Stephen W. Desper | |
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Occupation(s) | Sound engineer |
Website | swdstudyvideos |
Stephen W. Desper is an American audio engineer who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys and for inventing the Spatializer. [1] [2] [3] The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate three-dimensional ambience via traditional stereophonic units, and can be heard in the Bonnie Raitt album Longing in Their Hearts (1994). [1] [4]
Desper was also the house engineer for the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. Through the Beach Boys subsidiary American Productions, the band loaned their touring sound system to the festival. He accompanied the equipment from the Beach Boys storage warehouse up the coast with band road manager Jon Parks and ended up mixing the house system for the entire three-day festival. [5]
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Who and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience.
Smiley Smile is the 12th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. Conceived as a simpler and more relaxed version of their unfinished Smile album, Smiley Smile is distinguished for its homespun arrangements, "stoned" aesthetic, and lo-fi production. Critics and fans generally received the album and its lead single, "Heroes and Villains", with confusion and disappointment. The album reached number 9 on UK record charts, but sold poorly in the US, peaking at number 41—the band's lowest chart placement to that point.
Wild Honey is the 13th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released December 18, 1967 on Capitol Records. It was the group's first foray into soul music and was heavily influenced by the R&B of Motown and Stax Records. The album was the band's worst-selling at that point, charting at number 24 in the US. Lead single "Wild Honey" peaked at number 31, while its follow-up "Darlin'" reached number 19. In the UK, the album peaked at number seven.
Friends is the fourteenth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968, through Capitol Records. The album is characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time, and for its brevity, with five of its 12 tracks running less than two minutes long. It sold poorly, peaking at number 126 on the Billboard charts, the group's lowest U.S. chart performance to date, although it reached number 13 in the UK. Fans generally came to regard the album as one of the band's finest.
20/20 is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released February 10, 1969 on Capitol Records. The LP was named for being their 20th overall release when factoring in live albums and compilations. Much of 20/20 consists of outtakes from earlier albums. It reached number 3 on UK record charts and number 68 in the U.S. Brian Wilson was absent during most of the album's recording after admitting himself into a psychiatric hospital, requiring brothers Carl and Dennis to retrieve several outtakes he had recorded years earlier. While Brian does not appear on the front cover, the inner gatefold of the original vinyl release features him alone, behind an eye examination chart.
Surf's Up is the 17th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 30, 1971 on Brother/Reprise. It received largely favorable reviews and reached number 29 on the U.S. record charts, becoming their highest-charting LP of new music in the U.S. since 1967. In the UK, Surf's Up peaked at number 15, continuing a string of top 40 records that had not abated since 1965.
"Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned the song as an Old West-themed musical comedy that would surpass the recording and artistic achievements of "Good Vibrations". The single was Brother Records' first release. While it failed to meet critical and commercial expectations, it was a hit record, peaking at number 12 in the U.S. and number 8 in the UK.
"'Til I Die" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album Surf's Up, subsequently issued as the B-side of the single "Long Promised Road". With autobiographical lyrics about death and hopelessness, it is one of the few songs in which both the words and music were written solely by Brian Wilson. An extended mix of the original recording, created by engineer Stephen Desper, was included on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack.
"Wonderful" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, it was their only collaboration that resulted in a love song, telling the story of a young girl's sexual awakening and its disruption of her devotion to God and her parents.
"Cool, Cool Water" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and later issued as an A-sided single in March 1971.
"Add Some Music to Your Day" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys that was released in the US on February 23, 1970 as the lead single from their album Sunflower. It was written by Brian Wilson, Joe Knott and Mike Love. Wilson later said that Knott "was a friend of mine who wasn't a songwriter but he contributed a couple of lines. But I can't remember which ones!"
"Tears in the Morning" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written by Bruce Johnston, it was issued as a single, with the B-side "It's About Time". The single failed to chart in the U.S., but reached the top 5 in the Netherlands.
Spring is the only album by American pop duo Spring, released in July 1972 on United Artists. It contains cover versions of popular songs as well as original material written or co-written by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Although Brian is the album's only credited producer, most of the production was actually handled by his collaborator at the time, David Sandler, alongside engineer Stephen Desper.
"Love to Say Dada" is an unfinished song that was written by American musician Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys' Smile project. It spells LSD in its initials and was one of the last tracks recorded for the album. The song subsequently evolved into "Cool, Cool Water" from Sunflower (1970).
Beach Boys Studio was a private recording studio owned by the Beach Boys. It was located within Brian Wilson's home at 10452 Bellagio Road in Los Angeles. Six of the band's albums were recorded there in addition to his "Bedroom Tapes". In 1972, the studio was dismantled and later succeeded by Brother Studios in Santa Monica, California.
Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, aleatoric music, or eclecticism into pop contexts. Often, the compositional process involves the use of electronic production effects to manipulate sounds and arrangements, and the composer may draw the listener's attention specifically with both timbre and tonality, though not always simultaneously.
Michael Vosse was an American journalist and A&M Records publicist. He is best known as assistant to Brian Wilson during the formation of the Beach Boys' Brother Records and the recording of the album Smile (1966–67). His work also included limited time serving as a television producer, and narrator.
Many recordings and performances by the Beach Boys have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release, and several albums by the band or its individual members were fully assembled or near completion before being shelved, rejected, or revised as an entirely new project. Since the early 1980s, numerous rarities compilations and album reissues have been released with studio outtakes included as bonus tracks.
Lei'd in Hawaii is an unfinished live album by American rock band the Beach Boys that was produced shortly after the completion of their 1967 studio album Smiley Smile. It was initially planned to include the band's first live concert performances since their tour of Europe in May 1967.
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