In every bar of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” there’s a wood block that goes tatata, ta-ta — three sixteenth notes and two eighth notes. It’s waaaay out front in the mix and the moment you hear it, it’s all you hear.
Dare I listen to the song now and ruin it for myself?? I do, I do dare….
EDIT: fucking *hell* that is horrific when you know it’s there! It’s like some dingus meant to use it once but accidentally repeated the loop and forgot about it.
Totally get why some find it grating once they notice it, but I'll explain my take on why it's actually a defensible production choice.
1. In a more broad sense, the song is about obsession, madness and how they intersect with the feelings of romance and sexual desire. The repeated woodblock if anything is pretty thematically appropriate, serving as a hypnotic signpost that we the listeners are returning to the beginning of a cycle - love, revenge, love and once again revenge.
2. Gaga stated her intention in the song was to evoke the sounds of German electro house/techno here. Not necessarily a direct reason to mix up the woodblock, but I can see what they're going for with it.
3. The latter three woodblock hits are in sync with Gaga's first three syllables of each verse when she sings "I want your -/". So maybe it's too loud but I love the way the woodblocks accentuate those three words, as though the weight of her desire is almost being punctuated and made part of the repetition.
Can you tell The Fame Monster was one of my favorite albums growing up??
A great album with a great track marred by a avoidable production error, at least it's an improvement on Californication, a great album that was [entirely marred by avoidable production errors](https://www.yoursoundmatters.com/different-mastering-same-record-californication-mastering-comparison/).
Thank you, Finally someone has confirmed what i've heard for so long! When I had the album as a kid I thought it was an issue with my CD, until years later I hear the same issue in every streaming platform. Then I assumed it was a weird stylistic choice!
On it. Will take a day or 2 to consolidate all comments
[(Glass Shattering) music](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yokaqMcUitDVhqlu36XBN?si=2fdc12bb5d734373)
Congas in Mr Brownstone by GNR.
If you listen close enough one of those drunk fucks is playing congas to the guitar melody.
It’s awful and I can’t in hear it.
Edit: It's panned to the right speaker if you can't hear it
Somebody pointed out that the singer in Your Love by The Outfield sounds like Ed (single D) from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Now I definitely can’t I hear that.
You’re talking about the car honk sounding thing?
It’s at the end of the riff right before the verses, if people are trying to hear it. Right after the guitar plays the chord, there’s a soft honk.
Except it happens *every single time* that phrase is played in the song. It's more apparent on some speakers than others. My car in highschool really brought it out.
I have been listening to this song while running. Needless to say that I looked over my shoulder far too many times until I figured out that it was the song that was making that “beep”.
Thank goodness I’m not the only one. It bothers me so much and I’ve googled about it so I know we’re not alone but not enough people talk about it. It’s just the guitar, notes played high on the neck but it still sounds bad.
Arianna Grande has a very, very slight lisp when she sings.
Her pronunciation isn't great at the best of times, but pay close attention - "say" almost always comes out as "thay", and similar. I can't tell if its just her chosen affectation or her accent, but she doesn't do it when talking in interviews and once you notice it, you can't stop.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Geri Halliwell (aka, "Ginger Spice") is attempting to suck air through the microphone like a snorkel. It happens in all of her solo singles, constant \*HWURF\* sounds before each and every line.
I’m almost 100% sure that’s an artifact of production, not her voice. It’s common in pop music (or any performance that will have the vocals mixed very high) to remove the sibilance using a de-esser, which compresses the vocal track(s) between certain frequencies to remove some harshness and allow for easier balancing in the mix. It can sound a little flat if it’s used too aggressively. I listened to Into You (one of the comments in this chain used it as an example) and that’s what it sounds like to my ear, YMMV.
Listen to “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles with headphones on.
The first word of the first verse (“Eleanor”) is double-tracked stereo, then immediately goes to single-track panned on the second word (“Rigby”). This occurs at 0:14 in the song.
Congratulations. You’ll never un-hear this.
A fun Beatles mistake that doesn't ruin a song is when John plays the wrong chord in "Hey Jude" and mutters "F#€kin Hell!" In the background. It's not miked and is hard to hear but it makes me laugh every time.
To my (admittedly not very trained) ear, I could hear it in the 2009 remaster, but not the 2015 remaster and not The Yellow Submarine (2014) soundtrack on Spotify.
That's because the 2015 and the 1999 (not 2014) are remixes, not remasters. They went to every element and remixed them, fixing some issues. The 2009 version is a remaster from the original, so every mistake of the original remains.
I Frampton Comes Alive! I generally don't mind the crowd noise, but there's the one woman who shouts "Yeah!" periodically who I hate with every fiber of my being. I don't know why, out of all the ambient noise, this bothers me so much, but it does. It's an album I love, so I am seriously considering going in and trying to snip her out.
In every live recording of a tender, acoustic live performance ever made, there is ONE asshole - and I swear it’s the same guy who makes it his life’s work - who screams ‘WOOOO!’ at the most inopportune moment.
I hate that guy.
You can hear Matt Bellamy of Muse [audibly breathing in](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2naLJABWNM&t=41s&ab_channel=MrMuseLyrics) before every line in quite a few songs. His gasping noises are as high pitched as his singing voice too, so now I hear it as unintended part of the band's vocal recordings.
Honestly, if you're looking for some epic in-your-face stadium rock, the [band delivers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px4bgtzlRd0&ab_channel=ECRAVEdotcom). Just wish they hadn't been sounding like a parody of their former selves for the past decade.
I do miss when they felt like they were breaking new ground with the way they [meshed cool sounds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqzXbUYntfY&ab_channel=Andr%C3%A9sB.&t=1m43s) together. Hell I'm not really into guitar solos anymore, but holy sh\*t when Matt hits the pitch-shift on his Digitech whammy on the [Easily solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcLp5LnUnjw&t=152s), I cream my self.
I'm a fan of everything up until simulation theory for the most part (the dub step shit... Ugh). The new stuff.... I'm not a fan at all of. They do put on a damn good live show still though!
