Another thing that might be interesting would be to hear from anyone with a 'strange recording' tale...that is, any kind of completely out-of-the-ordinary sessions you have been involved in. I don't mean just "musicians normally out of control in the studio" stuff, but something that should only happen once in a lifetime!
I'll start out with one of mine, a Lenny Kravitz tale:
After the recording of Lenny's "5" album, we were recording a song for Elton John, to be included in the CD release of his (and Tim Rice's) rock version of the opera Aida. We tracked the basic at Criteria in Miami, because LK had some committments there, and couldn't get away to Compass Point those three days. Everything went well, and I brought the track back to Compass Point for mixing. Lenny finished his meetings, and took off from Miami for his "getaway" house on another island; he only had a few days to rest up for a big tour about to start. I made a rough mix and sent it to the label.
A couple of days later, just as I was finishing the final mix, the call came in...Disney wouldn't accept our track, because the song had the word "bitch" in it, and they were a family company. Lenny had to re-sing two lines, and change a couple of words. But he was in a completely different, out of the way place, with no intention of leaving to do any more work, until he went on tour. Plus, his rest time was almost up, and if he came my way, he wouldn't be able to catch the right flight to meet his schedule.
The only thing to do was for me to go to him, and somehow record a vocal which matched enough to slip in the new lines. What to do?
This wasn't that long ago, but it was in the days before there were M-boxes which could be USB'd to a Powerbook, so I had to scramble and throw something together, and quickly. I got a Panasonic dat recorder, a set of headphones, an API lunchbox with 512 pre and 550b EQ (and phantom power, of course), and a condenser mic. I burned a CD with two versions of the track mixed to stereo...one with his vocals (for reference), and one instrumental. I found out for sure that LK did indeed have a CD player in his hideout. I booked a flight on a very small 'airline' (twin engine prop, two seats in back, plus pilot and one up front), and headed for the Nassau airport. Little did I know the adventure about to befall me.
I paid my fare, and waited for the pilot to come out. When he did, we walked to the Baron 58, and I loaded up the gear. Because I am a pilot also, I sat up front, in the right seat. I asked if I could fly part of the trip, and the pilot said sure, once we were airborne, and clear of the departure frequency. We taxi'd out, and commenced a takeoff roll on runway 9. Just before rotation, however, a tire burst, and flew off of the undercarriage. I could see the right wheel rolling away into the bush off to the right side of the runway as the fuselage sparked from the metal contacting the tarmac. The plane veered wildly to the right, spinning around, but the pilot was able to control it enough not to totally wreck anything. We came to rest off of the runway, with smoke billowing out of the plane. Of course, we exited the craft as quickly as possible, leaving the gear inside. Already the airport fire brigade were racing towards us; fortunately, there was nothing for them to do, as no fire ensued. But now what was I to do? I still had to get the vocals recorded...the track was due at mastering 'yesterday,' and Lenny was leaving for a world tour the next day!
I asked the pilot if the little airline had another plane, but he said no, they did not, at least not one readily available. He also wanted me to stay with him to help give the accident report to the Civil Aviation Authorities, but I had another agenda. So I asked the firemen if I could ride back towards the terminal with them; they assented, so I grabbed all of the gear out of the wounded airplane, and climbed up onto the fire truck, catching that all-important ride. When I got back to the general aviation area, I asked around to everybody I could find, and fortunately ran across a guy who had another Baron, and who was amenable to renting it out to me. We set the deal; I promised to pay him in cash when we got back that evening. Off we went; and, I did get to fly part of the trip after all.
When we got to the destination airport, Lenny was waiting in his Jeep; the pilot promised to remain there for me. We drove to LK's place, and I set everything up in his bedroom. He listened to the phones directly out of the dat machine. The CD instrumental track went into one channel, and the line out of the API into the other. We quickly recorded the needed lines, and headed back to the airport.
My guy was waiting there for me, and the trip back was uneventful. As soon as I arrived home, I got the pilot paid, and went straight into the studio to insert the new lines, and finish mixing. I then rushed the tape, driving as fast as possible, but arriving at Fedex just as they were closing their doors; but I begged, and they let me in; the tape was delivered to mastering the following morning, just in time for their session.
Other than that, this one was a piece of cake.
Terry