Hearing Yourself When Recording

bill_90125 · #1 02-21-2007, 10:55 AM

I've played a lot live, but in my limited studio experiences I've had difficulty hearing myself while recording. I've found it very frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this and what steps did you take to correct it? Thanks.

Bill W.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #2 02-21-2007, 12:24 PM

Yes. The best thing I've found if I'm in a booth is to get a mix that everyone is happy with, and then record with only one side of the headphones on ( or adjusting the second side so that you get at least some acoustic sound ). For me, the problem stems from the fact that the sound of my bass in the mix always sounds "hotter" than it does acoustically, which causes me to play differently. With one phone off and one phone on, I usually play more naturally.

MakiSupaStar · #3 02-21-2007, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Yes. The best thing I've found if I'm in a booth is to get a mix that everyone is happy with, and then record with only one side of the headphones on ( or adjusting the second side so that you get at least some acoustic sound ). For me, the problem stems from the fact that the sound of my bass in the mix always sounds "hotter" than it does acoustically, which causes me to play differently. With one phone off and one phone on, I usually play more naturally.

+1. Additionally, it's that whole hearing your voice recorded thing too.

Ed Fuqua · #4 02-22-2007, 11:58 AM

If you're recording multi tracked you should be able to get a seperate headphone mix (and should have a little mixer in the booth that you can turn everybody up and down with). If you're going direct to stereo, you won't be able to get a seperate mix; Chris' trick works pretty good either way. If you are going direct to two track (stereo) and you are all recording in the same room, then you need to set up just like you would play acoustically and not worry about bleed.

But I gotta say, I've never had a problem of not being able to hear myself in teh studio. That's almost the ultimate for me; a nice, quiet acoustically friendly room.

theshadow2001 · #5 02-22-2007, 12:07 PM

From my studio experiences everything has been done track by track independently as opposed to a live recording. I've recorded in a booth and have never had trouble hearing myself. I don't see why the head phone mix can't be adjusted to boost the bass without affecting the recording mix. The last time I was in a studio I just DI'ed in the control room and played along with the track coming through the studio monitors. Which I thought was a really hassle free way of doing it. It made communication between everyone that was there very convenient as well.

flatback · #6 02-22-2007, 12:23 PM

Just a note: Recording is it's own discipline. All aspects of it need practice and experience. Hearing yourself in the unnatural environment of headphones and mixes, playing with a heightened sense of perfectionism, tone, intonation, establishing rapport with the drummer who may be in another room, and not being thrown off by any of these things not being what you might expect. The headphone mix is really important...have you ever played synth patches of different instruments (say guitar or strings) and noticed that you play differently because you are ma**** different sounds? (I do anyways) For me recording is a lot like that. It is a highly artificial environment, that you have to get used to. Don't be afraid to really take some time getting the phone mix right and comfortable, if you get the mix comfortable you can relax and play and hear yourself much better. This is especially important for Acoustic bassists where intonation and time are so crucial and so easily obfuscated by a bad mix.

stedtale · #7 02-22-2007, 12:30 PM

It took me a while at first to get my headphones worked out. I do the one on one off thing too (with the off side muted) when playing upright in the studio. You should be able to get it exactly how you want, just work w/ the engineer.

Ed Fuqua · #8 02-22-2007, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

From my studio experiences everything has been done track by track independently as opposed to a live recording. I've recorded in a booth and have never had trouble hearing myself. I don't see why the head phone mix can't be adjusted to boost the bass without affecting the recording mix. The last time I was in a studio I just DI'ed in the control room and played along with the track coming through the studio monitors. Which I thought was a really hassle free way of doing it. It made communication between everyone that was there very convenient as well.

