Musical Rut

[Monde Luna]

For the musicians on L-net how do you get out of your recording ruts? I'm a performing musician and all things are well in that aspect. However when I record something I always end up deleting it because it doesn't sound good enough. But perfection is hard to come by... I always find something that I don't like in my recordings, but I even find flaws in professional recordings that drive me nuts... ack what do you guys do?

[Ardent Fox]

Stop recording and take a holiday. When I was with my old band, we would record but if we didn't like it and couldn't get it right then we'd just stop. Once you lay that first take, if you need to do it more and more times then you seem to lose a certain something. It sucks but when you get stuck like that, it's best to walk away.

[Monde Luna]

I probably should have stated I am mostly a classical musician. I've been playing some of the same songs for years actually its like fine wine it gets better w/ time. But I get bored so I've just been messing around with some video game music and chamber music lately. That is what I have been recording/deleting.

[Ardent Fox]

Well, treading around in unfamiliar territory can do that too. You know what is aurally pleasing to you. So when you actually play it, it just doesn't sound right because it's not what you're used to doing. I'm guessing that might be it. But still, as a rule, I've always found it best to get some fresh air and come back and record the next day or week after a bad day in a studio.

[Monde Luna]

You are right I should probably just take it easy for a couple of days and then return. My ear probably just needs to relax for a few.

[exigence]

Then listen to some Brazilian music. i like classical but it can get stale after a while, what instrument do you play?

[ilovemyguitar]

What exactly do you mean by "flaws" in yours and other recordings? If you mean things like staying on pitch, accurate rhythms, etc, that's stuff you should of course iron out. Nobody wants to listen to a recording with wrong notes.

However, if you mean stuff like bringing out various melodic lines, playing with dynamics, establishing a climax and resolution, and other things of that nature, you're getting into the wonderful world of interpretation. You will never have a perfect interpretation of a piece. No performer ever has performed such a feat, and none ever will. All you can do is establish what your intent is with a piece, and record a performance that's as close to that intent as possible. I've always believed that aside from technical prowess, the mark of a truly great performer is one who can convey a clear intent and invoke something intangible and yet recognizable with as little nonsense as possible.

I really could pontificate forever on my philosophies that pertain to music and performance, and I love hearing other peoples' points of view. Music is quite literally my entire life.

[Monde Luna]

Okay since I have to go to work I am going to keep it short. (Not like my posts on L-Net are every long anyways...)

I'll give you some background information on me as a musician. I play Bb/A Clarinet, Bass Clar, Eb Clar, flute, pic, alto sax, soprano sax, tenor sax, most of the time. The clarinet is my primary instrument. I'm currently learning piano and I'm going to start working on guitar next month. (Guitar just for kicks) I play mostly classical music, I listen to EVERYTHING from classical to rock, rap, country, world music, hip hop, whatever I like it all. I probably listen to rock the most though, and my zune constantly plays Evanescence. I <3 Amy Lee's voice.

Lately most of my work constists of playing in shows (operetta/musicals) so I'm used to focusing on one instrument at a time and interacting with other musicians. This is where recording is a pain in the butt for me. Now I have to interact w/ myself on a stale recording... Recordings lack the life that a live performance brings, but it also makes all the flaws so obvious. My major flaw is that I don't have the skill (yet) to record all my tracks w/o the metronome so I can't use as much rubato as i'd like. Wrong notes are not an issue but pitch can be but that's not hard to fix. My other major issue is finding the best spot for my mic, particularly for my clarinet but that is getting better. Anyway that was longer than I would have liked to make you read. Thanks guys!

[exigence]

Record in your bathroom, hands down best acoustic environment in your house unless your dad is Peter Gabriel or something but if he was your dad im sure you'd have no trouble recording.

Make sure you don't mic near the bell, i would experiment with the mic about 2-3 feet away try out some different spots and watch out for key noise and what not. its hard to record by yourself with out a metronome, maybe there's other musicians who share your interest.

[Monde Luna]

I'll have to give the bathroom a shot, I just need to get a longer cable first.

As for recording w/ other musicians I have and will hopefully do more of that in the future. I just enjoy the challenge, of doing it all by myself. I like to think of it as a learning experience, I've learned a lot about my playing that way.

[Shin Otaku III]

Here, this always inspires me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLuB2Y2fSuM

[Monde Luna]

Ha ha, that was pretty funny.

[exigence]

WOW, you know that feeling when a cool idea jumps into your brain. its just like a jolt and you say to yourself "wow this is a really good idea"

alright hear me out on this..... alright here goes

lunar-net song, everyone who plays music or writes music etc could work on a song, everyone lays down a little bit we could upload the song to rapidshare or something and each add a bit to it and re-upload it for other people to add on to. i fell like its a really hard concept to explain but if you know what i mean maybe we could get a new thread for this, i know theres a few other musicians on here.

[Ardent Fox]

You mean like a collaboration where we all make a song about L-Net?

[exigence]

exactly

[Ardent Fox]

That sounds like only the best idea every manufactured by man.

[Monde Luna]

sounds feasible

[exigence]

we would probably need to lay down some basics first:

Key
Tempo
Meter
Chord Progression

Im open to anything really

[Ardent Fox]

Improv is what I'm best at, so I'm fairly flexible.

[Monde Luna]

we would probably need to settle on a style too, is the goal for it to sound like something you would hear in Lunar? Also do we have the blessing of G1/kizyr?