Mistakes in the Orchestra

[indy4 155]

I think most people in this thread (including me) are making these observations without looking at a score, so they could be played correctly.

Probably the most annoying one for me is in "Swing, Swing, Swing" from 1941. At 1:30, trombones fall behind and deliver "waaaa-daaaa" a bit late.

[Richard Penna 3,664]

One I notice a lot is the horn flub at 4:47 in The Hand of Fate Part 1 in Signs.

[indy4 155]

I don't hear anything wrong there (although several seconds before the horns are coming dangerously close to dragging)...

[Trent B 337]

We know that in Return Of The Jedi for "Superstructer Chase" that one of the trumpet players make a flub at a certain point in the cue.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Not necessarily what you are talking about, but I noticed in one recording of "Adventures on Earth"(it might be from Spielberg/Williams Collaboration, but I do not recall), someone starts coughing faintly. It always bothered me.

[OneBuckFilms 319]

Star Trek: TMP - During "Games", a string breaks at precisely the wrong moment

[Joe Brausam 214]

I like hearing mistakes, it adds a more human quality to recorded music.

[Trent B 337]

I like hearing mistakes, it adds a more human quality to recorded music.

I agree with this statement.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I like hearing mistakes, it adds a more human quality to recorded music.

I agree with this statement.

As long as it's not horribly offputting.

[Henry Sarton 0]

Hi!

In Spider-man 3 Main Tiltes, in Black-suited Spiderman theme section, you can hear a few mistakes in the horns. The biggest mistake is in 1:48 when horns play the high pitched note, one horn is playing another harmonic.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I have always heard something in the Superman helicopter scene, the part where Superman swoops in and there's a big statement of the b theme. It almost sounds like someone yelling.

[davros72 1]

Wait, so this thread isn't about woodwinds?

Ba-dum-dum.

Thank you! Tip your waitresses!

But I digress...

There's a moment in the The Fist Fight/The Flying Wing track from Raiders, where I swear I can hear a brass instrument, possibly a trumpet, come in about 2 beats early, realize his/her mistake and stop, then the actual entrance occurs. I don't have it handy for the track time, but I believe in the film it's near where Indy and Marion notice the fuel and fire getting dangerously close together. I think it's a bit less noticeable in the recent Concord release, but that always stood out to me, even on my old LP version of the soundtrack.

[Henry B 50]

There are a couple of excruciating mistakes in "Recovery" from Basil Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian. The english horn overblows at 0:30 and - noticeable even to casual listeners, I think - some backing instrument (viola?) plays a major third instead of a minor third on two cadences. This take is also used in the film, so maybe it's all they got.

[KingPin 201]

1) City of Prague Philharmonic recording of Witches, Wands, and Wizards from Prisoner of Azkaban has sone really bad mistakes. In the quidditch section, during the sustained brass note interlude, the first trumpet is playing a wrong note and sustaining it for several seconds - it'd absolutely ear-piercing. Then, later on in the snow ffht section, there's a measure where the entire flute section is completely off by a beat.

2) I forget which orchestra it is, but it's the American Spectrum album which included Branford Marsalis performing Escapades from Catch Me If You Can. In the first movement, Closing In (Main Titles), somebody's watch beeps during a silent beat.

3) I wouldn't have caught this one if I didn't study the Signature Edition score, but in JW's recording of Excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof with the Boston Pops, the timpanist is a measure off at the beginning of "Tradition."

4) On the Williams on Williams Boston Pops album, during the E.T. Flying Theme, the very first triangle hit is on the downbeat of the 5th measure when it was supposed to on the downbeat of the 3rd measure.

[Marc 758]

Maybe my ears are sometime too focussed on the horns but there are several Williams' scores where there are very noticeable french horn bad notes.

Especially when playing unison high-pitched parts ( E.T. , Star Wars...)

But I've heard them so much I somehow got used to them and it's as if they had been written that way

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Once child is horribly off at one point in the Carol of the Bells recording on Home Alone.

[Josh500 1,615]

Once child is horribly off at one point in the Carol of the Bells recording on Home Alone.

Once? Care to specify?

