How hard is it to faithfully re-create the classic sound of the Beach Boys? With the right talent and the right gear, we discovered it’s not that hard. To that end, Josh Scott of JHS Pedals, Robert Keeley of Keeley Electronics, and Christopher Benson of Benson Amps created new products specifically tailored to accomplish the ’60s Beach Boys tones. They crafted the Beach Boys Studio Effects Collection, a Sweetwater worldwide exclusive, which allows you to easily get those Beach Boys tones for yourself.
To hear the sounds made with this gear collection, listen to “As Long as I’ve Got Music,” an original song that Chris Cron, Rhett Shull, and Josh Scott came into Sweetwater Studio A to write and record. They used this gear to pay tribute to the Beach Boys and their unique sound.
Recording the Song, “As Long as I’ve Got Music”
I sat down with Shawn Dealey, who engineered the sessions, and discussed how he approached choosing the gear and recording techniques for the tracks on this song. According to Dealey:
“When this project was first mentioned to me, I immediately went into research mode. I looked for gear lists from the original sessions in the ’60s, watched videos, just tried to figure out how they got that magical sound. For this session, the sonic template was clear from the start. We decided to use authentic gear that was the same or similar to what they would have used on those sessions. Primarily, we were trying to duplicate that sound, not modify or improve on it. That decision dictated most of the gear choices — tube amps, tube preamps, guitars, ribbon mics, and tube mics, etc. I’ll list all the details of what we used for recording, broken down by each instrument section.”
“I should add that a big part of the sound we achieved was determined right at the source, from the amps and mics to the reverb and effects. And we made decisions as we went, even printing the effects while we were recording. When it came time to mix, I ended up with 79 audio tracks and only added one plug-in, a reverb for the vocals.”
Guitars and Guitar Recording Gear
“We knew we’d have a blast recording the guitars, with Rhett and Josh playing, and Josh and Robert Keeley’s new Beach Boys pedals, including the JHS Good Vibrations chorus/vibrato, Keeley California Girls 12-string simulator, and Keeley I Get Around rotary simulator, which are all at The Beach Boys Studio Effects Collection page. Not to mention the awesome Benson Amps Surf’s Up spring reverb. It’s on everything we recorded. And Sweetwater has any guitar we could need.”
Bass Guitar
“Going after Carol Kaye’s bass sound, we chose a Fender Precision and ran it through the new JHS Punchline and simultaneously through a vintage Ampeg B-15 miked up with a Telefunken C12.”
Baritone Guitar
“We loved utilizing the distinctive sound of the Danelectro Baritone electric guitar paired with the Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI.”
Electric Guitar
“We layered a Gibson ES-335, a Fender Telecaster, and the Danelectro ’59M to get the perfect guitar sound. All those ran through a ’57 Custom Twin miked with a Shure 545SD and the AEA KU5A ribbon mic.”
Acoustic Guitar
“A Martin D-18 into a Neumann U 67 through the Ampex-inspired Warm Audio WA-2MPX and the Chandler Limited RS660 compressor? How could you go wrong?”
Vocal Recording Gear
“All the vocals we recorded with the Telefunken U47 through the VLC tube preamp into the Pultec EQ and finished off with the Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A. Too many tubes? Take a listen to the results and you tell me.”
Keyboards and Keyboard Recording Gear
Piano
“For the acoustic piano, on our Yamaha C7, we paired a single Neumann U 67 with the Warm Audio WA-2MPX tube preamp and the Chandler Limited RS660 for tube compression.”
Other Keyboards
“We used the Oberheim OB-X8 for the brass sounds. We also ran the OB-X8 through an Electro-Harmonix Mel9 for strings sounds. We recorded the melodica through a Telefunken U47. And the Wurlitzer ran through a Magnatone Twilighter Stereo with two Beyerdynamic M 160 mics on it.”
Drums and Drum Recording Gear
“For an authentic period drum sound, we started with a Ludwig Legacy Maple 4-piece shell pack with a 22-inch kick and 13- and 16-inch toms. And we only used three mics on the drums, an AEA R44CE on the kick and a pair of Soyuz 013 mics for overheads. That’s it.”
“All the drums were recorded through Hazelrigg Industries VLC tube preamps, Pultec EQP-1A tube equalizers, and the Heritage Audio Herchild HA670 tube compressor.”
That Awesome Reverb
“The reverb you’ll hear all over these tracks is the Benson Amps Surf’s Up spring reverb,
a limited-edition version that sold out almost immediately. But there is a host of great alternatives for getting that spring-reverb sound, including the Dr. Z Z-Verb tube reverb tank, the Gamechanger Audio Light Pedal optical spring reverb pedal, J. Rockett Audio Boing, or Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo.”
Gear Used in the Mix
“This is a long list of gear that I used, but it was all across the stereo bus, not patched into individual tracks. I had done all the processing — all the EQ, compression, and reverb was decided as we recorded. All these stereo units I patched into the final mix, and they just contributed the finishing touch.”
That’s More Than Enough Gear
I hope you enjoyed reading the details about recording the song “As Long as I’ve Got Music.” All this gear we used to get this awesome Beach Boys sound can be found at Sweetwater Sound. If you want to try this at your studio, then call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 and get your own.
But There’s Still More!
Recording this song was the culmination of Chris’s personal Beach Boys tribute project that is available now on streaming platforms. Chris shared a summary with us about recording the rest of the album at home in his bedroom studio.
Chris Cron:This album was recorded over the course of a year in my bedroom studio at home. Re-creating the sound of the 1960s at home was both easier and harder than I thought. Easier because I didn’t have to worry about tape machines and studio time, but harder because so much of the sound of those records is the players, the room, and the gear. I was able to rely on UAD plug-ins to help get me most of the way there. I intentionally used emulations of gear that the Beach Boys would have had at the time, such as the Universal Audio LA-2A and Pultec EQs, paired with the Pure Plate.
For instruments, the drums were a mix of my old Ludwig kit and samples I made. Bass and guitars were a Squier Jazz Bass and a Duesenberg Starplayer TV straight into my Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface, and the keyboards were a mix of my Korg SV-1, Arturia V Collection, and piano samples. My four original songs on the record (“Don’t Be Afraid,” “Ella Grace,” “As Long as I’ve Got Music,” and “I Said I Love You”) were collaborations with my friend Ben Shive, who is a masterful musician and arranger. He did the orchestral arrangements on those tracks, and they blew my mind. It was very fun — a zero-pressure record to make — and I can’t wait for you to hear it, hopefully on rotation as you head to the beach this summer!