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Do you prefer to play Live or recording?

Silenced Fred

By Silenced Fred
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Silenced Fred

Silenced Fred

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I prefer to be on stage playing, recording, I freak out and want everything to be perfect, absolutely perfect. Playing live gives me a giant rush, I don't get that nervous playing for people, but playing records get me really freaked out and nervous.

 

It's what I like to do, and I hope I get more chances

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Cruznolfart

Cruznolfart

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Played out for years and enjoyed it. But the thought of schlepping all that gear around now is a good deal more daunting than in my younger daze. When I record I just grab an axe or two and my Black Box and I'm good to go. The notion of playing a few gigs a year is not entirely unattractive, but nothing beyond that for me anymore.

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Witmer

Witmer

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I guess if I had to choose' date=' I'd say live. But really as long as I'm playing, I'm alright [biggrin][/quote']

 

 

+1

 

And not all recording is the same. I find laying backing tracks to be a lot of work. But "writing" other parts by doing a bazillion takes over top the backing track, trying this, then that, then this... I think it's fun. There's not a lot of pressure, because you just go back, delete the bad takes, maybe merge a couple of the betters ones, and there you go.

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Big Bill

Big Bill

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Nothing beats a good gig.

 

However after a day of drinking, setting-up, sound check, drinking, the gig itself, drinking, the breakdown of the equipment is horrendous. God I just wanted to die at the end of the night not alone pack-up all that damn equipment.

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milod

milod

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Most favorite gig: Small saloon or coffee house type environment like the old time "piano bar" where there's easy personal interaction with a crowd... if I kinda know something, go ahead and try to pick it if asked and that I don't remember that it has 18 chords and two different bridges and...

 

Least favorite gig: Theater stage solo gig with lights so you can't see anybody. With a band, even a duo, there's some human interaction.

 

Interesting: Live radio. It's cool if there's interaction with people there like in the olden days. I think the reason there were studio audiences or hangers-on in live radio days is that it was functionally identical to a live gig. That's pretty seldom nowadays although once in a while... Again, if there's just one person to get feedback from on a solo...

 

Horrid: solo TV gig with just you and not even a sound man to look at... I'm sure smaller modern cams wouldn't be as intimidating as my one such guitar gig in 1885 or whatever, but...

 

Hmmmmm. Recording is increasingly different from the real old days. It used to was that they'd set up the mikes , then you'd not move and try for a "one-take" piece pretty much as though in a live performance. Nowadays even with a solo you may have more than 2 channels going if you're doing a vocal.

 

I think Nathan's right in a sense that today's recording, even with a solo, is far more stressful 'cuz you tend to seek "perfection" whether it's a solo gig or a band. Since time rather than media is all it costs, I think we go for that expectation which then loses much of the spontaneity of "live." That started, it seems to me, in the 50s; Les Paul is an example of pushing the tech envelope and unquestionably it was an example that makes recording as much a technical as musical exercise.

 

The advantage is that a recording for sale or audition tends to be a lot more tight than a live show; the disadvantage is that a recording for sale or audition tends to be a lot more tight than a live show... <grin>

 

EDIT: Dennis and other "mature" <chortle> players. The comment about schlepping gear is why I have pretty much my whole rig under 50 pounds and on wheels... Now I've gotta figure how to brace up a netbook on the mike stand to work as song and bad joke list...

 

m

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pippy

pippy

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Live.

 

When I used to play gigs back-in-the-day (i.e. before I grew up...:- ) I could never once remember what notes I'd played. Everything was improvised because I never, ever, learned a single solitary solo. During the performance I never noticed what the audience were doing - cheering or boo-ing; not once.

 

In my mind I was playing for me and my mates in the band/group/...errr...duo.

 

If the audience liked it too then that was a bonus.

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milod

milod

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There's no question that performing live is far superior to performing in the alternative circumstance.

 

<chortle>

 

But then again, I couldn't speak from experience, never having performed dead. Poorly, perhaps but...

 

m

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retrosurfer1959

retrosurfer1959

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Horrid: solo TV gig with just you and not even a sound man to look at... I'm sure smaller modern cams wouldn't be as intimidating as my one such guitar gig in 1885 or whatever' date=' but...

 

m[/quote']

 

LOL - I'm guessing the TV camera's in 1885 were pretty big and probably pretty rare since tv was invented in 1926 [biggrin] I know youve said before you had past lives but gotta keep the timelines straight

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milod

milod

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Retro...

 

It was late spring or early summer of 1965, actually... fingers got sloppy on this here keyboard. <grin>

 

Des Moines, Iowa. I was pickin' a lot, dated a girl who played a Harmony Sovereign and loved blues...

 

A different world, though. Truly. It was a color camera, but they were huge then. Or at least so it seemed to a certain still 19-year-old kid with a cheap guitar.

 

m

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retrosurfer1959

retrosurfer1959

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Yep I figured it was a typo and not a real date I remember those camera's did some camera work in the 70's and the camera's were still huge but what I really remember was the lights huge buzzing monsters putting off as much heat as they did light and that's if they didn't burst into flames or blow the bulbs up when they used to go off like a M80. amazing isn't it how things have changed now a pocket LED flashlight can throw 200 lumens and video camera's can shoot at normal room lights?

 

I spent a year ( 2 semesters) at the Brooks institute in California studying film and photography in the late 70's before the tuition money ran out.

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milod

milod

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Yeah, I did some video stuff in the 80s, cart for the 3/4 tapes and all... Argh - but even then, you could actually shoot in a decent gymnasium and have half-decent quality. Not by today's standards, I don't think, but...

 

It is incredible how things have miniaturized.

 

m

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cookieman15061

cookieman15061

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EDIT: Dennis and other "mature" <chortle> players. The comment about schlepping gear is why I have pretty much my whole rig under 50 pounds and on wheels... Now I've gotta figure how to brace up a netbook on the mike stand to work as song and bad joke list...

 

m

 

Hahaha. Reminds me of the conversation I would have after every gig as I helped our drummer tear down his 50 piece (exaggeration) set. I'd bust his chops the whole time and once we were loaded I'd ask him why he couldn't have played the flute.

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