Editing Brian Wilson (section)

==Artistry==
===Compositional style===
{{Listen
|pos=right
|filename=Don't Talk piano demo.ogg
|title=Wilson's early piano sketch of "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"
|description=Home recording of Wilson performing the basic chord patterns of "[[Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)]]".
}}

Wilson's writing process, as he described in 1966, started with finding a basic chord pattern and rhythm that he termed "feels", or "brief note sequences, fragments of ideas". He explained, "once they're out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=73}}{{sfn|White|1996|p=251}} He wrote later that he aspired to write songs that appear "simple, no matter how complex it really is."<ref>{{cite AV media notes| title = Friends / 20/20 | others= [[The Beach Boys]]| year = 1990| first = David| last = Leaf|author-link=David Leaf|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=CD Liner|url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Friends___20_20.html}}</ref>

Common devices in Wilson's musical structures include [[jazz chord]]s, such as [[seventh chord|sevenths]] and [[ninth chord|ninths]].{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=68}} Wilson attributed his use of [[minor seventh chord]]s to his affinity for the music of Bacharach.<ref name="Caroline">{{cite AV media notes|title=Caroline Now!|chapter=Brian Wilson&nbsp;— Caroline Now! Interview|chapter-url=http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|publisher=Marina Records|type=CD Liner|date=April 21, 2000|access-date=August 30, 2021|archive-date=December 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228001005/http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Inversion (music)|Chord inversions]], particularly those featuring a tonic with a fifth in the bass, are also prevalent in his work,{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=80}} again influenced by Bacharach.<ref name="Sharp09"/> The flattened subtonic, which is common in the music of the Four Freshmen and popular music in general, is the nondiatonic chord that appears the most in Wilson's compositions.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=84}} Sudden breaks into ''a cappella'' segments, again borrowed from the Four Freshmen, are another feature of his music, having been employed in "[[Salt Lake City (song)|Salt Lake City]]" (1965) and "[[Sloop John B]]" (1966).{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=89}}

[[File:God Only Knows diagram.png|thumb|upright=1.35|left|A visual representation of the functionally ambiguous harmonic structure of "[[God Only Knows]]".]]

Many of Wilson's compositions are marked by destabilized tonal centers.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=82}} He frequently uses key changes within verses and choruses, including "[[modulation (music)|truck driver's modulations]]", to create dynamic shifts.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=68–69}} [[Tertian]] movement is another recurring technique.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=66}}

Wilson's [[bassline|bass parts]] are often melodic and given prominent focus in his arrangements.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=80}} He also applied [[chromaticism]] in his musical structures.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=83–84}} His use of chromatic bass descents are most notably displayed in "[[Our Prayer]]" (1969).{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=90}} Other songs are characterized by "[[syncopation|syncopated exercises]] and [[counterpoint]]s piled on top of jittery eighth-note clusters and loping [[Swing (jazz performance style)|shuffle grooves]]", features that producer [[Alan Boyd]] said took "an almost manic edge" in Wilson's work during the 1970s.<ref name=Bedroom2014/>

Some of Wilson's songs incorporate a I – IV – I – V pattern, a formula derived from "Da Doo Ron Ron",{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=71}} as well as a [[circle of fifths]] sequence that begins with the mediant (iii), inspired by "Be My Baby".{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=77–79}} He frequently uses stepwise-falling melodic lines,{{sfn|Perone|2012|pp=28, 30}} stepwise diatonic rises,{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=79–80}} and whole-step root movements.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=86}} Numerous songs alternate between supertonic and dominant chords or tonic and flattened subtonic chords, the latter featuring in the verses of "Guess I'm Dumb" and the intro to "California Girls".{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=74–76, 84}}

===Lyrics===
{{quote box|align=|width=25%|quote=I don't carry a notebook or use a tape player. I like to tell a story in the songs with as few words as possible. I sort of tend to write what I've been through and look inside myself. Some of the songs are messages.
|source=—Brian Wilson, 1977<ref name="Kub07"/>}}

