Terrible day

Bradastronaut

Senior Member
So i went into the schools recording studio to record dont fear the reaper for my friend for his gcse's. It did not go well. I couldnt even do the first fill without messing up, even though we practiced this a million times before and did it perfect. Even the practice inside the studio went great. And to top it all off, i quote the teacher "* to the bassist*The bass playing was excellent, you will probably get into any band you rehearse for, and im sorry to say this, but *to me* ill not be asking for you to come back in here". I feel awful now, has this happened to anyone before? could it have been the nerves of knowing im being recorded? I listened to the final take and it was so bad i could have been sick.
 
Talked to the other musicians about what happened? They're not the ones drumming, so might have a clue on what went different..
 
Sorry to hear it, mate.

We all have bad days. Don't let what that guy said linger, or it will destroy you. Yeah, that one went badly, and he won't be using you again. Learn from it. What went wrong? What could be improved? If you had that chance again, what would you do differently?

I doubt there's a artist, musician or artisan of any kind, even at the very top, who never got rejected or performed badly. Just use it as inspiration and motivation for further improvement, and move on.
 
Hey thanks for the reassurement guys :D
It wasnt only me that played bad however, at the last verse the guitarist started playing one fret lower than he should have, so i think it was just a build up of simple mistakes, starting from me coming in too late with the hi hat on the first take. And to be more specific about me not doing well, it was my right foot that kept losing rythm and power, after the first verse it starting just making random beats out of time from the rest of myself. I dunno if it had something to do with the pedal being too loose or what...

To Mighty_Joker, the first thing i did when i got in was practice for half an hour till my parents got home, im gonna make sure i leave atleast 2 hours a day for practice now, focusing on mainly rythm and keeping a beat for a few months, speed, power and all that nonsense can wait for a while, its ACDC all the way now!
 
I dunno if it had something to do with the pedal being too loose or what...

Were you not using your own equipment? At the very least, I would bring my own pedal and sticks to a recording session. Like you said, nerves have probably the most to do with it, but using unfamilar equipment could have added to tense nerves.

Tough break man, but you can use it to make you stronger. Mighty_Joker's comments are right on.
 
Well i didnt bother because my pedal SUCKS big time, its too loose for me and rattles and whatnot, been meaning to get a new one...although it is what im used to and i probably would have done better on it, it is just a tad incosistent sometimes and figured the schools would do better...I think i was wrong.
 
So i went into the schools recording studio to record dont fear the reaper for my friend for his gcse's. It did not go well. I couldnt even do the first fill without messing up, even though we practiced this a million times before and did it perfect. Even the practice inside the studio went great. And to top it all off, i quote the teacher "* to the bassist*The bass playing was excellent, you will probably get into any band you rehearse for, and im sorry to say this, but *to me* ill not be asking for you to come back in here". I feel awful now, has this happened to anyone before? could it have been the nerves of knowing im being recorded? I listened to the final take and it was so bad i could have been sick.

Hey man, sorry to hear that. Frankly, the teacher who said that to you sounds like a real A-Hole. Not much of a "teacher" in my opinion. He should have been more supportive and encouraging towards you. Anyway, don't let it get to you. Use it as motivation to get better. Here's a story for you... along with drumming, I am also a (budding) singer. A while back Queensryche was having a singing contest on their tour. They provided 3 cover tunes on their website for download with the vocals taken out. You would then record the vocals over it and send it back in as an entry. I went ahead and recorded Neon Knights (Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath). They would pick 3 people from the region of each stop on their tour, out of probably hundreds of entries, and have those 3 people compete against each other the night of the show on stage. The winner of that night would then go on to sing WITH the band for their encore song, then get entered for the contest finale at the end of the tour. I was one of their picks for the 3 in my region! I couldn't believe it when I got the email! Geoff Tate's wife actually sent it out! I was very excited! So I go to the venue early that night and I've been practicing now for a few weeks. I knew I could do it. As show time approached the road manager prepped us as to what to expect. They would have us all basically sing our songs to the same backup track that we used to record to in front of the audience before the concert started, and the audience would chose a winner based on applause. So showtime slowly approaches and the venue steadily fills with people. Before I knew it there were probably 2 to 3 THOUSAND people in the place. Needless to say I started getting pretty nervous. We flipped coins earlier and I got my choice of when to go on, so I chose the last slot. The other 2 guys go on and they were good. I get my chance... so I go on... I start off pretty well... then suddenly... out of nowhere... my voice cracks!! It wasn't even the hard part of the song! I totally didn't expect it to happen there! So now, here come some boos from the crowd (Queensryche fans can be tough, especially about vocals). Now I'm a little flustered... so I forget some lyrics, and I stumble through them... more boos. I finished up. Needless to say, I didn't win. I was a good sport about it and I left the stage. Talk about a terrible day. I felt like that was a huge opportunity and I BLEW IT! I was devastated. I didn't sing for 3 weeks after that. At one point though, I got angry... Angry at the people who booed me, angry at the monitor mix guy who laughed as I walked off the stage, but mostly angry at myself really, for not making the best of the opportunity, and not training like I should, and all that stuff. So instead of continuing to feel sorry for myself I decided that was it! I was going to use it as motivation to get better. I told myself that the next time I get a chance like that, I'm going to make the best of it. I started taking vocal lessons and I started an acoustic duo with a buddy of mine for extra practice. Now it's been over 2 years, and when I go back and sing that same song in the car once in a while, it seems so much easier, and I feel so much better about myself because I did something about it. I still use that memory as motivation, whenever I have to sing a challenging song, I think about it and it makes me try that much harder. It has even changed the way I approach drums. I've gone back to basics and I'm trying to really clean up my technique. It feels good actually. So hang in there, and keep working at it, and don't let anyone tell you that you no good. You're just learning how to learn, like the rest of us. At the very least think of it this way... at least you weren't practically booed off the stage by 3000 people. :)

