Thankfully the story I'm about to tell happened many years ago; at the time it filled me with grief but now I look back and chuckle.

I was approached by a woman who wanted me to produce her solo album for her. She had been let down by a studio and needed to get the album finished quickly. Being a combination of big hearted and dumb, I said yes, without listening to any material.

When the first day came and she played me her tracks I knew I said the wrong answer. The songs were weak and her voice was weaker, it doesn't matter how talented you are when it comes to producing or engineering, there are some jobs that are destined to end badly. This was one such job.

Being a man of my word I decided to plough on. First I worked hard to try and get the songs into shape. I did my best. Then came the time to track the vocals, the days before auto-tune! It was painful, but I thought if I convince her to track a lot of takes then we might get a good choral effect - not even that worked.

A week after starting I had to tell her that I was unable to complete the project. I had more chance of growing tits than giving her an album worth pressing.

She was hurt (I didn't actually use the 'tits' line) I was more tactful than that, I think my excuse included a death in the family or something like that, but looking back now I know there are two things one should do before taking on any recording project. First, listen to a demo of the person or the band. Secondly, make sure you can deliver what they want on assessment of the first. 

Sometimes 'NO' is a better answer to give. What is your recording nightmare story?