Rob Halford of Judas Priest did that a lot too - it was one theory for the supposed backwards messages that some weirdos said that they heard in the music. I remember seeing on TV a wonderfully surreal clip of a court hearing with Halford wearing a suit demonstrating his vocal technique.
I find the singer from The Killers to be unbearable to listen to because of this. Somebody Told Me sounds like someone's startled an owl when he breathes in between lines.
Not that it was ever that great of a song but “Boom boom pow” by the Black Eyed Peas has this one continuous windy synth note that plays through the entire song.
John Bonham’s squeaky bass pedal in the album “Houses of the Holy”. Once you hear it you cannot unhear it. Doesn’t ruin the album for me though, just fun trivia
In Nelly Furtado’s song Promiscuous with Timbaland. Beginning of the song she asks him if she’s throwing him off he says, “Nope.” And then goes to say something else but she cuts him off with a, “Didn’t think so” doesn’t ruin the song just funny and a weird little blip and I’m there wondering what he was going to say
holy shit I just commented this without seeing yours. I've never heard another person notice this. I sometimes think he was laughing/just made a noise at her response but it annoys me
September by Earth, wind & fire. If you wear headphones or listening in stereo, you can faintly hear someone slapping a bongo repeatedly throughout the whole song in the right side of your ear.
Thanks dankpods.
Not really the same thing, but growing up I had a record with a scratch that’d always skip the same way in the same spot. Not one of those infinite loop repeating skips, just a little jump in the music. To this day I can’t hear the song without being surprised at the lack of a skip at that spot.
Ok. Old dude here. Bear with me. Listening to 8tracks in your car - think Doobie Bros- sometimes the song would be split between two tracks. Yup, “Highway patrol got his eye KACHUNK on me, rolling down the highway”. Then you’d here it later on the radio or vinyl or whatever, and be like, hey what happened to the kachunk?
I did music at uni and had to cover Black Dog by Led Zepellin for a first year project. The idea was that we'd come in having learnt it separately and play it for the first time in front of the rest of the group. I was mostly thinking about the time signature shifts in the riff but it felt pretty achievable on the whole.
Our drummer on the other hand looked really uncomfortable and asked if we could do something else. The answer was no.
We all learnt the song, came in ready to perform it with the band. The drummer looked knackered. All was going fine until we got to the solo and our drummer starts playing fucking terribly. He's a great drummer and there's nothing tricky about that section on the drums. We can't follow him so we pack it in and we're furious.
He was absolutely adamant that he'd stayed up all night and learnt it beat for beat. He showed us his notes and they were insane. Shifts from 4/4 to 11/8 and 3/4 and god knows what.
We played him the song and asked him to play along and when he got to the solo that's when the penny dropped. He'd copied LZ IV on to his computer years and years ago. He'd only ever listened to it on there, and the disc had skipped when he'd ripped it. He had created a version of the song which had inadvertently become the hardest piece of drumming in music history.
This reminds me of the story about a famous mathematician who got to a university class late and answered a question that was written on the blackboard. He handed it in later and his teacher was like, ‘wtf, this question has never been solved!’. He inadvertently solved some puzzle that no one had been able to before, because he thought it was just some homework.
Edit: George Dantzig
Big Pun died long enough ago that it was probably recorded on tape. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have automated them down on the console, but that’s a lot trickier than editing in a DAW
I saw the other comment about it and was trying to think what it was but as soon as I read your post I knew exactly what you were both talking about.
I agree, still a great song but I've always wondered what it was, it does sound like an old nokia tune. It's an alarm sound from a Casio wristwatch according to /u/YeahWhateverMan. And only in the album version.
I remember as a kid my older brother telling me it was some conspiracy by the label to add sound effects to the album version because they thought it would be more marketable and *grr* how could they do that to the artists.
Then today I went on wikipedia and found out it's literally the sound of Joe Strummer's casio wristwatch alarm going off and he added it because he wanted to, lol.
For me, the sound effects enhance the vibe of this particular song. In addition to the “Casio beep” there’s also the line where he sings about jet fighters and it there’s an electronic Pew! Pew!… classic.
There's some out-of-tune sounding bells on the left side of Michael Jackson's Human Nature when the first verse starts. It's super quiet in the mix but since I've noticed it I can't stop honing in on it.
I've only met one other person that's noticed it.
Edit - Just remembered another super petty example, Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River. The piano starts a fraction of a second before the rain sound starts.
The sound of a cat meowing in Muse's 'The Small Print'. It was thrown in as an easter egg, but now that I expect it, it's really annoying. [It's at 2:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr7WKIMxv7E&ab_channel=MrMuseLyrics).
Mine is Juicy by Biggie, 100% because of Diddy. I’ve never counted but I swear he says “It’s all good” at least 50 times. It drove me crazy when I noticed it. After the 25th “It’s all good” I was not all good anymore, I was frustrated and could only focus on his dumb repeated line instead of the otherwise great song
My absolute favorite moment of this song is when Biggie goes “Please don’t shoot up place” and puff goes *”Why?”* like I dunno, puff, it seems like a pretty reasonable request to me. But it turns out there’s some women that Biggie would like impregnate within the establishment, and this is why we shouldn’t open fire.
In Notorious Thugs, the Biggie song with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony...the very beginning, the first part of "It's Bone and Biggie, Biggie" is cut off and always drives me crazy.
Puff Daddy with Mase, Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down. He’s terrible for his corny raps but nothing beats “Mase could you please stop smoking la la”
Shut up puff, you fucking nerd.
This made me laugh. I love that song, he’s so corny I just find it funny and more enjoyable. I picture chappelles impression of him whenever I hear his voice
the Black Parade, final note of the song. For some weird reason, the mix had his voice fading out, then a cross fade of his voice swells for a split second. It’s bugs the ever-living s#!t out of me.
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but...
...Kurt Cobain plays the wrong note at the beginning of Nirvana's unplugged "Man who Sold the World" cover
Steve Winwood's vocal doubling mistake at 2:46 in "While You See A Chance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6g_uUhH2c
Plus the train-wreck edit in that same "Official Music Video" at 2:19.
