Does anyone else here have recording/camera fright?

[throwawaynotreally]

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[stevensk]

This is a quite common problem.
Record yourself frequently. As often as possible. That can solve your problem

[throwawaynotreally]

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[flashyfingers]

I agree with above. Yes, I feel awful on camera. And it it almost twice as terrible as audio recordings by themselves. I would work on recording only audio first, so you don't have to worry about a camera that is at a bad angle, ruining a take. (I only say that because when I have a bad audio take, the terrible video makes the recording seem even worse .)

 

[quantum]

Record every time you perform.  Soon the recording will become a normalized part of your performance routine, and you will worry less about it and more about the music. 

[throwawaynotreally]

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[throwawaynotreally]

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[flashyfingers]

I'm an extremely unphotogenic guy so I've developed this sort of fear for cameras. Did you mean recording audio first, and then syncing it with a video?

No, I mean that try working on old-fashioned, Audio only recordings first. Once you get good takes, you can try working on videos. If you record Audio and Video separately, then you could always discard the video if it's a bad one.

Otherwise, just like in music, one step at a time. I would work on getting used to the process of Audio recording yourself, first. Then, video+audio will seem one and the same.

[throwawaynotreally]

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[throwawaynotreally]

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[Bob]

Ditto.  Just get used to it.


I've used recordings the other way, to talk myself into being more nervous -- Because if you're recording it, you don't really know who's going to hear it later, who would be most critical of it, etc.  Interesting experiment, but it worked for practicing performance that way.

[throwawaynotreally]

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[Bob]

You could do something like just set the recording device on a table, not running.  Or record and delete it right away. 

It's sounds more like a performance/glitch type of issue rather than being recorded.  There are many threads about that on here.  Except they'll be harder to find -- Something about mistakes creeping in or different mistakes appearing during performance.

[throwawaynotreally]

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[quantum]

Hopefully it'll help. It's wrecking my confidence at the moment though. I keep making the same mistakes at the same places, and when I get to fix them, another problem arises. I'm pretty sure I'm on my 50-somethingth take, and I'm recording a piece which I consider to be my most consistent and stable for performance.

It is important to remember that a "perfect" take does not necessarily equate to good music, or the accurate portrayal of the musician's artistic vision on the recorded medium.  One can too easily get trapped into the obsession of eliminating every last undesirable element, to the point where one ends up with an empty void of sterility - notes and notes alone.  Music doesn't happen because we play the correct notes, music happens when we do something with those notes.  

Perform live? I can normally play quite naturally when I'm being filmed on stage. It's recording at home, or non-live, that I'm not yet accustomed to.
That's some awesome advice though, I think it'll help quite a lot.
Thank you

Live and studio workflows are different.  If you are intending to make studio recordings, it is important to practice your studio recording workflow.  Do you want splices?  Then you need to practice making splices, and having them appear invisible to the listener.  Do you want single takes?  Then you need to practice playing through a piece of music no matter what happens, and making corrections and tweaks as you play.

[Bob]

Do single takes.  Editing it into something more is dishonest.  If you can't actually do it, the recording is BS if it's tweaked into being more than you can do.

[throwawaynotreally]

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[throwawaynotreally]

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[quantum]

I was recording Bach I think, and I normally play without many errors. I felt that playing with them was not a good representation of I how I really played it.

With studio recordings, comes added benefit of using tools that shape a musicians vision.  As long as you do not misrepresent your work as being "unedited", IMO there is nothing dishonest about editing a track.  You need to keep in mind that the recording itself will not be listened to in the same context of a live performance.  When being played back, the person with the playback device is in control, not the performer.  As a musician in studio, one has tools available to further refine one's ideas.  Of course it is also up to the performer if he/she decides to put those tools to use.

You need to make a decision whether you want to portray your recording as a moment in time captured as is, or to refine your recording in post production. 

It is very rare to have an ideal perfect single take recording, that includes professional musicians that make commercial recordings.  In such case one needs to choose a take, and live with it.  Often a performer can be overly critical of "mistakes" and "dirty notes" in the moments after the take.  Give the recording a day or two and listen back,  see if you can hear those same occurrences again. 

Get a second ear to listen, often what a performer considers a bad spot in the recording is a non-issue to another person. 

[throwawaynotreally]

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