Demo hell(so to say)

[yaclaus]

Hi !!

Have you ever tried this? The band I play in are making a demo now so of course I was to record the guitars :)

Well we have three numbers to record two of which are done but on the last number there is a solo with tapping, megasliding and pick trills(or whatever it's called) and in a live situation it always turns out okay since there always will be a lot of noise in these situations. But in a studio situation it's different I have used 1 1/2 hour of that 30 seconds guitar solo and always a little noise appears and the take is ruined.

This gives a complete lose of selfrespect and I feel like a terrible player, I almost cried not being able to ace the take. We stopped because my finger sored completely up and were shaking/sweating.

Well I guess a lot of practice in the future will hinder this to happen again but I don't hope this has or will happen for you!

[sugarbee]

Is it nerves maybe? I know sometimes I can play the crap out of something so well at home and then I get in a recording situation and I start to make stupid mistakes because I'm nervous. And I pretty sure my playing is pretty basic compared to what you describe. Maybe it's a case of losing focus after the first couple mistakes and getting mentally caught up in them, thereby destroying your concentration and instict. Maybe you should leave it for a bit and come back to it, really relaxed?

I don't know, that's just my two cents.

[voivod]

yaclausI know what you mean..It had happened to me because of the anxiety I had..We were in a big studio recording and we were paying lots of money...So I was anxious because I wanted to finish my take quickly so we would have more time for the mastering...Anyway my advise is to warm up a lot before your recording, drink a couple of beers and tell the rest of your band to not be in frond of you.
Cheers..
Ps: Why don't you clear the noise with the help of a software?

[Gandalv]

BEER!! Holy crap, that would beat the last dignity out of my technical abilities in any situation. Might help the relaxation, though. But I don't know if it would be worth it :/

[Bizarro]

What this usually means, in my recording experience, is that I can't play the part as well as I thought I could. Recordings don't lie!

YMMV...

[bdemon]

Hell yeah, the studio "pressure" can make my playing goofy! The most important way to fight it? Know your part like the freckles on your hand. Not just be able to play it well live, KNOW IT. Know it, know it, sleep thinking about it. Then go into the studio and give it some block of time, an hour, say. At some point that fatigue or stress of perfection will kill the possibility of a decent take, so you might as well take a break or move to another part. Not everyone can do that tortured artist, go to the depths of madness to get the perfect take-thing.

You could also try the Pro-Tools method of recording three damn good take and edit them into the perfect take...depending on the part.

[Thorsten]

I´d refuse to record anything that I couldn´t play live! Otherwise you can have the keyboard player do the guitar parts with a good sampler (Linkin Park anyone? ;) )
There´s just one cure for the studio syndrom: Practice, practice, practice...

[Matze]

There´s just one cure for the studio syndrom: Practice, practice, practice...

... and also record and listen to what you just played. Use some minidisc recorder or your PC at home and a metronome and really try to nail the part. Listen to it carefully. Put yourself under pressure to play it perfect while practicing at home.

[Bizarro]

I'd be scared to record myself right now... I have a new baby girl and I haven't been able to play more than 20 minutes a day for about 7 weeks! :eek:

Oh man, I'm sure I suck soooooooo baaadddddddd!!!!!! ;)

Our summer band break is nearly over so I need to get my chops up for gigs starting in early August... ARRGHGHH!!!!

[Bizarro]

Oh yeah, TK, we need some more songs. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms! :)

[Gandalv]

Sorry about my poor knowledge of American jargon...but...girlfriend or child?

[szulc]

What this usually means, in my recording experience, is that I can't play the part as well as I thought I could. Recordings don't lie!
This is the very reason you should make your own demos at home. You can buy a used vs880 for what an hour or two of studio time costs. There is nothing as sobering as listening to yourself on a recording, maybe the piece is too ambitious.

[Bizarro]

Sorry about my poor knowledge of American jargon...but...girlfriend or child?

Child! :) Kids are great but it has reduced my guitar practice time to nearly zero. I had rehearsal tonight and I can still pull off quite a bit of stuff but I won't be playing Scarified anytime soon! :) Luckily we don't play Scarified! :D

[eastwood]

We did a great version of Unchain The Night by Dokken - it took us ages !

But I did leard that for the solo I needed to know what I was going to do inside out.

The fast legato section in the original - I played using AP - took me 2 weeks at home to nail it.

Walked into the studio and I nailed it 3rd take.

I have an .mp3 if any wants a listen - thing is I can't webhost it.

Daz

[phantom]

i have found that the quality of my studio recordings change with the producer and soundengineer.
recording with a relaxed pro who knows how to handle the musicians getting the guitars on track was easy and even fun!!
with a nervous guy who does not know what he wants i had my worst studio experiences. coulnd't even get a chord straight.
feeling comfortable with the situation surely helps getting the best out of you.
don't put yourself under pressure to much - that can spoil everything.