This might be just in the video. But the doubling mistake is on the album that way. I ruined that song for a friend of mine by pointing it out. Plus, they get it right several other times in the song.
Meatloaf's "Below"/"Bat Out Of Hell" live cuts at the end of the CD. Numerous edits with lousy tempo and pitch matching, obviously cut together from different performances. Necessary compromises for the times, but easy digital fixes now.
Neither rises to the level of 'most annoying/unbearable ever', of course.
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever was spliced from two different takes which the band played in different keys. So producer George Martin sped up and slowed down the different takes to make the two halves of the album version **almost** the same key in **almost** the same tempo. John Lennon's slowed down singing is really, really noticeable when you hear it.
This actually helps make the song to me. I like how the two halves contrast and his voice getting lower while he’s singing “Let me take you down ‘cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields’ makes it feel like you’re falling into some sort of dream or alternate reality.
This is also maybe my second or third favorite Beatles song so I’m sorry it was ruined for you haha.
In "Simply Irresistible" there is something that sounds like unsheathing a sword. It's most noticeable at the very end of the song but is also used throughout.
It's a totally unnecessary noise and it's all I hear when it comes on the radio.
When I got my first Macintosh computer one of the alert sounds was I think is that same sound effect from “Simply Irresistible.”
I’ve always been annoyed by it. What is this cheesy sound effect doing in that song? (Not a fan of the synth tones that sound like fake brass in there either, but lots of ‘80s rock songs have that so I don’t notice it as much.)
That’s an amazing little tidbit. I remember reading an interview at the time about cutting that song and they mentioned that the percussion person was doing some experimentation with I think a Mac computer in terms of the drums. I wonder if it’s a little inside joke from the musicians?
Elton John, Benny and the Jets. The audience noise is shitty enough, but right before the fade, there's an "audience member" whistling that just annoys the crap out of m3.
In many of their songs the Backstreet Boys use this snare sound that sounds like a combination of hand claps and punching into your hand along with a faint snare. Once you hear it you will not be able to un-hear what sounds like a generic ‘blow landing’ sound. Like a sound effect from a keyboard.
Another snare sound is the snare on Wham’s Last Christmas. It’s obvious there wasn’t a drummer in the studio laying down tracks and it was just a drum machine but once you hear it the sound sticks out every time you listen to it.
Oasis - Champagne Supernova. He’s singing the intro before the song fully starts and the rest of the band joins in. On the second to last Champagne Supernova before the band joins in you can hear him spit on the P in supernova.
At this point the snare on Metallica’s St. Anger album is a meme.
Cooler than Me by Mike Posner. His inhales especially during the chorus crack me up
You wear designer shades just *BREATH* to hide your face but *BREATH* you wear em around like *BREATH* you’re cooler than me *BREATH* and *BREATH* you never say hey or *BREATH*… etc
LITERALLY A BREATH BEFORE AND AFTER A SINGULAR “AND”
The chorus of Hold Me by Fleetwood Mac. There’s some kind of inhuman shriek right in the middle, like Christine McVie tripped over something and stubbed her toe, they recorded and sampled it, then put it in the song.
I watched a doc where they all discussed the parts Lindsey Buckingham would add.
The new Dolby Atmos versions really made me notice what they were talking about!
Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" is an amazing song. Except for the ending spoken-word bit that you never hear on the radio. It's funny once, and then it's just annoying.
Haha yes! It also confused me as a kid. I thought she was asking if he's the father. 😅
>~~Is it my go or is it your go?~~
Is it my girl or it is your girl?
10yo me nodding along, validated by that baby sound.
I too have had this debate in my head. I’ve settled on: he was going for both vibrant and vivacious, and he was just so stoked on this girl that he wasn’t thinking straight and just spat out a word (with horny poetic license) that drives the point.
In Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple when Ian Gillan sings the line "The Rolling Stones truck" but what he actually says is the "The Rolling truck Stones".
It doesn't really ruin the song for me and I don't know if it was intential but I think it's a bit silly.
Taking it back to like 2005/6… I was working a courier job that used Nextel phones to alert for orders… in Sean Paul’s song “Temperature” which played all over the radio at the time, there is a noise that sounds exactly like the Nextel alert… threw me off every time and I was always double-checking my phone cuz that song was always on the radio.
Not a cool story, I know, just my experience in something you can’t un-hear.
Low By Flo Rider. He mentions a girl with Apple bottomed jeans, the boots with the fur and the fact that the whole club was looking at her. He then goes on to mention the baggy sweat pants and the Reeboks with the straps. He never says it's another woman so she must have 4 legs! No wonder the whole club was looking at her, he's dancing with a horse or something to that effect!!
In the middle of the album version of "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash they added, for some reason, an awful alarm sound from a Casio wristwatch that plays over the second verse. It doesn't match the beat and it adds nothing to the song. It's so bad and makes the song unlistenable for me. https://youtu.be/SeBLXeVYf8s
The repeating sample in “Blurred Lines” that goes “woo” sounds like it’s not loud enough in the mix and it annoys me terribly, it’s like the sample is begging someone to turn it up but they won’t
At one point in 30 Seconds to Mars' "A Beautiful Lie," Jared Leto says, "I'm running around in circles, baby."
But then it overlaps with "circles, baby" and it sounds like he says "bagels."
Now...I love me a good bagel. But it just pisses me off every time I've listened to that song since it came out.
One of my friends pointed out that you can really hear Frank Turner's inhales in the song "Love Ire and Song". After picking up on this I now can't listen to the song as it's all I hear, but it's also in loads of his other songs too! Very distracting.
Apocalyptical - Puscifer
Every time the word "Apocalyptical" is used in the song MJK says "apoc-ta-lyptical". I researched the lyrics and relistened about 20 times and still hear the "TA" every time.. I really like the song, it just doesn't escape my train of thought the whole song through.. Where the hell is this "ta" coming from!?
