EQ Magazine - November 2008 - (Page 22)

ANOTHER DAY vocals back in the day, but he was also an incredible vocal arranger. If he thought somebody was the right voice, he would have him sing it. Brian is like Dylan now—he won’t take ten days to get a vocal track. Tell me more about how you two wrote songs in your studio? I never knew what the day would bring. Brian might show up and say, “Let’s do ‘Proud Mary’ today.” We did 19 songs at my house—ten of which appear on the record. We also did “Something Tells Me I’m Into Something Good,” which didn’t make it. There were quite a few guest performers who ended up coming by. Brian would say, “This song reminds me of Carole King. I’ll call her to see if she will come over.” And the next day, Carole King would be at my door. I actually had Carole King in my apartment duetting with Brian on a song that may end up being a bonus track. Tommy Morgan—who played harmonica on Pet Sounds—came over to play on “Going Home.” Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night also sang on a couple of tracks. It was just this magical summer of us cranking stuff out. Brian was really on fire with lots of specific ideas. On “California Role,” he dictated that exact drum beat. He is a very underrated rhythmic brain. He hears drums orchestrally, so you get a lot of interesting patterns—like those rhythms in “Good Vibrations.” Because of Phil Spector’s influence Brian is way into the “big boom.” Did he leave all the engineering to you? Yes—though he would dictate his wishes. He would ask for more bottom out of a tom, for example. I must say that he is very aware of the vocals. These were just demos, so I would mess around with the songs later, because when Brian was here it was all about working fast. On “Mexican Girl” Brian laid down the keyboard and the vocal, and then he left. He let me stack percussion and trumpet and handclaps and guitar. He really liked it. A snippet of an old Beach Boys’ song, “Can’t Wait Too Long,” appears on That Lucky Old Sun. That is some really beautiful, classic Brian Wilson vocal arranging. It’s a C chord moving from a low to a high octave. The main uppermidrange part begins on the seventh, then it’s about those C chords. It’s a classic Brian sensibility of where to place the vocals. The basic harmony is a I-III-V progression, and we all move together—though Brian will experiment with people moving at different times. He tends to really be into sevenths and sixes—things that “rub” in a nice way. What is it about Brian’s approach to creating music in the studio that you find most strange? I think it’s the fact that cymbals annoy him. If you want that kind of highend percussive information, Brian tends to want to hear it from a tambourine or a shaker. That, and he always wants the drums to be more thuddy. PART III: MARK LINETT ON THE MUSICAL SOUL OF BRIAN WILSON As Brian Wilson’s right hand man, Mark Linett has manned the console LESTER COHEN Wilson rehearsing with his band for the That Lucky Old Sun sessions. 22 EQ NOVEMBER 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - November 2008

EQ Magazine - November 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In Brian Wilson Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Sony Acid 6 Abelton Live 7 Controller World New Controllers Analysis Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - November 2008

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