Recording rehearsals and gigs - does it help you?

[ChrisDowning]

Come across that recommendation a lot over the years - although you have to be pretty tough skinned if you are sensitive to self criticism. But in truth its what others are hearing so you have to get past feeling bad about what you hear. Once it becomes a habit to record practice and gigs, its not nearly so demotivating. I have a Roland RV5 that has sliders for attenuating loud playing and too much bass, so make sure you get a recorder that will do performance level music and isn't designed for recording birdsong on a quiet evening - they can all do that. Keep the recorder nearby so it records you clearly and not just the whole band from the bar - you know what I mean.

[hotpepper01]

I play guitar in a big band and once in a while I take a tablet with me, have it next to me when we play and I make recordings. Every new tune is a must to have. Back home I can play back the songs on the PC and I can play along as much as I like. In that way I can practice. It sure helps me. Another helpful way is Band in a Box. Especially the parts where I have to improvise the solo´s, I can run that over and over.

[Boston Joe]

I've recorded the last couple of rehearsals. My overall impressions are that 1) My rhythm is better than I though. Most of the time, I'm right in the pocket. 2) I need to learn more heads. I'm not a good enough reader to sight read them on the fly. 3) I need to be louder, or else put the recorder somewhere else. My solos are inconsistent. I have some very good sections, and some very boring sections. Most of the time I get through without doing anything egregiously awful, but other times it sounds like I couldn't find a key if I were at the Schlage factory.