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wowbobwow OP t1_iuebzfi wrote

Here's a link to the song, for anyone who isn't already humming it in their head. Pay close attention at ~2:22 - there's a moment where the drums seem to lose the beat for just a moment, and it's still unknown if that is a result of the damaged tape being spliced back together, or if the drummer just didn't quite nail the timing of a short fill.

Bonus TIL fact: Tom Dowd, the engineer for this recording, not only worked on recordings for a staggering number of artists (the list includes Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, The Allman Bros. Band, Cher, Booker T. and the MG's, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and more), but earlier in his career he worked on the infamous Manhattan Project, which lead to the development of the atomic bomb.

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nicelyroasted t1_iuf5opi wrote

The documentary Muscle Shoals is excellent and goes into a lot of those recordings. That backing band played on soooo many amazing records

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Saturnalliia t1_iuguldn wrote

"So how'd you end up meeting Eric Clapton?"

"Well it all began when I was working on weapons of mass destruction..."

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Dispal t1_iuhfkxi wrote

There is no drumming error imo, it's in time but just syncopated to add variation and is tastefully placed

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zerofuxgivn420 t1_iuf1j4r wrote

My former band leader played tenor in his band and was in the video from (iirc) 1964ish(?).

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wowbobwow OP t1_iuf1qjx wrote

That’s amazing!! I can only imagine the stories he could’ve told…

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zerofuxgivn420 t1_iuhha3a wrote

Yeah, he's actually still alive and kicking lol. He also played with James Brown for a bit, and was a door gunner in 'Nam.
We used to just chat after our gigs and damn the crazy stories he told.

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[deleted] t1_iufl3a9 wrote

[deleted]

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V6Ga t1_iugd3vt wrote

I am not saying it is true in this case, but when the tape snaps the tension from the supply reel slaps the end pretty quickly on the the take-up reel, or vice versa.

I did recording for my stuff on a reel to reel, and scrambling to get to the stop button before the tape slapped itself apart was just a thing you had to do, with old tape.

It is not that the plastic backing fails repeatedly, but that oxide gets slapped off the backing as the reel slaps the broken end on the other reel.

30-40 bits of oxide falling off is entirely reasonable.

I cannot imaging you could actually get it back into playable shape though.

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wthulhu t1_iugdadw wrote

It could have wrapped up a segment of tape and broken several layers once siezed.

We have to remember that the media used at the time was not the same mass produced cassettes we were exposed to in the 80s and 90s. It's very likely that the material was far more brittle back then.

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mqudsi t1_iuepkmk wrote

Wouldn’t have been easier and faster to just do another take?

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wowbobwow OP t1_iuer4of wrote

I'm not a professional musician, but I can wager a couple guesses:

  • The Stax Records 'house style' at the time was to record every player on every track all at the same time in one big room (as opposed to the more modern approach of recording each part separately). This was a big factor in the spontaneous magic of so many Stax recordings, including occasional flubs and goofs that made it onto finished tracks, which were often recorded in just one or two takes. Doing it over again would've reduced that feeling
  • Wilson Pickett was a notoriously violent, short-tempered man, and was well known for beating the shit out of people who he thought were messing with him. Tom Dowd was probably wise to offer to fix the problem while everyone took a lunch break rather than telling Pickett, "oops, my bad, let's do that whole thing over again"
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bolanrox t1_iufzz8h wrote

Also they bolted the amps and mic stands to the ground so they couldn't be stolen. Another reason for the consistency. That and booker t and the mgs were fucking tight

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imregrettingthis t1_iugjdbp wrote

As a former engineer if there is a magic take you want to use it at all costs.

If it sounds like magic I’ll use a take that has tons of mistakes or needs a lot of work to make it perfect because it just sounds so good.

The performance over everything so if they thought it was the right performance then I would assume they would go to any length of possible to use it.

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ahealthyg t1_iuexond wrote

Probably wouldn’t be the same. Sometimes people just can’t do the same thing again. I’m an audio engineer

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Implausibilibuddy t1_iug0490 wrote

Probably not not the exact same but neither we nor the band would have ever heard the original (if this weird "reel to reel shredder" story is true). The band knew how to play the song, they would have done another take and it would have been just as great. Different maybe, but they'd have still produced an excellent track, maybe with extra bits that made it even better. Or maybe the best version of the track was played in rehearsal the day before and never recorded, we'll never know.

Any musician or engineer with a lick of experience will know while it's nice to capture those lightning in a bottle moments, the vast majority of the time you're working with what you've got, and sometimes it's a hard slog of multiple takes and slicing the best bits together, or going home for rest to try again tomorrow with fresh ears.

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TruthFlavor t1_iuh4n5y wrote

The song was original called 'Sally Mustang' but he accidentally put the pieces back in the wrong order...

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ade42 t1_iufw9iq wrote

I've worked with many studio tape recorders. And o can't fathom that a "error" could break a tape this was unless wou had a sword and while the tape path was not running slices one cut potentially cutting in more than one peice. This story is completely unbelievable in every way Plus a lot of studios would run a backup machine. And being multitrack the take that was recorded was prob just the vocal track

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slickrockmedia t1_iuidwwt wrote

Right. Even after one break the tape tension is lost. The guy claims they picked up all these 30-40 tiny pieces off the floor and had it taped back together and playing in 30 min. lol. It's just an exaggeration. People love these kinds of stories though.

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frealfr t1_iugn9r6 wrote

Detestable song

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smad333 t1_iufj34i wrote

Legend iconic famous.. No

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