The red light never lies

[lownote]

Anyone else discovered that while recording yourself can be fun and helpful it can also be deeply depressing, revealing that what you thought was your totally tight pocket is actually a shallow bomb crater?  

Edited February 1, 2021 by lownote12

[Merton]

1 minute ago, lownote12 said:

Anyone else discovered that while recording yourself can be fun and helpful it can also be deeply depressing, revealing that what you thought was your totally tight pocket is actually a shallow bomb crater?  

Yes. It highlights quite how stinky poo I am!

[Steve Browning]

I think the antidote is to listen to many isolated bass tracks. Many of them are not great on their own.

[Happy Jack]

And, of course, objects in the mirror are closer than you think.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I stopped recording myself ages ago, for that reason.

but it does remind me of a song (it's in the lyrics):

 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Killed_by_Death
DOH!, now my post makes no sense, the lyric is 'the mirror never lies'

[Trueno]

Never had a problem... I get that Dave Swift chappie in to record my stuff.

[oldslapper]

I wish my actual mirror had a quantise button. 

[Owen]

It is not the mirror which worries me, it is the laptop camera on zoom meeting. When did THAT happen?

The biggest truth teller of all is the Double Bass bow. There is nowhere to hide with intonation. 

[4000]

1 hour ago, lownote12 said:

Anyone else discovered that while recording yourself can be fun and helpful it can also be deeply depressing, revealing that what you thought was your totally tight pocket is actually a shallow bomb crater?  

This is something I do wonder about a lot of players and bands, whether they regularly record themselves. Because I’ve come across a lot of people who think they’re a lot tighter than they are.😂

I’ve been regularly recording for 40 years now. And no matter how much better you think you might be getting, the red light never lies. It’s like those horrific lights they have in changing rooms; there’s no hiding. 😉 I’m starting to wonder if I’m just getting more critical, or if I am actually getting worse.😂

[Guest]

As a sometime studio bassist, it’s perfectly possible to play what you think is a great take, hear it back... and it sucks!
The problem with recording is that every tiny hesitation, uneven attack or slightly fluffed note gets magnified a hundred times. It’s not playing to a click or quantised but something that fits the groove and feels right. IMHO a lot of “band” musicians often only listen to themselves, or maybe the drummer if they’re a bass player. Good musicians are listening to everything - am I bang on with the snare and the rhythm guitar? Can I hear a flam between the bass and the kick? Are the hits clean? Before I recorded in studios I learned along to tracks on the radio - problem there is you have the actual, in time and great sounding bass part already. So if you do get a chance, record yourself, and often. It does get better with practice 

[Dad3353]

It's a sure-fire putter-offer, recording one's own voice; even for an answering machine..! Very few people can stand the sound of their own voice played back to 'em. The ideal is never to listen, I suppose..! 

[lownote]

4 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

It's a sure-fire putter-offer, recording one's own voice; even for an answering machine..! Very few people can stand the sound of their own voice played back to 'em. The ideal is never to listen, I suppose..! 

This is because we hear ourselves through the bones of the skull, others hear us through the air.  When we also hear ourselves through the air it sounds like us but not like us.  And that scary strangeness is what throws us.  I media trained people to go on radio and telly for 30 years and the phobia is almost universal.   

[taunton-hobbit]

Just for fun, try the intro on this -

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

No, I love it and I’ve been recording myself a lot during lockdown. I spent most of yesterday trying to get a decent take of Footloose. I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge, but after more than a few takes, I managed something fairly close to the dots I have. Listening back to it, I identified a couple of bits I need to work on, but I think it’s a good learning tool.

[Reggaebass]

I’ve only just 4 days ago started recording myself, and listening back it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought, I was bang on with the rhythm , but what did stand out was how inconsistent the note lengths were , so I’m addressing that, but all in all anything that makes you play better has to be good, I can see myself getting addicted to it 😁

Edited February 1, 2021 by Reggaebass

[Crawford13]

This is very true. When I started working with a top class engineer / producer I had to change my technique quite considerably. (apparently all the slap mutes I had incorporated into my playing for years to try and sound like Flea, are actually horrendous in the mix if you are not in the RHCP.) 

I  now try to record my practice sessions as I can feel & hear myself getting better. It also helps with not getting red light syndrome when I'm in the studio and it actually counts. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Crawford13

[Marvin]

I don't have to record myself to know how crap I am...

[deepbass5]

Have to agree with a lot of these remarks

Just done yet another lock down video for one of the big bands i play in, think this will be the 5th now.

each was painful but a learning experience, firstly for recording techniques and then personal accuracy, as said above note length, speeding up in a bar, and your ear drawn away from the click track as you start to listen to brass line or vocal guide. and also the damping we do subliminally as Crawford13 said.  

This last one was Birdland. quite a tame arrangement so not overly taxing as you may expect but having probably played 3 or 4 different arrangements I have never really taken much notice of the phrasing and how it moves across the bar line with tide quavers, so your ear tells you you are out to the click. So after 20 takes to sort out some technical interference, I think Ive got this only to damp the final bass run four bars from the end. I keep saying yes to another because It improves my playing. 

[chris_b]

Listening to your playing can be enlightening. When minidiscs came out I recorded everything and used them as a learning tool. Sadly the recorder broke and I can't play them anymore. It would be interesting (maybe not!) to go back 20 years and compare.

[Reggaebass]

I can remember using one of these back in the day when I first started playing 😂, I wish I could find those tapes now 

[MacDaddy]

21 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

And, of course, objects in the mirror are closer than you think.

and some contents may settle during transit.

[Happy Jack]

I don't drive a Transit.

[Dad3353]

Your intestines do. 

[odysseus]

Yes, I have recently made an entry into home recording... having always thought that my lines were tighter than a nun's chuff, I was somewhat mortified to discover that I am more Katie Price than Mother Teresa...  😬

[WinterMute]

Do what everybody else does, fix it in post...

I've recorded some serious bassists over the years, and not a single one has ever said, "I want the whole performance, warts and all" and many have said "you can tidy that up in the edit, right?"

Unless you're Dave Grohl deliberately tracking to 2" tape for stinky poos n giggles, all recordings will be edited.

Get it as close as you can paying more attention to tone, groove and character, then fix the fluffs later.

I remember spending hours punching in bass lines, sometimes phrase by phrase, on a 2" 24 track, how is protools different?

Having said that, nailing a one-taker is still a thing of wonder.