Having an Objective View of Your Abilities

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Supercreep

Supercreep

Lizard People
This thread may not be directed to you, so grains of salt are recommended.

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.

If you don't have an ear for pitch, and your instruments are out of tune with themselves and other instruments, your recordings will suffer.

If you are a "producer", and don't have a knack for arrangement, or understand how to incorporate space and silence into an piece, your client's recordings will suffer.

If you are a musician in a band, and you lack the ability to transpose chords, use different inversions, or envision and arrange your parts as pieces of an ensemble, your recordings will suffer.

Before you spend a fortune on things that will expose and highlight deficiencies in your technique and approach, work on identifying deficiencies in your technique and approach. That is, put the horse in front of the cart.

With all of that said, you are in the right place to learn, and the world is full of internet know-it-alls just like me.

Jump in and make it happen.
 
Supercreep said:
Before you spend a fortune on things that will expose and highlight deficiencies in your technique and approach, work on identifying deficiencies in your technique and approach. That is, put the horse in front of the cart.
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All true, but, predictably, easier said than done.

One of the confounding factors is that it is your brain and imagination that tells you what you are hearing, not your ears . . . something sounds good because you want it to, not because it is.

Another confounding factor is your ego: it's got to be this way because that's how I want it to be, and I refuse to accept that an alternative may be better.

Sometimes, though, we do perceive the problems that we have with performing, recording or mixing, but misplace the source, often shifting the blame from ourselves to the technology ("it doesn't sound good because I haven't got a decent pre-amp", or whatever). This is a handy side-step, because it absolves us from having to look at ourselves, and justifies a spiralling investment in gear.

Underpinning all this is the current thirst for instant gratification . . . "What do we want?" "Perfection!" "When do we want it?' "Now!". Many people have forgotten that quality results (in any field) demand expertise and knowledge, which take time and effort to acquire . . . "I haven't had much experience in recording, but we want to record a band demo by tomorrow. How do we get a good commercial sound?"

Time and patience is needed, as is objectivity. Don't heed the comments of friends and relatives; they tell lies.
 
Gecko has exactly the right idea.

I guess what I'm driving at is that there needs to be a certain level of honesty in self-examination. The good news is that, on a certain level, you know when you're fooling yourself. In addition, if you honestly can't find anything wrong with your own work, you're not listening.

Cut out the BS and it's really about capturing a performance without letting gear and process (and ego, as Gecko rightly noted) getting in the way.
 
This thread touches on 2 of the things that I try to live by. The first is that you have to think about the signal chain from the beginning, not the end. If you have a good performance of a good song in a good room on a good instrument, you put the right mic (not the most expensive mic) in the right place, plug it into the best preamp you have, don't clip anything and push record. If you don't have all of those things, plugins won't help you.

Secondly, if you are going to self-produce, you have to have a realistic image of yourself, and know what you can and can't do. If you think you are a superstar, you need a producer to tell you that you aren't. If you really are a superstar, you need Simon Cowell to tell you that you aren't.-Richie
 
Supercreep said:
This thread may not be directed to you, so grains of salt are recommended.

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.

If you don't have an ear for pitch, and your instruments are out of tune with themselves and other instruments, your recordings will suffer.

If you are a "producer", and don't have a knack for arrangement, or understand how to incorporate space and silence into an piece, your client's recordings will suffer.

If you are a musician in a band, and you lack the ability to transpose chords, use different inversions, or envision and arrange your parts as pieces of an ensemble, your recordings will suffer.

Before you spend a fortune on things that will expose and highlight deficiencies in your technique and approach, work on identifying deficiencies in your technique and approach. That is, put the horse in front of the cart.

With all of that said, you are in the right place to learn, and the world is full of internet know-it-alls just like me.

Jump in and make it happen.
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Thank you for the post.
Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.
 
kcearl said:
all good advice..


just remember though...Beethoven composed completely deaf lol


:)
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Yeah, I always liked the concept that just stopped him from having to hear the distractions to the music that was already in his head

I like this thread. I have been having simillar thoughts recently and have cut my self off from buying any new gear/software and concentrate on 1) practicing/playing and singing more to get the material right first, 2) getting the best out of what I have by using it to it's best effect by learning it inside and out and 3) realising I have to get better (not the gear) if my songs are to get better

it's been a month and the gear aquisition cold turkey is starting to ease (a little)
 
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Bristol Posse said:
Yeah, I always liked the concept that just stopped him from having to hear the distractions to the music that was already in his head

I like this thread. I have been having simillar thoughts recently and have cut my self off from buying any new gear/software and concentrate on 1) practicing/playing and singing more to get the material right first, 2) getting the best out of what I have by using it to it's best effect by learning it inside and out and 3) realising I have to get better (not the gear) if my songs are to get better

it's been a month and the gear aquisition cold turkey is starting to ease (a little)
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Psssst....Wanta buy a microphone?
 
