Source
r/audioengineering•
ReasonHead

What detail in a commercial song can you not unhear?

Recently, I've noticed the "oh yeah" in Ariana Grande's "no tears left to cry" fade out aggressively and I cannot help but find it weird every time I hear it now. Feels like there is a lot of reverb on it that is cut off as well with the fade out.

Also, I am pretty certain Marshmello messed up the volume automation, making it abrupt, instead of smooth in "Wolves" right before the chorus starts. You can hear the reverb suddenly get louder.

What are your examples?

Posted Mar 4, 2020, 8:26 PM UTC

79115
anontr8r•

The repeated ”Wooo!” In Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke.

42
DirkBelig•

Went and looked at the unrated video.....for RESEARCH....and the top comment is this list of time indexes (one per line in original):

0:07 Wooo! 0:11 Wooo! 0:15 Wooo! 0:19 Wooo! 0:23 Wooo! 0:27 Wooo! 0:31 Wooo! 0:35 Wooo! 0:39 Wooo! 0:43 Wooo! 0:47 Wooo! 0:51 Wooo! 0:55 Wooo! 0:59 Wooo! 1:03 Wooo! 1:07 Wooo! 1:11 Wooo! 1:15 Wooo! 1:19 Wooo! 1:23 Wooo! 1:27 Wooo! 1:31 Wooo! 1:35 Wooo! 1:39 Wooo! 1:43 Wooo! 1:47 Wooo! 1:51 Wooo! 1:55 Wooo! 1:59 Wooo! 2:03 Wooo! 2:07 Wooo! 2:11 Wooo! 2:15 Wooo! 2:19 Wooo! 2:23 Wooo! 2:27 Wooo! 2:31 Wooo! 2:35 Wooo! 2:39 Wooo! 2:43 Wooo! 2:47 Wooo! 2:51 Wooo! 2:55 Wooo! 2:59 Wooo! 3:03 Wooo! 3:07 Wooo! 3:11 Wooo! 3:15 Wooo! 3:19 Wooo! 3:23 Wooo! 3:27 Wooo! 3:31 Wooo! 3:35 Wooo! 3:39 Wooo! 3:43 Wooo! 3:47 Wooo! 3:51 Wooo! 3:55 Wooo! 3:59 Wooo! 4:03 Wooo! 4:07 Wooo! 4:11 Wooo! 4:15 Wooo! 4:19 wooo...

31
bbddbdb•

Hahah I cannot unhear this now.

5
ReasonHeadOP•

God, this is hilarious

10
three18ti•

Holy shit. I always sing along with the woo...

2
avers122•

r/Productionglitches is full of these

34
kingrpriddick•

Thank you, that sub is awesome!

3
avers122•

Can be nice to develop ears for certain glitches

5
doodle_rod•

Can be nice to develop glitches for certain ears

7
aspersioncast•

Sometimes these are delightful easter eggs for me - like the weird bits in a lot of 80s punk where you can tell they just did the best they could with a splice, or time signature issues in early sample-based music from before you could just snap to a grid. Actually a lot of "mistakes" are what i find compelling about music before ubiquitous and affordable DAWs

29
[deleted]•

[deleted]

3
aspersioncast•

Oh absolutely, didn't mean to imply that it isn't, just meaning to provide a counter-example to the OP.

1
Repentantant•

Agreed. Now that things are polished so much more they're all the more welcome. It's maybe a good lesson about knowing when to let something go and not over-knead that dough, to use a baking reference.

1
KeepDaFaith•

How could you miss the oportunity of saying earster eggs!?

1
Repentantant•

The spot in Strawberry Fields where they spliced two completely different complete and finished versions of the song together, slowing the second part down to match the pitch of the first part.

Cut at word "going" @ :60

Link to also enjoy one of the earliest "promotional films": https://youtu.be/HtUH9z_Oey8

26
SimLC•

Even better the splice before the first chorus of Good Vibrations is super obvious.

Not to take anything away from it, the song's a masterpiece.

13
Repentantant•

I am ashamed to say i didn't know about that edit. Going to check it out...

6
pointfiveL•

It's done in such a way that it's really not obvious. It isn't jarring because it cuts to a completely different section of the song with a whole new feeling.

3
Masterkid1230Professional•

I always thought it was an intentional and deliberate decision actually. Doesn’t really sound “off” to me, but more of a byproduct of early pop music production.

3
PencilMan•

That's allegedly one of the reasons Smile never came out. All of the tapes were little completed sections or movements of songs recorded separately that would be spliced together in editing, the same way Brian did Good Vibrations. The thought of having to splice them all together for each song on the album for a very long album by hand was too overwhelming. Add in the numerous different versions of each section, plus mental illness, copious drug use, and pressure from the label+the band and you can imagine the stress

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
naekhx•

wow thats amazing. really adds to the hallucinatory feel of the song. it even pitch bends as he says "going down" haha how perfect

1
Repentantant•

Hey, thanks for your reply... Just wanted to mention that pitch slide down is the cello part, it happens in each chorus. The edit was a razor cut straight to the slowed-down version.

2
beeps-n-boopsMixing•

I remember picking up on the timbre change at that point in the song from way back when I first heard it, but it wasn't until many years later when reading The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions that I learned about the edit; I originally thought it was just an intentional change in the tonality of the song for effect.

1
aderraProfessional•

McCartney shouting "Fucking Hell!" in the middle of Hey Jude.

