Recording Mishap

[BubbaVO]

I've been working on a song that has been nagging me for a while. So I was spending some time trying to record the guitar part in my bedroom. I was trying to play it clean - both the amp and the playing. Take after take - fail.

I finally got a take that I felt was getting to where I wanted it to be when the wife walks in, goes into her closet, comes out with a plastic grocery bag and proceeds to crumple it a bunch of times as she walks out. I play the track back and lo and behold the Yeti mic picked up the crumple really well from about 12 feet away.

DOH!!! I need a man cave.

[Turdus]

Is her sense of rhythm any good?

If she crumbled the bag, in time with the rest of the track, I'd say keep it.

[mathman]

Is her sense of rhythm any good?

If she crumbled the bag, in time with the rest of the track, I'd say keep it.

I often have the dog bark in the middle of a track. Sometimes I leave it cause it distracts from my singing.

[hamerhead]

Is her sense of rhythm any good?

If she crumbled the bag, in time with the rest of the track, I'd say keep it.

I often have the dog bark in the middle of a track. Sometimes I leave it cause it distracts from my singing.

[Feynman]

I hear you! It generally takes me at least 100 attempts to get a recording I like (I'm not that good, so I can't play anything the same way twice). Almost without fail, a few minutes into a good one:

1) The house A/C kicks in

2) One of my many children has something important to share ("My friend saw a bird!")

3) The dog bumps the door

4) My wife informs me that the trash really needs to go out at that very moment

5) The phone rings

6) I realize the recorder has been on pause the whole time

7) Etc

[SteveB]

I hear you! It generally takes me at least 100 attempts to get a recording I like (I'm not that good, so I can't play anything the same way twice). Almost without fail, a few minutes into a good one:

1) The house A/C kicks in

2) One of my many children has something important to share ("My friend saw a bird!")

3) The dog bumps the door

4) My wife informs me that the trash really needs to go out at that very moment

5) The phone rings

6) I realize the recorder has been on pause the whole time

7) Etc

[Feynman]

Agreed! I get pretty good recordings just from my tonelab into my PC's line-in. All my mishaps are recording the classical.

[Lockbody]

I hear you! It generally takes me at least 100 attempts to get a recording I like (I'm not that good, so I can't play anything the same way twice). Almost without fail, a few minutes into a good one:

1) The house A/C kicks in

2) One of my many children has something important to share ("My friend saw a bird!")

3) The dog bumps the door

4) My wife informs me that the trash really needs to go out at that very moment

5) The phone rings

6) I realize the recorder has been on pause the whole time

7) Etc

#6 is my hated enemy.

[diablo175]

I feel your pain on both levels- I tend to need 25- 100 takes to get a part down in a respectable condition. To avoid unwanted interruptions or audio additions, I first initiated intensive training for the wife to instill the following: 1) NO entering the recording area unless house is burning or we hit the powerball jackpot and 2) NO making any noise if no. 1 applies. Secondly, I relocated my studio to the basement which we refinished to block off a 8' x16' room for the studio and added lots of sound proofing and a door with a lock on it. Now if I could just get around to actually recording again...

[mathman]

Or someone walks in a says "are you recording?"

This is why I love garageband. I can record a track and easily cut, copy and paste parts around to fix mistakes. I can loop sections that sound good. And can record multiple takes and switch between them if needed.

[gtone]

I say leave it in. On a track I recorded about 15 years ago, you can clearly hear my wife shouting down the stairs "Ste-eve - TELEPHONE!". I left it in in the final mix and played it in the car for years, much to her chagrin. PRICELESS, I tell ya'!

[Dasein]

I finally got a take that I felt was getting to where I wanted it to be when the wife walks in, goes into her closet, comes out with a plastic grocery bag and proceeds to crumple it a bunch of times as she walks out. I play the track back and lo and behold the Yeti mic picked up the crumple really well from about 12 feet away.

DOH!!! I need a man cave.

Your wife is allowed to walk free in the house? I guess all those Women's Studies classes were wrong about the patriarchy. Finally we have proof! They are not oppressed.

[veatch]

Or someone walks in a says "are you recording?"

Even better - recording someone else at the end of a good take while the guitar/bass/cymbal hits/whatever are still fading:

"How was that?"

[GusS]

I've been working on a song that has been nagging me for a while. So I was spending some time trying to record the guitar part in my bedroom. I was trying to play it clean - both the amp and the playing. Take after take - fail.

I finally got a take that I felt was getting to where I wanted it to be when the wife walks in, goes into her closet, comes out with a plastic grocery bag and proceeds to crumple it a bunch of times as she walks out. I play the track back and lo and behold the Yeti mic picked up the crumple really well from about 12 feet away.

DOH!!! I need a man cave.

why is this such a bad thing? if the take is good, i'd keep it, such "mishaps" add charm to recordings, IMO.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I've been working on a song that has been nagging me for a while. So I was spending some time trying to record the guitar part in my bedroom. I was trying to play it clean - both the amp and the playing. Take after take - fail.

I finally got a take that I felt was getting to where I wanted it to be when the wife walks in, goes into her closet, comes out with a plastic grocery bag and proceeds to crumple it a bunch of times as she walks out. I play the track back and lo and behold the Yeti mic picked up the crumple really well from about 12 feet away.

DOH!!! I need a man cave.

why is this such a bad thing? if the take is good, i'd keep it, such "mishaps" add charm to recordings, IMO.

I gotta second that.

Like in Dokken's "It's Not Love," and Don Dokken's girlfriend calls in the middle of the break and they talk awhile until he tells her "No way!" I think that really added to the song!

[veatch]

Somewhere around 1980 i was doing some recording, and in the middle of a solo, a trucker's CB bled into the track - never happened before, never again, but it was loud, and clear, and obviously unexpected. I stopped playing dead in my tracks, and started laughing. The take up to that point was pretty good, if i recall.

I REALLY wish i kept a copy of that...