Recording goofs and bloopers

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colmike1
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by colmike1 »

Somewtin my 78s is a copy of "Barney Google" by Billy Jones & Ernie Hare on Silvertone. At the end of the song Billy Jones comes in with the vocal about two measures too early and you can actually hear Ernie Hare's elbow going into his stomach. Always makes me smile.

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Wolfe
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by Wolfe »

OrthoSean wrote:I can think of a couple not mentioned yet. The Caruso / Melba recording of "O Soave Fanciulla" originally recorded for Victor but not issued until after both had died on IRCC (pressed by Victor in the early 30s) contains a distinct "thunk" where one of them bumped into the recording horn. It's otherwise a fantastic recording.

Another Caruso "blooper" is the early G&T (1902) recording of "Dai Campi Dai Prati" where he comes in and starts singing too early in the piano introduction then abruptly stops and starts again at the right point. The original G&T issue is pretty pricy, but you can find it repressed from original parts on HMV VA 7.

There's also a Galli-Curci issued 10 inch Victor red seal (title escapes me) where the nearby Campbell's soup factory whistle can be heard blowing distinctly.

Some Gennett's have the sounds of trains faintly audible in the background also, which makes sense since the recording studio was right next to the tracks.

I've also heard quite a few Victors where car horns can be heard "oogling" in the background.

One of the early 7 inch Zonophones our own donniej reproduced from my copy of "Sadie Won't You Say Nay" by Will F. Denny has a few seconds of unintelligible babbling going on during the piano intro, it's clearly Denny, but you can't hear what he's saying.

I should start setting these aside when I find them so I could cite certain examples, but it's not that uncommon to hear things like that on recordings.

Sean
Horn bumps / thunks do turn up here and there.
The Caruso / Marcel Journet record of J.B.Faure's Crucifix has several.

Ditto for some of the electrically recorded location recordings that started to be made in the late 20's. You can hear very low frequency traffic noises (rumble) and things that almost surely wasn't even noticed by the recording engineers on the reproducing equipment they had.

Rastus10
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by Rastus10 »

Since Bing Crosby has been mentioned, here's "We're a Couple of Soldiers," from 1932.

The fun begins at 2:16 after Tommy Dorsey reacts to a mistake by guitarist Eddie Lang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHsMUb4YFH4

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howardpgh
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by howardpgh »

I have a 15000 series Vocalion of Irving Kaufman that has a 60 cycle hum all through it.

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gramophone-georg
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by gramophone-georg »

howardpgh wrote:I have a 15000 series Vocalion of Irving Kaufman that has a 60 cycle hum all through it.
I have several early electric Brunswick and Vocalion issues that suffer from this malady. It seems I've read that the early "Light Ray" recording method was troublesome.

The other problem these early Brunswick electrics had was blasting from way too much input. King Oliver's "Wa-Da-Da" is a great record that suffers from that.
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Orchorsol
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by Orchorsol »

gramophone-georg wrote:The other problem these early Brunswick electrics had was blasting from way too much input. King Oliver's "Wa-Da-Da" is a great record that suffers from that.
Yes! Really quite distorted. But it's interesting how it pumps the excitement up, rather like tape saturation and compression effects in rock and pop music from from the 50s and 60s onwards.
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gramophone-georg
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by gramophone-georg »

Orchorsol wrote:
gramophone-georg wrote:The other problem these early Brunswick electrics had was blasting from way too much input. King Oliver's "Wa-Da-Da" is a great record that suffers from that.
Yes! Really quite distorted. But it's interesting how it pumps the excitement up, rather like tape saturation and compression effects in rock and pop music from from the 50s and 60s onwards.
Yes, like Hendrix only 40 years earlier. Wonder if King Joe ever lit his trumpet on fire?
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epigramophone
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by epigramophone »

In Sir Charles Santley's rare recording of "Non piu andrai", he comments "I think that's all right" as the accompanist plays the concluding phrase. At the end of "To Anthea" (HMV 2-2864) there is an unintelligible three way conversation with the recording engineers.

After playing his "Shepherd's Hey" (HMV E147) Percy Grainger can be heard to remark "I think we'd better do that again". The recording was issued!

As Conchita Supervia sings "Non so Piu" (Parlophone R20077) a guitar strums in the distance.

dennis
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by dennis »

At the end of one of Adelina Patti s records you can hear some discussion going on, probably about how wonderful the performance was.

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Wolfe
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Re: Recording goofs and bloopers

Post by Wolfe »

At the beginning of the Esultate from Otello, just before the piano starts, Francesco Tamagno coughs into the horn.

Whatever take was issued on La Voce Del Padrone DR 100.

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