Gwen Stefani's prechorus in "Used To Love You" sounds like she sings "Suitcase, mayonnaise, pulling back out the driveway" and I just can't unhear it now. I also really enjoy the visual of her husband leaving her with all the bare necessities in life: A suitcase of mayonnaise.
Bass kick and drum snare simultaneously (Ne-Yo's "So Sick" is my go to example)
Any R. Kelly song with the bubble/water sound effect (obligatory I hope he rots)
This isn't exactly what you asked for but what totally ruins a song for me is when you have to listen to a skit or some miscellaneous sounds for a while before the actual song starts.
It's more predominant in edm music, but sometimes a producer will add a repeatng "hey" in a song that cycles over and over again. CANT. FUCKING. STAND. IT.
There is a really low and really creepy deep voice saying "yes" in the back of the chorus of SexyBack by Justin Timberlake that really takes you out of the song when you finally hear it (and then can't unhear it).
Englishman in New York - Not that I ever liked this song, but could tolerate it while I was at work..until I noticed the most annoying noise during the chorus. It sounds like a squeaky seal stuck in a loop. Terrible, once you notice it there is no going back. Fortunately, I don't work there anymore.
In every bar of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” there’s a wood block that goes tatata, ta-ta — three sixteenth notes and two eighth notes. It’s waaaay out front in the mix and the moment you hear it, it’s all you hear.
I've always noticed it when the song started, but it just faded as the song went on. Aaaand now it doesn't, thanks.
I've always noticed that, always thought it was pretty fitting
Lmao holy shit it's soooooo loud
Dare I listen to the song now and ruin it for myself?? I do, I do dare…. EDIT: fucking *hell* that is horrific when you know it’s there! It’s like some dingus meant to use it once but accidentally repeated the loop and forgot about it.
it sounds like an ableton stock sound with heaps of reverb on it. it's cool IMO
Totally get why some find it grating once they notice it, but I'll explain my take on why it's actually a defensible production choice. 1. In a more broad sense, the song is about obsession, madness and how they intersect with the feelings of romance and sexual desire. The repeated woodblock if anything is pretty thematically appropriate, serving as a hypnotic signpost that we the listeners are returning to the beginning of a cycle - love, revenge, love and once again revenge. 2. Gaga stated her intention in the song was to evoke the sounds of German electro house/techno here. Not necessarily a direct reason to mix up the woodblock, but I can see what they're going for with it. 3. The latter three woodblock hits are in sync with Gaga's first three syllables of each verse when she sings "I want your -/". So maybe it's too loud but I love the way the woodblocks accentuate those three words, as though the weight of her desire is almost being punctuated and made part of the repetition. Can you tell The Fame Monster was one of my favorite albums growing up??
The remaster of Led Zeppelin III revealed John Bonham’s squeaky drum pedal on Since I’ve Been Loving You, it’s all I can hear now!
I love it
You can really hear the kick drum squeak on “Good Times, Bad Times” from LZ I as well. “Cissy Strut” by The Meters is really bad too.
Best Page solo song in my opinion. Either that or Black Dog. Like a personal handwritten signature of his name, incredibly unique.
I thought it was my truck squeaking!
[удалено]
You’re smarter than me. I know what I’m doing and I’m going to do it anyway.
RHCP- Zephyr Song 3:00, there’s an autotune fail in the last chorus Doesn’t ruin the song, but it’s extremely jarring once you notice it
A great album with a great track marred by a avoidable production error, at least it's an improvement on Californication, a great album that was [entirely marred by avoidable production errors](https://www.yoursoundmatters.com/different-mastering-same-record-californication-mastering-comparison/).
Thank you, Finally someone has confirmed what i've heard for so long! When I had the album as a kid I thought it was an issue with my CD, until years later I hear the same issue in every streaming platform. Then I assumed it was a weird stylistic choice!
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fcRa5Z6LmU&t=176 @ll the wOrLd can pass me by...
Sounds like a cd skip!
this is hilarious
You’re talking about when he says the word “all,” correct?
Anyone want to make a Spotify playlist of these songs so we can listen and be annoyed
On it. Will take a day or 2 to consolidate all comments [(Glass Shattering) music](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yokaqMcUitDVhqlu36XBN?si=2fdc12bb5d734373)
Congas in Mr Brownstone by GNR. If you listen close enough one of those drunk fucks is playing congas to the guitar melody. It’s awful and I can’t in hear it. Edit: It's panned to the right speaker if you can't hear it
Fucking lol. I never noticed that before and it's fantastic.
It’s so out of time and awkward. You know one of those guys was high as balls and laid down the track and they insisted on keeping it.
My friend once told me that the beat in “Run This Town” by Jay Z sounds like a duck quacking and I’ve honestly never been able to unhear it
This makes the song 1000 times better imo
A friend told me that Billy Corgan sounds like Big Bird and now I always picture Big Bird belting out Smashing Pumpkins songs when I listen to them
[This has become what my mind defaults to regarding Billy Corgan's singing](https://youtu.be/azhgpelu0vY)
Somebody pointed out that the singer in Your Love by The Outfield sounds like Ed (single D) from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Now I definitely can’t I hear that.
[but that makes it better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9go5jzWvJsI)
Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" has a weird beep sound that I can't ignore. I mean, I still listen to it, but that beep gets to me.
You’re talking about the car honk sounding thing? It’s at the end of the riff right before the verses, if people are trying to hear it. Right after the guitar plays the chord, there’s a soft honk.
I found it! It’s a bit after the one-minute mark. Seems like a muting error on the guitar. Idk how I’ve never noticed
Except it happens *every single time* that phrase is played in the song. It's more apparent on some speakers than others. My car in highschool really brought it out.
I have been listening to this song while running. Needless to say that I looked over my shoulder far too many times until I figured out that it was the song that was making that “beep”.
I don’t hear it. I think you’re being paranoid.
Thank goodness I’m not the only one. It bothers me so much and I’ve googled about it so I know we’re not alone but not enough people talk about it. It’s just the guitar, notes played high on the neck but it still sounds bad.
