Recording Yourself

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reshp1

reshp1

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Hey guys,
What are some things that you do to juggle both musician and engineer roles simultaneously. I'm getting frustrated trying to do both at the same time because then I can't seem to do either very well that way. As an engineer, I miss takes/punches, forget to enable tracks, or record to the wrong track and other various silly mistakes. As a musician, I start giving lackluster performances, or forget progressions and lyrics as I'm distracted by levels, mic placement and the other details of recording.
Are there any techniques, physical or mental, that can help me be more effective at both?
Thanks
Mike
 
When recording. Double check EVERYTHING before you do ANYTHING.

That works for me. Also work on one thing at a time until completion, I do this:

Record Drums
Record Bass
Record Guitar
Record Guitar2
Record ROUGH vocal
Record Harmonies
Delete ROUGH vocal
Record proper vocal (s).

Then I EQ in the same order
EQ Drums,
EQ bass
EQ guitar,
etc

Then I De-click/noise everything
in that order

Before finally Leveling.

Job done. :D
 
Thanks, that's probably a good call on taking the time to double check everything. I think I got lazy with the advent of "undo"
Separating everything into smaller, more managable tasks probably will help too.
 
It really takes experience, which is defined as the knowledge you gained from screwing up due to lack of experience. Keep at it: you'll get it sooner or later. And you'll learn by the one method that generations have proven to work: ex-per-i-ence. I've been doing this, man and boy, for 30 years, and I still cringe when I know I've got to play and engineer. Each one is a full-time gig. For that reason I counsel musicians who want to buy recording gear to rent studio time instead. It's better to be a vastly good musician or engineer than a half-vast combo of both. On the other hand, if you want to record more than you want to play, go for it. Engineers are like bass players: nobody wants to be one, but sooner or later everyone needs one (can you tell I also play bass?).
 
reshp1 said:
Hey guys,
What are some things that you do to juggle both musician and engineer roles simultaneously. I'm getting frustrated trying to do both at the same time because then I can't seem to do either very well that way. As an engineer, I miss takes/punches, forget to enable tracks, or record to the wrong track and other various silly mistakes. As a musician, I start giving lackluster performances, or forget progressions and lyrics as I'm distracted by levels, mic placement and the other details of recording.
Are there any techniques, physical or mental, that can help me be more effective at both?
Thanks
Mike
Click to expand...
I agree with bazzlad, double check EVERYTHING before you start the recording. Then when you do, get yourself in the zone and in the moment. concentrate on what you are doing i.e. recording the guitar part, and only on the guitar. Prior to playing the instrument, get everything set on your gear. Then you can concentrate on the music, and be satisfied the rest is taking care of itself. Then too, you can forget the "undo" feature exists, because you won't have to....
 
my mic stands have small white marking on them that are just for me. that way it doesn't take long for me to set up my vocal and acoustic guitar mic positions.

in my audio software, i set up loop points with 2 measure of lead in, the punch-in, the punch-out, and 2 measures after the punch-out. then i can do the first take kind of watching the meters to see if my levels look good. once, i'm sure the levels look good, i can start having fun. by the 3rd loop around, i've forgotten about levels and mic positions and started really playing.
 
I just recorded my bands full length and have mixed feelings. It took soooo long and was so exhausting, but I learned a lot in the process. I'm excited to work with a professional engineer this winter so I can see what I need to work on, and apply what I learned.
 
Thanks guys,
I just did a bunch of tracks last night and it went really smoothly. I guess I was just in a bad mood or something 2 days ago. Thanks for the input though, I'll definitely give them a shot next time I get frustrated.
 
Ah, that brings back memories of old band practices. The kind that go on for hours and hours, and everybody gets pissed off at each other, and tension builds, and we eventually just stop. Then we'd all go get some mexican food, and invariably come back and write an awesome song after the break. Good times....sorta.... frustrating at times, but I really miss it now that I'm not getting to RELEASE THE ROCK like I used to.

Recording though, I spend a lot of time just fiddling around; more than I do actual serious stuff. Most of the time I end up just jamming with computer effects.

When I actually get down to recording something, I do a lot of stuff that I sorta write as I go, usually adding on more to the song, and then eventually going back and re-doing the part from the top once I've got everything done.

Or sometimes I sorta just get like a sequenced drum track going, and sorta just jam along, adding new drum parts till I have a basic song structure figured out and such. Once I got it figured out, I record it from the top using whatever method I've decided to use. I dont really have too many problems getting the feeling down, I just go for it.... sorta just let yourself play hard like you would onstage or whatnot.


But it can be a drag sometimes.
 
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