Kyle Boreing
Mar 10, 2009
Observations
Recording Oddities – “Loving God, Loving Each Other”
Having numerous experiences in studios (both as a performer and as a producer and engineer), I’ve trained my ears to listen closely to recordings for any oddities that may exist. In my own recordings, I’ve caught distortion in various tracks, bad punches, awkward mixes, and (since I record at home) numerous “outside noises” such as a baby crying or someone dropping something in the other room.
I’ve also had the ability to catch such oddities in other artists’ recordings. Uneven cut-offs, mispronunciations, missed notes, etc., have all been caught while listening. For fun, I’ll point out some of the stranger clips I’ve found, and we’ll start with a classic Gaither Vocal Band song.
While listening to the album cut of the GVB’s “Loving God, Loving Each Other,” I noticed somewhat of a blooper. The third chorus (following the second verse) has what sounds like someone knocking a guitar while they were recording. Specifically, it happens the second time they sing “Loving God, loving each other” during that chorus.
Initially, I thought it was a bad punch out, but it happens in both the far left and far right channels (which is where acoustic rhythm guitars are usually mixed), which is why I believe it may have been someone knocking either the guitar or the mic during the tracking process.
What makes it strange, though, is that this glitch is not heard on any other version of this song I’ve heard thus far. The track used during the Back Home In Indiana concert (which was actually an unfinished version, as it had not yet had the string section added) does not have this error, and the studio version that was included on the Best of the GVB also is missing the strange sound. I checked on YouTube at a third version that uses this track, and I can’t tell for sure if the glitch is there or not, as the mix is not very clear.
I suppose it’s entirely possible that it could have been a mistake in the mastering process for the Lovin’ God & Lovin’ Each Other album specifically. Why would every other version of this song not have this error? It’s also entirely possible that the error DID happen during the recording process, and was caught and fixed on everything BUT the album it shares a name with. Things like this happen all the time, when a record company gets the wrong mix/master of a song and releases it without realizing the problem. I have multiple versions of numerous songs, where someone has gone back later and fixed a problem with an earlier edition.
I’m not even entirely sure that if you buy the CD now, it will still have that error, as Gaither may have fixed it on all subsequent printings. If you bought this CD when it first came out, though, give “Loving God, Loving Each Other” a listen and see what you think….