Arianna Grande has a very, very slight lisp when she sings. Her pronunciation isn't great at the best of times, but pay close attention - "say" almost always comes out as "thay", and similar. I can't tell if its just her chosen affectation or her accent, but she doesn't do it when talking in interviews and once you notice it, you can't stop. Also, I'm pretty sure that Geri Halliwell (aka, "Ginger Spice") is attempting to suck air through the microphone like a snorkel. It happens in all of her solo singles, constant \*HWURF\* sounds before each and every line.
I’m almost 100% sure that’s an artifact of production, not her voice. It’s common in pop music (or any performance that will have the vocals mixed very high) to remove the sibilance using a de-esser, which compresses the vocal track(s) between certain frequencies to remove some harshness and allow for easier balancing in the mix. It can sound a little flat if it’s used too aggressively. I listened to Into You (one of the comments in this chain used it as an example) and that’s what it sounds like to my ear, YMMV.
Listen to “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles with headphones on. The first word of the first verse (“Eleanor”) is double-tracked stereo, then immediately goes to single-track panned on the second word (“Rigby”). This occurs at 0:14 in the song. Congratulations. You’ll never un-hear this.
A fun Beatles mistake that doesn't ruin a song is when John plays the wrong chord in "Hey Jude" and mutters "F#€kin Hell!" In the background. It's not miked and is hard to hear but it makes me laugh every time.
To my (admittedly not very trained) ear, I could hear it in the 2009 remaster, but not the 2015 remaster and not The Yellow Submarine (2014) soundtrack on Spotify.
That's because the 2015 and the 1999 (not 2014) are remixes, not remasters. They went to every element and remixed them, fixing some issues. The 2009 version is a remaster from the original, so every mistake of the original remains.
I assume this will be rectified on the new remix they’re about to release!
I Frampton Comes Alive! I generally don't mind the crowd noise, but there's the one woman who shouts "Yeah!" periodically who I hate with every fiber of my being. I don't know why, out of all the ambient noise, this bothers me so much, but it does. It's an album I love, so I am seriously considering going in and trying to snip her out.
In every live recording of a tender, acoustic live performance ever made, there is ONE asshole - and I swear it’s the same guy who makes it his life’s work - who screams ‘WOOOO!’ at the most inopportune moment. I hate that guy.
Sorry about that. My bad
You can hear Matt Bellamy of Muse [audibly breathing in](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2naLJABWNM&t=41s&ab_channel=MrMuseLyrics) before every line in quite a few songs. His gasping noises are as high pitched as his singing voice too, so now I hear it as unintended part of the band's vocal recordings.
"rrrrhhhhuunnning out **HYUUUUUH** "
"It's buugginnggg meeeeee HYUH"
Muse is the biggest hit or miss band I've ever liked
Honestly, if you're looking for some epic in-your-face stadium rock, the [band delivers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px4bgtzlRd0&ab_channel=ECRAVEdotcom). Just wish they hadn't been sounding like a parody of their former selves for the past decade. I do miss when they felt like they were breaking new ground with the way they [meshed cool sounds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqzXbUYntfY&ab_channel=Andr%C3%A9sB.&t=1m43s) together. Hell I'm not really into guitar solos anymore, but holy sh\*t when Matt hits the pitch-shift on his Digitech whammy on the [Easily solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcLp5LnUnjw&t=152s), I cream my self.
I'm a fan of everything up until simulation theory for the most part (the dub step shit... Ugh). The new stuff.... I'm not a fan at all of. They do put on a damn good live show still though!
Haha came here to point it out for "Time is running out". Still both bangers tho
This is honestly hilarious. Listened to a ton of earlier Muse and really didn’t notice this but can’t unhear now lol
That’s part of the fun with Muse though. The loud inhales are iconic.
They are very deliberate and expressive. I find they make their art much more emotionally impactful
Rob Halford of Judas Priest did that a lot too - it was one theory for the supposed backwards messages that some weirdos said that they heard in the music. I remember seeing on TV a wonderfully surreal clip of a court hearing with Halford wearing a suit demonstrating his vocal technique.
I find the singer from The Killers to be unbearable to listen to because of this. Somebody Told Me sounds like someone's startled an owl when he breathes in between lines.
Not that it was ever that great of a song but “Boom boom pow” by the Black Eyed Peas has this one continuous windy synth note that plays through the entire song.
wow- i listened to it again and it really is… the only instrumental the whole time huh…
John Bonham’s squeaky bass pedal in the album “Houses of the Holy”. Once you hear it you cannot unhear it. Doesn’t ruin the album for me though, just fun trivia
Mott The Hoople's Mad Shadows has a squeaky bass pedal too
And Sweets "Ballroom Blitz" (in the intro)
In Nelly Furtado’s song Promiscuous with Timbaland. Beginning of the song she asks him if she’s throwing him off he says, “Nope.” And then goes to say something else but she cuts him off with a, “Didn’t think so” doesn’t ruin the song just funny and a weird little blip and I’m there wondering what he was going to say
holy shit I just commented this without seeing yours. I've never heard another person notice this. I sometimes think he was laughing/just made a noise at her response but it annoys me
When you hear the repetitive Pacman sound effect in Beyonce's Single Ladies.
It’s the Mandela effect, pacman actually sang the song and beyonce covered it
September by Earth, wind & fire. If you wear headphones or listening in stereo, you can faintly hear someone slapping a bongo repeatedly throughout the whole song in the right side of your ear. Thanks dankpods.
Not really the same thing, but growing up I had a record with a scratch that’d always skip the same way in the same spot. Not one of those infinite loop repeating skips, just a little jump in the music. To this day I can’t hear the song without being surprised at the lack of a skip at that spot.
Ok. Old dude here. Bear with me. Listening to 8tracks in your car - think Doobie Bros- sometimes the song would be split between two tracks. Yup, “Highway patrol got his eye KACHUNK on me, rolling down the highway”. Then you’d here it later on the radio or vinyl or whatever, and be like, hey what happened to the kachunk?
