| Author |
Subject |
vlcgirl
Registered User
(2/16/01 3:13:41 pm)
Reply |
tape
recorders
What are YOUR feelings on tape
recording yourself practicing? I just bought a tape recorder (on the
recommendation of my teacher) and I have, shall we say, mixed
feelings about the results. Okay, it's extraordinarily humbling...I
just wondered, has anyone out there done this on a long-term basis?
Does this produce any results other than major depression and the
desire to take up a new career?
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rexmeow
Registered User
(2/16/01 3:35:03 pm)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
I have tape recorded myself to see
how I sounded and still do sometimes. I think it can be a good
tool,its like my critic.It also can be a humbling experience.Since
I've been teaching myself to play cello for a while, the recorder
lets you hear all your mistakes and hopefully you'll correct them
eventually. I thought I sounded good on a Vivaldi cello sonata and
Bach's Suite 2,but than when I recorded myself, I thought otherwise
and heard all the tiny mistakes I made.I prefer to record in a good
acoustically sound room thou, sounds better.Some recorders make you
sound better than others.Nothing to get depressed about,we all make
mistakes, but this lets you hear it out and hopefully improve on
your playing, correcting those mistakes.
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Patricia2
Registered User
(2/16/01 3:46:15 pm)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
On the advice of my teacher, I plan
to get a recorder and do this myself - just haven't made it a
priority, because I am admittedly nervous about it. However, there
have been numerous comments on these boards that I've found helpful,
about how useful it is, and I'm sure you'll get more
responses.
One thing my teacher told me to do is follow along
with the music while listening to the playback, and mark trouble
spots -- then work on those, record again, and erase marks as you
clean up....(I think this is how it goes...)etc etc.
Now, if the
whole piece sounds like a trouble spot....
(Just kidding. But
that's why I haven't bought a recorder yet.)
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zambocello
Registered User
(2/16/01 4:42:33 pm)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
If you're playing the cello "just
for fun" by all means DON'T get a tape recorder. It will make you
miserable. If you want to improve by all means DO use a tape
recorder. It will still make you miserable, but it's essential. (The
tape recorder that is, not to be miserable.) We hear so differently
when we are playing than when we are just listening.
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Patricia2
Registered User
(2/16/01 8:02:31 pm)
Reply |
funny
story - or not so funny
In trying to explain to me the
usefulness of recording oneself, my teacher told me what happened to
him the first time he tried it.
It was so long ago I don't
remember what kind of contraption he used, but he said when he heard
it he was convinced there was something wrong with the machine; so
he recorded something from the radio, which, played back, sounded,
well....really good. That's how he learned how much he had to
learn.
So, in his case perhaps invaluable because he went on to
have a prof'l career.
In my case, no question I'm doing this
"just for fun," but I really trust my teacher, and if he says it'll
help (I would like to be able to play with others....in fact, I
would like to be able to just make nice sounds for mySELF! I'm not
even there, yet.), I'm game. (Well, OK, chicken.)
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Bobbie
Registered
User
(2/16/01 9:00:34 pm)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
I started recording myself years ago
when I was trying out a new cello and wanted to know how it sounded.
I use a minidisc recorder now on a semi-regular basis (I go in
spurts). For me, it is especially useful to see if I sound musical.
That is, is there a flow to the music; is what I think I hear what
I'm really doing? An added benefit of recording is that now I hear
myself more accurately without the recording. It's also a good test
of playing in front of someone: I get more self-conscious if I'm
recording, so I get a taste of how it will feel to have a
listener.
|
Jon
Pegis
Registered
User
(2/16/01 9:55:59 pm)
Reply |
Tape
Recorders
I think taping yourself is a great
idea, provided that it's on good equipment. I once practiced for a
lesson using a cheap boom box with a built-in microphone, and ended
up playing over the fingerboard on the A string since the playback
sounded so bad. But with good equipment you hear all those little
things that keep the piece from sounding the way you experience it
inside your mind. To me, the disquieting feeling you get when you
hear yourself on playback is the same one I have when I hear my own
voice on my answering machine. Sounds vaguely familiar, but not the
same.
Another benefit of using the tape recorder has to do with
audition preparation. I taped myself a lot before my CSO audition,
and the machine itself made me very nervous. So when I listened to
the playback, besides mistakes I could also hear what happened to my
vibrato and bow pressure when I was nervous. I learned a lot from
this experience and was able to see firsthand what "went" under
pressure.
I'd be interested in hearing from others what kind of
equipment they use since this is a thread that interests me a
lot.
Jon Pegis
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dmarteinson
Registered User
(2/16/01 10:18:30 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Tape Recorders
I'm using a Sony
MiniDisc.
Excellent quality and you can reuse the same disc
with no loss of quality.
Mine came with a little stereo mike
with a clip that I stick on the music stand.
On the other
hand, someone suggested to me a while back that it's better to use
just a plain old tape because you'll sound even _worse_ on
that...