Wilson generally collaborated with another lyricist,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=73}} although he occasionally composed both words and music alone.<ref name="Kub07"/> Most of his songs explore introspective themes,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=61}} and several portray the male object or narrator as a "loser", evident on "[[She Knows Me Too Well]]", "[[Don't Hurt My Little Sister]]", "[[Merry Christmas, Baby]]", and "[[All Dressed Up for School]]".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=176–177}} Other recurring themes in Wilson's songs include feminine objectification,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=176}}{{refn|group=nb|Songs centered on feminine objectification include "[[Surfin' Safari|The Shift]]", "[[Pom, Pom Play Girl]]", "[[Girls on the Beach]]", "All Dressed Up for School".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=176}}}} youthful innocence,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=235, 268, 272, 277, 321}}{{refn|group=nb|Songs centered on youthful innocence include "[[The Little Girl I Once Knew]]", "[[Caroline, No]]", "[[Wonderful (The Beach Boys song)|Wonderful]]", "[[Look (Song for Children)|Song for Children]]", "[[Surf's Up (song)|Surf's Up]]", "[[Little Children (Brian Wilson song)|Little Children]]".{{sfn|Lambert|2007|pp=235, 268, 272, 277, 321}}}} [[slice of life]] stories,{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=299}}{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=xxii, 84, 86, 90}}{{Refn|group=nb|His slice of life songs include "[[Time to Get Alone]]", "[[I'd Love Just Once to See You]]", "[[Wake the World]]",  "[[Busy Doin' Nothin']]", and "[[I Went to Sleep]]".{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=xxii, 84, 86, 90}}}} and health and fitness.<ref name="LeafBW00"/>{{refn|group=nb|Songs centered on health and fitness include "[[Vegetables (song)|Vegetables]]", "[[H.E.L.P. Is On the Way]]", "[[Life Is for the Living]]", "[[He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move]]", and "[[Too Much Sugar]]".<ref name="LeafBW00">{{cite AV media notes| title = Brian Wilson | others= Brian Wilson| year = 2000| first = David| last = Leaf | author-link=David Leaf|type=Liner notes|url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Brian_Wilson__Reissue_.html|publisher=[[Rhino Records|Rhino]]/Atlantic}}</ref>}}

Although the Beach Boys became known for surfing imagery, his compositions with collaborators outside the band typically avoided this subject matter.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=27}} Unlike his contemporaries, social issues were never referenced in his lyrics.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=61}}{{refn|group=nb|Wilson acknowledged that he had "never been the type" to preach social messages in his songs.<ref name=Sheridan2015>{{cite news|last1=Sheridan|first1=Peter|title=Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson opens up about drugs, film about his life and new album|url=http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/569981/Beach-Boys-Brian-Wilson-drugs-Love-Mercy-film-new-album|work=[[Sunday Express]]|date=April 13, 2015}}</ref>}} In his 2008 book ''Dark Mirror: The Pathology of the Singer-Songwriter'', Donald Brackett identifies Wilson as "the [[Carl Sandburg]] and [[Robert Frost]] of popular music—deceptively simple, colloquial in phrasing, with a spare and evocative lyrical style embedded in the culture that created it."{{sfn|Brackett|2008|p=28}} Brackett opined that Wilson expressed "intense fragility" and "emotional vulnerability" to degrees that few other singer-songwriters had.{{sfn|Brackett|2008|p=31}} 

===Studios and musicians===

Wilson said, "I was unable to really think as a producer up until the time where I really got familiar with Phil Spector's work. That was when I started to design the experience to be a record rather than just a song."{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=47}} He frequently attended Spector's recording sessions, observing his arranging and recording techniques, and adopted Spector's choice of studios and session musicians, later known as [[the Wrecking Crew (music)|the Wrecking Crew]].{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=44}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Dean Torrence]] stated that Wilson learned much about studio technology from Jan Berry, who advised him to use session musicians to expedite recording instead of waiting for the Beach Boys to finish touring.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=43}}}} Wilson established approximately one-third of a song's final arrangement during the writing process, with the remainder developed in the studio.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Schneider|first1=Robert|author-link1=Robert Schneider|title=Smiles Away|url=http://www.westword.com/issues/2004-10-21/music/music.print|magazine=[[Westword]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107105755/http://www.westword.com/issues/2004-10-21/music/music.print|archive-date=November 7, 2004|date=October 21, 2004}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|He elaborated in 1990, "As I write a song, I write some of the instrumental piano and pluck some of the different notes for the arrangement. It's impossible to lay the whole arrangement on the piano but you play just enough to get the overall feelin' of the record. It is an art in itself."<ref>{{cite AV media notes| title = Party/Stack-O-Tracks| others= [[The Beach Boys]]| year = 1990| first = David| last = Leaf|author-link=David Leaf|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=CD Liner|url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Party_Stack-O-Tracks.html}}</ref>}}

[[File:Exterior of 6000 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.jpg|upright|thumb|Exterior of [[United Western Recorders|Western Studio]] in Hollywood, Wilson's preferred recording facility in the mid-1960s.]]