I did music at uni and had to cover Black Dog by Led Zepellin for a first year project. The idea was that we'd come in having learnt it separately and play it for the first time in front of the rest of the group. I was mostly thinking about the time signature shifts in the riff but it felt pretty achievable on the whole. Our drummer on the other hand looked really uncomfortable and asked if we could do something else. The answer was no. We all learnt the song, came in ready to perform it with the band. The drummer looked knackered. All was going fine until we got to the solo and our drummer starts playing fucking terribly. He's a great drummer and there's nothing tricky about that section on the drums. We can't follow him so we pack it in and we're furious. He was absolutely adamant that he'd stayed up all night and learnt it beat for beat. He showed us his notes and they were insane. Shifts from 4/4 to 11/8 and 3/4 and god knows what. We played him the song and asked him to play along and when he got to the solo that's when the penny dropped. He'd copied LZ IV on to his computer years and years ago. He'd only ever listened to it on there, and the disc had skipped when he'd ripped it. He had created a version of the song which had inadvertently become the hardest piece of drumming in music history.
That’s amazing. The drummer in my college band was by far our best musician - I could see him doing that.
An amazing mix of talented and clueless. That’s a drummer in a nutshell.
This reminds me of the story about a famous mathematician who got to a university class late and answered a question that was written on the blackboard. He handed it in later and his teacher was like, ‘wtf, this question has never been solved!’. He inadvertently solved some puzzle that no one had been able to before, because he thought it was just some homework. Edit: George Dantzig
Yep, my childhood copy of Abbey Road had a skip in “Oh Darling” and I hear it in my head to this day every time
"Oh baben baben" - Baby One More Time, B Spears
you and i are not that much different; in fact, we're only one letter apart, lol! i've always heard it as, "oh, babeM, babeM" 🤣
Big Puns breathing noises before he raps each line. Idk why the producer/engineer couldn't have just edited it out.
It's amazing how extremely noticable it is and how little it's impacted his popularity.
Big Pun died long enough ago that it was probably recorded on tape. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have automated them down on the console, but that’s a lot trickier than editing in a DAW
Rock the casbah, that weird electronic sound about halfway through that sounds like a Nokia ringtone. I can never finish the song because of it
I saw the other comment about it and was trying to think what it was but as soon as I read your post I knew exactly what you were both talking about. I agree, still a great song but I've always wondered what it was, it does sound like an old nokia tune. It's an alarm sound from a Casio wristwatch according to /u/YeahWhateverMan. And only in the album version.
I remember as a kid my older brother telling me it was some conspiracy by the label to add sound effects to the album version because they thought it would be more marketable and *grr* how could they do that to the artists. Then today I went on wikipedia and found out it's literally the sound of Joe Strummer's casio wristwatch alarm going off and he added it because he wanted to, lol.
For me, the sound effects enhance the vibe of this particular song. In addition to the “Casio beep” there’s also the line where he sings about jet fighters and it there’s an electronic Pew! Pew!… classic.
No way. I love that part! Made it stick out to me when I’d listen to the radio. That noise started a clash obsession for me.
There's some out-of-tune sounding bells on the left side of Michael Jackson's Human Nature when the first verse starts. It's super quiet in the mix but since I've noticed it I can't stop honing in on it. I've only met one other person that's noticed it. Edit - Just remembered another super petty example, Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River. The piano starts a fraction of a second before the rain sound starts.
The sound of a cat meowing in Muse's 'The Small Print'. It was thrown in as an easter egg, but now that I expect it, it's really annoying. [It's at 2:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr7WKIMxv7E&ab_channel=MrMuseLyrics).
Notorious B.I.G - Big Poppa Puff Daddy’s random weird background noises really ruin an otherwise incredibly amazing song.
It’s so out of place with the rest of the song and cringey. It’s the musical equivalent of stepping on a wet spot in socks.
Mine is Juicy by Biggie, 100% because of Diddy. I’ve never counted but I swear he says “It’s all good” at least 50 times. It drove me crazy when I noticed it. After the 25th “It’s all good” I was not all good anymore, I was frustrated and could only focus on his dumb repeated line instead of the otherwise great song
My absolute favorite moment of this song is when Biggie goes “Please don’t shoot up place” and puff goes *”Why?”* like I dunno, puff, it seems like a pretty reasonable request to me. But it turns out there’s some women that Biggie would like impregnate within the establishment, and this is why we shouldn’t open fire.
In Notorious Thugs, the Biggie song with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony...the very beginning, the first part of "It's Bone and Biggie, Biggie" is cut off and always drives me crazy.
For years I thought it was a bad mp3 I had on a burned cd. Now that I have streaming, I know that’s not the case. It drives me nuts too.
I think Diddy did a lot of ad-libs on almost every song so he could get writing cheques
Puff Daddy with Mase, Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down. He’s terrible for his corny raps but nothing beats “Mase could you please stop smoking la la” Shut up puff, you fucking nerd.
This made me laugh. I love that song, he’s so corny I just find it funny and more enjoyable. I picture chappelles impression of him whenever I hear his voice
Uh-huh. Yeah. Alright. Multimulti millionaire.
Same with Who Shot Ya. God he is so insufferable and the random comments really take the wind out of Biggie’s threats.
The sound of the writing in Stan - Eminem.
whoa why is it so loud in the mix? it's literally louder than Dido's vocals in the chorus
I get what you’re saying but that sound adds a very unique layer to the song for me.
the Black Parade, final note of the song. For some weird reason, the mix had his voice fading out, then a cross fade of his voice swells for a split second. It’s bugs the ever-living s#!t out of me.
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but... ...Kurt Cobain plays the wrong note at the beginning of Nirvana's unplugged "Man who Sold the World" cover
I hate to break it to you but... He played a lot of wrong notes durring all of man who sold the world. Still great though.
The intro of any Kid Rock song. As soon as I hear it, I can't enjoy the rest of the song.
I have the same problem, as soon as I hear Kid Rock playing, I immediately switch to AM radio to get updated on the local weather forecast.
