recording anxiety

**Jazzy_Dan** · 08-05-2017, 11:30 PM

Has anyone tried chewing gum to relax yourself while recording? I read that someone tried this and it worked for them.

The way it breaks down for me is, when using my 8-track Tascam (recorder and mixer) without any video, I can record most of the time without messing up much; Since I know that I can fix parts that I mess up on, that eases my mind.

What gets me the most is recording videos of myself playing. I mess up so much more when doing this type of recording than anything else, probably because (at least in my mind) it's much harder or impossible to edit parts of the music and have it look good on video at the same time. Or is it? Anybody have any suggestions for reducing anxiety when video recording?

**Alder Statesman** · 08-06-2017, 12:58 AM

In my case, I just try to record practice sessions as often as possible. This makes the recorder common place and not an event when I want to record something to share.

**docbop** · 08-06-2017, 01:29 AM

When I was younger I had no problem recording and even did a little session work, but these days I have terrible case of "Red Light Fever". Like you just audio I can deal with easier, but video I get uptight. For my I think it's more about not wanting to be seen. As Alder Statesman suggested I'm going to try videoing my practice sessions to try and get used to video recorder being on.

Good luck.

**vintagelove** · 08-06-2017, 03:25 AM

Find a different crutch. Someday if you're recording in a studio, the engineer is gonna spend 20 minutes trying to figure our where that damn noise is coming from!!!

Try this, buy a small recorder, stick it in front of your amp every time you play. The nerves will eventually wear off.

**ragman1** · 08-06-2017, 09:17 AM

Agree with all that's been said here, except the chewing gum maybe :-)

I do a lot of recording, audio and video, more than I put on here. The secret, if there is one, is not to care. Know the tune, know everything you can do on it, never try and repeat or copy anything you've done before, and let your fingers do the walking. Don't practice manically just before you record. On the contrary, sleep on it, give your brain a chance to absorb it all.

Most folks I've known who mess up do it because they haven't played the tune enough, it's as simple as that.

(There are other things too. You'll always make inadvertent mistakes like finger-slips, buzzes, and all that. Can't be helped. If you listen to Joe Pass' Virtuoso recordings or Eddie Diehl's album there are lots but it doesn't matter because the overall effect overrides them. If you insist on perfection you'll wind yourself up for no good reason and be disappointed - and make even more! So be not too hard, it doesn't matter).

**ragman1** · 08-06-2017, 09:22 AM

This is a good post about this. Just happened to see it.

Cliches and licks - I don't know...

**DanielleOM** · 08-06-2017, 09:51 AM

I have had a few recording engineers tell me the best take is when they tell the performer to play the tune so they can just check the sound levels.

TH · 08-06-2017, 10:15 AM

This has been an anxiety shared by jazzers throughout the history of jazz. There's also been a tradition of solutions. I think some of the greatest icons in jazz have used heroin.

David

**Chuck** · 08-06-2017, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by Jazzy_Dan

Has anyone tried chewing gum ...........?

Apparently it works ... see around 1:40

**bako** · 08-06-2017, 10:43 AM

[QUOTE=TruthHertz;793609]This has been an anxiety shared by jazzers throughout the history of jazz. There's also been a tradition of solutions. I think some of the greatest icons in jazz have used heroin.

There is a good possibility that racism was an even higher cause of anxiety.

My recently deceased friend Rick Stone did a lot of videoing for his guitar teaching site.
He concurred too with Alder Statesman, recommending making frequent videos with a phone just to
get in the habit and fine tune our video graphical awareness analyzing the playback.

**docbop** · 08-06-2017, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by TruthHertz

This has been an anxiety shared by jazzers throughout the history of jazz. There's also been a tradition of solutions. I think some of the greatest icons in jazz have used heroin.

David

Ones I've talked with their habit was an way to block out the rest of the world and focus deeply on the music. To quote one guitarist he said he could hear things that that would of taken ten years to discover otherwise. Now everyone is different but for some it was tool and not just a escape.

**emanresu** · 08-06-2017, 02:28 PM

Depends. When playing with others, it's the best idea to practice until the fingers are bleeding and then watch others to mess up and laugh. Well, this only works with friends.

Recording is so weird anyway. I remember being tilt and fuming while recording a speedy arp for something. Got it down somehow with teeth grinded to the gums. And it sounded pretty and light instead what I really felt. Often it was the opposite - thought I played very nicely but it actually sounded weak. So. Dunno, practice a LOT and then just try to do a good job. All I can say.

Btw, when you guys record something, did it sound differently than it felt for you while playing?

**rpjazzguitar** · 08-06-2017, 02:31 PM

I'm reminded of the advice, "don't practice until you get it right; rather, practice until you can't get it wrong".

For me, the anxiety subsides when I have the music down cold, and then some. A click track helps me not to have to worry about my time. It's also comforting to know that many errors can be fixed by the engineer.

**ragman1** · 08-06-2017, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by emanresu

when you... record something, did it sound differently than it felt for you while playing?

ALWAYS.

(In fact I'd go further. If it sounds exactly like how you planned it* it probably wasn't that good. When you play you should lose yourself in it and listening back should be a surprise. Really.)

* The exception is tutorial demos.

