Comments on: 10 Recording Bloopers That Made the Album

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:21:16 +0000

Oh wow, how have I never heard these before? I guess I’ve never really paid too much attention to the mixing in pop songs…probably because I don’t listen to many pop songs in general hehe.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:07:25 +0000

I don’t know why I’m commenting on this, but I feel like I have to say two things:

1) I don’t think it’s fair to say that Christina Aguilera’s headphone bleed is a cop-out, and I especially don’t think it’s fair to blame the mixing engineer for a tracking engineer’s bleeding. Christina probably could have done another take because she is just such a great vocalist, but Dave said it himself, “that was one of the most honest vocal performances I had EVER heard.” Plenty of producers decide every day to use the scratch vocal, and they learn to deal with the microphone bleed. I’m sure Dave was echoing Linda Perry and even Ron Fair when he said what a great take that is, and I’m POSITIVE that a production of that caliber didn’t at least consider a low-bleed overdub. They probably did one and decided that it didn’t have the same honest magic as the bleeding take that was used. But everyone involved in that song has great ears and a lot of mixing resources so I’m sure they knew the bleed was there; this was some heavy-handed tape edit mistake like some of the other ones in this article.

2) I agree with others on this forum; “Roxanne” sounds more like a tape splice to me. The attack of the r in “roxanne” is missing, as well as the breath before it. In the first example you can definitely hear him inhale. A punch would have been more obvious in that you’d hear a cut-off inhale or less of the r sound, and if they were at a point where they were punching I doubt the reverb would be on the same track as the vocals.

Still though, I think it must also be said that the engineers probably weren’t “lazy” in any of these recordings. These are all examples of hit records that were either signed by big labels or were artists who were already successful. In no way were these examples taken from ballsy, experimental records that might yield a lenient, cheap engineer. People put money into this stuff, and I’m sure that at some point there were more than person listening to these songs and deciding that the mistakes were worth it. I’m sure the engineers knew about it and told their producer, who probably didn’t care because the music and the performances make each of these recordings work.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:07:47 +0000

Re: Roxanne. I don’t think that’s a punch as much as a tape splice. Back in those days the “Hit Producers” would rearrange songs completely sometimes with a razor blade on the master tape. Artists had little to say about it, and often weren’t even present. The engineers of course, were there to realize the producers vision, and not to argue technicalities.

Really cool article, and it makes me feel all the more accomplished knowing hit songs aren’t always perfect recordings.

By: Xenobt

Xenobt — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:27:52 +0000

If you want to hear some examples of letting it all go for the vibe, check out ANY Van Morrison track! The vocals and horns are so pitchy you could bale hay with them! Lucky I wasn’t the engineer, I’d have stopped tape PLENTY of times! :-D

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:29:40 +0000

I just noticed one in one of my favorite songs of all time – “Kickstand” by Soundgarden…an amazing little minute.5 slice of poppy-punky rock on Superunknown. There’s some sort of slapback delay added to the chorus line “come stand me up…come stand me up…” But whoever was “automating” this slapback either missed their cue to the last verse (reprise of the first verse), and it slaps back the first syllable of that verse, “Kickstand you got..” at 1:07. Miniscule, yes…have I listened to the song for years without looking for it…yes…is it because I was listening to it with noise cancelling headphones…probably. But now that I’m a studio engineer/mixer I look for these things and I want to attribute it to laziness but maybe someone just honestly missed it. In 2014 (20th anniversary) I demand a remix, please!!! :)

By: Billy

Billy — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:55:15 +0000

Hey excellent blog, very impressed!

By: Sometimes Glitches are Forever « The Radio Face Report

Sometimes Glitches are Forever « The Radio Face Report — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:43:49 +0000

[...] Ten Recording Glitches that Made the Album. [...]

By: Steven Price

Steven Price — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:36:52 +0000

A perfect example of a compressor being used badly/incorrectly is the Alanis Morrisette album “Jagged Little Pill”. There are many examples on here of Vocals jumping out at you, and sibiliance to the maximum.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:07:51 +0000

Actually that’s the backing singer that comes in early.
That is a great one though, I ALWAYS hear that.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:08:25 +0000

“Out On The Weekend” by Neil Young (from “Harvest”)
Just before Neil goes into the harmonica solo, you can hear him scrape it across the microphone.

“Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd
Just before the acoustic guitar comes in, in the beginning, you can hear Gillmour cough and then sniffle.