Poll: Do you record yourself to gauge your progress?

[daryl]

I’ve been working on a VERY hard song for quite some time now and thought I was making good progress. So I decided to record a take to see how others might hear it. And boy do I need a lot more work.

That got me to wondering how many of you periodically record yourself to gauge your progress. I typically don’t record myself until I’m ready to do a busking upload or I want to remember a particular lick or chord progression that I like or made up, but sometimes I do a recording to gauge my progress when I’m working on something difficult. For me, I think I'll try to do it more often as it helps me to hear what areas need more work.

[michelew]

Good idea Daryl.

I only do it deliberately occasionally. But I always find that recording is the only way to really know how well you have a song down. The extra stress of recording really shows up where the weak spots are. Then there is the learning you get from watching the video itself of course. Then...there is the insight you're given when others watch you play.

So...recording...IS a great learning tool.

M.

[willem]

Of course Daryl,,this is such a great tool to see and hear how your doing,,when I am familair with the chord progression pickin or strumming I try to record my self,,not everytime with the cam but also with my Boss digital recorder,,.I choose often!!

Willem

[Hydroman52]

Hey Daryl,

I do a lot of recording (answered often) , but it isn't always just for busking or to gage progress. I usually record just audio of our weekly rehearsals (you never can tell when a gem is going to surface). We will sometimes cut out a song to send to others who are going to sit in with us so they aren't in the dark about what we play and how we play it. This saves our valuable time together actually rehearsing stuff rather than just practicing (practice alone, rehearse together). I also record drum tracks to email to Jerry so that he can make any suggestions for improvement. Once we get a decent drum track, I'll record my part over it and email to Jerry so he can practice against it.

Of course, I will video record something to upload to busking. One thing that I try to do is record the auditioning of a new song. It's fun to look back and review these raw first takes. I would like to video record more stuff, but it's a bit of work to get everything set up and then edited afterwards. Audio recording is much easier. We like to spend more time rehearsing rather than setting up and breaking down.

Hydroman52

[boldent]

I thought I had 'something' down pat and recorded myself to upload on TG. When I replayed it, boy did I realize it needed tons of work. Mainly my timing. Its funny what I hear versus what I really hear...

[Lavallee]

I voted never, because I only record myself for a posting. It is really only when I record myself that the song improves a lot as I pay attention to details. Should really start doing this on a regular basis since it has a greater sense of completion.

Glad you brougth this up Daryl

Marc

[neverfoundthetime]

I used to do an audio recording to gauge progress and since we have the Busking Threads at TG I'll do a video now and again as it makes me work harder at perfecting stuff that is ok but not very good. Recording yourself is definitely a big learning help... and getting the feed back at TG is the best.

[tovo]

I used to do it regularly. Then all my equipment was stolen in a break-in and that put a bit of a halt on my recording. I have some new stuff and still figuring it out. But I often used my Mac webcam to record a bit and see how it is sounding. I think it's a really useful thing to do.

Keen to know what tune you are working on Daryl. You're a real good player so I expect it is a doozy!

[daryl]

tovo wrote:

.....Keen to know what tune you are working on Daryl. You're a real good player so I expect it is a doozy!

Tony, I won't say what it is, but I'll tell you it's a level 10 in my book. If I ever get it to a point that I'm reasonable satisfied with, I'll post it......

[songman52]

I replied "sometimes" because I recently got a Zoom Q3 recorder. I videoed our band on two occasions so far. WOW, what an eye-opener! It really was helpful to see exactly how we sound and where we need to improve (like less wasted time between songs) in a gig. The second recording, a month later, was much better.
Now, if I can only figure out how to convert the proprietary files, called Handyshare, to something I can upload and share. Anybody?