[Andy 4,070]

Great idea for a thread. I'm gonna need a lot of help from you guys, because I never hear this kind of stuff. I just don't have the ear for what should or shouldn't be. Track times are a must for me to get it.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I don't think you want to hear it, once you hear it you'll always hear it

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Once child is horribly off at one point in the Carol of the Bells recording on Home Alone.

Once? Care to specify?

It's been a while. Beginning of the second verse? It's hard to miss once you know about it, in any case.

And "once" should read "one", obviously.

[Ollie 1,059]

It sounds like someone hits a wrong note in "The Whaler" from Rosenman's Star Trek IV.

In the bonus Maser March track on the 2 disc Godzilla vs Destroyer, someone flubs a note in the brass section.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'll never notice actual mistakes from the orchestra, but I hate hearing background noise. The LOST releases have them from Season 2 onward I believe. JNH's Duplicity has a severe case of it, to a point where it actually hinders the listening experience.

[Josh500 1,615]

Once child is horribly off at one point in the Carol of the Bells recording on Home Alone.

Once? Care to specify?

It's been a while. Beginning of the second verse? It's hard to miss once you know about it, in any case.

And "once" should read "one", obviously.

Never noticed anything myself, I have to listen to it again...

[Muad'Dib 1,800]

Lots of firsts runs from TPM have wrong notes, specially from the brasses. For example, in the first run of The Flag Parade, the trumpets get kinda lost with so many repetitive notes. The horns have some trouble too.

[Josh500 1,615]

Lots of firsts runs from TPM have wrong notes, specially from the brasses. For example, in the first run of The Flag Parade, the trumpets get kinda lost with so many repetitive notes. The horns have some trouble too.

It stands to reason that first runs contain many wrong notes and mistakes... that's what makes them first runs, after all.

It's like the first draft of a piece of writing.

[indy4 155]

Lots of firsts runs from TPM have wrong notes, specially from the brasses. For example, in the first run of The Flag Parade, the trumpets get kinda lost with so many repetitive notes. The horns have some trouble too.

It stands to reason that first runs contain many wrong notes and mistakes... that's what makes them first runs, after all.

It's like the first draft of a piece of writing.

By first run, I believe Michael means the first time playing a certain lick that repeats a few times in a final take. So it makes it onto the CD or into the film often.

The recording of "Cowboys Overture" on the By Request album is a fantastic performance, but near the beginning when the xylophonist is doubling the orchestra's melody, he/she has some trouble staying with the orchestra at first. Then during the reprise of the slow theme as the piece starts to slow the brass background have some trouble staying with the tempo change.

[Muad'Dib 1,800]

By first run, I believe Michael means the first time playing a certain lick that repeats a few times in a final take. So it makes it onto the CD or into the film often.

To be honest, I have a complete version of TPM (a 4-disc version) and some of them are called alternates or first runs. It also features JW talking about the score and unofficial recordings of the three concert versions of the score.

[indy4 155]

Ah, I stand corrected.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

A mistake was created in the remixed Imperial March, right guys? A cymbal crash was deleted or something...

[BTR1701 59]

I think most people in this thread (including me) are making these observations without looking at a score, so they could be played correctly.

Probably the most annoying one for me is in "Swing, Swing, Swing" from 1941. At 1:30, trombones fall behind and deliver "waaaa-daaaa" a bit late.

The one that's always bugged me is the trumpet hitting the long sustain in Last Crusade / "Belly of the Steel Beast" at 3:59. It's horribly flat, to the point where I would think it would have justified another take.

[davros72 1]

I think most people in this thread (including me) are making these observations without looking at a score, so they could be played correctly.

Probably the most annoying one for me is in "Swing, Swing, Swing" from 1941. At 1:30, trombones fall behind and deliver "waaaa-daaaa" a bit late.

The one that's always bugged me is the trumpet hitting the long sustain in Last Crusade / "Belly of the Steel Beast" at 3:59. It's horribly flat, to the point where I would think it would have justified another take.

Ooh, yeah, forgot about that one!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

Not necessarily what you are talking about, but I noticed in one recording of "Adventures on Earth"(it might be from Spielberg/Williams Collaboration, but I do not recall), someone starts coughing faintly. It always bothered me.

There's a quiet moment in "Night Of The Beast", when one can hear the orchestra picking up intstruments, and preparing to play.

I like hearing mistakes, it adds a more human quality to recorded music.

