 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2006-01-11 17:45
I can't stress how important and helpful that can be. In the early stages of working on a piece, excerpt, it may not be helpful, but when you have the work almost at performance level, it can help a bundle. You hear subtle things that you may not pick up as easily without doing that.
If you don't have a good recorder (computer program, mic.) than even a video camera can work quite well.
Anybody else record themselves to aid practicing?
Post Edited (2006-01-11 17:46)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-01-11 17:57
Dave,
You know, I had the worst experience with that years ago. It quickly became a matter of my waiting to hear what I sounded like on tape rather than policing myself "in-the-moment." Suffice to say, that month long period is still just a dark memory that occaisonally causes me to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat :-)
I would hasten to add though that you are 100% correct in your observation that details you may miss come clear as day in the light of a recording. Anything that can allow you to view your playing from a different perspective will be beneficial.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: BelgianClarinet
Date: 2006-01-11 17:59
Never recorded myself at home, but it is always quite a surprise to hear yourself on a recording of a concert.
Suddenly all remarks the condutor made become a 'bit' more clear. You never play as relaxed as you think you played. I always think the conductor is exajurating when asking for 'faster', slower,... but after listening to the recoding he mostly is right !!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-11 18:01
I've used my Minidisc recorder in sax 4tet rehearsals, chamber groups and orchestral rehearsals as well as concerts to hear what I sound like.
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Author: Brad
Date: 2006-01-11 18:54
I find recording myself to be a very useful tool. My experience has been a bit different in that I need to limit my use of recording when I get close to performance or audition. I become, as I think most musicians do, overly critical of my playing on the recording and spend too much time trying to correct things that either don't need correcting or are going to require more time than I have left.
I used to use a small tape recorder and then graduated a few yyears ago to minidisc. But the best one for me is using my Mac iBook with a small M-Audio USB Fasttrack audio interface, a Shure SM57 mic and Gargeband software. The mic and the audio interface cost about $175 for both and Garageband came with my Mac. The recordings are accurate and can easily be sweetened for demo or audition tapes. Sweetening not recommended for practicing.
Brad Cohen
Clarinetist
la_brad@yahoo.com
Post Edited (2006-01-11 18:54)
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Author: Clarinetgirl06
Date: 2006-01-11 18:55
I have gotten into the habit of recording myself probably every 1 to 3 practice sessions I have. I have noticed how much my tone has improved in the last month due to hard work on embouchure, air, and tongue position. I also like to see how I progress with the material. If I ever feel down about my playing I just simply pop on the headphones and listen to where I was a month ago on the same piece and I suddenly feel better about myself! Sometimes it's hard to remember how far you've come. I do this recording on my mp3 player.
I also record myself with accompaniments on Smart Music and this has helped me alot. I can see if I'm rushing and hear how it sounds with the piano. I purely used this my freshman year for my solo when I didn't have a teacher and I got a 1 at State.
Recording yourself can also be a humbling experience-you realize that you are still human and you make mistakes too.
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Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2006-01-11 19:13
I have always heard this would be a good thing to do but have had problems trying to find the right audio recording gear. David's recommendation to use a video camera just gave me an "A ha!" moment.
Tonight I will use my very nice digital video camera that doesn't get used very much to record my wife and I doing tune-ups and a duet on sax and then on clarinet. This is a very good forum!
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-01-11 19:28
> I can't stress how important and helpful that can be.
Got my "small quartet" today (two teachers, two students, three people altogether) and my teacher's teacher (drats! There goes my quiz) mentioned he'd bring his video equipment next time. I'm not extremely enthusiastic about that idea, but maybe it helps...?
--
Ben
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-01-11 19:33
Tried it once, and the tape recorder exploded..........
