Mistakes in Recording

[ajb]

My band recently completed a cd. It has been mastered and now it is being printed.

Last night, to my horror, I was listening to the track "Radio Caller" and heard for the very first time a barely audible dissonance brought on by poor muting on my part (if you listen very very carefully you can hear some sympathetic string vibration in the background). It lasts for a microsecond and happens right when I first drop in at the beginning of the song. FYI the cd was recorded live.

Although it's very minor, it bothered me when I heard it last night, and still bothers me now. How could I not have caught it? It's too late to fix because I don't want to invest all the money it will take to fix the original track and remaster, etc., plus it's really minor and i think im being obsessive. I guess I am just griping and want someone to tell me it's not the end of the world.

Or just talk in general about mistakes you've made in your recordings and how you dealt with it.

Check out www.myspace.com/leofrancis and let me know what you think.

[ajb]

FYI there is a video for the song "radio caller" about halfway down the screen on our myspace page. May be easier to just click on that if you don't have a flash player.

[GradyBass]

eh. no one is going to notice it. And it makes you seem human, after all =)

[M.Wrenn]

it tooks me a few listens to catch, its BARELY noticable, and near impossible for any non bass player, dont worry about it, i have to say i thought your line there was very tasteful, well done.

I had to overdub some lives tracks in which the bass was barely audible and after overdubbing about six tracks, i caught a barely audible click that occurred because of my super low action, luckily i caught it before it went to mastering and such, but it was still quite annoying

[gregoire1]

Queensryches "Empire" CD, the song "Empire" the 3rd snare strike is DEFINATLY muted!!! Both album and radio! (it was corrected for the music video if anyone watches those anymore). That was a studio recording. You will notice the band went into a tailspin after that.

Sorry, remember the good times

[bkbirge]

I love mistakes on recordings. Those are the bits that make you remember the tunes. As long as it's not a terribly out of tune kludge then the little mistakes give it character.

[alapantera]

Originally Posted by bkbirge

I love mistakes on recordings. Those are the bits that make you remember the tunes. As long as it's not a terribly out of tune kludge then the little mistakes give it character.

+1

Nobody's perfect, your recordings shouldn't aspire to be better than you are.

[Murder_Worship]

your tone rules, thats all i gotta say

[ajb]

Thanks for all the kind words. You guys are awesome.

[umbrella]

I just made a demo myself and there are mistakes all over that I didn't catch until it was too late. Nothing really, really, bad, but they are there. I kick myself every time I hear them.

Don't sweat it, learn from it.

[BluesDawg]

Originally Posted by bkbirge

I love mistakes on recordings. Those are the bits that make you remember the tunes. As long as it's not a terribly out of tune kludge then the little mistakes give it character.

I totally agree. Hardly any of the great songs of the 60's and 70's were "perfect". It's that human imperfection that makes great music great. Examples: the trademark ragged harmony vocals from Mick and Keith in the late 60's, early 70's; Berry Oakley coming in on the wrong beat on "One Way Out"; Clapton getting out of time in that "Crossroads" solo; the out-of-tune horns coming in at the end of "When a Man Loves a Woman."

My biggest gripe about a lot of modern rock is it's too perfect.

[hbarcat]

One of my favorite metal tunes is "Victim of Changes" by Judas Priest and there are obvious blunders in that song (at least obvious to a musician who is actively listening to the song).

Toward the end of "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals, the bass comes in on the 1 on a completely wrong note.

These two I just thought of off the top of my head and I'm sure I could come up with so many more examples that it would get silly.


Few people even notice and nobody cares.

[emblymouse]

We are working up 'Since I've Been Loving You' by Led Zep and there is a big blooper by JPJ on those bass pedals going into a chorus late in the game.

I, of course, an faithfully reproducing this mistake as my own tribute to a great recording! The rest is so damn good I can see why they didn't do another take.

[Ozzman]

One thing i've always appreciated was on Greenday's "Time of Your Life", they left in the mistakes at the beginning. They didn't have to, they could have taken them out, but they didn't. And I actually enjoy that they didn't.

[Stumbo]

It's not a mistake, it's a recording artifact.

Nice tune.

Hey, you might want to practice the "mistake" and use it as an effect somewhere down the line.