“I hope that the songs on this CD sound a lot like the original records,” Linett said prior to the first night’s show on Friday, April 7. “Obviously, everything is live this time around and some of the vocal arrangements have been fleshed-out, but you won’t be hearing a reggae version of ‘Surfin’ USA’ tonight. Brian isn’t trying to reinvent these songs, and frankly, I don’t think you can do them any better.”

Linett says he kept processing down to “a little limiting on the vocals to keep things in-line,” and, for the 2-track monitor mix, “a couple of reverbs,” including an AMS RMX 16 unit (on a plate setting for long vocal reverbs), an Eventide H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer for background doubling (no electronic doubling was used on the final mix, however), and a Yamaha SPX90 for a short-drum reverb “just to give it a little space.”

“What I try to do is get everything on tape as cleanly as possible,” Linett says of his general working guidelines. “We’re going to mix this later, so right now my concern is just ensuring that the event is properly captured. One of the reasons I like to do live records is because it revolves in no small part around getting the complete sound on tape, as opposed to building a performance in layers. It’s a process similar to how Brian recorded the original records, where he’d cut the instrumentation live and then bring in the vocals. There’s an energy at work here that’s hard to capture in the studio.”

On the input side of the Roxy performances, Linett placed full confidence in the microphones within house engineer Rob Mailman’s stage plan, adding others only as needed to fulfill his unique recording requirements. A regular among a stable of audio talent retained by Sound Image in Escondido, Calif., Mailman drew up a Shure-dominated stage plot which sent approximately 52 inputs down a snake split; once for the house, once for the monitor desk and a third time for Linett’s mobile-recording unit.

With ten performers plus Wilson packed onto the Roxy’s notoriously small stage, Mailman, in seeking to keep onstage volumes down to provide better control over the signals arriving at each open mic, outfitted six of the musicians with Shure’s PSM600 in-ear personal monitor systems, coupled with the manufacturer’s E5 dual-driver earphones.

One of the in-ear recipients, saxophonist Paul Mertens, additionally unchained himself from the confines of the cable by devising wireless miking solutions for his baritone and tenor sax using a Shure dual-channel U4D UHF receiver. After hand-fabricating mounting systems that placed Shure WM98 mics within the bells of each instrument, he employed custom velcro straps securing U1 transmitters to the outside of each saxophone’s bell. Tuned to the same channel on the U4D receiver, each transmitter was switched on or off according to whichever instrument Mertens played. Cutting the cord on flute followed a similar path.

For all of the vocals, Shure’s Beta 58As were used. On Jim Hines’ drum kit, a Shure SM91A was on the kick, while SM57s were stand-mounted for snare. SM98As spanned across rack toms, floor toms and hi-hat cymbals. The overheads stage right and left were Shure KSM32 side-address cardioid condensers. Rounding out the input list were SM81s for Sahanaja’s vibes, Beta 57s mounted on Z-Bars for guitar cabinets, and a SM57/Beta 52 combo managing Leslie top/bottom duties.

The mix was done at Linett’s Glendale studio, which features a 48-input custom API console with flying faders, as well as an enormous quantity of vintage gear, including one of the original tube consoles that Wilson used at Western Studios in the ’60s. “Most of it was pretty good,” Wilson said admiringly of his band’s and Linett’s handiwork. “We had to do a few touch-ups here and there, but that’s all. Mixing today is a far cry from my early days. Now we have full control over every instrument, so I don’t have to worry about balancing it all live. Going digital is a pretty cool trip, too. I like the clarity of it. But I do miss certain aspects of the tube sound. I might go back to that process; I just might.”

To this day, Wilson feels that the most dramatic change he has witnessed in technology was when he went from 4- to 8-track to record “Good Vibrations” in 1966. “Of course, the moves to 24- and 48-track were also significant; but personally, the switch from 4- to 8- had more impact upon me. At the time, that represented a giant leap from the days of 2-track recording.”

“Guys like Brian cut their teeth on simpler electronics,” Linett added during a contemplative moment before the first Roxy show. “He was tracking in mono for many years, and what’s interesting to me is how he used the medium’s technical limitations to his advantage. Making great records in that kind of environment, where you could and often did hear as much bass guitar in the kick drum as you would the actual drum; you had to use your energy for more important things, like the arrangement. You didn’t worry about soloing this or that channel for snare or hi-hat, you honed in on the composition because that’s where the real magic was.”

(Editor’s note: Brian Wilson is bringing a Pet Sounds tour to venues across the U.S. this summer. Accompanied by the same musicians who contributed to Live at The Roxy, he will additionally be joined by a 50-piece orchestra.)

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Reprinted with permission from Magazine, September, 2000
© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved