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Post by borborygmus on Mar 30, 2024 14:43:42 GMT
... she had read an intriguing New Yorker interview with a jazz saxophonist. He said, “When I play badly, it’s my fault. When I play well, it’s got nothing to do with me.”
Yes or no?
Peter
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Post by Onechordtrick on Mar 30, 2024 15:27:18 GMT
I think it's a case of press record, play, fluff, swear, start again. Eventually you'll get an acceptable take. You may not understand the 4th step. Here is an example from a few years ago (if I remember correctly it was when Dave White did one of his road trip guitars): Examples of frustration and profanity.Have you hacked my computer?
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Post by jackorion on Mar 31, 2024 12:21:18 GMT
As people have already said practise is one aspect but, for me, the bigger impact is the 'vibe' in the studio. i know that sounds a bit hippy but the best recording experiences I've had have always been when the feeling is right - when the engineer is actually interested in what your doing and how you want to do it, when the studio is warm (I can't believe how many studios are cold or don't have heating! Why???), when there's a bit of time spent chatting about music in general and your music in particular etc etc etc. My last album (shameless plug: Down by the Great River Ouse) was recorded over a couple of days in a studio that is essentially a glorified shed. But the engineer (George Arnold - rapunzelrecordingstudios.com) really cares about getting a good sound AND creating a nice vibe. He's in the room with you and everything is very relaxed and low-key - none of this 'big wig behind a desk' stuff. Plus we discussed how we were going to record, what sound I wanted, how I wanted to do it etc etc. Basically I just played the tunes through four or five times and then he went through and chose the best bits and edited them together. Granted I had to be able to play them more or less the same each time in terms of pace and dynamics etc, but I think you have to be honest with yourself before you go into the studio: if you can't play the song/tune 5 or 6 times through without a massive mistake and without speeding up or slowing down erratically then you're not ready to record.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Mar 31, 2024 17:00:47 GMT
After this morning’s attempts I picked up my guitar with the microphones off and was able to play it perfectly at the the first attempt.
Go for
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Post by jackorion on Mar 31, 2024 17:58:46 GMT
Other things I could add would be:
1. Warm up - don't go into recording cold, play guitar and sing for a bit first. Do some vocal scales and exercises and get you fingers moving playing simply chords and lines
2. Don't warm up or sound check using the first song you're going to record - you'll no doubt end up peaking too soon and then have missed the 'take' once recording is on. Just sound check with a cover or something, or just the first verse of a tune
3. with digital recording the norm nowadays there is no need to stop and chat or anything in between takes or if a take break down - agree with the engineer beforehand that you will keep on playing and doing takes until you think you've got the whole thing down - it's up to them to make notes and keep track of what you're doing.
4. If you're recording at home seperate your time accordingly - you have a setup time: setup, soundcheck, take a break. You have recording time: this is just for recording, no need to stop or anything as you're almost certainly recording digitally, just keep putting down take after take until you get it. Takes breaks!. Then you have listeningmixing time - don't listen back and or mix as you go!! This will take you out of the performing stage and put you into a critical stage - keep the critic at bay for as long as possible, listen to the takes the next day.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Mar 31, 2024 21:05:23 GMT
Thanks Ben, some really useful tips there.
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Post by vikingblues on Apr 23, 2024 21:46:32 GMT
I think these would help as a cure ..... 1. Huge self confidence. 2. No worries about embarrassing mistakes. I don't know how in hell these are acquired though. Never had them. Never been close to having them. Will never have them. Even copious amounts of practice and skill acquisition doesn't mean the mental demons are quashed. Mark PS - The red light of video recording is even worse than the red light of audio recording.
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