Do you ever???

[fenderbender]

Do 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.!!!!
It sounded like the dawg's B...x when you were doing it and struttin' your stuff in the kitchen or where ever
but listening back
Just curious --

[Groundy]

I have even posted a few then listened the next day and deleted it,
I suppose I shouldnt record things when I get back from the Pub......

Alex

[bruno]

All the time :-)
I record something, post it - convinced its perfect, then listen to it next day with fresh ears, and it sounds like a jumbled mess. But hey ho, you live and learn! I should really take more time with my pieces, but then I get carried away in the moment.
B

[AndyR]

Ummm...

I almost didn't post this, in case it sounded arrogant, it really isn't meant to... apologies if it does.

Er... I feel the exact opposite. I put everything I can into most recordings and only release it when I'm happy to go "it's the best I can do, throw it away or post it".

On nearly everything I post, I'm never completely happy with it, but I know it's the best I could do, otherwise I'd have fixed it, and it is OK, just not as good as I wanted - so I make the decision to accept it and let other people hear it...

Then (the apologies are for this bit!), there's something I started doing a couple of years ago:

When I get stuck, maybe I can't get the energy up to start something, or maybe what I'm doing is not going well... I'll sit down and listen to my old stuff to give myself a boost. It's usually late at night. Mrs R goes to bed, I put the headphones on and listen to all my stuff.

Do bear in mind I'm going into this listening session feeling like I'm useless... but I come away with an "Omigod! Listen to this!!! It's amazing!!".

I can still hear the bits I really didn't like, often I can see now how to fix them, but I can also see that they really didn't matter. The over-riding impression I get is "gosh, you're a bit good - now go and do some more..."

======

Now, why am I posting this? It's because I'm wondering is there anyway I can help others to view their own stuff in the same way?

Certainly, the three of you who've already posted in the thread DESERVE TO FEEL THE SAME WAY AS I DO.

I cannot stress this enough... On the strength of what I've heard you guys post, you should be able to go back and listen and be just as impressed as us others who listen to you.

All I can really suggest is

1) Learn to recognise and remember the acceptance you felt when you decided to post the song. When you listen to it again later (I mean months/years, not next day or next week when the glaring "vocals too loud" or whatever shows up ), remember that it was "job done" at a particular point in time. We don't judge early recordings by a favourite band by the standards they reach 10 years later - in fact, you don't do it to me or each other on here... why do it to yourself? Love what you do as you post it (and if you don't, then fix it!), let it go, find its own legs and live on its own... and remember you loved it at the moment you released it...

2) Take on board the good things that people say to you when you do post. Its really easy to feel "oh they're just being nice" because we generally are all nice on here... but I really don't think any of us lie to each other - I think we look for good things to say and then say it. So any compliments we get are REAL - believe them and remember them.

And there's one last thing, I remembered this while writing, and it kind of sums up my attitude to my own abilities:

I started writing songs at the same time as picking up a guitar. I was fourteen. By the time I was 15/16, with another guy, I went on stage playing these things to a captive audience (school assemblies, etc). We taped these performances. When I was going onstage, I was nervous, but I thought I was the dogs bollocks. I came off stage thinking I was a star.

But listening to the tapes a year later, I could not BELIEVE the arrogance and audacity of this idiot on the recordings. I realised that if I'd known what I was actually like, I'd never have been able to walk on stage. This guy could hardly play, he was singing twee songs about garden gnomes and princesses, full of horrendous love-song cliches, to a 17/18 year-old audience, in 1979(!), and between songs he was talking as if he had already had hits and all the audience loved him... how did this f@ckwit have the brass-neck to make these assumptions?!! (And bear in mind I knew how he'd felt when he was doing it!).

But it didn't put me off, hearing this stuff. I was really proud of the recordings - there was applause at the end of the songs - and I knew I was better 12 months on. So next time I went out I had the same audacity... and then when I listened to these next recordings 6-12 months later, I went through the same thing - oh good grief! How cr@p was that? Why did I think it was good? And, er, why did they applaud? But of course, I'm loads better now, so it's ok...

There was a guitarist a year or two older than me, who I looked up to a LOT. I remember him saying to me "the reason you're good is cos you think you're good - I'm kinda jealous". All his mates used to laugh at me, but he kept showing me stuff. I didn't really understand until he played an assembly himself - it was AWFUL, he didn't do himself justice at all... not sure whether he carried on - he stopped bringing his guitar to school.

After a couple of years of this, I realised that you just have to believe in what you do, and accept what you did, because the audience accepted it... You just do your best and accept it, LOVE it, later. And always strive to be at least as good as that next time...

==========

I have to admit, I love listening to my old stuff, it makes me feel good hearing what I've already achieved and it helps motivate me to do more. I can hear its limitations, but I'm happy to forgive them because I know I was doing the best I could and, well, it's really not too bad after all... and people did say that they liked it...

You guys, and anyone else who creates stuff and shows it to others, really should feel the same way... you're all amazing

[Hook]

 I like listening to my tunes also, not many others are & well...I like them. I can certainly see how I've improved and somethings I did, I do wonder why, but all in all I enjoy them. None of my recordings are perfect and to me it's always been more about getting the song out then making a perfect recording. I've always felt a little odd listening to my recordings (arrogant maybe) but why the hell am I writing & recording if I'm not going to listen to them?
Rock On!

[alfstone]

On nearly everything I post, I'm never completely happy with it, but I know it's the best I could do, otherwise I'd have fixed it, and it is OK, just not as good as I wanted - so I make the decision to accept it and let other people hear it...

I agree 100% with Andy

Alfredo

[IanR]

I like to listen to my stuff to hear the progression. I like finding the evidence of greater skill and knowledge. With that's said, I don't always try for perfection. Good enough is good enough. It depends on how I feel and what the song needs.

[Hilary]

When I've done it, I like it. When I listen back after a while, I usually cringe . . .
Some seemed a really good idea at the time but given the benefit of hindsight really weren't . . .

There are one or two that I've done though that I really like

[T.C. Elliott]

"T.C. Elliott is a songwriter who has written over 600 songs.... and at least one of them doesn't suck."

[phantasm777]

some i dislike more than others, especially earlier ones, but i always say and know they are rough demos. to get the idea put out and saved for reference or for listening. i do a lot less mistakes so over all i am liking what i do more and more. just takes a damn lot of work!