Dumb stuff you do in the studio

[scottdavidson]

step 1) Decide I need better organization of my rack cabinet

step 2) disconnect cables. Scribble partial notes on a piece of paper instead of carefully using labels and a spreadsheet.

step 3) discover that it's 1 in the morning

step 4) decide that "rewiring everything tomorrow will be harder", and go on working though I'm tired and groggy

step 5) make terrible rewiring mistakes. Nothing responds to nothing else.

step 6) finally give up, go to bed, remain awake worrying how the heck I will be able to rewire everything in the morning.

For really amazing effects, it can also be combined with:

step 0) decide "I'll do it tonight, because my hands are too tired to rehearse" (discover that a screwdriver used for hours hurts hands more than a keyboard)

and/or

step 00) mistakenly measure module Xxx, planning to insert it into the only two available free rack spaces, rotate all other modules, finally discover the obvious: module Xxx occupies THREE rack spaces.

and/or

step 000) add beer to the above

and/or

step 0000) add plane/train travel due at 5 the morning after

This...I do this, with the final result that nothing will make a sound. Cue wailing and nashing of teeth, sleep till noon, get up , sort it out and vow NEVER to indulge in all night rewiring again.......until the next time.

[zosthegoatherd]

Assume that I will be more productive if I am hung over, in withdrawal, or otherwise recovering from some combination of chemicals. I may be less likely to go off on a tangent or decide to go out. But I rarely get anything done

[cixelsyd]

After a long hard day of my day job, I go in and turn on a few things, decide if I 'm gonna start something new or work on an existing project, sit down, stare at the stuff I've turned on, sigh, then turn everything off, close the door and flop on the couch to read gearslutz.

[Ged]

Originally Posted by cixelsyd

After a long hard day of my day job, I go in and turn on a few things, decide if I 'm gonna start something new or work on an existing project, sit down, stare at the stuff I've turned on, sigh, then turn everything off, close the door and flop on the couch to read gearslutz.

holy crap, exact same here!

[fooloof]

Add me to the guys who start 100 different projects but never finish any of them.

why do you do it? For me, it's that I run into a wall and can't figure out where to go creatively. How about you?

[JoRillo]

Plus freakin one. Lol

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Gearslutz App

[JimmiG]

1. Come home at 5:30 pm, have dinner, decide to make some music.

2. Turn on all synths, load up Reaper.

3. Stare blankly at screen for 10 minutes

4. Close down Reaper, decice to play a game for a few minutes to boost creativity

5. Discover it's 10:30 pm, lights on synths blinking accusingly at me

6. Start Reaper again.

7. Improvise for 30 minutes without recording anything or saving any patches

8. Go to bed.

[networkacid]

Originally Posted by networkacid

Jamming completely OTB, hit space bar on computer to stop music. Look puzzled. Duh.

Now you!

Done this twice more since starting this thread. FML

[satak]

Record synths every note so you can build a nice multi-sampler out of your cool analog synth sound. Then realize that the synth wasn't tuned properly...

Tweak some parameters and "hear" the changes, then realize that you f*cked up some other channels settings.

Play so loud that your speakers treble smoked...

[fragletrollet]

Sitting on gearslutz drooling over all the gear I dont have, thinking it will magically make the melodies and flow of my music better.

Starting up a new track way too often.

Sit and watch the arrangement while rolling yet another spliff, still convincing myself that it wil inspire me to continue the track (but I just love listening to my newest (and bestestest) composition friggin stoned :o )

[networkacid]

Haha good point: Trying to mix stoned, then listening the next day. MIX IS DROWNED IN DELAY. Man it sounded good the night before

[Praxisaxis]

I did this today and it happens quite a lot:

1) In Pro Tools, have the <ALL> group selected
2) forget 1).
3) make a range of subtle but important changes to 1 track (usually either in automation or elastic audio), enough to be very annoying to have to "undo" but not enough to notice 1).
4) realise joyfully that the changes made on that track have affected all the tracks in the session.

.

[deft_bonz]

Originally Posted by Brassica

Solo a track, tweak a plugin on a completely different track and still "hear" changes..

epic... I guess that happens to all of us once in a while.

Originally Posted by Nedavine

Read gearslutz when I should be actually making music

That's why I don't have internet in the studio
Otherwise I'd write the same here

Originally Posted by mattjew24

Draw little boxes and rectangles with the mouse mindlessly in-between takes.