Sweetie, two things.
1. you're in the double bass section and we're tal**** about acoustic instruments. Chris, Flatback and myself play jazz and you don't make a jazz record (generally) by not playing together.
2. don't interrupt when Mommy and Daddy are tal****.

fingers · #9 02-22-2007, 03:05 PM

Just like anything studio work takes practice. I never felt comfortable with the one ear thing. It was harder for me to 'get into it'. I felt like I was paying too much attention to myself and not enough attention to the group sound. About four years ago I lost hearing in my right ear due to brain surgery so that was that. It takes practice to step outside of yourself and hear 'you in the group' rather than just 'you' and trying to be perfect and not mess up.

Marcus Johnson · #10 02-22-2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

2. don't interrupt when Mommy and Daddy are tal****.

This is easily twice as funny with the current TB "****" glitch.

theshadow2001 · #11 02-22-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

Sweetie, two things.
1. you're in the double bass section and we're tal**** about acoustic instruments. Chris, Flatback and myself play jazz and you don't make a jazz record (generally) by not playing together.
2. don't interrupt when Mommy and Daddy are tal****.

Innocent mistake ed. I'll be one of you guys in may so

simandlhandle · #12 02-22-2007, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Yes. The best thing I've found if I'm in a booth is to get a mix that everyone is happy with, and then record with only one side of the headphones on ( or adjusting the second side so that you get at least some acoustic sound ). For me, the problem stems from the fact that the sound of my bass in the mix always sounds "hotter" than it does acoustically, which causes me to play differently. With one phone off and one phone on, I usually play more naturally.

Yeah, works for me too. The idea that you are going to get your own personal mix,while it would be nice, just isn't a reality I've come across.

Marcus Johnson · #13 02-22-2007, 05:12 PM

I usually end up peeling some, and often most, of the headphones off when I'm recording DB. I've just been doing it so long, I don't even think about it anymore. I've often thought that it would be cool to have a set of cans that actually would allow you to hear your own acoustic sound as well as the mix. It's a big world, so such a thing probably exists somewhere. Maybe I should just use the earbuds from my 'Pod.

Ric Vice · #14 02-22-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill_90125

I've played a lot live, but in my limited studio experiences I've had difficulty hearing myself while recording. I've found it very frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this and what steps did you take to correct it? Thanks.

Bill W.

In my limited experience the two albums that I've enjoyed the most were recorded in totally different ways. One was a 12 peice band that was recorded live over two different nights in a small concert hall and it sounds really good. Bill Porter recorded that one.
On the other album we used headphones and I was allowed to bring my own. (Fostex T50 RP's) I think that's what made it easy for me because I practice with those headphones. Since I'm used to listening to bass through the Fostex's, it worked like a charm. We also had a really good engineer who knew how to set up a great headphone mix. Weird thing was, that he put our drummer "the box" so in order to see us he was looking through (no I'm not making this up) a rear view mirror from a car! Since we could all hear each other really well the headphones became the "live listening enviroment." I'm sure that this isn't always the case

Ric

Ed Fuqua · #15 02-23-2007, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Innocent mistake ed. I'll be one of you guys in may so

Welcome aboard.

TGP · #16 02-23-2007, 05:20 PM

One thing I have to add concerning having your own separate mix.

In the studio where I've done most of my recording, they have this setup, but it took me a few sessions to figure out how to adjust the bass and everything else. The mistake I made was I eq'ed the band to sound like what I thought the final mix should be, and this gave me trouble because there was too much low frequency energy coming from piano, guitar, drums or whatever. Made it hard to play in tune, with proper dynamics among other things, very frustrating. So basically I learned to make the other instruments sound less bass heavy so my sound could be distinguished better in the phones.
..... Now if this could only work on gigs too!

Hope this helps somebody

bill_90125 · #17 02-23-2007, 08:30 PM

All good info guys. Mainly what I'm getting is it's different for everyone and that some effort will be required to just get used to the environment and get comfortable. I will try the half phones off idea as well as working with the engineer on a mix that works for me. Thanks guys.

Bill W.

larry · #18 02-25-2007, 12:24 AM

There are still some engineers out there that know how to record a jazz group in one room so no one has to wear cans.