Having an Objective View of Your Abilities

Why its damn near impossible to have an objective view of your abilities

One of the biggest challenges to having an objective view of your abilities is your ability to measure yourself against others, described perfectly in the "Dunning Kruger affect"

A very enlightening read

I cant post the article yet because I havent made enough posts,

but google "Dunning Kruger effect" on the "you are not so smart" website :D
 
Hey everyone, new member also.

Basically, the old adage "garbage in/garbage out" applies when playing and recording music. Don't get me wrong, quality gear (not necessarily expensive gear) is important but it'll do you no good if you don't know how to use it.
 
Yes, in other words there is a certain benchmark that a novice must reach to even be able to critique thier own abilities in terms of audio.....and most don't even realize it untill they put all the pieces together.

I love the yin and yang of your 2nd point...those who achieve the equalibrium succeed.
 
Hey dude! New stuff you mean new gear? lol LOTS HAHHA... Just got the Focusrite Pro 40 to replace my crappy Alesis io 26...

I have been going through hell and back to be honest dealing with chronic illness doctors cannot find out what it is. Partly why i was so aggressive when I was on these forums!! SORRY!! :-)

How s it going dude?
 
Gear is nice. Having the right bit of kit for the right project is of supreme importance - whether it's a mic, a guitar, or a cymbal.

Having a well-treated room is important, too. A well-treated room is going to sound more open and balanced than an untreated one. Money spent on room treatment is generally money well-spent.

Now for the rub: If you have a tin ear, none of this is going to help you turn around a decent product.
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First I would like to say 'hi', I'm new to the forum, so please excuse any ignorances I might have towards recording. I hope to learn a lot of things here and work on recording my own music first.

I have to agree a hundred percent with the comments. I am 100% new at this and have just now started listening to myself through my equipment; which isn't the best, but is a start. It doesn't matter how good the equipment you really need to have an ear for "good" sound and also be very critical of your own work. I am using a behringer 1024 system, very basic kit, but seems to be working pretty good for me right now. Now let all the fun begin :-).
 
TheGolarge said:
One of the biggest challenges to having an objective view of your abilities is your ability to measure yourself against others, described perfectly in the "Dunning Kruger affect"

A very enlightening read

I cant post the article yet because I havent made enough posts,

but google "Dunning Kruger effect" on the "you are not so smart" website :D
Click to expand...

i read this, its funny all this brain science and behavioral....its an explanation of a phenomena, but no one will ever answer why.

To expect a bedroom studio will sound like the Hit Factory is kind of delusional isn't it?

add> imo HR is a excellent way to make gig demo's and to hone the skills, that if one goes up a level to a by-the -hour studio they're a tight act or the songs are known...my sons band is doing this, and the ability to make great demos is amazing, but the comparison to Platinum selling stuff still has something else to it in most tunes/cd's.
 
CoolCat said:
To expect a bedroom studio will sound like the Hit Factory is kind of delusional isn't it?

add> imo HR is a excellent way to make gig demo's and to hone the skills, that if one goes up a level to a by-the -hour studio they're a tight act or the songs are known...my sons band is doing this, and the ability to make great demos is amazing, but the comparison to Platinum selling stuff still has something else to it in most tunes/cd's.
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Hmmmm. I think that this really depends on a number of things, not least the extent to which how something is recorded affects your love of said music. While I would never advocate not recording well and as clearly as possible and just being a sloppy Joe/Josephine, I personally find the actual recording quite a way down my list. And therefore, whether something sounds like it was recorded at the Hit factory or Record Plant is rather irrelevant. There are people here on HR. com who have recorded in garages, bedrooms, spare rooms etc, some of which have been converted to dedicated recording/mixing spaces. But at the end of the day, what I'm impressed with are their songs. Something recorded top of the range in every way can still be a hopeless song to me. It's all so subjective........which is why trying to cultivate the objectivity the OP spoke of is so very important.
It's also rather interesting, the number of producers/engineers I've heard or read saying that time and time again, they'll find that they'll hear a 'demo' and when they come to record the band/artists in the studio, the final product just doesn't have the 'brio' and panache and vitality of the demo and often they'll use elements from the actual demo in the finished article.
 
