Recreating the Wall of Sound in a DAW

Recreating the Wall of Sound in a modern DAW is a near impossible task. Here Tim Smolens makes his best attempt to mimic the production formula first invented by Phil Spector and later taken to new heights by Brian Wilson. Tim includes pertinent history and does a track by track break down for the recording of his song "She's a Girl," which pays homage to the BeachBoys "Smile" and the Wall of Sound in general but inevitably contains a huge amount of original material.
#wallofsound #philspector #brianwilson #60smusic #musician #musicproducer #petsounds #musicproduction #daw #motu #musicengineer #musicarrangement #beachboys #thebeachboys #recordingmusic

[@TimSmolens]

Get even more exclusive music education by joining Tim's online conservatory on Patreon (High Castle Conservatory). This is the best way to support Tim's efforts to release more music education content. www.patreon.com/hccmusic Explore and buy albums from Tim's 50's/60's & Beach Boys-inspired group I.S.S. albums on Bandcamp timsmolens.bandcamp.com/album/shes-a-girl-deluxe-edition Explore and buy the albums of Tim's genre-defying sci-fi prog band with an all-star international roster, High Castle Teleorkestra. highcastleteleorkestra.bandcamp.com/ Explore Tim's KZbin channel playlists and subscribe to his channel. kzbin.info Check out Tim's website timsmolens.com/

[@hollyfrostswings]

I’m flabbergasted this doesn’t have more views. This was the only video I could find about modern production/arrangement techniques to achieve this style… this was incredibly thorough and full of great insights. You clearly understood the assignment! 😂 thanks so much for this, so inspiring and gave me tons of ideas for ways I can improve a track I’m currently working on. Thank you!!

[@minnixmusic]

Wonderful. This is the absolute best video I've ever seen on this type of recording. I love it!!

[@TimSmolens]

Wow, thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed. There are many more videos on my channel you will likely enjoy. Please help my efforts to grow this channel by subscribing and ringing the notification bell. Also check out the categorized playlists ("Music Education Categories") from my various music projects on my channel's homepage to find the videos that might interest you. kzbin.info You may enjoy my new video exploring Brian Wilson's most complex background vocal (Heroes and Villains) here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2HQc4ZrbqeIlbssi=Znh1ok6hrgvhOzfh The following video link is from my Beach Boys/doo wop-inspired vocal group ISS, and is the title track from our album "She's a Girl," an unapologetic homage to the Beach Boys SMiLE and employs a theme from Heroes and Villains. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGLXZZRpm5l5idUsi=SOblKCz8wyx71s4D If you like it please consider buying the album on Bandcamp or timsmolens.com I also have a wild sci-fi progressive group (that has to be heard to be believed) consisting of renowned international virtuosos called High Castle Teleorkestra. Here is our new video and we have a record available ("The Egg That Never Opened") on Bandcamp or the bands website. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6qWfYWbbZ2cm8ksi=n4QfIb5uvt0tqz2a You may enjoy my video exploring the advanced chord progression to "God Only Knows." kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2OzeYKqbsSZfcU

[@user-ks3ol3lw3b]

River Deep - Mountain High and You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. I remember then coming out of a little transistor radio when they were released and sounding huge. And magical. Older people used to talk about the magic of seeing a movie in a big, elaborate cinema that seemed like a palace. That's how I felt about those records.

[@TimSmolens]

Thanks for sharing, you are very right about all that you said and the tunes you mentioned are the pinnacle of the Wall of Sound for sure. I appreciate your insights and perspective. Please help my efforts to grow this channel by subscribing and ringing the notification bell. Also check out the categorized playlists on my channel to find the videos that might interest you. www.youtube.com/@TimSmolens/playlists Enjoy my new video exploring Brian Wilson's most complex background vocal (Heroes and Villains) here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2HQc4ZrbqeIlbssi=Znh1ok6hrgvhOzfh This video from my Beach Boys/doo wop-inspired group ISS, is the title track from our album "She's a Girl," an homage to the Beach Boys SMiLE and Pet Sounds. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGLXZZRpm5l5idUsi=SOblKCz8wyx71s4D If you like it please consider buying the album on Bandcamp or timsmolens.com I also have a wild sci-fi progressive group (that has to be heard to be believed) consisting of renowned international virtuosos called High Castle Teleorkestra. Here is our new video and we have a record available ("The Egg That Never Opened") on Bandcamp or the bands website. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6qWfYWbbZ2cm8ksi=n4QfIb5uvt0tqz2a

[@NatLife]

I admire your professionalism and dedication. As data science analyst, it reminds me of our grid connections. It's fascinating to see similarities. Your cheeks making drum sounds was so emotional, something we lack in IT.

[@gabrielgodwin9953]

Hey man, this was great to check out. Thanks for sharing your breakdown of the mix. Whenever I talk to people about this type of stuff their eyes just glaze over. Only producer/engineers and really seasoned musicians understand this stuff. However, as you moved down the list of instruments I was getting flashbacks of the Pan Galactic- Mothers Milk album that I ended up finishing the mixing for. 30-50 unique tracks per song. It takes a real talent to make a project that complex to work. Thanks again, and extra thanks for the mouth pop/faux woodblock tips.

