Studio bloopers?
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Posted on Mar 30, 2006 12:31 am
Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member Since: Mar 14, 2003
So in all of your combined years of recording audio at home with friends and bandmates, has anybody got any good funny studio bloopers?
I know that any time that I spend with friends, its filled with almost constant goofs on this and that. And all you have to do is put a microphone in our faces and tell us that tape is rolling, and all of a sudden we're like kindergarteners. It's like the laughing in church syndrome.
I don't have many, but I have a couple. I'm still mixing the results of a weekend jam and I'll stumble across a couple of funny ones. Once I do, I'll post 'em just for giggles.
So post yours, even if they're just a few seconds of concentrated hilarity :D
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zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Mar 30, 2006 07:11 am actually my band breaking up was pretty funny...
we just finished an awful show at a very hostile venue and nerves were shot.
also the leadguitarist was very ADD... the nonhyperactive kind... always late...slow..etc. the singer/secong guitarist was very high strung _always_
we were going to be self recording our second album as the lead guitarist just graduated from Chillicothe Recording Workshop... and was very good... he was however very slow...
Hw was setting up at my house and we wanted to start at 10am... but he isn't setup intil 4:45pm. It should be noted I currently live with my parents (yes I'm a loser [until june when I move out again]) and parents make a lot of noise as we all know. So he's ready to go with 15min left bwfre parents come home from work and the other three of us say... lets start tomarrow... he says "I want to feel like I accomplished something today" to which the singer/secong guitarist flew into a fit.
The was a christian band too.
The fit was something along the lines of "YOU want to accomplish something! we've been #$@#$ sitting on our asses when you were supposed to be ready this morning"...etc...etc...
he then takes off his guitar, holds it above his head as if to smash it and in a "slow motion body slam" sets it down... he then grabs a pop can and goes to throw it against the wall...but shakes it to make sure it's empty...finding it empty he wings it against the wall...he then declairs that he quits and storms outside.
I look at the other two... the bassest was dumbstuck... and say "well I guess thats it."
The next morning... the bassest and lead guitarist show up to record as if nothing happened.
el musicoFreeleance Producer/Engineer/GtrMember
Since: Aug 11, 2002
Mar 30, 2006 01:11 pm Well, a client comes into a VO session hungover and as we listen back to the read she asks "Can you make my voice sound happier?"
While scratch testing mics on a drum kit have the intern go and scratch test the DI for the bass... good stuff.
As an intern walked into the control room I start slapping the LCD screen and ask him to get a gallon of liquid crystals from my business partner so we can refill it... and he sends him to someone else and so on...
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Mar 30, 2006 10:01 pm This was in the 70's when studios were, well, you know. Fun?
We couldnt find the drummer, he was of course a bit loaded so we assumed he was napping in some hidden place. We decided to do a vocal overdub so fired up the mic in the vocal booth. Strange sounds emited from the control room moniters, sounded like someone in pain, lots of groaning and grunting.
Ooop's, found the drummer. In the iso booth with some groupie.
I have tons more, if I can remember them that is.
Jason H.Jack of all trades master of ___Member
Since: May 28, 2004
Mar 31, 2006 09:55 am I usually keep all takes where something funny was said or some rediculous screw up occured...
A couple months back I broke into the blooper vault from when I was trying to produce music and oh my...We were on the floor half the time crying in laughter over some of the stupid crap we had done...
We goofed around alot which is probably why we didn't really solidify anything worth printing...But when your drinking vanilla vodka/coke and getting loopy, youre bound to end up with some pretty amusing side material....
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Mar 31, 2006 11:11 am Yeah Jason, that's what I'm talking about! Stuff like that just cracks me up. All it takes is a fake fart noise or some goof and its all over baby blue :D
Jason H.Jack of all trades master of ___Member
Since: May 28, 2004
Mar 31, 2006 11:23 am Well, I am going to swing back into production soon because I miss those nights...Throwing on some random beat or instrumental and have my buddy do a bunch of freestyling and improvisation to get warmed up before the serious stuff takes place...
