I’m willing to bet with quite a bit of confidence that you have experienced this frustrating situation:
You’re working on a song that needs a certain part, maybe it’s an instrument, or maybe it’s a vocal. And you’re alone, so you decide to play both the role of engineer and performer.
And at some point, you get frustrated with the process of getting the sound just right, or frustrated by how long it’s taking, or frustrated by the fact that you can’t seem to be satisfied with the part you’re playing or singing (even though they’re probably great) and you just keep doing the same takes over and over and over.
I was talking about this phenomenon with an artist friend of mine recently. It seems like things go WAY faster and easier when there are at least two people working on music together, and the responsibilities are divided.
I’ve started to call this "Self-Recording Bias." My theory is this:
When you record yourself, your bias tells you that what you played is worse than it actually is.
99% of people (myself included) do not have the mental capacity to think simultaneously:
Do I like the way I’m performing this?
Am I making any mistakes?
What section of the song is coming up next?
Am I staying in time?
Am I still in tune?
How does this microphone sound?
Did I place the mic correctly?
Are my levels okay?
Do I need to adjust anything in the DAW?
What are other people going to think about what I’m playing or how it sounds?
I could go on and on, and sometimes the spiral goes much deeper for me.
Here are three sure-fire ways to fight this frustrating mindset and get back to inspiration and fun.
1. Have someone else record you.
Work with another human being in the room who can carry some of the mental load.
That might mean hiring a professional engineer, or it might mean asking a friend to just hit record and watch levels for you so you can focus on the song. This is the #1 way to combat Self-Recording Bias because you’re no longer recording yourself!
2. Have someone else play the part.
Hire a musician who can focus on playing while you focus on the sound of what’s being played in the context of your project.
3. Set limitations.
Maybe you don’t know anyone who you can reliably collaborate with. If you have to work alone, try to eliminate the infinite number of possible outcomes to help narrow your thinking.
That might look like deciding on a reasonable but challenging amount of time. Set a timer and say to yourself, “I’m going to sing this chorus for 10 minutes, choose the best take, and move on.”
Or it might look like committing to a certain number of tracks, or only using certain plugins, or some other form of software limitation.
Whatever idea you come up with, it’s important to focus your thinking to keep from spiraling.
I LOVE engineering for other artists and producers. Sometimes I’ll even work with an artist on only one instrument, like tracking just drums or vocals. Sometimes I even do this work for clients who are in other parts of the world!
If you want to be able to focus on just playing your music and you’d like to leave the technical side of things to someone else, reach out to me and let’s talk.
Happy music making!