Not messing up

T

TheGroceryman

Silver Member
So I started recording myself and as a result I began realizing how friggin hard it is to not mess up on takes. I almost always leave the pocket at least once in any given take. It's extremely frustrating because it's just not supposed to happen.

How can I stay consistent throughout the entire song? Is it just more practice with a metronome?
 
Play along to tracks. No fills until you can groove through the songs. Practice with a click, too: first with quarter note clicks, then the click on 2&4, then on the one of each bar, the on the one of every two bars, every four bars, etc. Again, no fills until you can keep the time going with confidence. It's amazing just how far your time can shift in a half measure fill...
 
Wavelength said:
Play along to tracks. No fills until you can groove through the songs. Practice with a click, too: first with quarter note clicks, then the click on 2&4, then on the one of each bar, the on the one of every two bars, every four bars, etc. Again, no fills until you can keep the time going with confidence. It's amazing just how far your time can shift in a half measure fill...
Click to expand...

That's true. I've been recording myself for a year, and it drasticly improved my playing. In the first recordings though, there was a lot of timing problems. I still have one or two fills that's not in time. One way to practice this is to practice fills slowly to a metronome and gradually working up.
 
Not to hijack the thread... but whats a cheap and easy way to record practice? I have a laptop setup with my drums (mainly for playing playalong tracks, and viewing Finale sheet music), and I tried recording with it's builtin microphone, and a cheap external PC mic (came with a soundcard 10 yrs ago); both sounded horrible... barely listenable.

Are there any ways to do a decent recording without getting into real mics, mixers, audio interfaces, etc?
 
Fuo said:
Not to hijack the thread... but whats a cheap and easy way to record practice? I have a laptop setup with my drums (mainly for playing playalong tracks, and viewing Finale sheet music), and I tried recording with it's builtin microphone, and a cheap external PC mic (came with a soundcard 10 yrs ago); both sounded horrible... barely listenable.

Are there any ways to do a decent recording without getting into real mics, mixers, audio interfaces, etc?
Click to expand...

use earphones...i kid you not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9jo6PcyWrI
 
Fuo said:
Not to hijack the thread... but whats a cheap and easy way to record practice? I have a laptop setup with my drums (mainly for playing playalong tracks, and viewing Finale sheet music), and I tried recording with it's builtin microphone, and a cheap external PC mic (came with a soundcard 10 yrs ago); both sounded horrible... barely listenable.

Are there any ways to do a decent recording without getting into real mics, mixers, audio interfaces, etc?
Click to expand...

I just got a Zoom Q3, and though I am overall disappointed with the quality and the ease of using it, I have been using it more for recording my practicing, and found it a useful tool in that situation. You can get it for about 200 dollars, and it has video. The Zoom H4 and I think H2 don't have the video and are cheaper.
 
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It really seems to be all mental.

It seems one can play the same song 100 times perfectly in rehearsal, but as soon the red recording light goes on, suddenly simple things become complex.

It does get better with time and experience.
 
Fuzrock said:
I use the Panasonic ZS3. It records sound very well without distorting and gives you HD quality video. Here's a couple of examples.

My band rehearsing in the garage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86sc5MOHsa0

Metallica live in concert. Notice how well it zooms in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca5uyuOD_KY
Click to expand...

Wow. I'm impressed how far digital recording has come in just a few short years.

My video camera from 4 years ago is no where near that nice, and was more money. :-(
 
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Fuzrock said:
I use the Panasonic ZS3. It records sound very well without distorting and gives you HD quality video. Here's a couple of examples.

My band rehearsing in the garage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86sc5MOHsa0

Metallica live in concert. Notice how well it zooms in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca5uyuOD_KY
Click to expand...

that's pretty damn good, especially for a regular camera! that's the best audio i've ever heard from a camera, and the HD picture is outstanding too! i was thinking of getting one of those, but now i'll almost certainly get one.
 
ty for the suggestions. looks like the H2 is what I want... luckily there are plenty of used ones ebay.
 
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