And now on top of the vocal mic I will have a mic at the desk (like a talkback configuration)...
So now when something stupid happens I can switch on and chime in with my own nonsense....
I think the bloopers are just as important as the music because they are evidence of the evolution of your final product...and most of all it makes you look back and say "hey...that was actually fun we were having..."
It reminds me of the days when you were a kid with a tape recorder...and all you did was make silly sounds and funny voices...
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Mar 31, 2006 11:42 am Absolutely! I would say that 3/4 of the entertainment value of being in a band for me was all of the joking and kidding around that we managed to do between songs at rehearsal. Hell, some night we didn't get anythig accomplished because we were too busy havig fun.
That's so important in a studio environment because it starts to become more of a drag...playing the same bit over and over looking for just the right take. It gets so boring and irritating. Having some fun helps loosen everybody up and keeps the mind in the game. And it helps the end product since everybody's in good spirits and not bogged down in the monotany of studio life.
"Guitar solo, take 24...and we're rolling" Ugh.
Mar 31, 2006 11:43 am Looking back at my band/performing days I am hard pressed to remember anything I wanna keep with me other than a couple great gigs...and a few good songs we wrote.
There are few things I am more happy about than not being in the band/performer thing...
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
Mar 31, 2006 12:37 pm Fun idea Tad ! Too true about it keeping things light, and avoiding that point where the mono-tone "Do it again... do it again... do it again... " appears . I've got quite-a-few of these... even some video of blown tracks .
heh, nothing like Noize was talkin' about, though . lol
I'll post one, and maybe a link to the video this weekend . It's going to be fun just going over some of these !
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Mar 31, 2006 02:27 pm Yeah Noize and ElMusico have some pretty good ones there...but did they get it on tape is what I want to know :-D
I bet that Noize's little surprise ended up as the backing track to Rocket Queen off of Appetite for Destruction hahaha.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Mar 31, 2006 06:21 pm Tad, that happened years before Axel got out of daipers I'm afraid. And no, sorry to say the tape wasnt rolling. We definately were though.
I remember one that did make it to tape though was of another drummer, (of course) having the dry heaves with a final outburst of the real thing. That one did make it to tape. I dont think I have that anymore as the only copy I would have had was on cassette. It was indeed worth a huge laugh.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Mar 31, 2006 06:44 pm lol I remember one day I was getting ready to track my old band, and I was playing piano and had my friend (the guitarist) sing into the main vox mic so I could do sound check. I didn't tell him we were rolling, and this brilliantly beautiful sound came out of his mouth and the song was about pubic hair. It sounded like legendary pink dots. Man good times.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Apr 01, 2006 03:45 am Grrr turns out he lost the CD with that song on it... oh well, it was years ago
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
May 01, 2006 06:46 pm vids.myspace.com/index.cf...84514DB10325069
heh heh I finally loaded the blooper video .
Uhm, there's a little bit of Went-bashing towards the end that contains some bad words, but it was all in fun . : )
I'm sure there'll be more to come .
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 02, 2006 08:01 pm You could tell he wasnt even listening to the music. HE musta been off in LaLa land. I take it there was a chicky on the bulliten board?
Funny though.
I wish I had video of some of the lame stuff peeps have done in studio's in the past.
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
May 03, 2006 09:28 am motorcitystreetrodders.ne...te/pictures.htm
That link has a picture of the 'chicky' that was posing with the '65 Rambler Taxi, which theWent was looking at when he blew his cue .(upper left of group)
TallChapAnswer:On a good day, lipstick.Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004
May 03, 2006 10:53 am I remember going to record a couple of tracks live for a local bands compilation CD/Video project. I'd joined the band just the week before. The singer/guitarist had been "tweaking" his guitar the day of the recording (he is actually a brilliant luthier), but had missed something. We're playing wonderfully, and his solo arrives. The intonation on the guitar was completely off (somehow his open chord arpeggios in the body of the song where OK). So we keep playing with gritted teeth. We can see the engineer, and the producer in the booth just busting a gut (Dennis Dragon was the producer). The guitar player had to go back next day and overdub the solo.