22
januhhh•

I luv me some good ol' fockin' 'ell :)

4
TwiddleMeKnobs•

"Burn" by Ellie Goulding - :16 into it the phrase "cuz we've got the fire" is cut off to just be "z we've got the fire"

19
charlsteen•

Oh man this one is nails on a chalkboard

5
TwiddleMeKnobs•

Pretty bad innit?

2
jgrish14Mixing•

Oh man, now it sticks out like a sore thumb!!

3
FreddyMizar•

Holy shit! How did this one slip through the cracks?

3
quiethouseProfessional•

I’ve listened to Smashing Pumpkins “Siamese Dream” so much through my career I can now hear almost all the tape edits and sloppy overdubs in certain songs.

15
creep303•

this is a masterpiece of a record. please give examples!

7
aldonbee•

Yes, I too am interested in some examples of oddities in the mix of this album as I consider it an excellent recording. Dish if you will!

1
mrspecialMixing•

Some odd smashing pumpkins related things I’ve noticed in my lifetime: If you arpeggiate the first three chords in princes “purple rain” you get the exact melody of Mayonnaise

In 1979 the modulated vocal effect in between lines is him saying “turkey”

Yes these may be wrong, but they may be right

5
dat_shit_gray•

Gimme a couple, I love that album and it serves as a mix reference sometimes.

1
quiethouseProfessional•

Oh crap sorry I had a session today and forgot about this.

I’ll have to dig out my notes but there are lots of audible edits in Quiet and Hummer, mostly vocals. Strange punch ins for guitar on Geek USA and Rocket...it’s all stuff that once it’s pointed out to you you’ll be like wtf. But it’s not anything a casual listener would pick up on.

1
doodle_rod•

the “DJ KHALED” in that one song

14
itsmellslikecookies•

Just the one?

8
doodle_rod•

yeah just that one

5
J3k47•

Acreate

2
doodle_rod•

you loyal

2
Boathead96•

The tambourine in 'Feels' by Calvin Harris. It's there throughout the whole song, not being played rhythmically either. It's just sort of... rattling...

12
charlsteen•

Sounds like a slow pan too.

2
WalnutTheDog•

I just listened to the song. I assumed you were exaggerating when you said not being played rhythmically haha. But it really is just random rattling throughout.

1
ffflowww•

Every second lot of puh-puh-puh-poker faces Lady Gaga sings fuck her face instead. Puh-puh-puh-poker face puh-puh-fuck her face

11
AkaiS950•

This one has bothered me forever, especially when it’s being played in front of little kids lol

1
Uncle_blazer71•

Superstition by Stevie Wonder. With nice monitors, I can hear the kick pedal squeak pretty much the entire song...

9
MileHighMurphy•

Same thing with Led Zeppelin since I've been loving you. Ruins the song imo

5
Boeing77W•

The subtle octave synth in the 'nananana' section of All The Small Things

8
thewoodsterix•

It’s a guitar through a whammy pedal

-2
Boeing77W•

Had to double check, but nope its a synth

https://youtu.be/TU--X0pC12o?t=213

6
thewoodsterix•

Ah damn you’re right! Been a few years!

2
HumbleDenim•

There is a squeak on the downbeat of the 2nd bar of almost every 4 bar phrase of Counting Stars by OneRepublic. I don't know if it's part of another sound but I can't not hear it stick out. Half of the people I point it out to don't hear it.

Chorus:

Lately I've been (squeak) been losing sleep....

7
johninbigd•

It's just string squeak from the guitar player's hand changing positions.

9
ReasonHeadOP•

What the frick is that

3
allsound•

That’s the guitar player’s fingers sliding to another chord

7
ReasonHeadOP•

Oh, right! That's it

1
proximity_affect•

Never heard this until you pointed it out.

My guess is fret buzz on the acoustic guitar - that is clearly being looped.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

0
banksy_h8r•

Wow that's distracting. I hear it VERY clearly. It's in the center during the verse, only the right channel during the chorus. It's not during the breakdowns so maybe it was an artistic choice and not a mistake?

Very annoying though. I'll never be able to unhear that.

2
FancyBoiMusic•

The 808s on Congratulations by Post Malone are aggressively out of tune. But you won't hear it unless you either have good headphones or on monitors.

7
naekhx•

with distorted 808s the third harmonic is often louder than the fundamental, so you have to pick one of them to tune to and the other is always out.

the most common thing is to just leave it tuned to the sub, and the detuned harmonic just adds further spice to the already chromatic melodies that you wrote with your index finger

10
m477m•

the already chromatic melodies that you wrote with your index finger

👆🔥

2
Calahara•

There is a moment in the 1975's 'Chocolate' where the vocal autotune rather jarringly over-corrects. In fact, I can't recall offhand but it's even possible it glitches a little.

6
proximity_affect•

There’s a loon call in Thriller.

I’m from rural Ontario, Canada. The loon makes me feel nostalgic for canoe trips. It’s the furthest thing from creepy.

5
AsleepExplanation•

Manic Street Preachers' Underdogs, in which the first chorus originally went on a bit longer, until they cut it in a really clumsy and obvious way. https://youtu.be/FDaU-lWrxd0?t=655 for that one.

4
Resident132•

The squeaky kick pedal in "Since Ive Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin. Loved that song but once you hear it there is no going back.

4
MileHighMurphy•

I can't stand it!

1
banksy_h8r•

The crackle on the fader at the beginning of Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones, right before the snare & tom hits.

3
Masterkid1230Professional•

You can hear a lot of noise in the acoustic guitar of Someday We’ll Now by New Radicals. Granted, I actually like how it sounds, but I know plenty of engineers would do anything in their power to get rid of it. Probably a consequence of too much compression.

3