Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

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maa386
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Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by maa386 » Fri Feb 02, 2018 6:55 pm

Hello,

I'm really interested in the lead vocal treatment on the album Pacific Ocean Blue. It's very airy and open with lot's of depth. It sounds so perfect to me. Does anyone have any advice on how to capture or invoke this sound on the recording end? I'm looking for feedback both on recording technique and specific gear. I don't sing anything like him, and I appreciate that Dennis' performance is part of the sound, but I think that whatever treatment he's using would work well with my voice. Here are the tracks that I'm drawing from specifically:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPr5ZZdFdFk (Dennis Wilson - Dreamer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiZoSHVQXmk (Dennis Wilson - River Song)

I spoke with Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios about this and he said he's probably singing into a Neumann mic. I haven't tried any of the neumanns that the beach boys used, but every neumann microphone I've tried has a sonic signature that I love, and my intuition is telling me that I need one. I'm watching youtube demos of U47s, U67s, and U87s, and they all sound great, but none of them are jumping out as a Dennis Wilson microphone. I've read that the Beach Boys recorded with a U47 a lot though.

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated; I really have my heart set on this.

Thank you,

Michael

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:34 am

From the yooboob video, the first song:

I think, recording wise:

Neumann / Telefunken U47.
UAD 610 or Neve preamp.
LA2a compressor.

Mix processing, perhaps:

Eventide 910 harmonizer plug in (pretty obvious actually)

Very short delay, and a digital reverb of some kind, medium or short.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:38 am

More here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_O ... #Personnel

John Hanlon — Engineer; lead guitar on "Dreamer"

Earle Mankey — Guitar; Engineer

Stephen Moffitt — Chief engineer

Find those three guys, if they are still with us, and ask them. I'm sure they'll share whatever they remember.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

maa386
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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by maa386 » Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:50 am

Thank you so much for this! It looks like John Hanlon and and Earle Mankey are still alive. I will also check out the gear you suggested.

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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by vvv » Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:37 am

I think - I should check - Earle Mankey was the guitarist in Concrete Blonde?

EDIT: brother of the guitarist, James.
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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by markjazzbassist » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:06 am

just wanted to post that i love that record, absolutely underrated (criminally), just some beautiful and lush songs on there.

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Re: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Recording Vocals)

Post by KennyLusk » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:08 pm

To me it sounds like a lot of compression on the vocals, slap back delay, and the mids are a little scooped.

The overall mix reminds me a lot of Elton John's "Captain Fantastic" record. Guitars, drums, bass...very similar to my ears.
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