recording yourself by yourself

[dynomike]

I read how all these people get over critical of their recorded performance and wonder to myself, "what do they think of other people's playing?" Now maybe I'm wrong, but don't people generally think they are better than others?? So if they don't like what they do, they must really hate other musicians??

Its called "self serving bias".. doesn't necessarily apply to musicians though, because often when someone plays something and they don't hear what they EXPECTED to they don't like it. Whether the real performance was good or not matters little, it comes down to the person lacks a sense of objectivity and because they were expecting something different, they may think its bad. That was really poorly phrased but you get the idea?

Anyway I try to do a bunch of takes and listen to them later. Like, ideally days later if you can wait. Helps a lot.

Mike

[dwelle]

hey lee, the musicians plugs will probably run $3-400 if you just go to an audioligist and pay for 'em straight up. insurance can make 'em cheaper, depending on what you have. i think they are only available in a flesh tone, at least from the company that made mine. you can get interchangable 8, 15, and 20 db filters.

seriously, skip that next $400 piece of gear you're lusting after (general statement here) and get your ears tested and get some of these. so important for those of us subjected to high spl's who really value our critical listening skills. a wise investment for certain...

[dumbangel]

I like the idea of finding one satisfactory cable-micstand-mic-instrument setup for each individual instrument, and keeping everything in the same position all the time (except mics that get put back in their closet). I haven't been able to do this yet because I don't have as many mics, cables and stands as instruments, but I'm going in that direction. No experiment but faster recording.

[jspartz]

When I record myself I find that I second guess what is good and what is not. I really like the second opinion to bounce thoughts off of. It is interesting, when I have recorded myself I remember specific instruments sounding great. Then when I go back and hear it again six months later I find that I love the way other instruments sound in the track. The ones I thought went well don't sound like I remembered them. Always interesting!

Jason

[vvv]

I like the idea of finding one satisfactory cable-micstand-mic-instrument setup for each individual instrument, and keeping everything in the same position all the time (except mics that get put back in their closet). I haven't been able to do this yet because I don't have as many mics, cables and stands as instruments, but I'm going in that direction. No experiment but faster recording.

I do this, too, to some extent, with entire track chains, having a default set-up in my edroom studio for bass, lead and back vocals. It's not that I never vary them (although I have changed only the instument and settings on bass chain in the last year); for example, I did some backing vocals through a 58 into a Mackie the other day on an internet collaboration toon, and they fit better than the MXL through the Meek. But the approach is great for speed and convenience, which of coarse is also it's weakness.

[linus]

hey lee, the musicians plugs will probably run $3-400 if you just go to an audioligist and pay for 'em straight up. insurance can make 'em cheaper, depending on what you have. i think they are only available in a flesh tone, at least from the company that made mine. you can get interchangable 8, 15, and 20 db filters.

seriously, skip that next $400 piece of gear you're lusting after (general statement here) and get your ears tested and get some of these. so important for those of us subjected to high spl's who really value our critical listening skills. a wise investment for certain...

I saw some listed for $225 for a pair. Call your audiologist and find out what they will charge you.

I use my Shure E2C canal phones. I had custom molded inserts made for them at the last AES (but any audiologist could do it as well). They do a great job at blocking out exterior noise and I don't have to turn up the sound very loud at all because all the background noise is so low.

I recently got the Tranzport and have found it to be REALLY helpful.

I record myself exclusively and running back and forth out of my iso booth got a little tiring. For a little while I used my wireless mouse by lining up the pointer over the record button and then clicking it when I was in the iso booth with the door almost closed but the TRANZPORT is so much better.

Their tech service is top notch as well. When I was initially setting it up I had to click a switch in Nuendo to get the program to recognise it but couldn't figure out how. The tech talked me through it (super simple, but I'm an idiot) and then told me, "Now quit screwing around and get to work recording!" Very cool and funny guy.

I recommend it.

My other hint is always record everything possible with a direct safety track. Want to record guitars through your amp? Fine but split the signal and record a direct safety track. That way you can always reamp it through a different amp/mic/pre combination again later.

Occasionally I just record direct and then reamp it through an amp later. I can focus on playing the part when I am recording it and then worry about engineering the track later.

I occasionally force myself to try different pre's or mics just so I don't rely on the same combo all the time.