Not recording myself anymore!!!

[BillMason]

I had no idea how bad I sucked!!!

[fenderhutz]

Forum: Recording Gear and Equipment

So what did you use

[BillMason]

Good point - my new H2. I ran an XLR out of my GK 700 RBII into an XLR -> 1/8" adapter, into the line in on the H2. Recording quality was pretty decent, too bad I can't say the same about the performance. I'll be recording band practice tonight so everyone else can share my misery.

[fretlessrock]

Bill,
Thanks for the laugh!

But really, don't stop recording yourself. The difference between getting better and not getting better is being able to put in the time improving things you aren't good at. I'm coming off of a 6 month layoff and I am back at square one, playing to an 8th note click and trying to make it swing.

Also, are you sure it isn't your drummer!!??

[Rickett Customs]

Originally Posted by BillMason

I had no idea how bad I sucked!!!

I think we've all been here one time or many
Now, the rest of it depends on what you want to do about that situation. This will be an ongoing chapter of "evolution" for you.
Best advice is do whatever you gotta do.

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by Alembicplyr

Now, the rest of it depends on what you want to do about that situation. This will be an ongoing chapter of "evolution" for you.

Jason is right Bill.... recording = truth! Use it as a tool to make yourself the player you want to be. Record often! Record always!

[COOL AND DEADLY]

I know how that feels. Don't get discouraged, keep recording yourself. Sometimes i stumble upon recordings of myself a few years ago and I'm glad I stuck with it. Man, I was really bad! In a few years I've gotten better and still have a whole heap of improvement to work on. Persistance.

[Jamie_Funk]

Ha ha ha...you can start recording ME at our lessons soon Bill - THEN you will feel better about YOUR playing

Seriously, thye "tape don't lie" and while painful, recording yourself is the best way to properly analyze where you are at (and where your AREN'T)

Jamie

[IndyBass]

+1 to recording rehearsals and +1 to the H2. My new band has three rehearsals left before our first gig, and we would have almost NO IDEA what particular things still need improvement if we weren't recording everything. It's a vital improvement tool.

[51m0n]

A recording is a fine way of enlightening you to your weaknesses with a surgical accuracy.

It is the very best way to get better.

Shame its sooo painful though

[BillMason]

Originally Posted by Jamie_Funk

Ha ha ha...you can start recording ME at our lessons soon Bill - THEN you will feel better about YOUR playing

Seriously, thye "tape don't lie" and while painful, recording yourself is the best way to properly analyze where you are at (and where your AREN'T)

Jamie

I'll be sure to record our lessons for you then.

I was playing Elvis' "Burning Love," one of our covers that I always thought I did a half decent job on, although it is a little busy and fast tempo - you have to play this little arpeggio over a G, then an A, then back up to D for the main riff, very quick. With Bill Black on the recording, each note is well defined and articulate - exactly what I thought mine were. When I play it back, each note runs into the next with hardly any definition.

Must be the H2. Maybe I'll return it.

[srptopdog]

Originally Posted by BillMason

When I play it back, each note runs into the next with hardly any definition.

Must be the H2. Maybe I'll return it.

I'm nearly certain I read about a firmware update that fixes that problem.

[BillMason]

The Zoom H2 was a big hit at band practice tonight. At least, that is, until I send everyone the sound files and they get to listen to them in their own homes.

[kerley]

I recorded myself for the first time yesterday with very poor results. Agree it is the only way to really improve as it differs greatly from what I hear when I am playing. I was okay at slow stuff but higher tempo lost definition and I had problems with note length which I just don't hear when playing. After 30 minutes there was a definite improvement though so has to be a very quick way of improving. Only been playing for 4 months so glad I started recording so soon.

Still not convinced it isn't down to slow Mac/Garageband problem :-)

[E2daGGurl]

You're just listening more clinically to yourself than you possibly can while playing. However, no one else listens to you that way - just you! In a live setting, where other people are playing and you're playing, no one is listening the way they do to one recorded bass track.

Also, the room acoustics and ambient nose make live music much richer and sonically diverse than a DI recording or whatever it's called - it's all clear and calculated-sounding.

OTOH, this is how you really get to hear whether your intonation needs work or (worse yet) you're actually out of tune. I know what you're feeling - I'm trying to improve myself before I record anything again.

But it's sooo helpful to hear it. (Just don't go on a long roadtrip with only your own first track in the car stereo to listen to...)

[kerley]

Agree, it certainly helps when I add a drum track in. Sounds much better than just bass on it's own.
Still very pleased I started doing it though as I really have made improvements over the last 2 days so would recommend that all beginners do it.

Plus I can also use some of the metal settings in garageband to hide poor playing, like all those metal players must do

[gb2]

Originally Posted by BillMason

I had no idea how bad I sucked!!!

Some months ago my band went into a little recording studio to do our click tracks for the drummer, just when a good friend of mine (someone who I really look up to as a bassist) had finished the recording for his band's record and the produced showed us the result... I was speechless. He sucked big time. Unbelievable. No time, no groove, no nothing. I nearly lost faith.
End of story: After being depressed for some weeks for the poor recording he went back into the studio and totally nailed it! Best stuff he's ever done. So...there's always a next try, Bill

[staindbass]

that is excellent. it means you care. i suck too, but i have made alot of dough. thank god for protools,lol. but i also have seen people in the studio who make even more dough who can barely play at all ! you guys would kill me, you hear them on the radio everyday. i think there is somthing to the reason you have never noticed this before, maybe you have heard you bass too loud or too soft all this time that you never noticed it before. in other words, yeah you sucked but u didnt notice. some people never notice. next time you jam, try to get the same "mix" you hear with the drums that your heard on the recording. if ur too loud or soft, you wont be able to tell if ur matching up with the drummer. another note, i swear bass solo just by itself in the studio sounds wierd with no drums. dont be too hard onyour self it you listened to it that way. i recorded a blues song long ago, a galloping kind of bass line. well , when you muted the drums you could not tell what i was doing, it was a mess.nothing was actually on the beat. the notes were struck before and after the kick drum, so you couldent follow it solo and sense any timing. unmute the drums, everything popped into place. really wierd. i still wake up everyday and suck, but i keep trying to be a pinch better than everyone else. johnny a.

[manbass]

I sound (at times) bad enough from an audience distance recording...I wouldnt dare go DI...besides...thats not the reality of hearing your playing. Ambient sound and other instruments at gig level volume covers 90% of what you hear in the DI output.

Just sayin'

-D

[BillMason]

Yeah, I wasn't playing with drums, and had headphones on, listening to the original artist song while playing along with it, and recording my playing. I'm sure it would have been different if I had had just a drum track to listen to, and could have heard the nuances of my playing better while recording - well, sorta almost sure anyway.

The recording we did at band practice last Tuesday was interesting - my playing sounded much better, and while I'm not saying I'm a perfect musician or anything, our drummer's timing was off on every song, and our singer lost the key on several notes. The electric guitar player's playing was great, except that his recording level was really low coming through the mixer, and the acoustic guitar level was *way* high. We're going to try it again this week, except with a few minor adjustments that I will be insisting on - acoustic guitar EQ'd with less bass (what is it with these guys???), levels higher on the electric guitar and on the bass and drums too.

And no, before anyone asks, I won't post the recordings. I would die of embarrassment. Or humiliation.

For EQ on the acoustic guitar, what does everyone recommend? He's also the singer, and tends to do smiley faces on his guitar's on-board EQ. Would flat settings be the ideal way to go, or more of a slightly frowny face?