[@andyk5495]

Excellent. It's making me late for work 😮

[@TimSmolens]

Well, hopefully they didn't write you up! Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video and comment. Please help my efforts to grow this channel by subscribing and ringing the notification bell. Also check out the categorized playlists on my channel to find the videos that might interest you. www.youtube.com/@TimSmolens/playlists You may enjoy my new video exploring Brian Wilson's most complex background vocal (Heroes and Villains) here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2HQc4ZrbqeIlbssi=Znh1ok6hrgvhOzfh The following video link is from my Beach Boys/doo wop-inspired vocal group ISS, and is the title track from our album "She's a Girl," an unapologetic homage to the Beach Boys SMiLE and Pet Sounds. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGLXZZRpm5l5idUsi=SOblKCz8wyx71s4D If you like it please consider buying the album on Bandcamp or timsmolens.com I also have a wild sci-fi progressive group (that has to be heard to be believed) consisting of renowned international virtuosos called High Castle Teleorkestra. Here is our new video and we have a record available ("The Egg That Never Opened") on Bandcamp or the bands website. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6qWfYWbbZ2cm8ksi=n4QfIb5uvt0tqz2a You also may enjoy my video exploring the advanced chord progression to "God Only Knows." kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2OzeYKqbsSZfcU

[@merchannel7762]

You’re covering some of my fav topics. Thanks dude

[@luckykennedy7364]

One of the best implements of the wall of sound in my personal opinion has to be pet sounds or smile. Is it just sounds beautiful, whether it be the mixing or the arrangements.

[@carolbarnes3212]

Great information in this vid! I’m subscribed… Thanks for your talent in this modern day production environment 👍

[@AnthonyReichardt]

Fascinating. Excellent work. I really enjoyed this.

[@RdLu]

Maximalism at it purest expression 🎉🎉🎉 Man, you simply catch the vibe✨

[@johnhorazy12notes]

Tim, great, awesome video of your artistic presentation making of history and bringing forward in technology of today. For me being a music fan and keyboard player I applaud 👏👏👏👏👏 what you are doing. Where you will find my name is in the soundtrack albums liner notes of The Wrecking Crew on the vinyl set and both CD sets that go with the documentary of The Wrecking Crew. It took years of instrument technology changes to get both Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper to be performed live on stage as compared to studio only production at the original recording time.

[@lazysmurf420]

Love it. Heroes and girls!

[@thereformedfinancialadvisor]

Thank you for doing this

[@sevchyk]

Which organ libraries exactly did you use here?

[@createlovehappy]

For the bass part layers, Do you think they might have used a Fender Bass vi for some of those low parts? great exploration by doing it.

[@NicholasStein]

I did as you suggested. The melody between Little Boy and Hero's and Villains is even similar. Nowadays Brian would have been sued for copyright infringement. Ha Ha.

[@TimSmolens]

Yeah I've talked about it in my videos that I like when people share musical ideas and riff off some previous idea. My conception of the musical universe is we owe every harmonious and pleasing sound to the principles of sound and harmony itself. Most of my favorites mimic all sorts of people and I love it. When we have an ego attached to it we start to think everything is copying but really I'm not sure any of us make up any of the stuff as it all exists because it exists in principle

[@nathaniellevy7956]

Hey I realized while you were speaking about the four bass parts--the song No Other by Gene Clark (from the terrific album if the same name) always pains me to hear it on a suboptimal system, because I believe there are about three electric basses going completely hog wild during the breakdown, but they're mixed very quietly, and in a very low, subwoofer-y range. But thankfully in this recent performance of the song you can actually hear this amazing wall of sound bass part! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnnSi6VmmL2CbJosi=EXPb1JFbR4a32IyV&t=154

[@axxerpaxxer1917]

hi tim excellent video thank you very very much! what is the song starting at 3:17 ?

[@RomanPhilosopher]

The only part I wasnt a fan of you copying were the exact melodies (outside of personal experimentation to figure out how the overall original worked in order to use that knowledge for future creative works). The rest was really cool. I assumed based on the title of the video this would just be about how to recreate the echo chamber at gold star. Was a bit surprised when that wasn't really even touched on at all. How you mixed it and all the parts was really cool. Would be interested in how you would arrange and compose the different parts for different instruments for this style. You touched on that briefly around the bass and the baritone sax but not a lot. Kinda bummed no finished song to listen to at the end of the video as well.

[@TimSmolens]

Hi, thanks for the reply. As far as the "copying" this song was an homage to Heroes and Villains from the get go and I never tried to obscure that fact. My goal was to take that simple theme and build an otherwise long (nearly 10 minute) song around that motif. You can hear the finished song at the following link. It is the title track off my 2018 release called "She's a Girl," by my group I.S.S. Thanks for watching! I will try to hit on a more echo chamber specific video in the future. In general I combine multiple echo chamber plug ins like IK multimedia SSSR, Altiverb (putnam echo chamber) and maybe mix it with a nice plate and give one of them some pre-delay. Here is the finished song. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGLXZZRpm5l5idUsi=MraPEfrMr2cC9w1j

[@user-tu2cs4vh3b]

How can you explain the grateful dead's version of the wall of sound cause there was no daw lol

[@andriealinsangao613]

Different Wall of Sound for that one!

[@RobertDavisAdman]

Infamous or famous?

[@TimSmolens]

Well both depending on the era we are speaking of.

[@timr31908]

I think the wall of sound was a fad.. like Paul McCartney said he thought it was just a lot of unnecessary noise....😮... A lot of musicians that he produced. We're not happy with him.. because he was way too picky.. and he love to pull his gun out on people . John Lennon got tired of it and he told Phil if you're going to kill me Phil kill me Brian Wilson liked Phil but I think he was scared of Phil... It was sad that Phil was off his rocker and he murdered a beautiful woman ...😮