Let's dream up the worst scenario for tracking a band we can think of...

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Almiro said:
I am not an engineer but I've been in studios quite a bit as composer and musician. I remember one time I was in the studion where a hip hop group was recording a track. At some point the producer of the track started to beat up the engineer because the latter had refused to increase the bass on the bass drum...that must be the worst session memory for him.
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so young. so angry. damn this rap music!
 
...with all those damn preasures on the field, they still put the big sign NO SMOKING & ALCOHOL on the mixing room's wall. :(
 
I'm currently recording a band with my "portable studio"...which still happens to be everything I have :) for a minimal fee ( as I know the guitarist and he does free graphic work for me)

1. bassest doesn't have any sence of intonation (I'm a drummer so I can be ignorant :) )

2. guitarist is a Numetal-head and every song has to have harmonics and "harmonic dissonance" ...but he's the only guitarist in the band so there is NO WAY they could play the harmonics live.

3. Drummer has parents from hell (as they are all still in highschool) and the drummer was grounded for a week.

4. While the drummer was away the guitarist wrote and tracked 5 or 6 new songs ...all with harmonics :)

5. when the drummer gets back the guitarist goes in for dental surgery and has been on vicodin for the past couple tracking sessions...and will probably be on codine when he gets back.



I have assisted recording "the band from hell"...which happens to be a christian hardcore band called Forever Tearless...and they just won't break up :P

showed up with holes in the drumheads and cracked cymbols...none of them knew how to tune and the vocalist growled like a dieing cat...and they only paid $200 of the $600 fee because the guy who was incharge of recording them wasn't thinking and gave them the demo "before he thought it was done" but they apparently liked it and didn't come back :)

they paid in change too...
 
Well, we managed to only retrack the one song, and some screaming vocals in one other today. Thank god!!! Took 4 hours, and that was after about 5 hours of intense kick drum editing on a monster of a double kick drum part! Tedious work, then having to deal with the green singer who STILL can't sing the same volume two takes in a row.

Worked 14 hours straight today to finish up all editing so that we can start mixing later this week. I am SO happy to be done with the tracking and editing. At this point, we have what we have, and there is really no going back to "fix" things.

The guitar player, who is sort of playing "producer" on this project "hit the wall" today. He finally came to terms with the fact that this "demo" will not be "radio quality" nor on par with "signed" acts. This effected the vocal retakes in a very negative way because he was the only person that could really make this singer at least TRY to pay attention to what he was doing. Mr. Guitarplayer just didn't give a shit anymore, and wouldn't allow anyone else to either. :( Oh well....

We start mixing on Saturday. THAT should prove to be interesting.

Ed
 
Ed, that project surely merits a couple days off and a few bottles of chardonney when you finish it. Morphine would probably help in the initial nerve and emotional chill down time.
This is an epic cronicle.....


:)
 
I'd say the worst, as mentioned by F_cksia, is when the jackass taking "recording for musicians" in high school (yes I have recorded that kid) comes down after your long mixing sessions in which you do the mixing, not the software, in hopes to impress them, and says,

"wow, my teacher told me this computer stuff was really amazing, but I would have never believed it could do THIS!"

How about the stories he tells while others are tracking,

"My teacher worked on a session with mariah carry and told us that she was afraid someone would touch her sunglasses, so she made the engineers build her an isolation booth in the control room where she could watch them."

and

"We're taking a field trip to so and so recording college, they have an ssl, that stands for solid state logic," those are his words, "by the way, and on the console there is something called a 'funk button,' so when the band says it doesnt sound good the engineer can press the funk button, and even though its not attached to anything, the band will say 'oo, sounds better', how crazy is that?"

and

"You dont have autotune do you?" ... "OMG you do! No way, our teacher taught us about that, we're learning how to use it, you know the graph, its ill!"