I agree with this statement.

...as do I.

I have always heard something in the Superman helicopter scene, the part where Superman swoops in and there's a big statement of the b theme. It almost sounds like someone yelling.

It's probably Richard Donner screwing up the recording...again

[airmanjerm 78]

There's one in "The Ultimate War" from Hook...right around 4:16. The trumpets have an ascending fanfare figure starting around 4:13 that moves up chromatically. One of the trumpet players completely splits the top note on the last one (a concert B-flat, high C on the trumpet). It's a hard lick, no big shock that one of them would split it.

[indy4 155]

The beginning of "The Godfather Finale" has a pretty bad disconnect between the choir and the orchestra. Either sloppy editing or just a bad start. There are some other moments where the choir is a bit behind the orchestra, but none as blaring as the beginning.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

It is great we still have these. It's very human. When we haven't these, it's all sterile samples

from different libraries. Yikes!

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I bet a composer as brilliant as Hans Zimmer never has mistakes in his music!

[indy4 155]

Another frustrating one is in the trombones during "The Jungle Chase." Around 3:08 of the OST version the trombones fall behind.

[Lurker 5]

On Outland we originally assembled a cue exactly as it was heard in the movie, but there was a very noticeable mistake that drove us crazy, so we replaced that moment with a better take.

I did something similar on The Wonderful World of the Brother Grimm to eliminate a cough.

Neil

[Ollie 1,059]

That reminds me, can't forget about the sneeze at the end of "The Asteroid Field" from TESB.

[Jay 37,249]

Woah! I never noticed that before!

[Ollie 1,059]

I never picked it up until the Anthology was released. Then one day I was listening to it with a friend of mine and he mentions there's a sneeze.

[Marc 758]

In the Throne Room alone I hear several moments with french horn bad notes

1'33/1'35, all horns in unison and one messes up two notes (this often happens...)

3'07 one horn plays a Bb instead of a C ( or an F instead of a G for horn players

There are a few others in the same vein but less obvious.

Ok I'm nitpicking and I guess for most people those will remain unnoticed but to me they're the first thing I hear.. really

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Like 25-30 seconds or so into the By Request version of the Mission Theme there's a weird sound that always annoys me.

You can hear somebody (possibly Williams) talk at the end of one of the tracks from Sabrina. I think it's Sabrina and Linus Date.

[Gurkensalat 336]

During the final duel between Luke and vader in Return of the Jedi, some of the male voices in the wordless choir sound awfully out of tune.

[Ollie 1,059]

While I wouldn't classify it as an orchestral mistake, the opening cue for Twister has a brief snippet of the conductor, or Mancina, talking to them at the beginning.

There are some supposed errors I have yet to pick out:

Jerry Goldsmith humming during the main titles from Rudy. I can't hear it, even with headphones.

Supposedly during Matt Munroe's rendition of the title song From Russia With Love, there are some voices from in the studio. I can't hear it either but there are those over at FSM who swear by it, including someone who may have inside info.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Supposedly during Matt Munroe's rendition of the title song From Russia With Love, there are some voices from in the studio. I can't hear it either but there are those over at FSM who swear by it, including someone who may have inside info.

I've heard some talking on that one, but I'm pretty sure they sped it up so all you can hear are high pitched squeaks.

As far as the humming thing goes, I've got loads of jazz recordings of pianists and guitarists humming along to their improvisations - though in this case it's entirely justified as many great musicians vocalise their (generally incredible) solos. It's all part of the aural tradition. I love hearing it.

[fommes 153]

Wow, am I glad I only seldom seem to pick these errors up!

I'm not sure if it's one, but isn't there a very noticeable error in the Rescue/End Title track from Poseidon Adventure? There's something off in the brass somewhere at the climax (don't have the CD here with me), which has always bothered me.

[indy4 155]

This probably isn't an error, but the second to last cymbal crash at the end of "Forest Battle" always seems like it doesn't belong to me. And that piece has so many fake endings, it'd probably be easy for somebody to make that kind of a mistake.

[Jeff 10]

There are a couple of times where I wonder if JW's baton audibly strikes the stand. One of those moments is 0:47 in "Ben Kenobi's Death/Tie Fighter Attack." It may just be the snare.

[Marc 758]

or bows