page_title: Musicianship of Brian Wilson
section_title: Studios and engineers
hierarchical_section_title: Musicianship of Brian Wilson / Compositional methods / Recording and arranging / Studios and engineers
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior of EastWest Studios at 6000 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The building was formerly known as Western Studio, as part of United Western Recorders.
context_page_description: The songwriting of American musician Brian Wilson, co-founder and multi-tasking leader of the Beach Boys, is widely considered to be among the most innovative and significant of the late 20th century. His combined arranging, producing, and songwriting skills also made him a major innovator in the field of music production. In a 1966 article that asks "Do the Beach Boys rely too much on sound genius Brian?" brother and bandmate Carl Wilson said that while every member of the group contributed ideas, Brian was most responsible for their music. Dennis Wilson said: "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. He is the band. We're his fucking messengers. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything."
  Wilson is often referred to as a "genius". He cultivated his skills from an early age, learning how to play a toy accordion before moving on to piano. On his 16th birthday, he received a Wollensak tape recorder that allowed him to experiment with recording songs and early group vocals. With the exception of some college courses, his understanding of music theory was self-taught.
context_section_description: Eschewing Capitol Studios, which Brian considered inadequate, engineer Chuck Britz often collaborated with him at Western 3 of United Western Recorders, also serving as a buffer between Brian and the oft-berating Murry whenever he was present. Once Britz assembled a preliminary recording setup, Brian would take over the console, directing the instrumentalists from the booth using an intercom or verbal gestures after supplying them with chord charts that were sometimes written incorrectly. According to some reports, even though Britz was responsible for setting up recording, Brian would then adjust his configuration to a large extent. Asher adds: "As unorganized or even unproductive as he [Brian] could be in other situations, when he got into a recording session, you had the sense he had ideas that were gonna get away from him if he didn't get 'em done right away. He was willing to have people be relaxed and joke a little bit, but he wanted to get work done. And he sometimes lost his temper just a little bit if Chuck couldn't find a take."
  At Gold Star Studios, Brian worked mainly with engineers Stan Ross and, with lesser frequency, Larry Levine. Ross said of Brian, "[he] 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."
caption: Now known as EastWest Studios, this building on Sunset Boulevard was formerly known as Western Studio when it was part of United Western Recorders and was one of Brian's preferred studios.
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