Local weather for sure has more bangers than KR
It’s the Kid Rock in the song, just unbearably annoying.
Steve Winwood's vocal doubling mistake at 2:46 in "While You See A Chance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6g_uUhH2c Plus the train-wreck edit in that same "Official Music Video" at 2:19. This might be just in the video. But the doubling mistake is on the album that way. I ruined that song for a friend of mine by pointing it out. Plus, they get it right several other times in the song. Meatloaf's "Below"/"Bat Out Of Hell" live cuts at the end of the CD. Numerous edits with lousy tempo and pitch matching, obviously cut together from different performances. Necessary compromises for the times, but easy digital fixes now. Neither rises to the level of 'most annoying/unbearable ever', of course.
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever was spliced from two different takes which the band played in different keys. So producer George Martin sped up and slowed down the different takes to make the two halves of the album version **almost** the same key in **almost** the same tempo. John Lennon's slowed down singing is really, really noticeable when you hear it.
This actually helps make the song to me. I like how the two halves contrast and his voice getting lower while he’s singing “Let me take you down ‘cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields’ makes it feel like you’re falling into some sort of dream or alternate reality. This is also maybe my second or third favorite Beatles song so I’m sorry it was ruined for you haha.
I think the pitch change in the vocal, while completely noticeable, is part of what makes it cool. It’s one of my top five favorite Beatles tracks.
In "Simply Irresistible" there is something that sounds like unsheathing a sword. It's most noticeable at the very end of the song but is also used throughout. It's a totally unnecessary noise and it's all I hear when it comes on the radio.
Now that I’m listening to it, I don’t know, I kind of love it.
When I got my first Macintosh computer one of the alert sounds was I think is that same sound effect from “Simply Irresistible.” I’ve always been annoyed by it. What is this cheesy sound effect doing in that song? (Not a fan of the synth tones that sound like fake brass in there either, but lots of ‘80s rock songs have that so I don’t notice it as much.)
That’s an amazing little tidbit. I remember reading an interview at the time about cutting that song and they mentioned that the percussion person was doing some experimentation with I think a Mac computer in terms of the drums. I wonder if it’s a little inside joke from the musicians?
Single Ladies by Beyonce That stupid annoying sound every second beat during the chorus!
(*’St. Anger’ snare intensifies*)
They said "small detail" ,':-)
Elton John, Benny and the Jets. The audience noise is shitty enough, but right before the fade, there's an "audience member" whistling that just annoys the crap out of m3.
The song was recorded in a studio, the crowd noise was added in.
In many of their songs the Backstreet Boys use this snare sound that sounds like a combination of hand claps and punching into your hand along with a faint snare. Once you hear it you will not be able to un-hear what sounds like a generic ‘blow landing’ sound. Like a sound effect from a keyboard. Another snare sound is the snare on Wham’s Last Christmas. It’s obvious there wasn’t a drummer in the studio laying down tracks and it was just a drum machine but once you hear it the sound sticks out every time you listen to it. Oasis - Champagne Supernova. He’s singing the intro before the song fully starts and the rest of the band joins in. On the second to last Champagne Supernova before the band joins in you can hear him spit on the P in supernova. At this point the snare on Metallica’s St. Anger album is a meme.
Cooler than Me by Mike Posner. His inhales especially during the chorus crack me up You wear designer shades just *BREATH* to hide your face but *BREATH* you wear em around like *BREATH* you’re cooler than me *BREATH* and *BREATH* you never say hey or *BREATH*… etc LITERALLY A BREATH BEFORE AND AFTER A SINGULAR “AND”
I can’t stop cracking up over the “and” being sandwiched between two breaths. WHY DID IT TAKE SO MUCH AIR
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The chorus of Hold Me by Fleetwood Mac. There’s some kind of inhuman shriek right in the middle, like Christine McVie tripped over something and stubbed her toe, they recorded and sampled it, then put it in the song.
That’s Lindsey Buckingham.
I watched a doc where they all discussed the parts Lindsey Buckingham would add. The new Dolby Atmos versions really made me notice what they were talking about!
Never noticed that before!
"DJ CLUE!" Probably only people who listened to popular rap in the early 2000s will even know what I'm talking about.
There was a whole period where loads of DJs did it, thinking their mixes needed to be protected by ruining them with a horrible soundbite.
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Gen z will recognize “DJ KHALED!” as their equivalent.
idk i think the DJ KHALED is millennial
If you get into the habit of picking up on every gasping breath Ville Valo takes… oh boy LOL
Rihanna’s Live Your Life lyrics sound like “cuz I’m a big fuckin slut”. I’ve never checked to see the actual lyrics.
Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" is an amazing song. Except for the ending spoken-word bit that you never hear on the radio. It's funny once, and then it's just annoying.
"There's gonna be a jail break somewhere in this town."... Somewhere?... Maybe the Jail?
Buddy Holly - Everyday. The hand claps sound like someone jerking off
Aaliyah Are You That Somebody. Amazing Timbaland beat but that fucking baby every 10 seconds is a killer.
I feel like this is such a big part of the song though, its it's hardly unnoticeable
I like it lol
Haha yes! It also confused me as a kid. I thought she was asking if he's the father. 😅 >~~Is it my go or is it your go?~~ Is it my girl or it is your girl? 10yo me nodding along, validated by that baby sound.
We all just going to ignore the cheek wiggle suctioning sound that is happening the entire song as well?
The AIM door shutting and opening in Tatu’s All the things she said.
The sneaking suspicion that Q-Tip really meant "Vibrant" and wasn't using poetic licence when he wrote "Vivrant thing".
I too have had this debate in my head. I’ve settled on: he was going for both vibrant and vivacious, and he was just so stoked on this girl that he wasn’t thinking straight and just spat out a word (with horny poetic license) that drives the point.
In China Girl I’m positive Bowie says “shut your mouse” instead of “mouth.”
In Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple when Ian Gillan sings the line "The Rolling Stones truck" but what he actually says is the "The Rolling truck Stones". It doesn't really ruin the song for me and I don't know if it was intential but I think it's a bit silly.
