The "Jokes-On-You"/Extra-Special Client Mix...

[Wlouch]

the topic could maybe be expanded to include "mixes designed specifically to fuck with the mastering engineer".....

I do prefer that title, a lot.

[biasvoltage]

I did this once, replaced the lead vocal with an isolated vocal track from the Doobie Bros' "Long train running" I picked up somewhere. Everything was fine for the first few seconds and then everyone fell over laughing.

[Snarl 12/8]

In college I recorded this band live, at a party, to 8-track R-2-R. I did it because they were such a great, hi-energy live band, but I'd just done a "studio" recording that didn't capture their greatness, IMO.

Anyway, when I was mixing it I noticed that this one guy when he was singing backup (everyone in the band sang, almost all the time) he was just singing this outrageously high stuff and it sounded crazy and wonderful to me. It blended in great, but soloed it was just nutty. So, after I gave them my "real" mix I did another with his vocal at the lead level and everyone else singing backup.

They just thought I was crazy. Nobody laughed or really thought it was interesting at all. But I couldn't get over how awesomely crazy it sounded to me.

In fact, now that I think about it, after that they just rented my gear from me and recorded themselves. Fucking perfectionists wore the heads out on my Fostex.

[Darksparks]

While recording vocals for a screamer in a hardcore band we captured a burp but it was in time with the music where he wanted to do a deep. I replaced the deep with the burp for the rough mix I gave the rest of the band members, they all found it hilarious. Now we're talking about using some of the random outtakes as transitions between songs.

[Wagz]

We were doing gang vocals a few weeks ago. A couple of us would get in front of the mic and yell "come and save me"

well, there was a take or two with me yelling, like an angry old man "Get off my lawn"
we got a laugh out of that.