrumentals were recorded on either three or four tracks, then put onto one track, which then left seven tracks for vocals.

 

[Monkish]

So, yes, this is a big-time zombie thread revival, but I’d love to hear more opinions about the 5.1 bonus tracks on the Endless Harmony DVD (especially since the DVD has no poll, and there are only fleeting references to it on the rest of the board).

Specifically, is the God Only Knows mix the same one as on the Pet Sounds DVD-A/Blu-ray? And generally, if I was disappointed in the Pet Sounds 5.1, am I likely to be disappointed in the Endless Harmony mixes as well? (I know Endless Harmony only runs $10 or so, but still, I’d rather not have unrealistic expectations if I buy it.)