-djm
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Len
Thompson
Registered User
(2/16/01 11:02:42 pm)
Reply |
IT
CAN'T BE!!!!
I would just add this: If your using
anthing other than a studio quality reel to reel, your not hearing
how you really sound! Any of those portable cassette type units will
usually not be capable of reproducing accuate sound. They wobble and
crackle and are just plain awfull. Trust me, you sound better than
that! They may be good for some things, but not for hearing how you
really sound. Oh well, off to therapy, my shrink say's I'm still in
denial!
Len
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gonzolagonda
Registered User
(2/17/01 6:10:17 am)
Reply |
Re.:
tape recorders
A small clip mic will probably not
reproduce low frequencies very well if it cost less than about
UK£100. If you are listening back on your hi-fi which you are used
to hearing professionally made CDs on, you are bound to be
disappointed. These will have been recorded in a good acoustic, with
expensive microphones (UK£1,000 or more), plugged into expensive
microphone preamplifiers (possibly thousands of pounds for one
channel), possibly processed through equally expensive tone controls
(EQ's or equalizers) and compressors (levelling amplifiers which
reduce dynamic range), possibly edited, and possibly re-EQ'd and
compressed at the mastering stage. But if you bear this in mind,
it's always useful to hear where you are going wrong, and surely
listening closely is good ear-training...
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ruthann
Registered User
(2/17/01 10:18:42 am)
Reply |
Re:
Tape Recorders
I'm using an Aiwa minidisc recorder,
which Santa, on the advice of cello chatters, brought me. I also got
a stereo mic, AR I think. I put it several feet away, not on the
music stand. It keeps me honest about my playing.
cello_suttonr@hotmail.com
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MCopeland
Registered User
(2/17/01 11:24:31 am)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
I got a Sharp 821 Minidisc recorder
for Xmas and then ordered a set of microphones from Core Sound, www.core-sound.com/lcmics.html.
The microphones were recommended from a flute list that I suscribe
to. The results are amazing. I called the owner of Core Sound. He is
a bass player and he gave me two ways to mic. my cello. I can clip
the mics to the bridge and on one of the F holes or, to hear what
other people hear, I just clip them to a music stand and set it at
cello sound hole height about six feet away from my cello.
I used
to use a cheap tape recorder and honestly the sound is so bad that I
couldn't listen to it. I also play oboe which has to be one of the
most difficult instruments to mic without it sounding awful. The
oboe sounds great. I can record myself and play "duets". I've
recorded concerts and practice. It has been very helpful in
improving my playing.
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vlcgirl
Registered User
(2/17/01 10:10:29 pm)
Reply |
Many
thanks
Well, I got over my bummed out
feelings, partly because of all the supportive (and fascinating)
comments I received back from fellow ICS-ers, and also, because I
have noticed an improvement in my playing already, and it has only
been three days. I will keep in mind that I have a $20 tape recorder
from Radio Shack and just listen for CONTROLLABLE variables (like
pitch, rhythms, weird unmusical things) and try to be very Zen about
the whole process. Within a month I could forsee a complete
turnaround in my attitude toward taping -- because I now know (like
everything my teacher says) IT TRULY WORKS!!!! 
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PatWhite
Registered User
(2/18/01 11:48:34 am)
Reply |
Re:
tape recorders
I am big on tape recording my
practicing, and I recommend it to all of my students. Advice often
falls on deaf ears, but I have one new student who has made
remarkable strides and it came out in one lesson that she actually
has followed my advice and bought herself a little tape recorder.
She is recording her practicing, listening to it, and learning the
VERY things I point out because she is hearing them for herself.
Invaluable.
I always record my students in recital and at
contest with a portable tape recorder. The lesson following the
recital or contest in spent in listening to and analyzing the
performance.
I give the following speech: "Listening to
yourself on a tape recorder is a bit like walking around with some
spinach in your teeth -- wouldn't you rather know, so that you can
get rid of it????"
Here are further uses for the tape
recorder:
>Record one part of a duet and play the other part
with the tape.
>Record a pedal tone and practice your
scale against it.
>Record a scale and play in thirds with
the recording. In other words, when the recording gets to the third
note of the scale, join in live, a la round, on the first
note.
Just a couple of ideas. I have a Sony Mini Disc
recorder and I still don't completely get the technology! But it's
fun!
Patricia White
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Sopher
Registered User
(2/19/01 10:14:16 am)
Reply |
RE:
tape recording
Another benefit of recording which
has not been mentioned is the documentary quality. It is very
enlightening to play your tape from this week, and then play the
tape from last year and see what improvement there has been.
Especially if you are on a plateau, the improvement is so gradual
that it you may not even notice that you are getting better - by
reviewing your old recordings you can reinforce to yourself that you
actually are making progress.
FYI, I record direct to my PC
disk, which is pretty good quality and is convenient to find a year
or so later.
Your mileage may vary!
Hope this
helps!
Sopher
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