No need just buy the microphone!!!
Come on everybody's doing it.
It just a little microphone.
Peer pressure / Peer pressure :drunk: Peer pressure / Peer pressure

:spank: Well look at it this way you could have worst vices. :spank:
 
Bristol Posse said:
I have been having simillar thoughts recently and have cut my self off from buying any new gear/software and concentrate on 1) practicing/playing and singing more to get the material right first, 2) getting the best out of what I have by using it to it's best effect by learning it inside and out and 3) realising I have to get better (not the gear) if my songs are to get better
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I think this is a wonderful approach. I find myself in the same place... just adding toys to the setup without a true understanding of what I already have. I know I could benefit from giving a better performance on the input side and not worrying so much about all the different pieces of gear.
 
good thing i haven't posted anything in the clinic that is new.


supperfap would have a heart attack...


I use autotune on my wah peddle bitches....

Yea,


Im that guy...
 
Bristol Posse said:
I like this thread. I have been having simillar thoughts recently and have cut my self off from buying any new gear/software and concentrate on 1) practicing/playing and singing more to get the material right first, 2) getting the best out of what I have by using it to it's best effect by learning it inside and out and 3) realising I have to get better (not the gear) if my songs are to get better
Click to expand...

I went down the rabbit hole of gear lust for 5 years, working all the way up to API and Great River preamps, a decent mic locker and tons of hardware and plugins.....none of which helped me sing better, play guitar any better or write a better song. I realized that, at least for me, the gear was a distraction and bogged me down with too many choices. Sold it all except for a Fast Track Mk II, Pro Tools Essential, an SM 57, some drum loops, my acoustic and my Pbass. There is nothing to spend time deciding now and nothing to take my focus off of what I am primarily, which is a songwriter. Wish I were a REAL singer and a GREAT guitarist, but I am focusing on writing the best songs I can and hiring musicians way better than me to make the arrangement and a real engineer in Nashville to mix the sessions. Sure could have saved a lot of money if I had known then what I know now.

bilco
 
Richard Monroe said:
you have to have a realistic image of yourself, and know what you can and can't do.
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Very true. Many times people try arranging and writing songs, or parts for their instrument like their heroes might write or arrange it, which would be nice if those people were going to perform that song, but that's not the way it is. We have to start taking longer, harder looks in the mirror and not be afraid to admit our own weaknesses and start using our strengths as the foundations off of which we can build.
 
gecko zzed said:
One of the confounding factors is that it is your brain and imagination that tells you what you are hearing, not your ears . . . something sounds good because you want it to, not because it is.

Another confounding factor is your ego: it's got to be this way because that's how I want it to be, and I refuse to accept that an alternative may be better.
Click to expand...

This, I guess, will always be the artistic {sorry Greg ! :D} dilema. If something sounds good to you and no one else and therefore you want to do it that way, is it not a compromise to do it the way others may want it done, simply because that is how they like it ? The worst kind of compromise ? Though there are tons of songs we all love in the versions that came to us, there are also tons of artists that hate their work and wish they'd gone their way instead !

On the other hand to simply ignore where the rest of the human race may be at in relation to one's 'product' is no solution either. Many artists have suffered coz of this down the centuries.
Keeping the tension and balance is crucial yet difficult. For the home recordist, I guess there are at least two camps, those for whom this is a hobby and those who actually want to compete in the wider world. But the OP has applications to both parties.

Interesting piece, plenty of soul food.
 
Richard Monroe said:
Secondly, if you are going to self-produce, you have to have a realistic image of yourself, and know what you can and can't do.
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I'd say yes and no to this. I'm broadly in agreement but let's face it, technology does {and always has, since the advent of multitracking} make possible things that one may not be able to do without it. For example, you may not be able to play the organ like Jon Lord or Jimmy Smith or Khalid Yasin. In fact, you may not be able to play it at all. But by taking things slowly and recording bit by bit you could come up with a piece of organ that ricks, racks and rocks !
I suspect, however, that this isn't what Richie is talking about. Without a doubt though, the ability to play and put together coherent pieces is paramount and gear isn't really what makes this possible.
It flaming well helps though ! Especially if you're a one person outfit for much of the time.
 
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