Heh. Heh. I got one that nobody mentioned.
You know? When it happens to you (in general), you play with a few thoughts of what it could be. Most of the time, you just dismiss as , "Damn! Im just trippin'!!!" But not until I just read this thread (poet and dont know it!), did I realize that some of those things that you might have dismissed as a "self" problem, doesnt sit in until you see it or hear it from someone or something else.Its like "looking up" some symptoms you are having, and not realizing that you might have the flu or pneumonia until you just read it. If that made any sense to anybody....
As an artist AND a producer; i have figured something out. With one of the singers on my lable, we would suffer for so long with this problem. I always messed with him, and said he had mic fright. But whenever we went out and did shows, he would tear the house down! Sometimes even with a terrible sound system and/or microphone! But let him know that record button was red!... It was O-V-A! (over) Take after take after take!
Then when I started to record myself on a regular, i was doing the same damn thing! Just never really "noticed" it before.
After listening, and watching him, I believe its a combination of two things;
1) The first has been mentioned already; and that's its a mental thing. It's all in your head. As many artists who may care about the quality of their music and/or vocals, you'll automatically go into "concern overdrive". That's when you know it's on record, and you are going to, of course, want good takes. So you're playing to far in left-field with your mind on HOW you sound, when you should just concentrate on delivery and content, as you know it. Just sing it or play it as you always do. If you've ever zoned out on your music; THATS what you need to do in the booth, especially.
2) Then the second and probably not thought about at all: That singer i told you about. Well, he would go out karaoke joints, for "live performance" practice, tuning up for some shows we had coming up. He woould always just totally blow EVERYBODY away at the club. Just shut it down until nobody even wanted to get up there after him! Seriously.
You know what, that was another situation that LED me to the solution and answer to the "record-a-phobia" he suffered. I'll come back to that later.
When someone is in the recording booth, they have to have on headphones, of course, to hear what they are recording to. But you also hear yourself as you perform. Whenever that happens, some of us (more than you'll believe), will have a tendancy to try and make real time corrections on their immediate vocals that they are trying to lay. Some singers are simultaneously trying to HEAR themselves hit "that" note, rather than just SINGING it. I use to have to tell him to stop trying to hear the finished product BEFORE its finished, and just sing as you do "out here". All those things, you dont do without headphone, since youre not hearing yourself through TWO seperate sources, so to say.
The headphones playing you....... BACK at you (follow me)
Plus hearing yourself THROUGH yourself..you know what i mean? Its like an inner-artificial stereo effect. When you're just sitting on the couch, or at the table at a friends house, you, of course, can hear yourself, but as it is to your ears EXITING. Not with a replicated, audio image ENTERING your ears, as well.
What worked for me was........ Now im a rapper, so this may vary, but for me; when im trying to record a "hot", clear LEAD vocal, with some emotion. Without this rule of "over compensation" for corrections WHILE im recording. I insert my headphones into a differnt unit that my vocals are running through, or i sample my instro into my MPC, and rap from THAT instrumental, instead of the one that will be playing from the mixer with my mic patched through it.
But of course, some people LIKE to hear themselves as they record. So that also could be just me. But it works.
For your best convenience though. Set you a good block of time (few hours), that you can be in your environment undisturbed. Then just set your gear ready for record, hit the button, then just rcord as long as you can, without causing any damage to your HD or memory space. And just sit back, relax, and go over it unitl you can ALLOW yourself to forget you're even recording, and be able to "zone-out".
And honestly; ALL these things listed on this post are pretty right, if not all the way. A lot of the mood you try to convey in your recordings, shoud be close, if not, identical to the one you are recording in. Some like their environment mellow and laid back, some like it bright and energetic. Find what's a good mood setter that works for you. Allow yourself some unadultered time to zone. And the MOST important thing to remember BEFORE you hit record. Do it as i always do it; and try not to think about it.
Peace. God Bless Your Progress
. So I just put down the guitar after like 2 hours and start playing video games
