When Richard Buskin asked me to write the foreword for his book on record production, I was honored. So many of my all-time favorite records were produced by people he interviewed (such as Leiber & Stoller, Sir George Martin, Quincy Jones, Bones Howe, Gus Dudgeon, Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd & Phil Ramone), and I know you'll be fascinated to hear how they did it.

For me, making music has always been a very spiritual thing, and I think anybody who produces records has to feel that, at least a little bit. Producing a record...the idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio...well, that gives me satisfaction like nothing else. And I still get quite a charge seeing my name on a record - "Produced by Brian Wilson."

The first record I produced that you might have heard was the Beach Boys SurferGirl album. Before I made that record...from the fall of 1961 through early 1963...I spent a lot of time in the studio, observing people like Nik Venet and, especially, Phil Spector. From Spector, more than anybody else, I learned how to think as a producer. I saw how he took terrific songs ("Be My Baby," "Then He Kissed Me") and by using the best musicians in the world (Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Jay Migliori, et al), a great arranger (Jack Nitszche), wonderful engineers (Stan Ross & Larry hottest singers (like Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks), he was able to make records that really hit me in the gut.

What did I learn from watching him? Well, I saw how if you combined instruments, like a piano and guitar, you got a new sound. Phil also used echo, and since then, I've always loved echo, to make the sounds "swim." Most of all, I understood the difference between writing a song and producing a record. To make a great record, it definitely helps to start with a great song, but as I saw and heard at those Gold Star sessions, a record has to be a total sound experience for the listener. So the idea became, for me at least, to try and make the listener feel the way I did when I first wrote the song. To do that, I realized I would have to produce our records..

For example, "Surfer Girl" was the first song I ever wrote, and we cut a demo of it back in 1961. When I produced the record of "Surfer Girl" in 1963, I finally knew how to take what I heard in my head and recreate that feeling in the studio. There's a lot of love in that record.

As a producer, I've always been fascinated by sound. I love learning what instruments are capable of doing so I know how to use 'em - a harp on "Catch A Wave," a fuzz guitar on "Little Honda," an accordion on "Wouldn't It Be Nice," a Theremin on "Good Vibrations," a DX-7 on "Love & Mercy." But I've never tried something new just to be different. I only use a sound or a production technique if it's appropriate, if it blends in properly...helps me to express feelings. If an instrument stands out...like "Look at me, I'm a Theremin"...I wouldn't use it.

How we recorded the vocals was also a big part of our sound, and if I had to choose one thing that really made the difference, it was when we started double-tracking. It gave the leads real punch and made our backgrounds sound like a choir.

The other thing that I did back in those days that's pretty rare today is that I tracked live. By that, I mean that I would gather all the musicians in the studio, teach them the song and my arrangement. They would play it live, all the way through, until I had a take that I was happy with. For me, the key was feel. It didn't just have to be perfect; more importantly, it had to feel right.

In the 1960s, we cut on three track, so the instrumental track would be on just one track. That meant we were mixing it live as we recorded. On my records, a big thing for me was clarity of the instruments. I had my own way of miking, and in the live mix, some parts I had written would be drowned out; you couldn't always hear every instrument. But you could always feel them.

Something you'll have to learn is to trust your instincts...to never settle until you have the record exactly as you want it. It also helps a lot if you have an engineer who you can really rely on, like I did with Chuck Britz. But in the end, only you...the producer...can really know when it's right.

For example, another thing I did was to mix in mono, but not because I'm deaf in my right ear. I mixed in mono to control want speaker placement or balance control knobs on the amplifier to change what you heard.

Of course, when you're also writing the songs and singing on your productions, there are major advantages. I could write to our strengths as a group, arrange the tracks to best showcase our voices, choose the lead vocalist that was right for each cut. When I'm in a writing cycle, when I've finished a song, I have a pretty good idea in my head how I want the record to sound. The hard work is making it happen.

But I don't mean to say that producing is a job. It's a life. When I was producing the Beach Boys records full-time, I ate, slept and breathed music. I couldn't wait to get into the studio and cut. And back then it was so much simpler. I could write a song on Monday, track it on Tuesday, put down the vocals on Wednesday and by the weekend, be playing a dub (acetate) on the radio. In the '60s, getting music to your audience was much more straightforward. From what I'm hearing now, I as an artist.

Of all our '60s productions, the three that stand out for me are Pet Sounds, which Icall our love album, "California Girls" which I think represents our best overall achievement and is an example of how I used what we called "dynamics" to get that kind of symphonic sound. And last, "Good Vibrations," which was really different for me. Back in 1966, I had started composing and recording little pieces of music, knowing I would find a way to fit them together to make a whole song. I remember at the time, people around me didn't really understand what I was trying to do. They were impatient. But I was determined not to rush it. That's an important lesson; if you believe in what you're doing, don't let other people stop you.

Now, if you're going to become a producer and I could give you just one last piece of advice, it would to be remain open to creativity. What do I mean by that? Well, I remember one day when we were tracking "Dance, Dance, Dance," somebody musician play his part. When it came to Glen Campbell (who was then a top session guitarist), I heard what he had played. He had bent the note much bluesier than I had originally wanted it. But I liked what I heard, so I said to everybody else, "You hear what he's playing? Play that." That's what I call a "happy accident."

To be a great producer, music has to be a big part of your soul. And when it comes tomaking music, if I could invent a way to get it from my heart into yours, without doing all that hard work, I would be very happy. But until that day, we have to go into the studio and just do it.

The good thing about that is that the studio is still a wide open adventure; there's still so much for all of us to learn about making great records. Believe me, there's no one big secret. But as you read this book, you'll see that over and over, the best producers all share one thing - they love music. And they live to make it. Just listen to what these producers have to say, and then listen to their records. And always, try and listen with your heart.

And in the end it comes down to creativity and passion. The people interviewed for this book have it, so there is a lot you can learn from their experiences. I know I can't wait to dig in...so let's get to the main course...the "Inside Track" on modern record production.

Enjoy!

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