Sometimes, one wants to add some flair to one's recordings, and I've heard many people bring out great flavor and depth in their songs by easy resources that are mostly overlooked. Just wanted to make a list, to see if each one can benefit from new ideas:

- MOUTH TRUMPET : make a P sound going into an M of sorts, getting that sax playing face with the lips opened just because of the air blowing out. I've heard many fawmers use it over the years, with GREAT results.

- BASS BASS DRUM : turn the tone down completely, neck pickup, mute the strings and strike the heaviest one. Pretty useful when with a looper. with the tone open, you can use raking the strings as a muffled snare.

- POORLY SLIDE INTO A SHAKER : move your hand along the strings fast and short to get a sorta-egg-shaker cheapo replacement.

- AUTOTUNE THE FRETLESS : learning fretless bass can be a pain. Just autotune it, we won't tell anyone shhh

- STEAL FROM A CHILD : toy instruments and trinkets with their usual out-of-tunage and problems can sound endearing and very very fitting even if technically "incorrect"

- GRANDMA'S DECORATION : glass, metal and other hard surfaces or shapes can have quite interesting sounds. They add eerieness, in particular when removed from the object it is trying to represent (one time I made a lousy track with a 70's glass ornament)

- WHISTLING

You probably know better ones. Let us know!

Oh I love this. Some genuine good tips here.

I presume everyone knows the johnny cash dollar bill trick? No idea how well it would work with the plastic banknotes we have in the UK now but I'll report back.

Love this post! Thank you! <3

kitchen utensils and pots and pans such as a whisk on the bottom of a frying pan (snare-ish) drumsticks on a leather chair seat

Came in here expecting spam and instead learned how stealing from a child can be endearing. Thanks, @pifie !

Other kitchen inspirations:

- Literal spices: shake salt (in the big cylindrical cardboard boxes) or whole peppercorns / allspice; grate nutmeg.
- 1 liter bottles for drummish sounds (I particularly like the square Fiji ones).
- A bundle of bamboo skewers rubber banded together for a "rods" drumstick, along with a pizza box or other cardboard box.

@pifie - YEP, totally came here to block whomever the spammer was, but was totally taken in, instead. Well done!!!

I have a jeweler's hammer on my shopping list that I'll be ordering next month. It's hard metal on one side and soft rubber on the other, and I plan to wander around tapping/striking things to see what I can come up with. If it's small enough, I might be able to keep it in the pouch I use to carry my media player device (i.e. smart phone w/o SIM card).

@spikedirection - Oh, hey... I actually *didn't* know about the Johnny Cash trick. But, now I do. Thanks!

Somehow I got two otamatones for Christmas, so I'd love to work one in. ;) Also, I'm very much #teamkazoo.

@robertmyers glad to be of help, so in case anyone else didn't know, it's this...

https://youtu.be/hfKkMsIfMqk

@newukenewyork I want an otomatone so bad!!

I'm also on #teamkazoo!

I had an Otamatone, but discovered that it was harder than people on YouTube made it look and never had the self-discipline to practice. 😅 I ended up giving it to a friend who used to play the violin and already had the relevant skills. 😊

I never knew the Johnny Cash Dollar Bill trick-- I think I even have an american 1 hanging around somewhere. Otherwise I'll have to use a fiver. .. and yes, I have Otamatone, and a cheap Atari Punk synth kit, and a tongue drum, and lots of toy shakers, cymbals and scrapers.

@stevonnie - you can autotune the otamatone, to make an AUTOTAMATONE

@spikedirection didn't know that!!

@stephenwordsmith if you purposefully open links expecting spam... just don't unveil that to your folks in IT 😁 ... anyhow, do you know you are the millionth visitor of this page? Congratulations!

@robertmyers that's actually a super pro thing to do. You could rename yourself Maxwell if your hammer is silver.

@tseaver superb ideas!

I have some more:

- EL CHEAPO SITAR : With a digital delay pedal or effect, get it under 30 milliseconds, feedback at 99%, level at about 4%. Play with the time so that it 'rings' in a particular note (the lower the delay time, the higher the note). That note will make a 'sympathetic string' like a sitar. It will work on high-precission delays (for example: Boss Giga Delay)

- DOUBLE SPEED BASS : A very old trick - Record a track, and put it in 2x speed. Record a guitar playing the bass part. Resample that to 1/2 speed (altering the pitch one octave down) and you'll get a very decent sounding bass.

Dean Martin clinked a coke bottle for the intro to “Houston”…probably helps that they were glass at the time but hey timbre is timbre. 😬

LOVE THIS. Mouth trumpet can definitely be a game changer. I have also used the dollar bill thing but now I have a cajontab drum that makes snare and brush sounds 😍 it wasn't cheap tho

Instead of a bass I've been autotuning my bodhran drum into whatever key the song is in. Still fills out the bass range and fits the vibe of my songs better than borrowing a real bass or using bass synths.

Some of my favorite forms of percussion are also clappin' and knee slappin'

So good. Don't forget the ol' stomp-n-clap.

If you want an exotic flute-y sound that isn't any particular pitch, just pick up your most confusing and / or badly made ocarina. Pro-tip: most pottery ocs on Amazon are 100% suitable for this.

cool dollar bill trick, i didn't know it. I got a kazoo for christmas, better than the pile of plastic ones i have had hanging around for years... might try and use that too. Nice ideas.. i was also expecting spam!

If you're mixing on a computer, try audio effects where they don't necessarily belong for new sounds... or to improve what you got. There should be an "Oblique Strategies" card for that... and if you don't know what Oblique Strategies is, that is another thing that can help you make better music.

Years ago, I was recording and mixing an album for my sister's 11 member band... live in the studio. Their sax player had just changed his reed, and he was squeaking and generally just not showing up. This really hit home on their cover of Springsteen's "10th Avenue Freezeout" when their excellent singer suggested "and the Big Man joined the band"... and then the little man showed up,

I tried what I could with multitracking, delays, etc. I tried to get them to do a retake of the sax. Finally, I ran the sax tracks through some guitar distortion plug-ins. It wasn't Clarence, but I got it unembarrassing.

I know not everyone here is going to do the hone studio and mixing on their own, but that's one place I can offer suggestions... I started live recording when. I was 14.

You all probably know this (yes,even intelligence agencies and big bad companies) but you can use headphones as a mic , stereo mic !

And speaker , i think Beatles recorder some bass tracks using speaker as a mic.

- MRS. BROWNS BANJO: Similar to the Johnny Cash No drums at the Opry dollar bill trick, the "banjo" on Hermans Hermit's Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter was created by putting a rag between the strings and neck to mute the strings.

@pipewrench67 I have a bassist friend who swears by a (specific, years-old now, and smelly!) dishwashing sponge stuffed under the strings just at the bridge. I can't really argue, as he gets amazing tone from the beat-up P-bass he uses, but I do give him grief about the mildew-y aroma.