4 Strategies to Maximize Your Recording Process
Do you always feel frustrated and unhappy with your video recordings?
You don’t have to have to be! Perhaps you’re neglecting the pre-recording process.
Here are some things I’ve learned from creating my home recording studio:
Classical musicians underestimate the psychological pressure
We listen backward for mistakes
We don’t trust ourselves
We focus on the results before we even start
But it’s totally possible to make recordings you’re happy with!
Let’s face it, classical musicians don’t regularly record unless we have to for an audition or competition—high stress situations! Because of this, we can get caught up in focusing on not making mistakes as the goal. In some ways, our training brings this about. We grow up in universities and young artist programs being corrected and told what to do, that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to interpret a piece.
At some point, we have to trust that we’ve worked and prepared before the recording process, otherwise that self-doubt is going to manifest itself during your recording.
More actively participating in the recording process can make this possible!
Here are 5 Strategies to maximize your recording process:
1 write 2-3 positive affirmations.
We are quick to voice critique—especially during recording! This tip might sound a little cheesy, but I’ve learned classical musicians can struggle being their own cheerleader during recording. Craft your pre-recording ritual with care and try including affirmations to help override your inner critic. Some examples might include, “people want to hear you,” “free yourself from perfection,” and “share your story.”
2 write song text in your own words.
After you’ve done your word-for-word translation of your song, are you personalizing your text and putting it in your own words? The closer the text is to how you speak the better, even if your song is in English (because sometimes Shakespearean English can be hard to make sense of, too). This might seem like it mostly applies to singers, but instrumentalists can make some use of this too! As a pianist who plays with both instrumentalists and singers, I find it’s easier to get caught up in technicalities when we don’t have text to focus on. Sit down and consider the story and emotional journey of your instrumental piece, and you could even try putting some made up text with rhythms. An undergrad professor of mine would do this with pieces like Bach fugues, and that really helped with memorization!
3 practice recording without stopping.
One of the biggest pitfalls I see people make in recording sessions is constantly stopping and starting over every perceived mistake! For most people, this makes it harder to get out of your head and can disturb the flow of your recording. A week or two before your recording, start practice recording complete takes and give yourself time to watch them. Put on your director’s hat and see if you can find the balance between authenticity and over-choreographed. Share videos with colleagues and friends you trust. You’ll realize most of the negativity that lives in your head isn’t how others perceive your voice and your playing.
4 try a few different intentions.
Sometimes we get so caught up in one interpretation that we don’t allow ourselves chances to experiment! One of my favorite things to coach is the emotional journey of a character. Even in a two page aria, your character should have some stakes that they may or may not realize at the beginning of the song. Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of the context of the opera to help you clarify the journey so it reads in your performance. Think about your character’s subtext and let that guide you. Experiment with tempos and how you want to take time. Try some different articulations. I can tell if people haven’t done enough of this work before a recording, because they’ll come in and realize they haven’t made a decision on how they want to interpret a passage. Play in your practice will help prevent self-doubt from creeping in during the actual recording.
You don’t need to feel frustrated and unhappy alone! Please reach out! We can go through this process together so you’ll have recordings you’re proud of and want to share on social media. You can send me a message here or book here directly and I’ll tailor a recording process to meet your goals.
Happy recording!