Friday, November 20, 2020

A different kind of clickbait


Or is it clickgate? As I tell the tale of one of my weirder experiences in 45 years of playing music, you'll see why I'm using that term!
Fairly recently, the leader in a big band in Montreal asked me to  remotely record a tune with the band. I have certainly done this in the past, and since covid hit it's become a very frequent occurrence. I filmed myself playing the chart we were doing on my Zoom camera ( they wanted video as well ) . I checked it ( I was playing to a click track in headphones ) and it sounded good so I sent the file to the leader. A couple of days later he sends me a message saying that he would like me to record to a click this time. Confused, I checked the recording I sent him. It still sounded fine and I told him i had played to a click. He then sent me this:



Wow! I was flabbergasted! What's especially weird about this is that it sounds like I'm really dragging. Believe me, my natural tendency is to rush, not head the other way! :)
Anyway, other musicians have told me they've had similar experiences, and I've had it described to me as the different programs not being able to "talk to each other" . Apparently these syncing issues are not uncommon, so they're something to be aware of. Just another example of how we can think that a good take is an absolute "truth" and the time can't be messed with after the fact. But nowadays, anything's possible! :)

Stay groovy! :)

UPDATE: Here is the final video without all the issues. It was great fun to play with these people and I feel like I've made some new musical friends! :) 





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