Beginner tip: Record yourself!

[Kuskah]

Not only to see progress but more importantly, it helps you find gaps in your technique.

You don't need anything fancy either. If you're practicing with an amp, all you need is your phone. The front camera is more than enough. Make sure both of your hands are visible in the picture and press record. That's all it takes. If you're only practicing with headphones all the time, might need to do some extra steps.

I've been learning bass for about a year now, and only recently started recording myself. Immediately, I noticed two things I didn't realize by just playing along to a song. Number one, my straight 8ths or 16ths have crazy swing to them, mainly in rock & metal where the bassline tends to sit on a single note. Falling out of time way more than I thought. Had to slow it down and really focus on my timing. Number two, my left hand is squeezing way too hard, often unintentionally bending the strings. It's not too noticeable when it comes to the sound while the actual song is playing but when I do it without backing track and deliberately try to mimic the bends I see myself doing in videos, the note is definitely going out of tune. Just by recording myself, I went from having no idea what I should work on to knowing I need to lighten my left hand touch and focus on staying in time during drawn out single note 8ths/16ths sections. Only wish I'd done that sooner!

 

[Rocket Queen]

To Hear Ourselves As Others Hear Us: Tape Recording as a Tool in Music Practicing and Teaching

This little volume by concert pianist James Boyk is several books in one. For musicians of all instruments and ages, it is a complete guide to using recording as a tool in practicing, teaching and preparing for performance. It is also an easy-to-understand guide to microphones and other...

performancerecordings.com

 

[bass12]

Not just beginners. Anyone at any level benefits from regularly recording and analyzing their playing. Hearing yourself accurately in real time is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) and playing in a live context (as opposed to a studio context) generally allows you to get away with all kinds of sloppiness. Think your timing is consistently good and that your technique is clean? Put yourself under the microscope and be prepared for a surprise.

 

[JazznFunk]

Yep. I'm a fan of recording oneself as much as possible. The best thing I did early on in my playing career 25+ years ago was to buy a 4-track recorder and spend time in headphones along with a drum machine in a multitrack environment. Not only did I learn about recording (one of the reasons I got into music in the first place), but I learned a lot about carefully paying attention to how my bass(es) sounded in a direct setting, so you REALLY KNOW what your instrument sounds like even without an amp. It comes in very handy in live settings where you may be playing ampless, etc. Later, the next best piece of gear I got was a Zoom H2 recorder. I record pretty much every practice session and gig and listen back to it, and share it with my bandmates. Some people don't want to hear how they really sounded, but I'm as interested in hearing how the room sounded (and what the bass/amp actually sounded like in the mix) versus relying on rose tinted glasses. Sometimes things are way better than we remember them... sometimes not. The great thing is that as the years pile on, what I hear in recordings gets less and less cringe worthy as they go. The goal is to constantly improve, and recording is the only way to objectively gauge if you are.

 

[BrotherMister]

Record yourself at every step.

All practise. All rehearsals and all gigs. Listen back to it and be honest about what you hear. In todays world it’s pretty easy to be able to do this constantly.

The issue of storing all of the recordings is, unfortunately, very real.

 

[JazznFunk]

Record yourself at every step.

All practise. All rehearsals and all gigs. Listen back to it and be honest about what you hear. In todays world it’s pretty easy to be able to do this constantly.

The issue of storing all of the recordings is, unfortunately, very real.

Not really. Physical media in the form of recordable DVD media, and large-capacity external hard drives, is/are pretty inexpensive these days. Terabytes of data are just pennies on the dollar in many instances. You can always back up to the cloud in some form as well (Google Drive, etc.) but I don't trust cloud-only concepts.... as today's large scale tech outage confirms!

 

[buldog5151bass]

No one says you have to save it all. Listen and toss if no real reason to maintain

 

[r_bnks]

Yes. Very common practice.

 

[Kuskah]

The issue of storing all of the recordings is, unfortunately, very real.

Yeah, keeping videos in your phone can take up the space pretty quickly so you need to manage that. But unless you ever want to do something with the recordings besides seeing progress, audio/video compression is your friend. No need to keep 4K video of hundreds of practice sessions, cutting it down to 720p or so should be fine. Same for compressing WAV recordings to medium bitrate MP3s. Also, trim it down to the relevant parts to reduce file size.