**Jazzy_Dan** · 08-06-2017, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by Chuck

Apparently it works ... see around 1:40

lol.....I noticed the gum chewing right off the bat. Thanks for sharing.

There's a lot of good wisdom posted here. Thanks everybody. Gonna try video(ing) myself as I practice, for starters, anticipating the anxiety will wear off eventually. Also, utilizing as much of the other advice as possible.

**cosmic gumbo** · 08-08-2017, 01:38 AM

My pal Buzzy says this chewing gum has helped him control his recording anxiety effectively.

**Jazzy_Dan** · 08-08-2017, 05:55 AM

Originally Posted by ragman1

Agree with all that's been said here, except the chewing gum maybe :-)

Know the tune, know everything you can do on it, never try and repeat or copy anything you've done before, and let your fingers do the walking.

Are you saying that I should perform it differently than the way I practice it? Or that I should be open to performing it differently than how I practice it?

Am I not mistaken that jazzers improvise (at least somewhat) on the stuff they perform; Isn't this part of the spirit of jazz? Perhaps I'm not allowing myself room for improvisation.. That is, I don't know enough of what I can do on it.

**destinytot** · 08-08-2017, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Jazzy_Dan

Are you saying that I should perform it differently than the way I practice it? Or that I should be open to performing it differently than how I practice it?

Am I not mistaken that jazzers improvise (at least somewhat) on the stuff they perform; Isn't this part of the spirit of jazz? Perhaps I'm not allowing myself room for improvisation.. That is, I don't know enough of what I can do on it.

Just express what you believe to be beautiful and true, as carefully as you can.

**destinytot** · 08-08-2017, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by destinytot

Just express what you believe to be beautiful and true, as carefully as you can.

I'll now take my own advice as I take my guitar out of the case.

I also remind myself that it's OK not to know exactly what it is that I want - as long as I can recognise it when I hear it (without having to rely on someone else's authority and competence to tell me when it sounds good).

**TOMMO** · 08-08-2017, 09:22 AM

Just experienced that anxiety while I was recording some more tests with my ZOOM video recorder. As I'm planning to do more recording in the future I hope that I'll get used to it.

**destinytot** · 08-08-2017, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by TOMMO

Just experienced that anxiety while I was recording some more tests with my ZOOM video recorder. As I'm planning to do more recording in the future I hope that I'll get used to it.

I think that anxiety's a Good Thing.

And I'm not trying to put a Polyanna-type/positive spin on something unpleasant.

Anxiety gives meaning and shows commitment to a course of action - and it calls for sacrifice where there's (too much) attachment.

It's a Good Thing because - if we're smart, and if we're honest - we get to choose our sacrifice. Genesis Ch. 4.

(Sorry if it sounds like flattery, but completely blown away by your feel and pace, Tommo. That, for me, is how music should be played; it's among the rarest of things - because it's so easily ruined by a mechanical regime of exercises and scales.)

**TOMMO** · 08-08-2017, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by destinytot

(Sorry if it sounds like flattery, but completely blown away by your feel and pace, Tommo. That, for me, is how music should be played; it's among the rarest of things - because it's so easily ruined by a mechanical regime of exercises and scales.)

Blush...

Thank you so much...

**destinytot** · 08-08-2017, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by TOMMO

Blush...

Thank you so much...

Not at all - just telling it like it is.

I'd be delighted if reading that comment of mine encouraged just one other person to ditch (the typical) dogma in favour of developing their ears and taste.

But I doubt whether that would happen - and what makes me doubt is at the root of recording anxiety and also behind the proliferation of exercise, scale, and mechanical-based approaches to making music.

Which is why I invoked Beauty:

Just express what you believe to be beautiful and true, as carefully as you can.

**Jazzy_Dan** · 08-08-2017, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by destinytot

I'll now take my own advice as I take my guitar out of the case.

I also remind myself that it's OK not to know exactly what it is that I want - as long as I can recognise it when I hear it (without having to rely on someone else's authority and competence to tell me when it sounds good).

You bring out a good point here, off the subject. There have been several times where I have searched the Internet to see if there are any opinions or norms on a certain way that I have chosen to write or arrange a solo guitar song. I wonder if some of the solo jazz stuff I've worked on lately is the "correct" way to do it, and the only affirmation I can come up with is observing other performers in some of the unique ways that they have arranged music. There seems to be a point where one must stop asking questions, given you have the required elements grasped for "jazz" (7th/derivative chords/chord tones, voice leading, chromaticism).. But, the way you put it all together will reflect your individuality and degree of originality, and is not "wrong".

At this point, my indie/rock/experimental background somewhat shines through the solo jazz stuff I'm doing now, and I wonder, "This doesn't sound like jazz...or does it?" lol .....If you want to sound like a certain style...ie bebop, swing...ect... Then there IS a right or wrong, but if you're just writing to express your soul, then there is no "wrong"...

**ragman1** · 08-08-2017, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzy_Dan

Are you saying that I should perform it differently than the way I practice it? Or that I should be open to performing it differently than how I practice it?

Oh, the second one. If it happens, it happens.

Perhaps I'm not allowing myself room for improvisation.. That is, I don't know enough of what I can do on it.

That's very likely. That's why jazz is a study, it takes a l-o-t of know-how to get through complex jazz changes. The only consolation is the more one does the better one gets and the more one learns.