At the CD launch party, the video plays, and the solo sounds right, but you can see the faces on the rest of the band - absolute disbelief...
The producer had a trophy made up for him saying "Most Out Of Tune Guitar".
I'd love a recording of the first solo. Sadly, it got "polished."
May 03, 2006 10:59 am I remember in my first band, when I was like 15 or so, I got a new guitar, a Gibson Sonex, Sonex, yeah, whatever, but I was 15 and it was a GIBSON, MAN so I was the coolest kid in school cuz I had a Gibson...it replaced my no-name Les Paul knockoff (looking back, probably the best knockoff I had ever heard to this day)
Anyway, the first practice I bring it to with my big ol' Peavey amp head (old enough it had a "fuzz" knob on it) and a 2x12 cab, I hit a power chord and this bright, twangy, nasty, tinny sound comes out of my amp...argh...at that exact moment I learned that the name on the product means exactly nothing.
Next practice I brought my knockoff...I still regret ever selling that knockoff guitar...
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
May 03, 2006 11:17 am Was it a Lotus, by chance ? They made a pretty good knock off at one time .
May 03, 2006 11:19 am No idea, never had a name on it, but it was a heavy chunk of wood with serious sustain and power...but it wasn't a "Gibson"...jeezuz kids is stupid...mind you at this point I had it 24 years ago...and I got it used.
WOW, I'm old...
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
May 03, 2006 11:32 am Quote:
WOW, I'm old...
heh heh I had one of those smack me in the face the other day when I heard someone say they had never driven a rear wheel drive car before . Oh, and that kid that bought smokes, producing his license with a DOB of '85 .
Fellin' it !
May 03, 2006 11:33 am the first time it hit me was when I started seeing "00" on the sleeve of high school letter jackets.
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
May 03, 2006 11:47 am Yup... felt that one too .
It's all just numbers to those that are young at heart . : )
TallChapAnswer:On a good day, lipstick.Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004
May 03, 2006 01:33 pm I had a "Hondo II" precision once that sounded SWEET! Sold it....went all name brand.....
Sonex bwahahaha!
Actually, with all the retro thing happening (White Stripes et al), those things are pretty sought after.
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
May 03, 2006 05:51 pm I got an awesome clip of the singer from the band i just recorded.
he was ordering us pizza and then noticed that a tape deck was running and recording. he said to the pizza company 'im not telling you my credit card details in this room, the engineer looks like he might buy a mail order bride with them'.
he'll be sorry when he realises that his card details are now indelibly mixed into the fade out of his song...
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 03, 2006 09:15 pm dB, I would be willing to bet it was an Electra. www.rivercityamps.com/electra/history.php They made probably the best Les Paul knock off ever, and yes it was heavy as all get out. Several big names including Peter Frampton actually used them for awhile. He is pictured on the website listed above. I owned several of their guitars in the early 70's including the 2256, 2254, and sadly in the early 80's a Dynasty.
But they were a great guitar for bar playing and such as they were not expensive and if ya dinged it up ya wouldn't cry over it.
flame, ya gonna post it?
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
May 04, 2006 11:11 am i need to ask the dude if i can (ethically) but if so i will, minus all the important numbers of course...
