The "Blow off steam" thread during recording..

[GeertSamuel]

So I thought. Plenty of you guys need to blow off steam in some way about annoying this you run on during recording.. hence this thread now!


I'll start..

Last week I've been busy tracking a guitar player with ADD/ADHD. This is seriously very annoying sometimes.

- Between every take and after tuning he plays some annoying shit, and looks at me and says "This sounds funny".
I respond with pressing the mute button and looking at him annoyed "are you ready?". But still it's a vicious cirkle.

- When he's not conentrated anymore (after half an hour), he start just looking at random things and thinks every riff is fine that he puts down.
I then decide to just take a break till he's concentrated again.

But on the other side, he knows his parts, which feels comforting.

 

[greyskull]

Sounds like a drummer switched to guitar...
If you need to make yourself feel better, read the mixerman diaries.
GENIUS.
If it makes you feel better we've all been there.
Had so many players say, "oh c'mon surely that was good enough" to which the reply of "no" is always the best answer.

Its a funny biznizz. Gotta know what works for each player. Some people play better when they're pissed off, so; i will piss them off. Anything to get the performance

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Sad Tuba They hear this after every take that's not good enough.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Sad Tuba They hear this after every take that's not good enough.

FUCK!!!!!

If I could just get a widget with that.... PURE WIN.

 

[DanLights]

Sad Tuba They hear this after every take that's not good enough.

lol that´s fucking awesome

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh man, I've got one - I've been working on a classical recording these past few weeks, and it has been hell trying to explain to these people that editing/punching in individual notes is not the easiest thing when you have a total of 7 main mics (Decca Tree, Blumlein, XY) picking up the overall ensemble, as well as spot mics, so the bleed is fucking epic (but it sounds great as a result IMO!). And the "manager" of the band (the conductor/director's wife), who is the main person I've been in touch with, keeps dropping these hints that the engineer on their previous project was able to do it, and I keep having to explain that that's because that project was recorded in a studio only with section spot mics and big plexiglass sound dividers between them, thus nowhere near as much bleed, so it's a very different type of scenario. It's that questioning of my abilities that irks me, especially when it's by people who should recognize that they don't know enough to differentiate between the circumstances of the recordings, blehhhh...

 

[Uladyne]

It's that questioning of my abilities that irks me, especially when it's by people who should recognize that they don't know enough to differentiate between the circumstances of the recordings, blehhhh...

Ah gahd thats the worst! Or when a vocal part sounds sub par and the singer says something like "Can't you just put a vocalizer on it? Thats what the last guy did", and I'm thinking, "What the fuck is a vocalizer? Is that like an instant supreme awesome sound fixer?" Is that like a Staples 'easy button' that wil instantly make everything cool as fuck?

 

[brianhood]

Ah gahd thats the worst! Or when a vocal part sounds sub par and the singer says something like "Can't you just put a vocalizer on it? Thats what the last guy did", and I'm thinking, "What the fuck is a vocalizer? Is that like an instant supreme awesome sound fixer?" Is that like a Staples 'easy button' that wil instantly make everything cool as fuck?

lamo
I award you 10 Internets

 

[Glenn Fricker]

It's that questioning of my abilities that irks me, especially when it's by people who should recognize that they don't know enough to differentiate between the circumstances of the recordings, blehhhh...

My reply in that kind of situation: "Excuse me, could you please shut the fuck up and let me do my job?"

Of course, I'm an absolute bastard when tracking.




FWIW, when the bands do get something right & have a great take, I'll usualy play a clip of K.C. & The Sunshine Band's "That's the way I like it." F'n hilarious in the middle of a heavy-as-fuck session!

 

[lolzgreg]

Is that like a Staples 'easy button' that wil instantly make everything cool as fuck?

I have the Staples Easy Button in my studio for the privlidged few that can do everything in one take. Yesterday, I was recording guitars and the dude nailed a 4 minute song in one take with one minor mistake. "That was easy."

