Oopsies (my story of a recording mishap)

ShiroKuro

Regarding the recording of Nuvole Bianche that I shared for PT’s recital… I actually recorded it a awhile ago and wasn’t going to use it because I was hoping to get a better recording, or to get a use-able recording of another piece I’m working on right now. That didn’t happen, because I ran out of time, but back when I first record it, since it was an ok-ish recording, I thought I’d share it on FB. So I did, or so I thought… I uploaded it and included the name of the piece and the composer (Einaudi). So a bunch of people listened to it, “hearted” it and all that. Very well and good< and I actually forgot all about it.

Then someone who knows the composer listened (after it had been posted for about two weeks) and commented something like “is that a different arrangement? It sounds different from the original.”

So I was thinking, well no actually it’s not a different arrangement, because I play it from the score and I’m playing it almost exactly as written. Hmmm.

That person kindly posted a link to what he was thinking of as the original. So listened to it, expecting to hear a different version. But nope, the video he linked sounded exactly like the version I have on sheet music.

Hmmm… So, then, I thought I better check the recording I uploaded.
😳😳😳
Yikes!, it was not Nuvole Bianche at all. I had uploaded the wrong video!! Which was actually a recording of a completely different piece, the other piece I’ve been practicing, and it was just about the worst performance you can ever imagine! I stop in the middle, get all twisted up, clunking around trying to find the way in to a section that I couldn’t yet play… tempo all over the place, lots of missed notes. Basically a practice recording that I wouldn’t want to waste even my teacher’s time by making him listen to it.

And that’s what I uploaded to Facebook.
😳😳😳
The expression “die of embarrassment” came to mind…

Sigh. I did upload the correct recording. But still. Oof.

Pallas

ShiroKuro Thank you for sharing this beautifully human story! It sounds painful and embarrassing but I’m hoping it’s ok that I find it really endearing too. I love to cook, but my favorite stories about cooking are the comedies of errors that happen in the kitchen all the time. Those errors give the successful meals dimension, complexity, and recognition of the hard work that goes into them! I think the most wonderful thing to do when we fall on our faces is to get up and take a bow!

twocats

ShiroKuro I initially read it as the actual composer made that comment on your post which would be even worse 😂

What an embarrassing situation but thank you for making me laugh first thing today!!

iternabe

ShiroKuro I listened to your upload to the recital, and it is so beautifully played. If your Facebook friends were giving you likes on the botched upload, they should send you flowers when they hear the real deal!

Sgisela

This prompted me to check that my YouTube links were what I had intended to post!

ShiroKuro

Thanks everyone!! 🙂 It was a nice reminder of the importance of being able to laugh at myself!

twocats I initially read it as the actual composer made that comment

Fortunately no!! That would have been a true nightmare!! 😆

twocats

P.S. That's why I delete all my bad takes right away!

pseudonym58

twocats You are much more organized than I am. I generally just set the device recording, go ahead and do whatever I'm going to do, and then set aside a generous amount of time to listen back to the whole thing. While I'm listening I indicate on paper the spot on the recording at which I begin and which measure I start from. If it's trash, I make a line through it right away on the paper. Then on to the next spot where I begin again. Editing in this way, after the fact, I don't have to pay attention to what I'm doing other than playing while I'm actually at the keyboard (or cello). I just make sure in advance to indicate on the music score where to deliberately insert pauses for easier editing later.
I really do wish I was a reliable enough player to record straight takes all the way through a piece. But I tend to be hyper-critical and fixate on difficult passages that were not "perfect" (and by that I mean too flawed to save; nothing I do is perfect), so it pays to be as critical as possible early on so I'm not too disappointed with the final product.

pseudonym58

Your story sounds like something I've done myself: I was recording a trio that my wife and I had commissioned from a composer friend of ours. We had recorded it at our home in sections so that I could splice the best takes together. Unfortunately, for some reason a few days later I accidentally deleted one of the better takes, which meant it was either use a second-rate take or re-record the entire movement at some future time (which is what we will have to do). So I inconvenience not only myself, but my wife and our friend, and delay the project. Oops!
My only consolation is that I believe we can do a better job on the whole trio next time around.

twocats

pseudonym58 I generally just set the device recording, go ahead and do whatever I'm going to do, and then set aside a generous amount of time to listen back to the whole thing. While I'm listening I indicate on paper the spot on the recording at which I begin and which measure I start from. If it's trash, I make a line through it right away on the paper.

This gave me an idea: I think next time I'm using my recorder I'll just do one big take and note my start time and then write down the time right away if I think I got a good take so that I can easily find it later. I wish my recorder had a remote control option but it's the older model and doesn't!

pseudonym58 But I tend to be hyper-critical and fixate on difficult passages that were not "perfect" (and by that I mean too flawed to save; nothing I do is perfect), so it pays to be as critical as possible early on so I'm not too disappointed with the final product.

I totally relate! I have literally put two videos on my "official" YouTube channel and they were from about 8 years ago (and they aren't even clean), because recording stresses me out so much. There's a very difficult piece that I worked on for 1.5 years and never recorded because I knew I would make a mistake in the hardest part, and now I regret it because I just can't play it anymore.

I'm glad the recitals here are low-key and if I don't think my playing is good enough I can just share an unlisted video so it's not "officially out there" 🙂

ShiroKuro

iternabe Thank you, that's very sweet!!

pseudonym58

twocats Perhaps the advantage of making one long recording which includes several takes of each section is that I feel less pressure to play a 7 minute + composition through without major flaws. The trick is to remember to leave space in between takes.

pseudonym58

twocats To me your playing sounded smooth and fine; I wasn't aware of any technical issues you felt you might have been having.
With regard to the recording device, the Zoom H1N is really a very basic recorder, but the microphones seem to be decent enough, and in any case, as soon as I was done with the recording, I immediately transferred it to my 10-year-old MacBook Pro, with its 10-year-old copy of Amadeus Pro (you note a trend here!). All editing was done within that program. From there, I added the score, and then uploaded it to YouTube. Older software and hardware that was never professional level to begin with. It's amazing the level of quality you can get using consumer level equipment.

twocats

pseudonym58 To me your playing sounded smooth and fine; I wasn't aware of any technical issues you felt you might have been having.

Thank you, I did play some wrong notes later in the piece but glad they don't seem to have been very noticeable 🙂

I'm going to get a quick release for my video camera and tripod. I dropped my (pretty new) device while trying to twist it onto the tripod! I hope as I figure out ways to make things easier that it'll take less time to make videos with decent sound!

pseudonym58

twocats I think we are starting to hijack this post. Send me a private message if you have an interest in discussing some more recording specifics. 🙂

ShiroKuro

I have no problem being hijacked! 🙂

pseudonym58 Send me a private message if you have an interest in discussing some more recording specifics

Or you could start a separate thread, I bet lots of folks would be interested!

pseudonym58

@ShiroKuro I think there already is a thread here on the topic of equipment used for recording piano. Or maybe that was Piano World? (I haven't been there lately.)

pseudonym58

https://forum.pianotell.com/d/810-piano-recording-loudness
@twocats
Rather than repeat myself yet again, this is the thread where I described in detail how I recorded the "Images".

iternabe

@ShiroKuro Since no one asked the obvious question, maybe I should. Did you name the recorded file the title of the piece? Or, was the file misnamed?

ShiroKuro

Good question... so, I recorded it on my iPhone, which doesn't show titles (although you can add meta-data).... and then I emailed it to myself, and then uploaded it from my laptop.

I think I must have just emailed the wrong video file, and then I never checked it. And then a month later... 😅