What’s your recording process? (number of takes etc.)

ShiroKuro · 2026-07-30T11:24:18+00:00

What’s your recording process? I don’t mean the technical details in terms of what recording devices, mics or software you use, but more like, how many takes do you do in one recording session? How do you keep track of each take? How do you decide if something is usable or not? That kind of thing. I’ll start. Number of takes: I usually limit the number of takes I do in one session to something around four or so, because if I haven’t gotten something usable, after multiple takes my concentration goes and I start to get frustrated. I also don’t stop between takes, except to hit start and stop recording, but I don’t stop and listen to the take I just made while I’m doing the recording session. Evaluating: here’s something I started doing more recently to evaluate the usability of a take. After each take, I stand up (because my iPhone is up on a tripod above my head), and open the video in the photo app. iPhone has way to add info to the metadata for photos and videos, so I’ll write my initial impression in the info field. It might “usable” or “maybe useable” or “fatal flaw” or even “listen again.” But I don’t listen to the recording at that point. I just hit record again and sit down to do another take. I might listen after I have finished all the takes I’m going to do, but usually I try to leave the listening and evaluating for later, or even better, wait until the next day. Then if I evaluate and decide none are usable, I try to figure out if I need to do more focused practice, or if I can just do another recording session soon. Handling mistakes: if I’m playing and I make what I consider a fatal flaw, I don’t stop playing, I play through and finish the piece. Even if I decide right in that moment that the mistake will make the video unsharable. Years ago, (I think while recording for a PW ABF recital), I got in a loop where I would make a mistake, stop and restart, over and over again. It felt horrible and frustrating, but most importantly, I started to realize that I was internalizing “mistake = come to a complete stop.” So I just made a rule for myself that I would treat each take as if it were a live recording, which means playing through mistakes, and even if I had a “fatal flaw,” I would still play through (or, if I came to a complete stop, pick up and keep going). Doing this made recording session much less frustrating, and I realized that it actually helped my performance preparation a lot. This approach made the recording sessions themselves part of the learning process. So I still do it that way now. Btw I should add that I one big thing I look for when I’m making mistakes is whether the mistakes are in the same place or they’re in different spots each take. If I’m making the same mistakes each time, then I put recording on hold (e.g, for a week maybe) until I can correct that mistake. But usually by the time I’m recording , those issues are ironed out. (If they’re not, I have generally started recording too soon) Frequency, length of sessions: I usually don’t do more than one recording sessions in a day, but I do sometimes do them two days in a row, depending on how good the first session went. It also depends on how close to the recital deadline I am! But ideally, I like to do one session on a weekend, and then continue practicing for the week, or for several days, and then do another session. This allows me to continue refining and polishing and I usually get better results if I have those practice days in between sessions. Sometime it just doesn’t work out that way, because of my schedule, but that’s the ideal. One other thing to add here: I know that some people record every practice sessions, but I never do that. (It would be too much data to deal with!) I only record when a piece is polished and I’m recording it for a specific purpose, like a PT recital or to share on YT etc. I also don’t hit record at the beginning of a session and keep the recording going across multiple takes. That would make it too hard to find usable recordings. I start and stop between each take. Fatal flaws: to me, a fatal flaw is a mistake that makes the video unusable and unsharable. I define a fatal flaw as a mistake that is glaringly obvious or distracting to a casual listener or a listener who doesn’t know the original. So usually I don’t consider a wrong note here or there to be a fatal flaw, and a dropped note also isn’t a fatal flaw, especially since a casual listener probably wouldn’t even notice it. So more a mistake that disrupts the flow of the music, that kind of thing is what I consider a fatal flaw. Generally, if a recording has a fatal flaw in it, I won’t share it. Good enough: I always want to have a shareable recording that is better than “just good enough,” not only a recording with no fatal flaws, but also no noticeable errors. And more importantly, a recording that has a good tempo, good musicality and dynamics, that kind of thing. But more often than not, what I end up with is a “just good” recording. And that’s ok. 🙂 Btw @TulipAcid ’s thread and @Simonb ’s comments got me thinking about different approaches to recording for the PT recitals, so that’s why I started this thread.

Simonb

Hi @ShiroKuro

You mention me, but I can't see that I've posted on this, which I've been meaning to do for ages. My answers relate only to the recitals here. The only other times I really ever record(ed) is for my classical grades/diploma and my Teacher. And that's not very often.

Number of takes: As few as possible. Because of multiple musical commitments I don't have time to do a lot of takes. The new #9 due in a few days, I did 2 takes (on different days). Previous recitals have generally been 2 or 3 takes. Occasionally I've done more than that but on average I'd say 3.

Evaluating: My evaluation is mainly prior to starting. Can I read the music well enough to get it done in a few takes, or can I improvise something from a lead sheet or even just a chord chart. After the take is done my internal 'quality' barometer knows whether I'm happy with it.

Handling mistakes: Like you I tend to play through to the end regardless, as sometimes I'm just playing to learn the form so that if there's a degree of improv I'm familiar with it (AABA etc).

Frequency, length of sessions: Short. For these recitals 10 - 20mins on average. Very occasionally 1/2 hour.

Fatal flaws: Agree with your view of this.

Good enough: I do have a 'that'll have to do' attitude!

Cheers

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi about every part of my recording I played it already better, earlier. But not all parts were better in one single take.

