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

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:47 am

majortom wrote:Space echo; if you were kidding sorry for the reaction, but it seemed like a long post to be just kidding, I hope so.

don't worry about MSE, he's one of the good guys.

he does have a wicked deadpan.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:48 am

RefD wrote:
majortom wrote:Space echo; if you were kidding sorry for the reaction, but it seemed like a long post to be just kidding, I hope so.
don't worry about MSE, he's one of the good guys.

he does have a wicked deadpan.

Yea, he's one of the funnier cats here.

greatmagnet · Post by **greatmagnet** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:19 am

fossiltooth wrote:remember that collaboration is one of the greatest things in the world. It's unlikely that the majority of your favorite albums were recorded in a vacuum.

Yes. In fact I highly recommend that your band's group therapist contribute to the lyrical content of your next album if at all possible.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:29 pm

Caldo71 wrote:
fossiltooth wrote:remember that collaboration is one of the greatest things in the world. It's unlikely that the majority of your favorite albums were recorded in a vacuum.
Yes. In fact I highly recommend that your band's group therapist contribute to the lyrical content of your next album if at all possible.

Nice one. Although I gotta say that everybody in that scene delivered their fair share of clunkers, specifically the producer and lead guitarist.

"My life style determines my death style?" fucking please.

greatmagnet · Post by **greatmagnet** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:03 pm

Wow...somebody got my Some Kind of Monster reference!

Totally agreed about everyone else's clunkers on that whole fiasco. I could go on and on.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:40 pm

Caldo71 wrote:Wow...somebody got my Some Kind of Monster reference!

Totally agreed about everyone else's clunkers on that whole fiasco. I could go on and on.

It's hard to turn that off when it hits VH1...

themagicmanmdt · Post by **themagicmanmdt** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:51 pm

i enjoy recording myself.

i mix everything, too, and only when i feel something is 'done' do i usually look for an outside opinion on the mix, which usually turns out to be 'vocals up, drums up'.

trying to master, too, drove me insane.

mixing and recording was fine. in fact, i won't have it any other way.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:56 pm

Caldo71 wrote:Wow...somebody got my Some Kind of Monster reference!

Oh hell yeah.

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:53 pm

I can see two problems with "recording in a vacuum":

1) you couldn't breathe, and

b) there wouldn't be any sound!

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:09 pm

dwlb wrote:
Caldo71 wrote:
fossiltooth wrote:remember that collaboration is one of the greatest things in the world. It's unlikely that the majority of your favorite albums were recorded in a vacuum.
Yes. In fact I highly recommend that your band's group therapist contribute to the lyrical content of your next album if at all possible.

Nice one. Although I gotta say that everybody in that scene delivered their fair share of clunkers, specifically the producer and lead guitarist.

"My life style determines my death style?" fucking please.

Did I directly quote Metallica's therapist without knowing it? Sounds like I'm in good company.

I haven't seen the movie. I hear it's a pretty sad display...

ashcat_lt · Post by **ashcat_lt** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:02 pm

Just do what you need to make it sound good and don't beat yourself up over a flubbed take.

If you were recording somebody else what would you say?

a) "How'd you fuck that up so bad?"
b) "That was alright. Let's try it again."
?

I personally can't imagine being recorded by somebody else. Can't imagine any professional recording engineer putting up with my stuff first of all. Then I'd have to explain to him what I think I want and by the time that's through I could have just patched it all together myself. Then its a matter of "Okay, push record," which is a waste of your time. Wouldn't suck to have somebody walk around documenting things like effects settings, punch in points, etc, but that's more of an intern's job.

I've been noticing the opposite problem with my tracks. Everything sounds fine as a whole until I take out the click. Then it's all disjointed and random.

Oh, and why exactly were you recording without a click?

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:42 pm

ashcat_lt wrote: Can't imagine any professional recording engineer putting up with my stuff first of all.

Sounds like you're not imagining a professional engineer... Not a good one at least. A good engineer realizes it's not all about them. It's about the artist.

I'm always amazed when clients are surprised that I'm "putting up with their bullshit" or that I "get what they're trying to do"... that's my job!

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

ashcat_lt wrote:I've been noticing the opposite problem with my tracks. Everything sounds fine as a whole until I take out the click. Then it's all disjointed and random.

Ha! Try adding cowbell to the arrangement?

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:04 pm

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

Familiar?

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.

apropos of nothing · Post by **apropos of nothing** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:41 pm

I can usually make a judgement on sometinng like that after about 24-48 hours. Never before. Go back to it with the click off and see if it still bugs you when you haven't heard it continuously for the last couple hours. If you notice and are irritated with the hiccup, its a problem. Otherwise, it ain't.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:46 pm

ashcat_lt wrote:...somebody walk around documenting things like effects settings, punch in points, etc, but that's more of an intern's job.

Depends on the engineer.

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