grimtraveller said:
Hmmmm. I think that this really depends on a number of things, not least the extent to which how something is recorded affects your love of said music. While I would never advocate not recording well and as clearly as possible and just being a sloppy Joe/Josephine, I personally find the actual recording quite a way down my list. And therefore, whether something sounds like it was recorded at the Hit factory or Record Plant is rather irrelevant. There are people here on HR. com who have recorded in garages, bedrooms, spare rooms etc, some of which have been converted to dedicated recording/mixing spaces. But at the end of the day, what I'm impressed with are their songs. Something recorded top of the range in every way can still be a hopeless song to me. It's all so subjective........which is why trying to cultivate the objectivity the OP spoke of is so very important.
It's also rather interesting, the number of producers/engineers I've heard or read saying that time and time again, they'll find that they'll hear a 'demo' and when they come to record the band/artists in the studio, the final product just doesn't have the 'brio' and panache and vitality of the demo and often they'll use elements from the actual demo in the finished article.
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I way agree with this.
I can't even count the number of records that were recorded in 'real' studios that shound like shit.
I have a huge record collection and bad sounding records are super common.
And I've heard stuff in here that rivals some of the best and lots of stuff that manages to get to the mediocre level, soundwise, which not all commercial records do.
 
Great thread. I find it hard to deal with my band mates who will take any take we do because they "don't want to have to play that again!"
 
R4LRetro said:
I find it hard to deal with my band mates who will take any take we do because they "don't want to have to play that again!"
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I can identify with that. I used to accept a take simply because I didn't want to do it again. I've written alot of lengthy tracks with different bits that need concentration and rememberance because of the time signatures and contrasts and sometimes just getting through a take was such a relief. It was often overdubbing that revealed the need to retake ! Sometimes, when I get together with drumming friends, we might track 6 songs in a session and I've sometimes thought, 'oh, this'll do' but later when I come for a real listen, wish I'd been more hard nosed and done it again.
I'm glad for editing though ! And a long time ago, I discovered the concept of recording things in sections. Even before I knew it was Yes's staple diet.
 
R4LRetro said:
Great thread. I find it hard to deal with my band mates who will take any take we do because they "don't want to have to play that again!"
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If you're like me, you're gonna go through a lot of band mates. The only reason I even play the drums is that I couldn't find a reliable person with chops and the desire to learn complex arrangements.

I've got ONE guy that has stuck with it over the years, and I think most people are lucky to have that. You've got to cut loose the people that want different things than you do. While everything can jive at the outset, at some point you're headed in different directions. It's easier to avoid those situations than it is to get out of them.

YMMV
 
Lt. Bob said:
I way agree with this.
I can't even count the number of records that were recorded in 'real' studios that shound like shit.
I have a huge record collection and bad sounding records are super common.
And I've heard stuff in here that rivals some of the best and lots of stuff that manages to get to the mediocre level, soundwise, which not all commercial records do.
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I agree with every line.
 
Here's the thing I'm here to learn:
how to see through a recording from start to finish, completely by myself, with just the set of tools I take with me.

I'm just getting started, so here's wot I got so far.

2 yr old Pentium Dual Core laptop, with 2 111g hd's.
Sonar 3
Photoshop 7
Flash MX (pre-Adobe)
Blender (3D animation rendering)

Tascam US-122 usb interface
Beat up but working Yamaha mixer
Roland Octapad midi'd for drum sound
no keyboard/synth yet, but
guitar synth (thorough study still to come)
plus assorted guitar and bass guitar gear (30 years of playing bass in r&r bar bands)
A couple good mics close to hand

Studios are not overrated. Acoustics, variety of mics and setups.
If i get that far, live drums and glossy vocals.
I've got to get the bloody thing written and storyboarded first.

I want this to be the easy part, working without having to think about the tool.
 
Hey, this is a cool post. I am a new producer. I have recorded b4 on Cakewalk about 4-6 yrs ago. I tried my hand at pro tools a while back and I feel im off to a good start. I know how to record and i know i can figure out compression, mixing and mastering, but im not too confident about it. FAST LEARNER THO. Hopefully you guys can help me out. Kinda slow so bear with me. lol.
 
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