Do you record drafts?

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by TBman

I have something I'm learning and now that I have a good solid week of practicing it and its practically 100% under my fingers I thought it might be a good idea to spend the next week or so doing practice recordings (drafts) to

1. Fight red light freeze (I do practice recordings just to avoid this anyway, but usually just random stuff I make up)

and

2. Review the tune from a listeners point of view. Sometimes the day after I record and post something I wish I would have practiced the piece more. I can only spend so much time on one thing though before I get sick of it.

So tonight I recorded something at my desk just using the Zoom H5 with its built in mics and I actually saved it to listen to tomorrow for review and see where I can improve on the playing.

Does anyone else do this (besides the professionals here?)

Hi Barry,
I don't know what recording system you use. If it's Protools I would suggest you spend a bunch of time learning how to use the editing features. I assume that most good systems besides PT have editing systems, but whatever......

The engineer/producer I have used on 4 of my 5 recordings, Fred Guarino, is a world class editor, and I depend on his abilities to help negate my red-light fever.

It has never bothered me one iota that I can't always just sit down and do a track in a whole take from start to finish, although I've done it several times, much to my surprise!

I write the majority of what I record, and heavily arrange the stuff I haven't written. That's the most important thing in my book.

Next in line is this: Can I actually play what I wrote, no matter what editing is needed, when the moon goes behind the clouds, and nobody is watching, (overdubs NOT included)?

The answer is always YES.

At $85/hour it really does help keep the budget in line.

We're not using auto-tune, or some software that evens out my timing/phrasing, because I don't need any of that.

Frankly I've got amazing time/groove.....when it comes to how well I play a solo piece when recording. 3 different takes might vary in total length by 1-2 seconds, max, and yet.......If I listen carefully I can absolutely hear & feel the rushing, the dragging, etc.

If I try to play that stuff to a click track it's usually a disaster because that digital stuff is always slowing down.......:-)

Do I use a click track? In most cases absolutely not, but if there's going to be overdubs it makes life infinitely easier because you're working with a grid.

When I discovered how amazingly Fred was able to edit, I started telling him not to even bother to stop the take, but rather I'd back up a couple of beats and keep on playing, provided I was pleased with what I'd played up to that point.

He puts it together seamlessly, and after that it's on me if I'm going to play it live, but in the end I'm always proud of having composed the piece, and proud of how it is represented sonically, no matter what trickery we had to employ.

Don't be so hard on yourself!

Best,
Howard Emerson

[CopyCat]

I’ve started doing this for both reasons in original post.

When I listen back I also pick up on annoying playing habits or overly fancy transitions that are distracting.

Plus it helps me discover passages that need extra work.

All in all, an excellent practice technique.

[CASD57]

LOL, I'm not smart enough or want to spend that much time, cutting..multracks etc..,
I just go for it...mistakes and all, just like it would be in a live situation
If it's too bad than I do a total retake,
I just have to much on my plate that I don't want to take the time to learn to make it perfect past a live performance take
So what you hear is first takes...mistakes or not
Recording it one thing but you need to set yourself up as if your doing a live show once in a while, things sound different plugged in.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by CASD57

LOL, I'm not smart enough or want to spend that much time, cutting..multracks etc..,

About that (cutting) ... every once in a while I manage a draft recording with corrections of bodged passages that's good enough that I want to edit out the mistakes. I've been doing that by eyeballing the begin and end points of the cut that provide the least disturbance of the tempo. Audacity's selection mechanism isn't all that handy for that - is there a plugin or builtin feature that can help here?

[Mbroady]

I wonder how many of our beloved songs, lyrical or instrumental, are one take tracks. Are they recorded while still fresh or worked out. As mentioned, it was a delight to watch the Beatles process in Get Back


I usually will do 2 takes to document something I’m working on, at least the basic grove and some riffs, and some lyric/melody . I’ll come back to it later and see if it still feels good. I love “cut and paste” as a songwriting tool. moving things around helps me flush an idea out, even if I go back to the original

[Coler]

Yes I record practice/early attempts. I listen back to hear myself and to improve. I also find them rewarding and motivating to understand progress I've made.