Yippie me crazy cellar-musician-wanna-be-superstar me is not alone



So and here are some other stupid things I do:

1) Bouncing several tracks (still during arrangement phase) and then forget to copy them onto my USB stick, so I can listen to them somewhere else with fresh ears

2) I was clever enough to not forget no. 1, but then I forget the USB stick

3) I was a genius and haven't forgotten no. 1, drive back to the studio to pick up the USB stick. Then realizing it was all the time in my pocket

[CaseyMartin]

Write my microbiology reports at my music desk.

I get distracted by drum machines when it's time to get work done and when I go to record some tracks I'm drowning in scientific journals and papers.

It's a shame I'm not really good at either subject...

[Optical Lens]

Routing audio in to audio out through effects by accident.
Buying gear when I should be making music.
Forget to turn off write on automation track DOH.
Start going on youtube, when everything is switched on, ready to go, wasting the whole day
Forgetting to set samplerate on project before it's too late.

[audiohack]

Failing to come up with a believable cover story on how/why/when you acquired that latest piece of gear before inviting your wife into the studio for a listen of your latest work.

I'm thinking of setting up a Super Pac for my future gear purchases .... Anyone interested in helping me to get the ball rolling?

[bloodsample]

I once accidentally left my MS-20 on for over a week straight... had a dust cover on it so I didn't notice. I guess for a 30 year old synth, one extra week of running time can't hurt that much (I hope). I just felt really dumb when I realized.

[blinky909]

never counting to nine.

[networkacid]

Originally Posted by audiohack

Failing to come up with a believable cover story on how/why/when you acquired that latest piece of gear before inviting your wife into the studio for a listen of your latest work.

HAha I used to have that problem with my girlfriend. Easy fixed, got a new girlfriend who is almost as excited by gear as I am

[bad andy]

continuous flatulence. Sometimes it gets real bad and I just have to leave.

[deft_bonz]

Originally Posted by networkacid

HAha I used to have that problem with my girlfriend. Easy fixed, got a new girlfriend who is almost as excited by gear as I am

Take good care if you're going to break up one day (of course you'll stay together forever ) or she'll know exactly which gear will break your heart most

Originally Posted by bad andy

continuous flatulence. Sometimes it gets real bad and I just have to leave.

I hope you're alone in this situation, otherwise just make sure THAT doesn't happen

[TheBrightSide]

I've spent 10 minutes on the computer scrolling through every possible midi setting trying to work out why there is no signal from the keyboard.
Thats because the lead was connected to the keyboards in.

[deft_bonz]

That reminds me... Just happened last week:

Was going crazy checking all cables, patch cables, repatching, unpatching, changing patch cables... until I found out that the mic PSU was off

[offki]

Eating takeaways and making everything greasy.

[thomas_lang]

scribble down all of my 808/909 patterns on paper instead of actually saving them to the machine

[dubmunkey]

Originally Posted by bloodsample

I once accidentally left my MS-20 on for over a week straight... had a dust cover on it so I didn't notice. I guess for a 30 year old synth, one extra week of running time can't hurt that much (I hope). I just felt really dumb when I realized.

doh! i do this all the time, it is in fact one of many examples of studio stupidity: not turning off analog synths, i hate turning off my gear mid track but actually absolutely none of it needs to stay on, especially the analog synths

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Gearslutz App

[TheBrightSide]

Okay I've got a dumb one that's a bit different. It is much worse because it happened in public.
I was at my favourite music store, probably the biggest in my town, and headed straight for the synth section as usual. I went over to the nicest looking synth (can't remember which one it was, but it had heaps of knobs)
So I put on the headphones that were plugged into it and started playing away.
I was getting right into it, doing my best Alan Wilder/Liam Howlett/Richard Wright impersonation. As you do when trying out a new synth. After about ten minutes of horrible playing, tweeking the filters and making the resonance scream, I thought it was time to head home. So I took off the headphones and noticed that everyone was staring at me. I played one more note on the synth to find out that it was plugged into the stores live P.A. system, which was at an ear piercing level.
Needless to say, this is exactly how I left the shop ---->

[AikiGhost]

Take a really nice funky pattern I've made on a groovebox and jam the hell out of it till is all kinds of crazy rawkus then save over original pattern location.

[nebelfrau]

High pitched frequencies + two delays in a chain + headphones - limiter = OH GOD

[synthoid]

Originally Posted by TheBrightSide

So I took off the headphones and noticed that everyone was staring at me. I played one more note on the synth to find out that it was plugged into the stores live P.A. system, which was at an ear piercing level.

I love this story. You'd think someone who worked in the store would have come over and told you or unplugged it from the PA.

I've twice opened up a piece of gear to adjust or calibrate or modify it, gotten everything good, then dropped a screwdriver in it while it is on. d'oh. painful and expensive.

-synthoid