Even the Pros Make Mistakes (So Don't Stress Too Much about Your Recording)

It's happened to everyone: You just finished your fifth take of the song that features a really cool part you wrote, and the rest of the band is really jazzed about how well it turned out. You go to the control room, and right when you hit the chorus... bam. Flubbed the note.

Now, every time you listen to that recording, you won't hear how amazing the rest of the band sounds. You'll only hear that one note you missed, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days. You consider hanging up the instrument for good. You vow to practice more, to never miss that change again. You sacrifice instruments to the music gods. Still, that missed note sticks with you.

Sure, there's studio magic that can fix it, but fixing every mistake can get costly, and more often than not the resulting product sounds overproduced. It doesn't have that nice, in the pocket, "playing with my buddies" feel. Luckily, you can take solace in the fact that even some of the greatest bands of all time have made mistakes. You probably haven't heard them on the songs because the band and producer made the decision to leave it in, for the good of the song.

Here are a few examples:

The Police - Roxanne: Only eight seconds into the song, Sting accidentally leaned on to the piano in the recording studio, and then laughed. That sound and subsequent laugher is preserved on the recording. Maybe Sting was laughing to himself about his plan to keep all of the royalties from Puff Daddy's recording of Every Breath You Take without sharing it with the rest of the band, even though Andy Summers wrote the part of the song that is primarily featured in the remix. (No, this isn't a conspiracy theory. Look it up.)

REM - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite: At the end of the third verse, singer Michael Stipe laughs his way into the chorus. Apparently there's something really funny about Dr. Seuss. The laugh can be heard at 2:33 in this clip.

James Blunt - You're Beautiful and The Kingsmen - Louie Louie: Both singers miss their cues and come in too early. James Blunt's mistake is before the first verse. (I'm not going to post that video. I'm sorry for even reminding you that song existed. Please forgive me.) For The Kingsmen, Jack Ely's excitement just can't be contained, as he comes in too early after the guitar solo (1:58 in the video).

The Beatles - Let It Be: I love this one. 2:59 into the song, John Lennon just hits the wrong chord. It's not even close to right, but it still sounds better than everything Yoko touched, so at least there's that.

Happy recording, and don't stress your mistakes. It might make your song even better.