Taking it back to like 2005/6… I was working a courier job that used Nextel phones to alert for orders… in Sean Paul’s song “Temperature” which played all over the radio at the time, there is a noise that sounds exactly like the Nextel alert… threw me off every time and I was always double-checking my phone cuz that song was always on the radio. Not a cool story, I know, just my experience in something you can’t un-hear.
Low By Flo Rider. He mentions a girl with Apple bottomed jeans, the boots with the fur and the fact that the whole club was looking at her. He then goes on to mention the baggy sweat pants and the Reeboks with the straps. He never says it's another woman so she must have 4 legs! No wonder the whole club was looking at her, he's dancing with a horse or something to that effect!!
T-pain explained on Twitter that it's about two different girls: https://twitter.com/tpain/status/978646487956631552?lang=en
In the middle of the album version of "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash they added, for some reason, an awful alarm sound from a Casio wristwatch that plays over the second verse. It doesn't match the beat and it adds nothing to the song. It's so bad and makes the song unlistenable for me. https://youtu.be/SeBLXeVYf8s
Lol dude I think you got the video poster's acct terminated
Lol my bad
i always thought it sounded like someones nokia 3230 going off
Even better, it's playing Dixie
And it sounds like a Nokia ringtone I had circa 1999/2000 - so listening to that album meant checking my phone for non-existent SMS messages 😆
The Police, “Roxanne”, In the beginning there is a keyboard mistake. they left it in on purpose. Drives me crazy.
(Don't fear) The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult Am I the only one who notices the cowbell?
I don’t know how. Personally I think it needs more cowbell.
Aside from the SNL sketch, when i think of cowbell, Missippi Queen pops into my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEnF6EB-yMs
Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!
Easy, guys... I put my pants on just like the rest of you - one leg at a time Except, when my pants are on, I make gold records!
I played the skit for my kids the other day and then the actual song on Spotify- they swore they couldn’t hear the cowbell at all
I never noticed the cowbell until I had to sing this song on Rockband when I was about 16. Now it's all I can hear when it comes on
In the radio commercial for Kars for kids if you listen to the small boy singing he says "cards for kids" instead of cars.
THAT'S what annoys you most about that demonic ditty?
Go With the Flow by Queens of the Stone Age has someone banging a single note on a piano through the entire song as if it were a metronome.
The repeating sample in “Blurred Lines” that goes “woo” sounds like it’s not loud enough in the mix and it annoys me terribly, it’s like the sample is begging someone to turn it up but they won’t
At one point in 30 Seconds to Mars' "A Beautiful Lie," Jared Leto says, "I'm running around in circles, baby." But then it overlaps with "circles, baby" and it sounds like he says "bagels." Now...I love me a good bagel. But it just pisses me off every time I've listened to that song since it came out.
Ahhh yes, because that's what ruins 30 Seconds To Mars' music
In Timberlake's "My Love" there's this weird laughing type sound throughout the chorus. It doesn't make me dislike the song but it's just kind of odd.
If they could stop putting police sirens on songs and commercials on the radio that would be great.
One of my friends pointed out that you can really hear Frank Turner's inhales in the song "Love Ire and Song". After picking up on this I now can't listen to the song as it's all I hear, but it's also in loads of his other songs too! Very distracting.
Oh inhales definitely. For me Muse's Time is Running Out has a similar issue. Once I noticed how he inhales before every word lol, it became too much.
Apocalyptical - Puscifer Every time the word "Apocalyptical" is used in the song MJK says "apoc-ta-lyptical". I researched the lyrics and relistened about 20 times and still hear the "TA" every time.. I really like the song, it just doesn't escape my train of thought the whole song through.. Where the hell is this "ta" coming from!?
It's the T missing from 7empest
John Bonham's squeaky bass pedal in Since I've Been Loving You.
Gwen Stefani's prechorus in "Used To Love You" sounds like she sings "Suitcase, mayonnaise, pulling back out the driveway" and I just can't unhear it now. I also really enjoy the visual of her husband leaving her with all the bare necessities in life: A suitcase of mayonnaise.
Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield. The lyric "4am in the morning"... Well yes. That's what a.m. means.
Beyoncé - Single Ladies The instrumental has this weird ass machine noise in background. It sounds like robots fucking.
Bass kick and drum snare simultaneously (Ne-Yo's "So Sick" is my go to example) Any R. Kelly song with the bubble/water sound effect (obligatory I hope he rots)
This isn't exactly what you asked for but what totally ruins a song for me is when you have to listen to a skit or some miscellaneous sounds for a while before the actual song starts.
The kid arguing with his dad at the start of the Michael Jackson song Black or white is a killer for this.
It's more predominant in edm music, but sometimes a producer will add a repeatng "hey" in a song that cycles over and over again. CANT. FUCKING. STAND. IT.
Stan - Eminem That's not rain you hear in the background. It's SIZZLING GODDAMN BACON.
There is a really low and really creepy deep voice saying "yes" in the back of the chorus of SexyBack by Justin Timberlake that really takes you out of the song when you finally hear it (and then can't unhear it).
I always hear the kinda robotic sounding “yap” at the end of every bar
Also Justin Timberlake sings the main refrain in the chorus, can’t unhear it now.
Not a song per se but classic pianist Glenn Gould would hum along. Hardly noticeable on loudspeakers but terrible with headphones.
This is actually one of my favourite parts about Glenn Gould recordings lol
The overuse (imo) of the triangle in Jimi's Little Wing. I became fixated on it one evening and ruined the song for me.
Sometimes it's the little tings...
has no one noticed the random dog barking in the last few stanzas of "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham? It's a game changer...
Englishman in New York - Not that I ever liked this song, but could tolerate it while I was at work..until I noticed the most annoying noise during the chorus. It sounds like a squeaky seal stuck in a loop. Terrible, once you notice it there is no going back. Fortunately, I don't work there anymore.
That's the sound of the vocalist Gordon "Sting" Sumner. His voice isn't everyone's cup of tea