Remixing The Beach Boys - Mark Linett

People & Music Industry

The career of LA producer and engineer Mark Linett spans everything from live mixing for Frank Zappa to engineering for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Randy Newman. We talked to him about his studio, the gear of past and present, and his extensive work remixing and remastering classic Beach Boys records.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction

00:30 - Mark's studio

06:29 - Beginning work with the Beach Boys

08:09 - Making the early Beach Boys records
12:17 - Making stereo from mono
16:00 - Copyright releases
18:49 - The tapes we have, and those we don't...
22:44 - Good Vibrations - remixing without all the tapes

24:56 - AudioSourceRE

Mark Linett Biog
Grammy award winner Mark Linett began his career creating psychedelic lighting shows while in college and went on to run his own PA hire company, Nightshade and Dark. In the early 70s he spent a couple of years in L.A. working at a range of studios, including Artist Recording, Paramount and Mystic, before returning to New York, where he worked for Ed Chalpin. Mark's big break came when he was asked to fill in for the sound engineer on a Frank Zappa tour, which led to a further two years of work touring Frank Zappa, ELO, Earth Wind & Fire and Journey.

Returning to studio work in L.A., Mark was able to build some good connections at Amigo Studios, working with Paul Simon, Rickie Lee Jones, Michael McDonald and Eric Clapton. When Amigo closed, Mark went freelance, working out of his own home studio which he named Your Place Or Mine. While Mark has worked with artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, his most well-known collaboration is with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. He has spent two decades remixing their back catalogue and working on previously unreleased material. The Smile Sessions won a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album.