Mistakes in famous recordings
Moderator: cgarges
Mistakes in famous recordings
I was wondering if anyone can think of some well-known recordings that have obvious mistakes, anomalies, or unintended artifacts in them that nevertheless got released on the master. By "well-known" I mean recordings that would be familiar to the general listening public, nothing even resembling obscure.
Five that I think of off the bat are:
"Feel Like Makin' Love" (Bad Company) - Right before the 2nd chorus, there's an odd drumstick click that sounds as if the drummer (Simon Kirke) got tangled up a bit. Interesting that they let this go. Great drummer and drum sounds, btw.
"Black Dog" (Zep) - The telephone ringing faintly in the background during the guitar solo.
"Ten Years Gone" (Zep) - Bass drum pedal is squeaking very audibly.
"Heat of the Moment" (Asia) - The song speeds up dramatically from the middle to the end. Obviously a live, no-click take.
"Last Dance with Mary Jane" (Tom Petty) - Right before the fade, there's a weird drum fill that kind of ends in a dead-end. Pretty sure this was a mistake. Great live take, though...print it!
I think it's cool that some little "human" moments like these sqeak by on big-money recordings. I'll have to think of some more...
Chuck
Five that I think of off the bat are:
"Feel Like Makin' Love" (Bad Company) - Right before the 2nd chorus, there's an odd drumstick click that sounds as if the drummer (Simon Kirke) got tangled up a bit. Interesting that they let this go. Great drummer and drum sounds, btw.
"Black Dog" (Zep) - The telephone ringing faintly in the background during the guitar solo.
"Ten Years Gone" (Zep) - Bass drum pedal is squeaking very audibly.
"Heat of the Moment" (Asia) - The song speeds up dramatically from the middle to the end. Obviously a live, no-click take.
"Last Dance with Mary Jane" (Tom Petty) - Right before the fade, there's a weird drum fill that kind of ends in a dead-end. Pretty sure this was a mistake. Great live take, though...print it!
I think it's cool that some little "human" moments like these sqeak by on big-money recordings. I'll have to think of some more...
Chuck
-
- george martin
- Posts: 1296
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:00 pm
- Location: philly
at about 0:00 in one song, Asia starts playing back the music they wrote.
anyway, recording mistakes or performance mistakes? i always notice the drum faders going up and down during "Long Long Long" on the white album.
musical mistakes? i live for musical mistakes... i definitely remember that strange drum fill during the fade out of "last dance with mary jane."
anyway, recording mistakes or performance mistakes? i always notice the drum faders going up and down during "Long Long Long" on the white album.
musical mistakes? i live for musical mistakes... i definitely remember that strange drum fill during the fade out of "last dance with mary jane."
- ;ivlunsdystf
- ghost haunting audio students
- Posts: 3290
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:15 am
- Location: The Great Frontier of the Southern Anoka Sand Plain
- Contact:
Snare sound of "Born in the USA" (listen carefully during each offbeat and you'll notice what I mean - maybe easier to pick out of the mix if you use headphones) -
Oops, sorry. Did I just type that?
Here's one I always think of, for real: In Uncle Tupelo's "Give Back the Key to My Heart" from the Anodyne album there is a blown chord in the banjo part. It's way off, but very brief. It's a good reminder that the band is actually PLAYING the music in a room (or it fools me into believing that, at least)
I think the kick drum pedal should always be mic'd and mixed in. Kind of like picking sounds off an electric guitar. Maybe the next decade will find us comparing different ways to accurately and artfully capture the kick drum pedal, with certain brands and vintages of pedal being highly sought-after in the quest for the stylin' sound.
Oops, sorry. Did I just type that?
Here's one I always think of, for real: In Uncle Tupelo's "Give Back the Key to My Heart" from the Anodyne album there is a blown chord in the banjo part. It's way off, but very brief. It's a good reminder that the band is actually PLAYING the music in a room (or it fools me into believing that, at least)
I think the kick drum pedal should always be mic'd and mixed in. Kind of like picking sounds off an electric guitar. Maybe the next decade will find us comparing different ways to accurately and artfully capture the kick drum pedal, with certain brands and vintages of pedal being highly sought-after in the quest for the stylin' sound.