Yep, I totally get this! I can play all parts of the music very nicely, just maybe not when the record button is on or not all in the same take. It’s super frustrating.

Yesterday, I was exhausted (work is starting to get busy again 🙁 ) and I didn’t get to the piano until after 9pm. I worked on my two in-progress pieces for maybe 15 minutes and I was just so tired, I decided to end my practice early, play (not practice) one piece in my repertoire list and then call it a night. First I played Miracles (my piece from PT Recital 8), that went so well, I decided to play one more, so I played September Song, which is what I (already) submitted for the Aug recital that opens tomorrow. Even though I thought I would only play one piece after practice, andI had already played two, I also ended up playing I Giorni and Wind, two more pieces I’ve had in my rep for along time.

On each of these, I played them so well, probably better than I’ve ever played them before. Clean, no noticeable mistakes, very musical, with the dynamics I want, and the tempo was right in the sweet spot of my goal tempo for each piece (I have a tendency to play Miracles too slow, and I Giorni and Wind I often play too fast, and September Song I often find myself playing either too fast or too slow).

Was I recording? Of course not! Was this dream-like performance replicable? Probably not. 😅

I suspect I was too tired for my over-active brain to get in my way, and that made it easier for me to focus just on the music. But oh how I wish I could get something close to that level of performance when recording!

Sigh.

ShiroKuro

Simonb thanks for posting, Simon! ~~I have to apologize, at this point, I’m not remembering what post of yours inspired me to tag you in the original post in this thread!~~

Wait! I found it! I started this thread about two weeks ago, and the forum software/platform for this site is so easy to use, I was able to find your post (thanks for running such a great site, @navindra )

You wrote the following in the Gearing up for the Recital thread that @TulipAcid started .

Simonb I record my own Grand Piano (Kawai RX1), and since I have no ambition (or talent) to become a YouTube star I just want something that I can just hit record, play my piece, then hit stop. If I have a coughing fit, or my recording is in some way compromised badly I do another take. I only normally do a few takes anyway. All my submissions are done very quickly as I don't have time to learn songs/pieces for the recitals. If I can't read/improvise something very quickly, sadly I don't take part.

🙂

TulipAcid

ShiroKuro

I know this doesn’t apply to your situation. In my case, Pianoteq is always recording. I can set up VSL to do the same. All it would lack is the video.

You could get one of those mag safe camera mounts and a small tripod you put on a bookcase somewhere and just set your phone to record and slap it on the mount and let it go when you practice…if you’re not fussy about attire/hair/makeup… 😁 I know, after a long day of work and all I wouldn’t be at my best in that department.

PS I also have a GoPro. I haven’t tried its audio yet and they now have these remote microphones you can put places…that might address my issue about using the sound directly out of my speakers (camera’s mic oblique to speaker output)…hmm….

Just what I need, another gadget setup side quest….

PSS note those GoPro mics can also be used with smart phones. Less expensive than some other iphone mic setups…again unsure about audio quality.

https://gopro.com/en/us/shop/learn-mounts-accessories/wireless-mic

ShiroKuro

TulipAcid I know there are some members here who are always recording, but I don't really want to do that. For one thing, my recording device is my phone, and I would quickly run out of memory. For another, getting up to stop and start between pieces is kind of a drag, but if I didn't do that, then finding the piece I wanted to keep would be a nightmare. Also, is it just me or is the iPhone camera app a pain in the rear to trim beginnings and endings off of videos?

Anyway, that's probably enough whining and excuse-making for one post! 😃

WieWaldi

ShiroKuro Anyway, that's probably enough whining and excuse-making for one post! 😃

This is exactly why we are here, whining and moaning how hard playing the piano is 😁

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi ♥️ ♥️ ♥️

Sophia

ShiroKuro pain in the rear to trim beginnings and endings off of videos

Psst. <cough> ^DaVinci ^Resolve _will _solve ^all ^your _issues<cough>

Okay you knew someone would say it, right?

WieWaldi

Sophia Yes. Davinci Resolve (or a similar capable video editor) is a blessing.

It is same as with MS-Word:

You only want to write a text file?
Use Notepad. It is simple and does exactly what you want, right?

But you could use MS-Word instead.
Much more buttons, bigger menus, lots of settings, tons of other stuff.
But actually, typing the text is as easy as with Notepad.
And the Save-File button is not that hard to find.

On the next day, you want to make the title appear in a bigger font...
Notepad: ❌
MS-Word: ✅

And this is exactly, what a good video editor provides to you. You can start simple. Use it only for trimming the start and the end.
Then export the video.
Done!

Figured out, your video looks plain?
No problem: add a title. This is not too complicated, actually this is self explaining.
Want the title to be shown for a longer period? Drag the end with the mouse.
Want the title to fade out? One more mouse drag.

ShiroKuro

Sophia Ok, I walked right into that.... But in my defense, suffering through the clunkiness of iPhone's editors still seems like less of a hassle to me than downloading and learning a new app.....

🤪

WieWaldi

ShiroKuro Don't worry. One day we'll lure you over.

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi love it!

Ok, we’ll see… maybe I’ll try it (after all this time)…

I think the trick is, I need to try it when I’m not trying to finish a video for one of PT’s recitals, because generally I’m impatient and just wanting to be finished at that point.

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