Good luck!

Kamran
 
I also concur that the Teacher was a jerk for saying that to you as if he was Simon on that stupid TV show. He should be Bitch Slapped!
My advice is to let it go and forget about it. It happens to all of us from time to time.
Did you ever watch the outtakes from a movie? Pro actors can't deliver a simple line in 8 takes!
We are human! We all have bad days! How about pro athletes, and their bad days! A few high paid members of the New York Yankees come to mind.
Today just wasn't your day to record that song.
FORGET ABOUT IT! Move on, live long and prosper.
 
I'm mainly a guitar player who is studying hard on the drumming front to really lock down some rhythm and your experience is not unique. Relax.

I auditioned for a band about 8 years ago and I bombed MASSIVE. Out of time, couldn't play any solos worth crap, wrong changes. TERRIBLE. Didn't get the gig.

Well, practiced my but off, 4 years later ran into the same crew and they offered me the gig outright from what they had seen me play live. It was a very elating feeling to get the offer though I couldn't take it.

Bust your chops man and get better. Even tech beasts like Mike Mangini have talked about bombing auditions. Ignore the bungholes who tell you to your face how bad you are because those are the people who have never really played out and done the work, they are jealous. A person with real experience will know the feeling of bombing and be sympathetic.
 
That is very unfortunate mate, sorry to hear it, nothing wrecks your confidence better than someone saying something like that. I know how you feel you rehearse and get it right no problem, then it comes to the recording, you are under pressure and the nerves feel like a tonne of bricks lying on your arms and feels like ice under your feet, everything falls out of place. It has happened to me on numerous occasions where my recording sounds awful. The thing is you have to learn to relax and have faith that everything will go to plan. When you learn to relax and play like you were jamming to yourself in a recording situation i'm sure you will tighten up and execute better. I still muck up recordings but i shrug it off and have another go. Practice more to a metronome and then maybe you won't feel the pressure so much as it will be exactly the same when recording. At the end of the day it's one recording, you have the rest of your life to get better and gain experience!
 
I waked up with my G1 bricked after my cousin touched it last night. I've a policy which I don't allow people to touch my phone because they magically break it and it isn't their fault. I figured the Rom (Hero) got corrupted and I'll use my adapter to plug into my SD, upload and reinstall the rom. That didn't turn out as I expected. It appears my SD got corrupted with every file containing inside the sd card including my college work and homework all lost !! I was 1 assignment behind on my programming class and now I'm 3 assignments behind. I've to complete my final project by next week and that's worth half my grade.

I'm really worry about my phone, I can always work on that later. I do have a question because my phone contacts aren't synchronize in people.
 
Oh, the dreaded red light! It happens to all of us at some stage. A lack of familiarity with the environment and your own efforts to suppress your nerves conspire together to trip you up. It usually happens with the best rehearsed of pieces. With experience, it's effects will diminish. When in such a situation again, my advice is to play a long way below your skill threshold. You'll be fine as long as you KIS!
 
Agreed, ... teacher = a-hole!! LET IT GO!!

But, ...in the mean time, ....practice your favorite songs AS IF you were recording...practice with pressure on you, as if you're trying to record, ...it'll get easier and easier with time......

Bottom line....LET IT GO...you'll be fine!
 
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