Recording Woes! Help!

[Frank Sanchez]

Hello all. I did a session today that just did not go as well as I would have liked. Too long of a story to write, but suffice it to say, while waiting for all the technical difficulties to pass, I just lost the edge. My time (drum wise), my creativity and energy were sapped by the time we started to roll, which was about 2 hours after I had arrived. I took the tracks (2 out of 4), and the guys seemed happy, but I was not completely satisfied. I have done many recordings and most are a breeze, but this is the second time this has happened and I want to avoid a third time.

My question for you all is what would you have done to keep yourself "there"? I think I did all the wrong things today, but I could certainly use some tips for "tommorow." Thanks in advance.
F.S.

[peter c]

Frank,

Could you provide a bit more info
about what happened - maybe what
were the technical difficulties?

Did you (the kit) have anything
to do with that at all? Why did
it take 2 hours to fix a tech-
nical problem?

What about the material? Did you
have it down? Did you have the
"form" or "roadmap" of the tune
to work with? We're you laying
these down with others or alone?

One thing I thought of was make
sure you don't eat any heavy
food while you're waiting or
even before you go in. Stay
light. Be light. Heavy food
always socked me. It helps to
be well rested too.

Leave the room if you can and
get some space. Get your mind
off it, IF you have it down
and on it, if you don't.

Stay positive and bright. Be
aware and ready.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 10, 2003 10:14 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[XNavyDrummer]

I can totally relate brother. I've spent way too much time getting sound checks and waiting for tech. difficulties to dissapate. The ideal situation is where the engineer knows the gear well enough to get a great sound early on. It can take the wind out of your sails to just sit around for hours. How do the rest of you handle this?

[Randy walker]

Tough one, sit and watch TV or play games to take your mind off of it. One of the reasons why I do drum tracks at my place and ship them off.
If I have to go to a studio other than mine, then as long as my gear sounds the way it should then I don't worry and I wander around and amuse myself until tracking can begin.
I actually am not really looking forward to this very situation tomorrow, I am doing drums for an artist but we are going into the conservatory of recording arts where students are the engineers under the guidance of teachers. This will suck the life out of a person.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 10, 2003 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Randy Walker ]</font>

[blake1]

Physically prepare.

Always be physically prepared before coming into a session. Get plenty of sleep and Stay away from sugar and too much caffeine. Processed sugar brings the blood sugar level way up then crashes making one weak or lethargic. Nutrition is something we all need to learn. Everyone is different so find out what foods affect you the most. Caffeine tightens up my shoulders if i have too much, leading down the road of tendon problems. Stay warm too. Don't let your body get cold otherwise that will be another battle.


Mentally prepare.

Always be prepared for technical problems to happen in the studio. There's a tremendous amount of things that can go wrong so keep this in mind.

Have fun and try not to think too much.
Remember, music is for enjoyment for the listener and should be enjoyed by you.
Bring your own headphones if you have some nice ones. That really helps me. I use the gk ultraphones.

Aside from that, make sure you have the form and a good chart.
Did you get to listen back to some of the takes? Are you playing with a click or without?
Make sure the click sounds good in your cans. Make sure you like your drum sound or that the producer is satisfied with your recorded sound.
Once I'm comfortable with the phone mix , the tuning and warmed up, I actually try for a first take. If someone else skrews up they can usually punch in later if you are isolated enough. If you were asked to do the session you are a good enough player.
Believe in yourself and you'll be all set.
Have fun and Good Luck!
blake

www.blakelindberg.com

[Mr. Acrolite]

Watch the classic movie "The Hustler" with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. It is the predecessor to the Tom Cruise movie, "The Color of Money."

In this movie Jackie plays Minnesota Fats, who absolutely CRUSHES Paul Newman in an all-night pool-shooting contest. Paul gets worn out, but Jackie stays fresh, by taking breaks and freshening up whenever possible.

Jackie's character is who I think of when doing sessions. His character realizes that he may be there for a while, and that he'll only succeed if he hangs in there for the long haul. Paul Newman's character, who is younger and in much better shape, totally folds under pressure, unable to compete with the sheer endurance of Jackie's character.

When you do sessions, you never know which take will be THE take. So you need to find ways to continually replenish your energy, and stay fresh. Maybe that means stepping outside between takes. Maybe that means washing your face and hands, or changing clothes. But whatever it takes, your reponsibility is to be THERE for whichever take becomes THE take.

It's not easy. But if you find a way to A) pace yourself, and B) mentally "rewind" yourself between takes, you can pull off the 20-take session with the same energy as one of those magical first-take "keepers."