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
Jun 06, 2006 07:10 pm Here's another just to keep things current .
vids.myspace.com/index.cf...4B0159814683923
It's not like they're ever going to stop happening around our place, with dumb errors like leaving the 'ol cell phone layin' around just anywhere while recording . Oh well, at least it ruined a sucky take . ;-p
~Hue
Jun 07, 2006 11:46 am man, do i need to get some speakers hooked up in here...these vids just arn't the same without audio.....
anywho, last month, i was tracking lead vocal overdubs for some god/pop diva chick who really had alotta range in both pitch and dynamics...i mean this girl could SING! so we load the tracks in and she warms up, her dad is with us, and we run throught the song once to set levels...i spend so much time setting my compressor and gain settings that i don't even realize she could only do this a limited number of times before her voice starts to give...
ok ok i've got the compressor set PERFECTLY!
let's run through it and record it....
excelent, now lets go throught the whole song again so we can have a 'best of two takes' comp. then we'll punch in any problem areas...
well about three quarters of the way through the second full take, i notice my ******' track isn't armed to record!!! yup nothing had been recorded yet...and her voice was givin' in....
i made some hot tea and reset the clock (she was payin' by the hour). and i felt like an asshat.
Jun 07, 2006 11:52 am Man, that sucks...
When I had my neighbor and former bandmate over to do some solos for my EP I got him pluggedin and miked up and stuff...we went thru the songs once each, then, the first song on the second round thru (for the ol' A/B comparison WYD mentioned) I forgot to mute the first take...so the intro comes in, the guitarists hits his opening notes and in comes his previous solo as well...but man, he just kept wailing, kinda looked at me funny as I jumped up and muted the first takes and he marched on like a trooper without missing a beat.
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
Jun 07, 2006 12:48 pm Ooooo.. yeah, the 'ol unarmed track thing has got me a few times... it does suck .
dB, isn't it nice to work with peeps that don't freak out when things get weird ? As it often does in one way or another .
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 07, 2006 09:19 pm Hue, that is pretty cool. The Went just seems to slide right through it, looking up as if to say, Oh Well.
I once had a guitar player jump out of his chair due to a full on orchestra blast that cam in 6 bars too early. I thought he was going to hit the ceiling. And it was a bit loud if you were not prepared for it.
Jun 07, 2006 10:00 pm Forreal,
The unarmed track...damn...If I just had those lost takes. No better way to create bad sentiment especially when you're working with a couple of rappers that don't understand studio operations to begin with. I did it twice one night with a rap group that I thought were gonna murder me when it happened. And naturally, everyone was very irritated.
Another time I locked my buddy in the booth. Ther was no way to see it from mix position. We had no idea after he laid his take that he hadn't come out cause I disarmed the track .. It was halarious .. for us at least, he was in there about 5 minutes pounding on the door !
Jun 08, 2006 09:57 am haha yeah i used a booth that i couldn't see into once, and there was a song that always went longer than i thought it did, and i'd stop recording and say "that sounded really good" and the singer was all "there's still another verse and chorus!"
total vibe killer!
HuePinnipedal Czar (: 3= Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004
Jun 08, 2006 03:22 pm haha yeah, orchestra blasts can be particularly effective at being a dynamic jolt to the psyche . Floyds Atom Heart Mother kind'a stuff comes to mind .
Speaking of jumping, I once saw a drummer get excited from everything sounding really good for a particular song that he liked, and in his joy jumped up from the basement floor, and slammed his head into one of those metal I-beam rafters . BONG ! Of course, there was no blood . ; P
Man, I wish I had that one on tape !
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Jun 08, 2006 03:57 pm now that's a little too excited =)
did make me chuckle though . . .
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Jun 08, 2006 04:30 pm My favorite is to put a little "easter egg" in a scratch track somewhere, because on all future tracks, you get to record people's reactions to whatever funny noise, joke, or whatever. It can add up to be pretty funny :D
Next time you're recording somebody, make a fart noise after the end of the song or something...then when they're laying down their tracks on top of it, they hit that final note and hold it out and there's that "end of take" silence, a good ole fart noise is just the thing everybody needs to hear.
deepsMember
Since: Jan 26, 2004
Jun 09, 2006 11:49 pm I didnt know what a microphone was.
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jk.
