F'in film crew

[Jay Kahrs]

Seriously, the band I'm recording right now told me that a friend was going to stop by with a camera to shoot some video and they wanted to know if it would be ok. Of course I said yes. He showed up today at 6 with a pair of huge pro video cameras, 3/4" VCR's and big ****in' PAR cans. We had been making good progess all day, got 3 songs down (drums, bass) without a problem in a few takes on each. Cameras show up and it disrupts us for an hour and a half while he sets up the shit and gets the lights together. He also tried to run 9 extension cables under the door into the live room. Nu uh, not gonna happen cause I can't close the door.

In a nutshell, we got nothing done. The band beat the song (which should've been easy) into the ground. The rehearsal take which wasn't being taped was the best one. It wasn't being taped because video guy was trying to get audio going and I got a ground loop when I gave him the console feed. So, I called it a night at 9:20 after at least 20 takes with nothing to show for it. Moral of story, no more video crews in my studio. No exceptions.

[Knox]

Jay . . . Can relate . . . . had that happen too many times! No more.
I love the way the bands always says it like . . . . "a friend MIGHT stop by to shoot a little video at some point tonight".

Bullshit on that! Then everyone starts "acting". I hate that shit! Nothing worse then a musician that THINKS he is an actor . . . . MTV proves that, doesn't it?

[Drumsound]

I had a band whose guitar player was in grad school studying multi-media. He had a hand-held camera for most of the week. He documentary (which got him an A) is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. My favorite part is while he's "interviewing" me while I running mic cable the caption says "Tony SanFilippo--short guy." I love it!

[e-cue]

Next time, agree to it, then show up to the studio wearing a cod peice and some doc martins. Make it a total circus and have fun since you won't get crap done anyway. BTW, this is a great way to make sure no one steals your seat.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by Knox
Bullshit on that! Then everyone starts "acting". I hate that shit! Nothing worse then a musician that THINKS he is an actor . . . . MTV proves that, doesn't it?

Oh yeah. The best part other then losing the best take (rehearsal) because of the camera crew was when I called the drummer out on cymbal bashing. I had been reminding him since we started on Saturday not too hit them too hard because he is a bit of a basher. Guess what, camera's go and and we're actually rolling 2" and he's banging the shit out of them. THAT was entertaining. Oh, that and camera guy set one of them up and it recorded 40 minutes of blue screen rather then 40 minutes of tracking. Slick.
grudge