I limit my responses to "oh" and "yeah"

It deeply saddens me to know that less than halfway through the school year, probably before any basic theory on acoustics, or even how to use a compressor, they're TEACHING, IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, HOW TO USE AUTOTUNE!!! :(
 
"The guitar player, who is sort of playing "producer" on this project "hit the wall" today. He finally came to terms with the fact that this "demo" will not be "radio quality" nor on par with "signed" acts."

and theres the rub....
no matter what now, the fact in everyone's mind will be " Sonusman couldnt deliver a radio quality album" It doesnt matter that it was all their fault...no they are gonna go runnin around sullying your name, because they didnt have the sense to PRACTICE what the hell they were doing beforehand

well hopefully it wont come to that, but it can

I take a lot of shit on this BBS and in real life, for being such a stickler about a bands' habbits. People say " its not your band, they pay you money, just record em and shut up"

hell no, I dont want CRAP running around with my name on it!

I feel for you Sonusman, there needs to be a way of educating people that, while recording prices have come down, the skill level and dedication necessary to turn out something good hasnt ( well, not as much, as there is editing, autotune, etc...)
 
pipelineaudio said:
I feel for you Sonusman, there needs to be a way of educating people that, while recording prices have come down, the skill level and dedication necessary to turn out something good hasnt ( well, not as much, as there is editing, autotune, etc...)
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The nice thing is... since recording equipment costs have come down (and studio prices, as well) many people can now do it themselves... often to find out the hard way - it ain't all that simple!

I am always in awe of people that can do things that I can not. But sometimes I have to try, and fail, at something to appreciate those that can do it.

And those that have the best talent... get paid better than the rest.

As far as the school thing goes, perhaps the concepts they are teaching are the ones that get the kids interested... and once they're hooked, then teach them all the fundamentals. It's not like the fundamentals can be ignored completely.:D
 
____As far as the school thing goes, perhaps the concepts they are teaching are the ones that get the kids interested... and once they're hooked, then teach them all the fundamentals. It's not like the fundamentals can be ignored completely _____


Oh yes they can.

The year after I graduated from high school, they added a guitar class to the music program. I got to sit back and go "damn, I wish they had that when *I* was there!"

Long about the third quarter of the year, I had a chance to talk to the head of the music department, who also taught this class. I opined that I wished he had started a year earlier. He replied

"That class won't be offered next year."

I was stunned and asked why - I knew most of the guys who had signed up for it and were in the class, and I knew they had all been enthusiastic about it. His response?

"They don't want to learn. They want to be taught how to play Metallica songs without learning how to read music or play a proper chord. They don't want to learn the basics of theory. All they want to do is sit around reading tablature and playing heavy metal. They think they are too good to learn the fundamentals."

And that was that. That class was only taught that year.

While I like the idea of "get their attention with razzle dazzle and then slip them some theory", many times in practice it's a lost cause... they don't care about acoustics or how compressors work or what phase means... they just want to make it sound like _______ on the radio.

The ones that want to know will learn on their own or find someone to teach them - even amongst this board. The ones that don't will eventually wither and die when the software can't make them sound like that band on the radio...

....okay, I'm depressed now....

- housepig
 
The ones that want to know will learn on their own or find someone to teach them - even amongst this board.
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I'd like to think of myself as one of those people :D
 
>"They don't want to learn. They want to be taught how to play Metallica songs without learning how to read music or play a proper chord. They don't want to learn the basics of theory. All they want to do is sit around reading tablature and playing heavy metal. They think they are too good to learn the fundamentals." <

You are quite right, most of them want to learn to play some songs... as that is what interests them. The teacher has to compel them to learn the basics... which is not easy.

I've got a friend that teaches guitar, and he'll drop a student quick if they don't want the whole enchilada. He tells 'em straight up... "if you want to learn songs - go buy some sheet music, and quit wasting my time."

He does, however, use some familiar riffs to teach with... after all, riffs can contain material from which a lesson can be taught.

As far as those who don't wish to learn the fundamentals... they weren't going to get very far, anyway.
 
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