All seriousness aside, I've made it a habit over the years to record (whenever possible) the concert band, orchestra, or jazz group concerts/gigs I've played, to allow me to hear and self-criticize my playing. Although it's often depressing or even shocking to hear one's own playing on tape, I've found it valuable as a tool for self-improvement, and as a judge of equipment/setup. As an example of the latter, I've mentioned before how I had bought a certain new model bass clarinet, was pretty happy with it, but after recording myself playing this instrument in two consecutive concerts, I realized that the sound coming out to the audience was not at all what I wanted, so I sold the instrument. I've also changed mouthpieces on various instruments after hearing them on tape.
I don't have any advice on what recording gear to use, but I heartily recommend the concept of recording our own playing from time to time.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-11 19:54
I remember one afternoon with a big band I used to play in, there was a row of about 7 Minidisc recorders on the front table - all identical Sony ones from around 1999-2000, and all in silver!
But they all had different power mics so that was the only way to tell them apart.
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2006-01-11 20:12
I make it a practice to record every student's lesson (analog/cassette w/quality mikes). I give each new student a cassette and instruct them to take it home and play it, then bring it back to the next lesson so that we can record over the previous lesson. Occasionally we have an instant playback of a passage or two so that the pupil can hear for him/herself what it is that I am critiquing. Some of the students tell me that thay play the tapes in the car on the way home from the lesson.
I got the idea from Milt Stevens, National Symphony first trombone, when he was teaching my son. I strongly recommend it to any of you who teach.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-01-12 01:11
My problems with recording myself are two:
It doubles my "practice time." I play, and then I listen.
I've had trouble (way past) in getting enough bandwidth to capture the harmonic overtones on the clarinet, so it always sounded awful.
I do want to return to this methof of self appraisal, though. I'm looking forward to hearing what others are using for recording gear.
Good thread!
Bob Phillips
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2006-01-12 03:41
I formerly used a USB interface with phantom power to get 2 cond. mics directly into computer.
The monitor headset gives a good idea of the sound while recording, and cancels outside sounds but of course can not cancel bone conduction.
The system is cumbersome and produced files that had to be converted to mp3 or wave to store on a cd
I switched to a compact flash media portable recorder. The bit rate is not as high, but it allows 2 cond mics, provides phantom power and a monitor jack, is not tethered to a computer, and the media is portable and easily loaded into the computer for editing. The unit is portable and runs on AC or batteries (AAx8 or NiCAD or NiMH).
I can now take the unit anywhere (my wife's piano is in living room, whereas computer is in separate room and needed long mic cables to reach to the interface, as the USB cable to the computer can not be longer than 8 ft.)
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2006-01-12 04:34
I mainly use the recorder for two things (as suggested by Peter Hadcock in The Working Clarinettist):
1. I record myself playing a passage at full speed, then listen to it half as fast. Really points out a lot of flaws that are hard to pick up on otherwise.
2. For pieces I don't have a recording of but are hard to hear well played, I record the piece at half tempo. I then double the speed to hear the passage played correctly and evenly. I rarely use this, but it's a useful tool.
I use a simple two speed tape recorder that you can get from a local drugstore. Cheap, but it gets the job done. The only problem is that it doesn't capture your sound accurately. The sound is pretty crappy, but it's good for working through technical passages.
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2006-01-12 08:12
I never made a recording at home, because I haven't got a good microphone for it... But I've made some live recordings solo and duets for the radio in the past and know after hearing a recording of a duet with my cousin that I couldn't here who was playing... we sounded both the same.
Strange to hear yourself that way!
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Author: sdr
Date: 2006-01-12 20:44
On a Mac computer (desktop of laptop) you can use the built-in microphone and an inexpensive shareware (freeware?) program, "Audio Recorder" by Ben Shanfelder, to make effortless digital recordings that can be played back with QuickTime, Windows Media Viewer, or fancier software. Audio Recorder gives the option of saving file in AIFF, Apple "Lossless", mp3, mp4, or WAV formats. This is MUCH quicker than tape or minidisk. Files are fully editable by digital music editing softwaree.
-sdr
NOTE: I have NO financial interest in this software
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