a pitfall of self-recording: how would you deal with it?

[JGriffin]

...problem with "recording in a vacuum":

...

b) there wouldn't be any sound!

that's why we have DI boxes.

[RefD]

recording yourself is really difficult. This issue with tempo is probably my greatest difficulty.

1. You only have so much time to work on your own stuff.

especially when you're a stay-at-home dad who also telecommutes!

this means a few hours a month, in my case.

2. that time you do have to work on your own stuff is usually when everything else has been accomplished and you are so tired you get cranky with yourself.

or just pass out where you are and wake up the next day with your hand still on the mic you were about to set up.

3. if you actually do set aside a week or something to just work on your own music, then you get your expectations all high and then psyche yourself out anyway.

a whole WEEK?

this is my musical wet dream!

maybe it'll happen when my kids are both in school and i actually have time to do things like shave on a regular basis and get more than 20 hours of sleep in a week

4. when you sit down you spend so much of what little energy you did have at first on
a. setting up a mic(s)
b. setting levels
c. setting monitor levels
d. cuing up the song
e. remembering the freaking part
f. trying to play with emotion

i find most of those things to be no big deal, i can tend to them without alot of hassle...well, except the "emotions" i play/sing with (if i have energy left for emotion) tend to be exhaustion and delirium.

5. then in the middle of your fifth take you start to rationalize to yourself that you can just fix it latter...it's best to not be so picky...just move on to something more creative and interesting.

somehow i usually get myself together enough to not suck when actually recording sound.

usually.

6. then when you come back to the track a day or two weeks later you realize just how shitty the take was and now you are pissed because you don't have the patience to edit your own crap....

oh yeah, i live in that basement.

7. however, on the other hand you don't want to try to re-track it either so you sit down and try to make the right edits.

aye.

8. Now you hate the song and want to write something new.

Familiar?

that's when i put the thing on the shelf and move on to something else.

which is part of why it's taken me since 2004 to get this batch of songs together to this point!

It is just easier to sit on the other side of the glass and rip apart someone else's playing than to do this to yourself because deep down you think you'll nail it in the first take....just like that other kid said he would.

nailing it on the first take when you're barely able to remember what day it is = almost impossible.

but maybe in three to five takes, which is my average.

i try not to be harsh on other ppl struggling to get it together.

but i DO expect myself and others to eventually get it in a single continuous take with little or no edits/punches.

actually, when it's me i will just replay it from beginning to end if i have to.

when i'm the performer, i try to reserve editing for belches, farts, gurgles, sighs and gain adjusting loud string squeaks down til they don't puncture the tympanic membrane.

on the tune i mentioned on my first post, i was using a drum pattern as a tempo guide and not an actual click, but it ran out before i got well into the coda so i just winged it as best i could when laying down the first guitar.

somehow i got fairly well off the one with the acoustic i laid down afterward...actually, it seems i kept the tempo but fell behind the downbeat somehow.

[themagicmanmdt]

i just like to keep playing it until i nail the feel of the song all the way through on the 12th take or so. i think the earliest was maybe the 6th take, and that was on one of the less delicate songs.

[rwc]

We're not all like Jeff Robinson... At least not the ones who actually work consistently!

zing.

In all fairness, I've heard of top tier professional engineers walking out on sessions at the classier place I get to work at a few nights a week. The great part about being in demand and having a good amount of work is.. not having to put up with real bullshit.

Someday I'll be there.

[RefD]

We're not all like Jeff Robinson... At least not the ones who actually work consistently!

zing.

*drapes tarp over body and puts police tape around post*

[kayagum]

but part of me wants to delete it and have another go cos i feel pretty disgusted with myself.

Assuming you have unlimited tracks (I thought that was an advantage to DAW recording, if that's what you're on), record more takes. If you really can't play it, write something simpler and record that- often, that ends up better.

It's what they tell you in writing class- rewrite, rewrite, rewrite...

[bannerj]

r

3. if you actually do set aside a week or something to just work on your own music, then you get your expectations all high and then psyche yourself out anyway.

a whole WEEK?

this is my musical wet dream!

maybe it'll happen when my kids are both in school and i actually have time to do things like shave on a regular basis and get more than 20 hours of sleep in a week

Yeah, I'm spoiled at 32 with no kids (yet) and I work on a school calendar. The top three reasons why people go into education?

1.June
2. July
3. August

I manage to get away from research and home projects etc and get about a week per year which actually seems slim considering I have three months off.

