What take are we on?
I play drums for fun. Coordination between arms and legs and brain has never been a problem for the most part. Yes, I can walk and chew gum. On a good day, I can even pat my head and rub my belly at the same time. So why is it that in the voiceover booth, when I'm the one doing the slating of each take (audibly announcing a take number before the read so the producer can keep track) and performing as well, I can't remember which number I left off on? The ones, two's and three's are easy enough to keep track of. But usually by take four, we're really diving deep and my head is fully in the read. I finish the last line of the take, hear a bit of direction on where to go from there and prepare to slate the next take and end up skipping a number, repeating the last number or going completely blank as to which number we're on. A complicated session can easily go into the 20's, 30's and beyond. And then there's the dreaded trilogy of the "ABC" (three in a row of the same line, usually packaged under one take number.) Thankfully, there's never usually a D, or we might be in trouble.
What I need is a little gadget I can tap or a button I can push every time I slate that counts the takes and displays a number. That way I can glance down, see the number and know that's what my next take will be. Any ideas? Joe
