Recording

[Jason Parker]

greetings,

i'm new to these forums. TroyK is the bassist in my quartet, and he hipped me to this space. i just read through his 'rut' post, and i have to say that the whole band, collectively and as individuals, found the process of rehearsing and recording quite gruelling. there were many reasons for this, some touched on by troy, and some by the replies.

one of my biggest obstacles in this process was in the studio itself. i find that as soon as the record light goes on, my whole mindset changes and i can't seem to find away to stay in the moment and just let the music come out of me. when we're warming up, i'm fine. when we checking levels, i'm fine. but as soon as the engineer says go, i'm lost.

so my question is this: how do you get comfortable in the studio? have you found things that make the experience easier, and more immediate?

any help is greatly appreciated.

jason

Edited March 25, 2006 by Jason Parker

[Chuck Nessa]

Alcohol, drugs or reality - depending on your relationship with each of these.

[Joe G]

one of my biggest obstacles in this process was in the studio itself. i find that as soon as the record light goes on, my whole mindset changes and i can't seem to find away to stay in the moment and just let the music come out of me. when we're warming up, i'm fine. when we checking levels, i'm fine. but as soon as the engineer says go, i'm lost.

so my question is this: how do you get comfortable in the studio? have you found things that make the experience easier, and more immediate?

any help is greatly appreciated.

jason

Recording is a bear, and there are a lot of things about it that can take you out of your center.

I remember something Chuck wrote in a thread last year; that 90% of a producer's work is done before the session starts. I'd say the same goes for the musicians. Beyond being prepared musically, there's a whole host of things about your attitude, desires, and expectations that need to be addressed going in. You have to cultivate a LOT of self-acceptance. You have to trust your instincts, and trust the people you are working with. I usually have no problem staying in the moment, in fact those moments seem quite heightened. Although it could be said that in recording, everybody has a tendancy to think more about the product than the process, which may be another way of not being in the moment. Staying relaxed is difficult. One thing that sometimes works for me is to focus on the spaces surrounding my phrases, rather than on the phrases themselves. Just make sure there's space in there, and the rest might just take care of itself.

Welcome to the forum, Jason!

[Jason Parker]

everybody has a tendancy to think more about the product than the process,

exactly! well put, joe. that's the problem i'm having.

and i do agree that most of the work should be completed before you even hit the studio. i certainly could have been more prepared, but at the same time i thought that if we waited until all four of us felt prepared, we'd never get into the studio! at a certain point i felt the pressure of a looming date would push us to prepare ourselves, and it did to an extent.

thinking about space is a great idea!

Edited March 25, 2006 by Jason Parker

[rostasi]

...or you could just keep the record light on all of the time...

[Chuck Nessa]

...or you could just keep the record light on all of the time...

[JSngry]

Realizing that it's just a record is more than half the battle, I think.

Of course, it might turn out to be more than just a record, but it probably won't if you think that it is.

[Chuck Nessa]

I remember something Chuck wrote in a thread last year; that 90% of a producer's work is done before the session starts. I'd say the same goes for the musicians.

Welcome to the forum, Jason!

Nah, the musicians need to be scared to death - afraid of messing up, missing a change, turning the time around and just not having an idea. Then you might get a great recording IF you have great MUSIC in you.

[Jim Alfredson]

The way I beat the "recording brain freeze" was to just record myself all the time. That way I get used to it. But what Joe says is also true: Trusting yourself and your bandmates.

One thing we always do is warm-up, get levels, and then try a tune. Bad take? Try again. Bad take? Try again. Bad take? Move on. It usually only takes one or two tunes to settle in and then it goes pretty smoothly.

[Jazz Kat]

Recordings always seem worse to the actual musicians than the people listening, and it also seems better while you recorded than when you listen to the playback.

[JSngry]

Somebody, maybe Dave Liebman, once told me that your best playing is nearly never as good as you think it is, and your worst is nearly never as bad. Which is simply a way of saying that you pretty much play how you play, all things considered, so relax and get on about doing it.

Makes sense to me.

[AllenLowe]

record in a room that actually sounds like a room - with real and natural acoustics, not too dead, not too boomy - this makes a real difference as it brings the recording process closer to a real performance - don't let the engineer put the drummer in a booth; don't wear headphones; if you are doing muilti-track, record "live" to multitrack, with enough separation to make track level adjustents in the mix, but without so much isolation that it sounds like everybody's in a different room (and if you have a good engineer, "phasing" from microphone leakage will not be a problem) -

[makpjazz57]

I'm not a musician, but I've been to quite a few recording sessions. My mom, vocalist Rebecca Parris, and the guys always seem to be fairly relaxed in the studio. Maybe it is because they've performed together so much that it is easy to get into a groove, etc. I think it also might have something to do with the seriously strong coffee and espresso that the studio owner has going most of the day! So, as the outsider or observer, I think because of the rapport between the musicians, both musically and friendship-wise, everyone can be somewhat relaxed -even knowing that what they are putting down on acetate ;-) is going to be a permanent record of the day's events at some point!

I seem to remember musicians being more on edge at the final mixing sessions.

Marla

[webbcity]

This is an interesting thread. There's no way around it, recording in a studio is tough. Or I should say CAN be tough. It can also be a challenge that you have some fun with, spit in its face and completely let loose. But you need to remind yourself to get into that mindset and it can be hard. More often, you get focused on all the wrong things...everything but the music. There are so many things that try to distract you.

I've also tried to record some of my live gigs and have had a tough time with this too. Probably because I don't have someone else do it, I hit the record button myself before we start playing. And that's a bitch because if I'm in the wrong mental space all I'm aware of is that every "bad" note I hit is now on tape!

Another funny story related to this, since the original question was: How do you get comfortable in the studio?...I did a recording session on electric bass and played the whole thing half-lying down on a couch in the control room. I always thought feel of the resulting album was pretty relaxed and solid...I was certainly happier with it than some others I did around the same time, and everyone at the session wondered if it had to do with that couch! We joked that instead of endorsing bass strings or amplifiers I should start endorsing furniture.