- JGriffin
- zen recordist
- Posts: 6739
- Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2003 1:44 pm
- Location: criticizing globally, offending locally
- Contact:
There's a site that has a whole list of hundreds of bits on Beatles songs--some blown notes or chords, some wrong lyrics, some technical stuff like switch noises or late un-mutes...too many to list.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno
All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/
skynrd. sweet home alabama. whatshisface goes "my donuts goddamn!" on like the outro. apparantly there was a box of donuts on a stool and after finishing the take he turned around to go to the CR to listen and knocked them over and they kept it.
i didnt believe it when i first heard about this because we've all heard the song a million times, but sure enough, if you listen for it it's there clear as day.
i didnt believe it when i first heard about this because we've all heard the song a million times, but sure enough, if you listen for it it's there clear as day.
Ha ha! I just listened to it. That is so funny. It sounds like they actually censored it, which makes me believe the story even more. I think he says, "My ___kin' donuts, goddamn!"xonlocust wrote:skynrd. sweet home alabama. whatshisface goes "my donuts goddamn!" on like the outro. apparantly there was a box of donuts on a stool and after finishing the take he turned around to go to the CR to listen and knocked them over and they kept it.
Good one.
There was a PJ Harvey song on one of her very early records where there is a snare thru the whole track that is following a totally different tempo than the rest of the track (I mean, not even close).
I've never heard this confirmed but I always figured that they must have been recording over some tape that had another song on it and failed to wipe every track then just liked how completely fu?kedupp it sounded. I can't figure out how else you could ever get that result. Unless you just totally isolated somebody with a snare drum and no cues, and said "play" while you rolled tape...
I've never heard this confirmed but I always figured that they must have been recording over some tape that had another song on it and failed to wipe every track then just liked how completely fu?kedupp it sounded. I can't figure out how else you could ever get that result. Unless you just totally isolated somebody with a snare drum and no cues, and said "play" while you rolled tape...
I think that track is off Beach Boys Party!, which is a "live" (in-studio, with overdubs) album. So, if it sounded like it mistake, it might've been...or it might've been deliberate.dirty wrote:Barbara-Ann by the Beach Boys, last chorus
(is it the chorus? I just remember the laughter.)
I don't know if it was just a poor transfer, but the original CD version of the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society always sounded pretty horrendous to me (the remaster sounds much better). "Johnny Thunder" had a pretty noticeable pumping effect on the bass drum hits.
- digitaldrummer
- cryogenically thawing
- Posts: 3565
- Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:51 pm
- Location: Austin, Texas
- Contact:
Sting is the greatest musician who ever lived.jjbohn wrote:One that comes to mind, The Police "Everything little thing she does is magic". Sting hits one of the most flat bass notes I've ever heard. You can really hear it on the 5.1 mix. It's in one of the breaks right before the chorus. Not sure which but I think it's the second one.
Werd.
-
- zen recordist
- Posts: 10890
- Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 1:26 am
- Location: Charlotte, NC
- Contact:
You know, I was listening to Ghost In The Machine yesterday and heard some sort of stick click in "Spirits in the Material World" that I hadn't noticed before. It almost sounds like Stewart dropped a stick, but I don't see how that's feasible, given what's going on. I think it's right around 1:15-1:20 or so.jjbohn wrote:One that comes to mind, The Police "Everything little thing she does is magic". Sting hits one of the most flat bass notes I've ever heard. You can really hear it on the 5.1 mix. It's in one of the breaks right before the chorus. Not sure which but I think it's the second one.
Man, I've got a bunch of these. When I used to work at a studio that did a lot of sound-alikes, I'd try to sneak them in.
Kenny Rogers clearing his throat right beofre the key change of "The Gambler."
Paul McCartney (I think) saying, "stop tape" in "Let It Be."
A bad edit/punch in Peter Gabriel's "The Washing Of The Water." ("Bring ME something...")
There's a ton. I'll try to add some later.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
- Rob Tavaglione
- studio intern
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:56 am
- Location: Charlotte NC
- Contact:
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests