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Do you record yourself when you practice?
- Thread starter Isaac_James
- Start date
I record some rehearsals and most gigs.
I'd rather find out where I'm rushing (or too busy, etc.) than not find out.
I'd rather find out where I'm rushing (or too busy, etc.) than not find out.
Hummergeist
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- Jul 21, 2020
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When I'm practising, I use one of two setups. into Fender Rumble, then the DI out into Audient interface, to Ableton Live. Or bass direct into Audient interface, into a plug-in chain in Ableton Live. Either way I'm always one click away from recording what's going on. Same reason, pre-iPhone, I'd always have a pen and paper or a little recorder with me. Same thing for recording rehearsals - valuable analysis of the performance, as well as capturing any little moments of magic in the room!
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I practice 1-2 or more hours daily, and have done so for many many years. That said I never felt that recording myself actually practicing was useful. I am gigging and doing recording sessions often enough that I’m very aware of my tone and groove. I know what I need to work on, and know how to practice particular things. Sometimes I do record a band practice when we are working up a new tune and occasionally I will record gigs.
This is supposed to be a carrot, but it's a bit more "stubby jellyfish" or something if you ask me.
We record gigs and practices. Multi-track with a click. We've used them before if someone couldn't make it to practice, we just play along with their track(s).
This is supposed to be a carrot, but it's a bit more "stubby jellyfish" or something if you ask me.
My wife's got something that looks like this in her bedside table drawer, I wonder if she'll let me borrow it for recording?
I record rehearsals for reference so that people have something to practice along with between rehearsals, since none of my bands rehearses frequently. This adds insurance against people forgetting arrangement points, etc. If they bother to listen and work with the recordings I send, that is.
I'm kind of in that phase of still struggling with certain things in bass playing and I find filming myself playing a song helps a lot and playing live to see improvements. Today actually perfectly I been stepping up my pratice mixing it with some keyboard as well to help with theory and time. On bass I played a song I played months ago master it but I am amazed how my technique has only improve and my sense of timing. When I can I record myself video and sometimes DAW to hear the change and to watch the change.
I started recording myself at home for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to see how I was progressing over several months. Two, I wanted to hear how my time was. Three I wanted to see how clean I was playing. Over time I started recording the occasional rehearsal, mostly when we were starting a new tune or working on something we needed help with. It's a great tool and I recommend it now to my students.
In the last band I did, but none of the other band members wanted to hear how bad we were after they heard the first one.
I used my Marantz PMD661 with a pair of Audio Technica 4041 mics I used to have (I still have the PMD661 that I use to record ideas I come up with when I practice my bass).
No. I record when I am recording. That is it.
Recording practice (and listening/watching it) would eat up time I would otherwise use for practicing or recording for real with.
Recording practice (and listening/watching it) would eat up time I would otherwise use for practicing or recording for real with.
We've been recording practices and gigs for at least 20 years. Frankly, next to a couple of music theory courses I took when I was in high school, has had the most profound impact on being a better bassist as well as a better musician.
My band only does 6-10 gigs a year ( one this weekend) so having a good recording from the show is awesome to practice along too.
As for recording my individual parts as I play them, that is pretty rare, only for when there is a specific song part part that is giving me trouble. Mostly timing issues ( the older I get the more this sort of thing shows up) on fairly quick passages.
Anyway, I highly recommend that all players record everything they do as there is no way you can possibly remember every note you've played and how well you played it. Your recording is your report card.
The key is not to get discouraged reviewing your recordings. Listen for what you did well the first time through. Odds are most of it is pretty good or passable. Take a bow! Second time through, listen for what you could do better. Odds are there there is some of that as well. Don't beat yourself up! Give it some thought on how to fix those parts and work it out.
I record with my Scarlett all the time to learn new tunes, practice and collaborate with others. I will mic my cab when I want to compare DI sound with live sound. Coincidentally, that is also my tip to get the most out of rehearsals and practices
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We record band rehearsals, especially when we are doing new arrangements. Then we send them to each other to practice with.
At home, I always always record myself; I don't want to miss something I might forget, or not be able to repeat. I use the typical Scarlett 212 to and my DAW Presonus Studio. Also have a large network storage server (Synology) for storing everything. I only practice to backing tracks (I really like this guy's stuff, for rock and funk) or loops I've made (I have the Tom Brechtlein acoustic drum packs: One, and Two), so I'm not recording myself over the top of another bass. I also have other backing tracks from SoundCloud, Karaoke-Version.com, BandCamp, and a few other websites for other genres outside of those (left on my own, I mostly play smooth jazz, or as my wife lovingly calls it "elevator music," but finding good backing tracks can be tough).
There are some great ideas in this thread!
There are some great ideas in this thread!
I forgot to mention that Rare Blend recorded all our rehearsals, primarily to come up with fodder for new songs. We always jammed for a while before working on in-progress songs.