Rather than using [[Gold Star Studios]], Spector's favored facility, Wilson chose Studio 3 at [[United Western Recorders|Western]] for its privacy and the presence of staff engineer [[Chuck Britz]],{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=131}} who served as Wilson's principal engineer from 1962 to 1967.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=37}}{{refn|group=nb|Wilson did occasionally record at Gold Star. The studio's owner, Stan Ross, commented, "Brian liked the sound Gold Star got on the instrumentation, but he did the voices elsewhere because we were limited to two or three tracks and that wasn't enough for voice overdubbing. [...] The tracks were really rhythm pads that would be sweetened after the voices were put on."<ref name="Ross1997">{{cite AV media notes|chapter=Musician Comments: Stan Ross|title=The Pet Sounds Sessions|others=The Beach Boys|year=1997|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=Booklet|chapter-url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Stan_Ross.html}}</ref>}} While Britz typically handled technical tasks like level mixing and microphone placement,{{sfn|White|1996|p=162}} Wilson made extensive adjustments to the setup,{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=81}} usurping standard studio protocols of the era that limited console use to assigned engineers.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=123–124}} Once Britz prepared an initial configuration, Wilson took control of the console, directing session musicians from the booth using an intercom or non-verbal cues alongside chord charts.{{sfn|Moorefield|2010|p=19}}  Britz recalled that Wilson would work with the players until he achieved the desired sound, a process that frequently lasted for hours.{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|p=33}}

Wilson first used the Wrecking Crew for productions with the Honeys in March 1963,{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=276}} and two months later, during sessions for ''Surfer Girl'', he began gradually integrating these musicians into Beach Boys records.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=288}}{{sfn|Dillon|2012|pp=24–25}}{{refn|group=nb|Contrary to the [[list of common misconceptions|common misconception]] that these musicians completely replaced the band on backing tracks after the early 1960s, this substitution occurred primarily on most tracks of ''Pet Sounds'' and ''Smile''.{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}}{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=25}}<ref name="wong">{{cite web |last1=Wong |first1=Grant |date=January 3, 2022 |title=Brian Wilson Isn't the Type of Genius You Think He Is |url=https://slate.com/culture/2022/01/the-beach-boys-brian-wilson-documentary-genius-pet-sounds.html |website=Slate}}</ref> }} Until 1965, the band members typically performed the instrumentation,<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/>{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}} but as Wilson's sessions came to necessitate 11 or more different players, his reliance on the Wrecking Crew increased.<ref name="HimesSurf" />  In 1966 and 1967, he almost exclusively used these musicians for the backing tracks,{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}}<ref name="SlowinskiMyth">{{cite web |last1=Slowinski |first1=Craig |title=Introduction |url=http://www.beachboysarchives.com/page2 |website=beachboysarchives.com |publisher=Endless Summer Quarterly |access-date=May 14, 2022 |date=2006}}</ref> although their involvement diminished considerably after 1967.{{sfn|Stebbins|2011|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}}

His musicians, many trained in [[music school|conservatories]], were impressed by his abilities.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=46}} Unlike most other producers, Wilson never required them to devise their own parts.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=58}} Bassist [[Carole Kaye]] recounted that the group "were in awe of Brian",{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=58}} while guitarist [[Jerry Cole]] recalled that he and his fellow players "would walk out of Brian's sessions shaking our heads, saying, 'This son of a bitch is either crazy, or he's an absolute genius.'"{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=14}}{{refn|group=nb|Kaye noted of Wilson's basslines, "He took bass up another step. He saw it as integral in a symphonic orchestra. He used bass as the framework for a hit record. Very few people can write for bass, but his writing was beautiful. There are a lot of jazz musicians who admire him for it."{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=67}} Keyboardist [[Don Randi]] similarly expressed admiration for Wilson's chord choices, referring to him as "the [[Bill Evans]] of rock 'n' roll".{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=141}}}} Drummer [[Hal Blaine]], however, recalled that all of the musicians "helped arrange, as far as I'm concerned."{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=82}}

===Production style===

Wilson's best-known productions typically employed instruments such as saxophones and [[bass harmonica]]s.{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|p=33}} He usually instructed his drummer to play only the snare and floor-tom afterbeats characteristic of Spector's records.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=27}} Reflecting further Spector influence, Wilson rarely used ride or crash cymbals{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=27}} and often combined [[tone color|color tones]] to produce novel sounds.{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|pp=33–34}} Other practices he adopted from Spector included recording two [[echo chamber]]s simultaneously and having standup and Fender bass play identical parts.<ref name="Kub07"/> His bass lines were usually played with a hard [[plectrum]], which imparted a more percussive quality—a technique he adapted from Motown.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=162}}

