![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Alternately, using the same term, this is the part of my job that most feels like work.
I set up the dulcimer three days ago, rehearsing in the space that I will use to record. It also gave me the ability to judge how well the dulcimer would stay in tune in that spot, which is very important when each take has to match the tuning of the last, for editing, and of the next, for overdubbing. I've been rehearsing to the metronome, in preparation for studio work, and it's been about two years acquiring, learning, rehearsing, and performing the material.
Those are the fun parts.
Recording is distinctly less fun, at least for me. I know musicians who find it a delightful experience, much more so than performance or touring, and I think they are crazy.
This morning began very well, and I whipped off two tracks within 40 minutes. Of course, I started with the easiest music in order to work out the bugs, which is convenient because it turns out the microphone inputs were not recording to tape for those tracks.
That was frustrating.
Also, after several days of consistent tuning on the part of the dulcimer, today it didn't like that part of the room and was consistently going flat. In hindsight, perhaps it's better that those first half dozen takes (between the two songs) didn't make it.
I took a break, ate some eggs, and came back to the task. It was night and day, with things going very smoothly and, I'm pretty sure, doing one of my original songs in a single take (although I recorded a second one just to be sure). I also improvised a solution to a long-standing problem involving sensitive microphones and a loud metronome-click track that may solve an issue I've been fudging for over a decade.
There were still speed bumps, and I discovered that I need to rehearse a 15th century tune with the recording setup rather than a straight metronome before coming back to it, but I'm satisfied with the day's progress. Having spent three hours in the studio, I drove down the hill to my gym, spent 45 minutes on the treadmill to clear my head, came home and showered, and now I'm going to have a little lunch before listening to the day's efforts and making notes for editing.
Welcome to my process.
I set up the dulcimer three days ago, rehearsing in the space that I will use to record. It also gave me the ability to judge how well the dulcimer would stay in tune in that spot, which is very important when each take has to match the tuning of the last, for editing, and of the next, for overdubbing. I've been rehearsing to the metronome, in preparation for studio work, and it's been about two years acquiring, learning, rehearsing, and performing the material.
Those are the fun parts.
Recording is distinctly less fun, at least for me. I know musicians who find it a delightful experience, much more so than performance or touring, and I think they are crazy.
This morning began very well, and I whipped off two tracks within 40 minutes. Of course, I started with the easiest music in order to work out the bugs, which is convenient because it turns out the microphone inputs were not recording to tape for those tracks.
That was frustrating.
Also, after several days of consistent tuning on the part of the dulcimer, today it didn't like that part of the room and was consistently going flat. In hindsight, perhaps it's better that those first half dozen takes (between the two songs) didn't make it.
I took a break, ate some eggs, and came back to the task. It was night and day, with things going very smoothly and, I'm pretty sure, doing one of my original songs in a single take (although I recorded a second one just to be sure). I also improvised a solution to a long-standing problem involving sensitive microphones and a loud metronome-click track that may solve an issue I've been fudging for over a decade.
There were still speed bumps, and I discovered that I need to rehearse a 15th century tune with the recording setup rather than a straight metronome before coming back to it, but I'm satisfied with the day's progress. Having spent three hours in the studio, I drove down the hill to my gym, spent 45 minutes on the treadmill to clear my head, came home and showered, and now I'm going to have a little lunch before listening to the day's efforts and making notes for editing.
Welcome to my process.
