Do you ever???

Greeny · March 30, 2015, 03:13:17 AM

I'd never post anything on here that I wasn't totally happy with, so there's a good two-thirds of my work that only exist as 'album tracks' that nobody ever hears.

But, personally, there are two strange things that happen over time:

1. Sometimes you can revisit a previously 'buried' / written-off song and hear it in a completely new light. 'Growers', I guess. I've underrated several songs that have ended up being favourites and set-list material. 'Bona Fide but Blue' was one. It was written on a sofa in 15 mins, and seemed too simple and repetitive. I just thought of it as album filler as I recorded it quickly there and then. But now it's my personal favourite - up there with 'Wounded Souls' and 'Our English Coasts'.

2. Some days I end up hating EVERYTHING I've ever done. I can listen to any of my songs and they sound 'off'. My guitar playing is even shitter than usual, and my vocals are terrible. It can often take a week (or longer) for that negative feeling and self-confidence crisis to pass. Until it does, I can't listen to my own stuff at all. I've been in this familiar zone for a few days now. I know it will pass though.

Hilary · March 30, 2015, 04:05:42 AM

Quote from: Greeny on March 30, 2015, 03:13:17 AM2. Some days I end up hating EVERYTHING I've ever done. I can listen to any of my songs and they sound 'off'. My guitar playing is even shitter than usual, and my vocals are terrible. It can often take a week (or longer) for that negative feeling and self-confidence crisis to pass. Until it does, I can't listen to my own stuff at all. I've been in this familiar zone for a few days now. I know it will pass though.

OMG me too! Any gigs already booked I still have to get out there and do them . . .

thetworegs · March 30, 2015, 05:11:28 AM

Quote from: T.C. Elliott on March 29, 2015, 07:02:55 PM"T.C. Elliott is a songwriter who has written over 600 songs.... and at least one of them doesn't suck."

I'm with T.C i'm not sure how many i've written there must be one of mine that doesn't suck that bad

Geir · March 30, 2015, 05:43:09 AM

Quote from: fenderbender on March 28, 2015, 06:35:24 PMDo you ever go back over songs that you have recorded and have a good listen to them
and thing Gaaawwwwd that's not good at all.!!!

Yes I do!

BUT, I really new that when I posted them

. .... !! I'm quite often really happy with what I post, but unlike Andy and Alfredo, I post them long before I'm sure I can't do them any better (there are a number of exceptions!). The reason is of course TIME !!! I don't have enough of it, and at least in periods I have more ideas than time do do them justice, so I compromise. I record them the best I can in the limited time I have. In spite of that, I do have quite a few songs I enjoy listening to still AND I have quite a few songs that I just turn off if I accidentally start to listen to them

some of the latter I do see some quality in tho, and I'm glad I recorded them, but I know I could have done it much better .... and maybe some day I will. But most importantly, even the songs I've been unhappy with after a few days, some people here might have found some pleasure of listening to, and by expressing it have given me a boost and kept me going !! So, thank you all, for encouraging me all the way !!!

ODH · March 30, 2015, 05:48:23 AM

I must admit I do listen to my own 'home brew' songs much more than is healthy or safe. I don't understand the "I never listen to my own stuff" argument; I always do. It's why I do it. There are some that I habitually skip but mostly I get pleasure from hearing something I'm proud of writing / performing / recording myself.

However

Quote from: Greeny on March 30, 2015, 03:13:17 AM2. Some days I end up hating EVERYTHING I've ever done.

Sometimes everything I've recorded sounds totally amateurish, poorly played and I can't stand to hear any of it. It can be just from hearing another song by someone else that puts my stuff into perspective. And it can be a long term thing too; at the end of the nineties, I had a ten year hiatus after such an event.

Hilary · March 30, 2015, 06:28:26 AM

I very rarely put anything much of me in any of my songs, but there's one song I've written that is brutally honest and I listen to it a lot

What would we do if we weren't afraid of failure - well we'd get on and do it wouldn't we! I've got quite a big deal going on tonight and I'm really not in the mood. I'm currently trying to find some va va voom from somewhere . . .

Flash Harry · March 30, 2015, 03:01:39 PM

Agh!

I don't like listening to my stuff unless there is someone else singing on it, then I think Wow! they've lifted a bit of trite nonsense and made a song out of it.

I'm just glad to be making some music.

However, I love playing live, seeing the reaction of the audience, feeding off them which just makes me enjoy it more. That's instant feeback. And I guess it's not my own stuff, which makes it easier to deliver.

Andy, I think that you work long and hard on your music, it's confidence in your abilities you display, not arrogance. You're a really fine songwriter, and you have the technical skills in terms of playing, engineering and production which means that your work is incredibly well written, played and put togther.

Listening to commercially produced music critically which I do most of the time, I can hear things that I would have done differently, it could be a wayward note, a timing thing, a bit too loud here, a bit too much mud there. I'm much worse with my own, I can spend a whole evening listening to a three minute song over and over, tweaking, adjusting the mix, the EQ, the compression, reverb, whatever, get to a point where I think I have it, export it, save it to the iPod for tomorrow's journey to work, just to find it is utter utter shite.

I noticed that there has been an overall increase in quality in the stuff that people are doing here, I even commented on it in general. There have always been some really good songs, but the realisation of them has improved immeasurably.

Good thread, good comments, good encouragement and I'm glad that this place is here. You're all a bit odd.

64Guitars · March 30, 2015, 03:42:59 PM

I'm usually disappointed with all of my recordings. To my ear, they're full of mistakes and I feel like I didn't try hard enough to get it right. I spend a lot of time re-recording tracks but I'm never completely satisfied. Eventually, I get fed up with it so I just post it as it is.

But the funny thing is, after listening to my finished recordings many times, I find that the mistakes don't stand out as much and I feel better about the recording. Occasionally, something I'd originally thought was a mistake turns out to be a feature after many listens.