 

[LeeNunn]

I record every rehearsal and performance with a Zoom digital recorder. MP3 files don’t take up much space. I record the entire session at once. When I get home I open the MP3 file with Audacity to extract individual songs to their own files. I email the files to my bandmates and copy the files to my phone so I can listen to them in the car. The sound quality is surprisingly good. Some things sound better than I thought they would and vice versa. Listening to the playback is very helpful. Very popular with my band mates.

 

[mrjim123]

Yep. I've found that licks that I thought sounded good when playing them don't always sound so good when just sitting and listening to them. Recording has also help me determine when I'm playing too many or too few notes.

 

[joeLowB]

All fascinating and I agree.

And a technical question... I've tried recording with my phone but the audio is abysmal. To capture both hands on my bass via video means my phone is about 7 feet away from my small combo amp in my house. I tried hooking a simple mic to my phone, positioning the mic near the amp speaker bit no better.

What are the basics I should consider to make a recording simple?

Thanks

.

 

[Karl Kaminski]

All fascinating and I agree.

And a technical question... I've tried recording with my phone but the audio is abysmal. To capture both hands on my bass via video means my phone is about 7 feet away from my small combo amp in my house. I tried hooking a simple mic to my phone, positioning the mic near the amp speaker bit no better.

What are the basics I should consider to make a recording simple?

Thanks

Basics: Headphones for playback

Listening on your phone thru the speaker vs headphones — you'll hear a difference. (ESPECIALLY if you play extended range bass; ie LowB)

• Keep it simple. if its just practice/personal stuff- you can skip the extra gear like mics
• If using Voice memo for quick audio recordings (in app settings has an 'enhance recording' toggle- this can help sometimes)
• If using Video, try both stereo or mono recording. being closer to source will help- but not always necessary.
• Do a short 5-10 sec test clip before, once you get the 'right placement' it's just 'shoot and go'.
• Watch your sound levels! if you're trying to hear yourself right next to a screaming guitar and drums, it wont work. -Youll need to record farther away. (this shouldn't be a problem for practicing/etc)

Also, keep in mind that while the iPhone "can record" an audio signal fairly well, for decent playback/listening of bass parts you'll likely need headphones.


Both of these examples were recorded just on a iPhone12 Pro (one acoustic /one with an amp).
Nothing fancy here, just using Video app, placed at about 5'.
Both of these clips playback well on the phone, but with headphones it is better.





But I will add; if you're on an iPhone, try using Garage Band for your recordings. It'll give you some adjustability with the audio levels, plugins, etc. And Im sure there are other 3rd party recording apps both for audio and video that could enhance the recording experience.

 

[Pings Bass]

Recording good, yes. Practices, rehearsal and gigs.

If you're looking at things like hand position and technique, you can significantly shorten the feedback loop by playing in front of a mirror.

 

[Derek Kay]

I once phoned the drummer onstage, and left a voice message - of his drum solo.

 

[joeLowB]

Basics: Headphones for playback

Listening on your phone thru the speaker vs headphones — you'll hear a difference. (ESPECIALLY if you play extended range bass; ie LowB)

• Keep it simple. if its just practice/personal stuff- you can skip the extra gear like mics
• If using Voice memo for quick audio recordings (in app settings has an 'enhance recording' toggle- this can help sometimes)
• If using Video, try both stereo or mono recording. being closer to source will help- but not always necessary.
• Do a short 5-10 sec test clip before, once you get the 'right placement' it's just 'shoot and go'.
• Watch your sound levels! if you're trying to hear yourself right next to a screaming guitar and drums, it wont work. -Youll need to record farther away. (this shouldn't be a problem for practicing/etc)

Also, keep in mind that while the iPhone "can record" an audio signal fairly well, for decent playback/listening of bass parts you'll likely need headphones.


Both of these examples were recorded just on a iPhone12 Pro (one acoustic /one with an amp).
Nothing fancy here, just using Video app, placed at about 5'.
Both of these clips playback well on the phone, but with headphones it is better.





But I will add; if you're on an iPhone, try using Garage Band for your recordings. It'll give you some adjustability with the audio levels, plugins, etc. And Im sure there are other 3rd party recording apps both for audio and video that could enhance the recording experience.

Thanks so much for your detailed response!

.

 

[NickyBass]

I used to record everything. I had a friend over and we listened to some gigs and rehearsals from 15-20 years ago. We were both excited to listen to the old recordings.