60s Production

by **Tweak** on Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:27 am

Indeed! I have been looking into it. What is the quintessential WOS recording? I know a lot of motown was recorded using the technique, but which is the "textbook example"? Though not Motown, I am thinking Wichita Lineman by Glen C. Its has those reverby strings... Umm. Not sure. I know Glen was working with Spector for a while. Its a great song though!

by **tenchijin2** on Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:05 am

Be My Baby would be as good an example as any of the WOS.

by **kstephens** on Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:07 am

Heres a good link that takes you through some of his famous productions right up to his recent production in 2003 of starsailor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6467441.stm

by **tomedwards2006** on Sun Apr 22, 2007 4:36 am

Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High", is probably his most famous example of the technique and the turning point of Phil's career.

The song was not well recieved in the USA and shortly after that he became reclusive and went into a period of retirement.

by **Tweak** on Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:33 am

You've lost that Lovin' feeling by the Righteous Brothers--wow. It's quite apparent the difference between its production and many other 60's songs.

by **TheBeachBoy** on Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:47 pm

Tweak wrote:Indeed! I have been looking into it. What is the quintessential WOS recording? I know a lot of motown was recorded using the technique, but which is the "textbook example"? Though not Motown, I am thinking Wichita Lineman by Glen C. Its has those reverby strings... Umm. Not sure. I know Glen was working with Spector for a while. Its a great song though!

Though not Spector himself, how about Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds"? Brian was a huge fan of Spectors'. He even studied/learned a lot about engineering/production from him. Every single track on that LP used the WOS technique.

by **tenchijin2** on Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:40 pm

Pet sounds is not a WOS album. It is about 3 steps beyond, IMO.

For the record, Brian Wilson is my favorite musician of all time. I'm a fanatic.

Brian's recordings achieved a much better separation than WOS, most of the time. He used the general concept for sure, but instead of a cacauphony of muddy sound (my impression of WOS) his recordings were huge or delicate as needed.

Beach Boys Today is probably the most "WOS" album he did (Dance, Dance, Dance, and Good to My Baby spring to mind). Pet Sounds has it's WOS moments... some of Wouldn't it Be Nice for example, but the album is much too diverse to be a WOS example.

The technique that Brian used more than WOS was the combination of instruments. A piano and a Bass and a clarinet (as an example) all playing the same line to make a unique sound unlike any of the three individually.

by **adhesive** on Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:43 pm

tenchijin, if you were forced to pick, at the moment of reading this, your favorite Beach Boys album... what would it be?

by **TheBeachBoy** on Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:01 pm

tenchijin2 wrote:Pet sounds is not a WOS album. It is about 3 steps beyond, IMO.

For the record, Brian Wilson is my favorite musician of all time. I'm a fanatic.

Brian's recordings achieved a much better separation than WOS, most of the time. He used the general concept for sure, but instead of a cacauphony of muddy sound (my impression of WOS) his recordings were huge or delicate as needed.

Beach Boys Today is probably the most "WOS" album he did (Dance, Dance, Dance, and Good to My Baby spring to mind). Pet Sounds has it's WOS moments... some of Wouldn't it Be Nice for example, but the album is much too diverse to be a WOS example.

The technique that Brian used more than WOS was the combination of instruments. A piano and a Bass and a clarinet (as an example) all playing the same line to make a unique sound unlike any of the three individually.

I guess then, that Pet Sounds is a deviation from the WOS, the next step of progression in that production technique, if you will. He certainly used similar techniques with that album: 10-15+ musicians in a small room, combining "symphonic" instruments with "pop/rock" instruments, multiple instrument playing the same part or in 5ths, the reverb chamber, using mic bleed as another instrument, plus the Wrecking Crew. But I agree, it's probably about 3 (or more) steps beyond the "simple" WOS. Then again, I think Brian was always able to get a cleaner sound out of his music than Specter did, even on "Today," but that was his style.

by **tenchijin2** on Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:29 pm

That's my opinion, too!

Best,

60s Production

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