Recording Yourself

Hewitt2

Senior Member
For those of you lucky enough to practice for 2+ hours per day, do you record and listen back to your entire practice session or only what you’re extra focused on?

it can be hard enough to find a good amount of time to practice. Finding more time outside of that to listen to my entire practice session becomes even harder. Even if I try to use time during my commute to/from work, walking the dogs etc.

Would love the forum’s input on what is being recorded and listened to and any related best practices.

Thanks gang!
 
For those of you lucky enough to practice for 2+ hours per day, do you record and listen back to your entire practice session or only what you’re extra focused on?

it can be hard enough to find a good amount of time to practice. Finding more time outside of that to listen to my entire practice session becomes even harder. Even if I try to use time during my commute to/from work, walking the dogs etc.

Would love the forum’s input on what is being recorded and listened to and any related best practices.

Thanks gang!

I only ever record things that are pretty difficult, or ones that I’m going to be performing publicly. “Difficult” can mean something that is only moderately hard, but that I just started working on. But the better I get, the less I find recording myself to be useful. I think there’s a point behind which it’s just not very helpful any more. I’m not totally there yet, but almost, I think.
 
I only ever record things that are pretty difficult, or ones that I’m going to be performing publicly. “Difficult” can mean something that is only moderately hard, but that I just started working on. But the better I get, the less I find recording myself to be useful. I think there’s a point behind which it’s just not very helpful any more. I’m not totally there yet, but almost, I think.

its funny - even for things I find to be dead simple or I thought I mastered I sometimes listen back and there’s some hidden nuance or glitch that appears. It might very well be me over analyzing and I agree that the focus needs to be for concepts that just feel difficult but maybe there is some benefit to occasionally revisiting the easy stuff too.
 
its funny - even for things I find to be dead simple or I thought I mastered I sometimes listen back and there’s some hidden nuance or glitch that appears. It might very well be me over analyzing and I agree that the focus needs to be for concepts that just feel difficult but maybe there is some benefit to occasionally revisiting the easy stuff too.

I’m definitely not against the occasional recording to see if anything is flying under the radar. I’m pretty much to the point now where I can tell, between how a lick/groove is feeling and sounding, whether it’s good enough for playing out. But that takes years if not decades. I’m been playing since 1986, although I took 15 years off in the middle.
 
I don't record my entire practice. I play along to backing tracks and may record one or two per practice session. Sometimes I don't. If I'm working on something and I think it's getting close I'll record it and see what needs to be cleaned up. Then I'll work on it some more.

I've spent a lot of time on tuning. Sometimes I'll record a snare. Give each lug an quarter turn. Record it again and so on. Any change to the entire kit gets recorded. I listen back to it with and without EQ and usually end up changing and storing a few settings.

Regardless of your level of skill, if the drums sound good it's more enjoyable to hear it back. So, I work on sound a lot.
 
Recording yourself is the surest way to find your flaws. I highly recommend it.

I started with a Boss JS-5, a mic and a pair of headphones, and that revealed my errant playing: snare too loud, rushed fills, hats too loud, etc.
 
I very seldom record anything that I'm practicing. Sometimes I think about it but I'm too lazy to crack out the recorder LOL I think sometimes I play things that sound different on the recording then they do from my position at the drum set. And I think about recording those sometimes but never do
 
If I have a long session, I practice until I think I have something down and then I record, usually a song while while playing along. At that point I identify and try to start work on the problems right away while recording again, and again.

Learning what and how to record took some practice. I needed an easy (no setup/always ready) way to make a quality practice recording. I used to use an iPad with built in mic but I hated to listen back because the instrument always sounded terrible and I couldn’t tell if my playing was balanced. I finally bought a couple of cheap Behringer condenser mics and run them through an also cheap mini mixer. They are now permanently setup ready to record.

A game changing side benefit of a dedicated setup like this is the pleasure hearing your drums unmuffled without destroying your hearing by monitoring the mix using headphones or IEM’s (tight fitting earbuds in my case). Hearing my kit sound beautiful and not wrecking my hearing makes me want to play more.

The short answer is that I only record small snippets of my practice session, I have a dedicated practice recording setup and I record decent quality so I can stand to listen back.
 
Recording my entire practice session would be a bit much.

I just record new stuff I'm working on, things I'm not sure sound good and most likely a whole song or rehearsal.

Much pratice is just maintenance. What's most interesting is time and consistency through a performance.
 
I got in the habit of just turning on my Zoom Q2HD and recording every practice. When I first got it I was aghast and also conscious of it which is distracting. So now I don't even notice it-now I may go a whole week without looking at. I just record and when I look at it then a cursory view of stuff-which some is practicing rudiments, some switching which hand leads a fill, some playing to songs on stereo, some playing songs from my memory. I don't think I've ever posted a video here that wasn't practice and learning a song? I also like to go with the flow and free style to see what dumb luck may produce and hope I find an ah-ha moment-hey that's sounds cool let me try that again LOL. But I also have a mirror now which is more instant gratification that really covers much of the same things, but I've got the zoom so I keep recording it anyways. Hmmmm maybe I should hang it up I've dropped and abused it to no end so on death throws anyways-doing wacky electronic things.
 
I do it maybe once a month by myself, and record most band practices and shows. Like you I dont find enough time to listen back, but some is better than none right?
 
For those of you lucky enough to practice for 2+ hours per day, do you record and listen back to your entire practice session or only what you’re extra focused on?

it can be hard enough to find a good amount of time to practice. Finding more time outside of that to listen to my entire practice session becomes even harder. Even if I try to use time during my commute to/from work, walking the dogs etc.

Would love the forum’s input on what is being recorded and listened to and any related best practices.

Thanks gang!

I usually don't record the practice session as a lot of things I'm working would be quite boring to listen back to.

What I do though is usually either daily or once every days is sit down at the end for like 10 minutes and just sort of free-jam and try to incorporate anything I've been working on to see how it sounds in the context of grooves or fills or whatever.

Also just sort of openly jamming and recording those jams has really opened my eyes about the differences in how things feel vs. how they actually sound. There's been times where I'm just 100% sure a new pattern or lick is just MEANNNNN on the kit and I listen back and it sounds...well...like I still need to digest it and work on it for a bit before I bust it out haha.

Recording yourself is a super great tool for being realistic with yourself for sure.
 
I don't record my practice sessions, never did. Just the gigs. My practice is usually a technique based thing where I try to get my hands to do something they can't do right now. I focus more on how I play much more than what I play. I like to let the what part come out on it's own. I just want the ability for my hands to translate what I want to play in my mind, effortlessly, which takes up the lion's share of my practice time. This is just the way I like to practice and am not forcing this down any throats.

I know that the things I am working on today likely won't show up in my playing for at least a year, probably more.

In it for the long haul, I am.
 
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Recording is also good to validate the sound you are getting out of your drums. Are your tunings ok, are the mics mixed appropriately? It can be an objective way to confirm what you may or may not be hearing.

A nice sounding kit can be as much of a validation of getting something right when I am practicing.

I’ve found it also makes it easier to hear myself play for extended periods when I am generating pleasing sounds.
 
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