[RefD]

but part of me wants to delete it and have another go cos i feel pretty disgusted with myself.

Assuming you have unlimited tracks (I thought that was an advantage to DAW recording, if that's what you're on), record more takes. If you really can't play it, write something simpler and record that- often, that ends up better.

It's what they tell you in writing class- rewrite, rewrite, rewrite...

simpler?

rewrite?

wtf?

you think i'm a 14 yr old trying to record his first prog rock opus?

it's not a matter of not being able to play it and never was.

what gave you the idea that was even an issue?

it's a matter of not having any time or energy for this cos i have a family to look after 24/7 in addition to working, yet still trying to squeeze in some recording when any sane person would be asleep instead.

you try sleeping like crap for 15 years and having a toddler crawling all over you and see how much time and energy you have.

better yet, try reading the posts next time.

[RefD]

*stumbles out of front door at 1am in boxers and angrily waves a garden rake at teenagers driving past*

[rwc]

I'd like to take back my aforementioned zing and reassign it to the previous post.

[RefD]

update: looks like i found the place where i fell behind the beat and fixed it with a single snip, kind of like removing a few inches of tape.

the performance is more than acceptable now.

the question remains in my mind, tho: how did i end up consistently behind the beat by a fixed amount of time after playing (more or less) in the pocket up to just after the opening section?

weird...i guess my motor function was off that day or something!

[e-man]

"the question remains in my mind, tho: how did i end up consistently behind the beat by a fixed amount of time after playing (more or less) in the pocket up to just after the opening section?"

sounds like your computer may have dropped out for a few milliseconds. i've had that happen. everything sounds in sync while tracking but on payback the last recorded track would be out of sync. usually a buffer issue for me. forgot to set them back high after playing around with some softsynth which would need low latency.

were you using a midi generated click or an audio click?

anyways, guess it doesn't matter if you fixed it.

later...

[kayagum]

simpler?

rewrite?

wtf?

you think i'm a 14 yr old trying to record his first prog rock opus?

it's not a matter of not being able to play it and never was.

what gave you the idea that was even an issue?

it's a matter of not having any time or energy for this cos i have a family to look after 24/7 in addition to working, yet still trying to squeeze in some recording when any sane person would be asleep instead.

you try sleeping like crap for 15 years and having a toddler crawling all over you and see how much time and energy you have.

better yet, try reading the posts next time.

Wow, I must have caught you during a serious case of the crabbies, or maybe your kid just vomited all over you.

Let me try to phrase it another way. BECAUSE you have no time or energy, use that as a creative limitation. In no way did I imply that you have no ability. I'm saying that because you have a fairly small window of opportunity to record, you want your stuff to work. And the best way to do that is to write fairly simple things. I'm a classically trained pianist, but that doesn't mean I'm going to write and record something that would make Chopin spin in his grave. Just because someone can play a whacked 13/8 meter doesn't mean he/she needs to write that. And I'm telling you, simplicity almost always serves the song better. It's true in writing, it's true in theater, it's true in music. And if you only have enough time or energy for a take or two, you want the take to be something where (a) you're not worried whether you'll play it right or not, and (b) you're more thinking about the expression of the take, not the mechanics.

On a completely different topic. If you've been sleeping like crap for 15 years (which means you can't just blame your rugrat), you need to get your ass to a doctor and get that figured out. Or get some daycare and housekeeping. Or set up a true office for your day job. If you keep this up, your life is going to fall apart and it won't pretty. You'd be surprised how many divorce case arise from losing control over the logistics (time, money, housekeeping/roommate issues, etc.). On a far simpler and optimistic note, once you experience full sleep, you'll wonder how you ever functioned without it. I'm a reformed sleeper myself.

[kayagum]

how did i end up consistently behind the beat by a fixed amount of time after playing (more or less) in the pocket up to just after the opening section?

weird...i guess my motor function was off that day or something!

you try sleeping like crap for 15 years

I think you just answered your own question. Sleep deprivation has been scientifically proven to be worse for reaction skills than alcohol.

[RefD]

how did i end up consistently behind the beat by a fixed amount of time after playing (more or less) in the pocket up to just after the opening section?

weird...i guess my motor function was off that day or something!

you try sleeping like crap for 15 years

I think you just answered your own question. Sleep deprivation has been scientifically proven to be worse for reaction skills than alcohol.

aye, you're probly right cos i recorded that acoustic guitar track very quickly at the end of a very long day.