[[File:Carl Brian Al.jpg|thumb|left|Wilson with his bandmates at a ''Pet Sounds'' vocal session, early 1966]]
His first use of a string section was on "The Surfer Moon" in mid-1963.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=289}} Before ''Pet Sounds'', he seldom used string ensembles,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=154}} preferring to [[overdub]] them after recording the basic instrumental track,{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|p=33}} which was then followed by vocal overdubs.<ref name=HimesSurf /> Beginning with the 1963 track "Surfin' U.S.A.", he [[double tracking|double-tracked]] the vocals, resulting in a more resonant sound.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=32}}{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=260}}
[[File:Scully 280 4-track tape recorder, Ardent Studios (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=An elaborate tape deck|A [[Scully Recording Instruments|Scully]] four-track 280 tape deck, identical to the model used on many of Wilson's mid-1960s productions.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=108}}]]

Starting in 1964, Wilson performed [[tape splice]]s on his recordings, usually to allow difficult vocal sections to be performed by the group. By 1965, he had become more adventurous in his use of tape splicing. These experiments culminated with the complex editing processes adopted for "Good Vibrations" and ''Smile''. [[Mark Linett]], who has engineered Wilson's recordings since the 1980s, stated, "He certainly wasn't the first person to do edits, but it was unusual to record a song in four or five sections, and then cut it together."<ref name="SOS04">{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Matt|title=The Resurrection of Brian Wilson's ''Smile''|url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/smile.htm|website=Sound on Sound|access-date=July 16, 2013|date=October 2004}}</ref>

According to Wilson, after his first nervous breakdown in 1964, he had endeavored to "take the things I learned from Phil Spector" and maximize his instrumental palette.{{sfn|Wilson|Greenman|2016|p=88}} In Priore's assessment, Wilson reconfigured Spector's [[Wall of Sound]] techniques, aiming for "audio clarity" and "a more lush, comfortable feel".{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=29}} The 2003 book ''Temples of Sound'' states that Wilson distinguished himself from Spector through the usage of certain instruments, such as [[banjo]], and by possessing a "clean muscle" missing in Spector's work.{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|p=34}} Danny Hutton remarked that anyone recording immediately after Wilson's session would fail to replicate the sound he achieved. According to Hutton, "There was a lot of subtle stuff he did. [...] He was just hands-on. He would change the [[reverb]] and the echo, and all of a sudden, something just – ''whoa!'' – got twice as big and fat."{{sfn|Priore|2005|pp=55, 80}}

===Singing===
{{Listen
|pos=
|filename=Don't Worry Baby.ogg
|title=Wilson singing the chorus of "Don't Worry Baby" (1964)
|description=Wilson's lead on "[[Don't Worry Baby]]" is regarded as one of his defining vocal performances.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=29}}
}}

Wilson's vocal style was shaped by studying the Four Freshmen, from whom he developed a versatile [[head voice]] that allowed him to hit high notes without resorting to [[falsetto]], although he did use falsetto on some Beach Boys tracks.{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=5}} He recalled that he "learned how to sing falsetto" through listening to Four Freshmen renditions.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sharp|first=Ken|title=Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys – Interview (Pt. 1)|url=http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/09/04/beach-boys-brian-wilson-al-jardine-mike-love-interview-made-in-california-part-1/|work=Rock Cellar Magazine|access-date=September 5, 2013|date=September 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908125140/http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/09/04/beach-boys-brian-wilson-al-jardine-mike-love-interview-made-in-california-part-1/|archive-date=September 8, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rosemary Clooney also influenced his singing; by mimicking her phrasing on recordings like  "[[Hey There]]", he learned "to sing with feeling".{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=58}}

Wilson's highest note was D5 in 1966.<ref name="PopGenius"/> Initially, his singing was characterized by a pure [[tenor]] voice; later in life, he employed this range only rarely.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=xv, xvii, 35, 50, 127}} Fearing that a high vocal delivery might fuel perceptions of homosexuality, he avoided it.<ref name=RCMSharp>{{cite magazine|last1=Sharp|first1=Ken|title=Christmas with Brian Wilson|magazine=[[Record Collector]]|date=January 2006|pages=72–76|location=United Kingdom}}</ref> After the early 1970s, his voice degraded following heavy cigarette and cocaine use,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=160}} with ''15 Big Ones'' marking the emergence of what biographer Peter Ames Carlin termed Wilson's "[[baritone]] croak".{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=209}} In a 1999 interview, Wilson compared his style to [[Bob Dylan]]'s "harsh, raspy voice".<ref name=CoynePart1>{{cite magazine|last1=Coyne|first1=Wayne|author-link1=Wayne Coyne|title=Playing Both Sides of the Coyne Part One|magazine=Stop Smiling|year=2000|issue=9|url=http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=224}}</ref>