 

[Dogman]

Oh man, I've got one - I've been working on a classical recording these past few weeks, and it has been hell trying to explain to these people that editing/punching in individual notes is not the easiest thing when you have a total of 7 main mics (Decca Tree, Blumlein, XY) picking up the overall ensemble, as well as spot mics, so the bleed is fucking epic (but it sounds great as a result IMO!).

Hey, funny where this metal-recording-forum is heading at times I did a few classical recordings in big live rooms too the past year and always found that if the orchestra pics up a few bars before the actual punch in point I can get away with most anything, editing wise, as the reverb buildup in the room is pretty equal in each case. Sometimes if in doubt we`d play the conductor a bit from the last section via headphone or talkback speaker to make shure tempos would match and off we went.
Then again: we never replaced single notes, smallest fractions would be short musical phrases, if not complete bars or even sections. Plus as rooms, music and musicians can vary a lot all of this might not be applicable to your situation
Good luck and all the best in any case!

 

[crosstalk]

F'n hilarious in the middle of a heavy-ass-fuck session!

So that's what I read the first time and had to do a double take.


I'm so sick of "one-take-wonders." Guys that will pay the money and take the time to travel to record, then just slop something down and call it good. Then it's my fault when it sounds dumb because I wasn't able to argue them into submission.

 

[xMannequiNx]

lamo
I award you 10 Internets

10 internets!!!! ZOMG

 

[Metaltastic]

Hey, funny where this metal-recording-forum is heading at times I did a few classical recordings in big live rooms too the past year and always found that if the orchestra pics up a few bars before the actual punch in point I can get away with most anything, editing wise, as the reverb buildup in the room is pretty equal in each case. Sometimes if in doubt we`d play the conductor a bit from the last section via headphone or talkback speaker to make shure tempos would match and off we went.
Then again: we never replaced single notes, smallest fractions would be short musical phrases, if not complete bars or even sections. Plus as rooms, music and musicians can vary a lot all of this might not be applicable to your situation
Good luck and all the best in any case!

Thanks dude! And yeah, I'm not worried about the phrases and stuff, it's the individual notes that I'm apprehensive about, but we shall see!

 

[Djabthrash]

Sad Tuba They hear this after every take that's not good enough.

Can't help listening to it over and over at work and i think my colleague in front of me thinks i've gone crazy or something...

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Oh man, I've got one - I've been working on a classical recording these past few weeks, and it has been hell trying to explain to these people that editing/punching in individual notes is not the easiest thing when you have a total of 7 main mics (Decca Tree, Blumlein, XY) picking up the overall ensemble, as well as spot mics, so the bleed is fucking epic (but it sounds great as a result IMO!). And the "manager" of the band (the conductor/director's wife), who is the main person I've been in touch with, keeps dropping these hints that the engineer on their previous project was able to do it, and I keep having to explain that that's because that project was recorded in a studio only with section spot mics and big plexiglass sound dividers between them, thus nowhere near as much bleed, so it's a very different type of scenario. It's that questioning of my abilities that irks me, especially when it's by people who should recognize that they don't know enough to differentiate between the circumstances of the recordings, blehhhh...

Fuck this.

I get pissed off real quick when shit like this happens. "Well so and so was able to do it."

Then go fucking hire so and so to do it again

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

My reply in that kind of situation: "Excuse me, could you please shut the fuck up and let me do my job?"

Of course, I'm an absolute bastard when tracking.

Seriously if I could afford to drive my ass up to your place, I would do one song with you just for the laughs.

I would make sure to ask some stupid questions and have a handy hand recorder to capture the epic responses.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Marcus, any chance of posting a sample of that session?

Did you rent pres and converters too?

-Joe

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah dude, we had some seriously sweet gear for it (mostly provided by the UMBC recording department, where we recorded and where the director of the band teaches), and while we're in the editing stage now, when mixing comes along I'll definitely post a few clips for feedback!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Yeah dude, we had some seriously sweet gear for it (mostly provided by the UMBC recording department, where we recorded and where the director of the band teaches), and while we're in the editing stage now, when mixing comes along I'll definitely post a few clips for feedback!

Cool, looking forward to hearing it!

-Joe