Mr. A.

[Frank Sanchez]

Hi Guys-

Peter, the nature of the difficulties had to do with the engineer attempting to sync two ADATs to his Cubase system. (He is attempting to get as many basics as possible, because we are rushing the first four tunes to a Nashville producer who has expressed "interest.") It did not work for some reason. The sync was fine until about a minute forty five into the given tune. So? he decided to track everything onto the ADATs and then dump everything back into Cubase. Well, that got fixed and then the keyboard player's MIDI went out! It did not have anything to do with the drum sounds, as they were pristine [img]smile.gif[/img] Also, the tunes are totally dialed. One tough transition, but nothing too intense. One thing you mentioned was definitely part of it: the heavy food! It was a lunch time date. And then, I did attempt to watch some t.v., but the combo of inactivity and discouragement and digestion!? had already taken affect.

I think that part of my problem is really my perfectionism. I, like everyone in here, want to be like Vinnie/Dave/Virgil/Dennis/Etc? I listen endlessly to their magic and try to achieve that every time. I played technically proficient, but I also played uninspired. I don't ever want to have a CD with my name on it be subpar if I can help it. I just think that I can do better. Today, when the rug was pulled out, so was the inspiration, and thus the very unsatifactory feeling.

Thank you guys for your replies and kind words, thanks for letting me vent a little. I hope to read more from anyone on this subject. This is such a great help to me. I actually go back in tommorow and I anticipate a much better day. I have already called ahead and requested another shot at those tunes. I'll let you know how it went.

Thanks again.
F.S.

[peter c]

Frank,

You sound very conscientious
and motivated. That's good.

I don't think we should read
much more into what happened.
I'm sure you did the best
that you can do under the
circumstances. Chaulk it up
the the heavy food and go on.
Learn from this "lesson".

We can take something bad and
make something good out of it.
Who knows? That might be what
life is all about.

Notwithstanding, I'm sure you
sounded great and your just
being a little self-effacing,
perhaps a little too critical.

Next time, it won't happen.

Let me hear it, if you can,
sometime. I'm sure it was good.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 11, 2003 04:54 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[onedog]

Hey Frank,
I've been there before and know exactly where you?re coming from. The fact your thinking about it and trying to avoid a similar situation is very positive.
I think musicians who are dedicated to their craft become very good at time management and that's something you have to throw out the window when recording because there's almost always a lot of sitting around (in my experience anyway) for what ever reason.
I try to always have the sticks/brush's in my hands. I'm really into air drumming, it?s a great way to stay warm with out bugging people. I go through all the things I would normally do on a pad. I'm also conscious of being a positive vibe on the gig and taking advantage of dead time by getting to know everyone and relaxing. The food thing is important too but you?re on to that.
The big juggling act for me is giving the producer what he/she wants and at the same time being artistically satisfied with my performance. It took me a while to work out that my ?Vinnie inspired ideas? aren?t going to work all the time. I feel good about this these days because I?ve adopted the "Music Always Wins" mantra. I also find it helps to have a few blowing gigs on the boil to balance things up. My mind set in the studio is that everything is a challenge. Sometimes I do calls that aren?t much fun, maybe I end up playing a goofy part or something, I still try and respect the situation and realize that the things I like to play, aren?t going to end up on tape today.
Good luck with everything and post us an MP3.
Cheers
Glenn

[FuseU1]

Great posts from you guys about a GREAT [& necessary] topic - let's have more of these types. [Great post, blake & others.]
One thing i would add, if just for now, is this: it's nothing cosmic, heavy, astounding, or revelatory... it's just that, many times, if you do a lot of takes in a certain amount of time, your "ears" [& mind] can become "skewed" about what you here when you listen back...you stop listening with "fresh-ears" & it becomes "biased critiquing" [for lack of better] by your own self...many times after long hours of recording I've tried to listen to the takes & been less than pleased with the outcome. A guitarist friend of mine commented long ago that, give it a day or two & then go back & listen...& lo & behold, it didn't sound as badly as i had originally thought...you get "player-becomes-instant-listener's fatigue".
I realize we are talking about studio time here, & that what i said may not directly apply here; but you guys made some good points about the mental & physical/physiological aspects of session playing...& YES - DO NOT EAT a heavy meal or heavy foods within a two-hour interval b4 the gig [live OR studio]...your body is busy pumping blood to & from the stomach, & your limbs are the first to suffer if you have to da an "aerobic" exercise such as drumming [this is similar to why "they" told you not to go for a vigorous swim right after eating, when you were young [img]wink.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 12, 2003 10:12 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>