[CASD57]

The new song in my signature I did after two test... last night
Why I do it like this is..I find that the song "Helpless" by Neil Young has no Chorus really so I'm going to record it again with me singing lower until what I'll consider to be the chorus..Helpless..Helpless...Helpless and I'll sing higher for that, and do some trial and error until it sounds better...
I know it's a Neil Young signature but it feels like it's just lays there without something different in it..

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Hi Barry,
I don't know what recording system you use. If it's Protools I would suggest you spend a bunch of time learning how to use the editing features. I assume that most good systems besides PT have editing systems, but whatever......

The engineer/producer I have used on 4 of my 5 recordings, Fred Guarino, is a world class editor, and I depend on his abilities to help negate my red-light fever.

It has never bothered me one iota that I can't always just sit down and do a track in a whole take from start to finish, although I've done it several times, much to my surprise!

I write the majority of what I record, and heavily arrange the stuff I haven't written. That's the most important thing in my book.

Next in line is this: Can I actually play what I wrote, no matter what editing is needed, when the moon goes behind the clouds, and nobody is watching, (overdubs NOT included)?

The answer is always YES.

At $85/hour it really does help keep the budget in line.

We're not using auto-tune, or some software that evens out my timing/phrasing, because I don't need any of that.

Frankly I've got amazing time/groove.....when it comes to how well I play a solo piece when recording. 3 different takes might vary in total length by 1-2 seconds, max, and yet.......If I listen carefully I can absolutely hear & feel the rushing, the dragging, etc.

If I try to play that stuff to a click track it's usually a disaster because that digital stuff is always slowing down.......:-)

Do I use a click track? In most cases absolutely not, but if there's going to be overdubs it makes life infinitely easier because you're working with a grid.

When I discovered how amazingly Fred was able to edit, I started telling him not to even bother to stop the take, but rather I'd back up a couple of beats and keep on playing, provided I was pleased with what I'd played up to that point.

He puts it together seamlessly, and after that it's on me if I'm going to play it live, but in the end I'm always proud of having composed the piece, and proud of how it is represented sonically, no matter what trickery we had to employ.

Don't be so hard on yourself!

Best,
Howard Emerson

Hi Howard,

I use Rx 7 Standard for my "snipping & slicing" and Reaper for eq'ing. I found that if I practice something often enough I can get a way with less in the way of editing later on as long as I don't breathe loudly and rustle any clothing, which happens too many times.

[CASD57]

Well I changed the song up... I think it flows better...now to get it fine tuned and put it in my song list..

This is why we do drafts to make ourselves better even if we just play at home at the moment...
You always got to be ready

[Blueser100]

I think it's a great idea to record work in progress. I think if you do it as a matter of practice, the red light syndrome can diminish. You never know what great groove or inspiration can happen during your practice that you wished later you had recorded.

[mcmars]

Yes, recording a song is a great tool for many things. I just use my iphone 13 as it is easy and handy.

I use it for when I am just messing around and stumble upon a new tune I like so I can remember it later. Who knows how many tunes I have lost and forgotten about that I would have liked to keep and work up later?? I am always amazed at the lead licks/riffs, intros and outros I have forgotten about when I happen to stumble onto an old video I made a while back.

And I use it for working on a new song when I feel I have it down "good enough" to make a recording. Then I go through a few hours of working on getting a good enough take to keep. Maybe use Facebook as it is an easy way to upload to my PC which has reasonable sound. I normally just limit audience to only me, give it a listen, then if it sounds good enough, I open it up to "my friends". Then I can use facebook as an easy way to keep my music videos handy without messing around with google photos/videos and albums and such. Just a lazy gal's way to deal with it all.

But listening to myself is really the best teaching tool for guitar and vocals to be able to really hear what the audience is hearing and then go back tighten everything up, especially the vocal phrasing. And all those multiple takes to get a good one, they really help to lock the song in for me as "practice makes perfect".