What went well: Managed to get the video done on time for the week, explained that there was not much to show for this weeks progress accept all my research work, presentation work and slideshow work which I will be screen recording and going over eventually at some point in a progress video and giving more details. I was direct with what I had to say and expressed my lack of progress that week clearly.
What went wrong: I had to do this video about 2x because my phone died mid way through recording my home rehearsal.. And i left editing the vid last Minuet and found out that my phone wasn’t letting me transfer the files to my Mac for no reason so I tried the day after and it worked.
What to improve on next week: Need to find a way to transfer files from my phone to my Mac easier as its always a gamer of re booting my phone and the Android file transfer software and relating it until it works. I also want to make it so I can use my phone camera and mic together if I can. I need to show my DS work too on a screen recording and go over it to be able to give more details.
Overall rehearsal evaluation: I think to say i’ve not been practicing as much due to our gig being postponed 2 months it still sounds Good, theres no structure mistakes and still playing most all the songs with good timing and using my pedals so they blend in well with the song so its not obvious i’ve not just turned an effect on and blends in nicely. But i want my rhythm to be better for all the songs and my licks for ‘Take me away’ to be played cleaner and more confidently. Bit of an excuse but the les Paul in the video just felt awful to play, wasn’t intonated and had rusty strings so that didn’t help much but my ‘babe’ guitar has been sent to a luthier to get a new nut and a full setup so hopefully ill stop breaking strings every band rehearsal and also stay in tune for a whole song..
What went well: Camera quality is a lot better angle and quality this time, I also set my phone in a slightly different location this time so you can hear the song I’m playing to a bit more clearly and just allows everything to sit in the mix better. I do want to try record my amp through a mic a some point though. I also figured out that I needed to activate ‘usb for file transfer’ which was hidden in developer options in my phone which allows it to transfer videos to my Mac easier, sometimes..
What went wrong: Pretty obvious but my audio is the main thing that went wrong here, basically I was trying to record though my mic but the file saved as a random file so my editor didn’t recognise it and I had to use the audio from my phone which was picking up my voice coming through my monitors as I have it so when I use my mic it comes out my monitors so yeh.
What to improve on next week: Need to ensure my audio is going to work with my editor and also catch up on my eruption and music theory side of the project.
Overall rehearsal evaluation: It was a lot easier to play these songs as I’ve got my main guitar back after a setup as my last guitar had old and heavier gauge strings on it and was a completely different style of guitar in general. Im still messing up in areas but my timing and sense of rhythm appears to be better in this video, especially my picking attack which helps with the dynamic of my playing and how soft or powerful something can sound. Still a bit shaky with the scratchy parts in ‘Time is running out’ and I’m not consistent with the ‘Little sister’ solo, as in sometimes play it really well and then sometimes I mess up so I need to practice that. Im also starting to use a metronome so hopefully that should help with my timing and rhythm.
What went well: Starting to get somewhere with all sides of my project. Trying new ways to record my audio to make better quality videos quicker and efficiently. Made a change in my schedule where i’ve put time stamps on my tasks so i don’t play too much guitar and make my fingers too sore and make it so i focus my time on other things that need more work on.
What went wrong: I mentioned that i messed up the audio because i didn’t select a midi channel for recording, but when i re did it and recorded a audio file when i tried to use that file my editor didn’t accept the audio file so i’ve been resorted to using my phone audio for this video. Really need to catch up on eruption as i’ve only spent about 4-5 hours on it in this moment in time.
What to improve on next week: Probably just going to use my screen recording app on my mac to record my mic audio and then edit my video to that using my Cap cut pro editing software as thats been the most reliable way to use my mic as audio it just takes a bit to edit. Also need to figure out a way to access youtube at college as i cant get any work done there because all the videos are blocked and i need to use the time at college to evaluate my progress videos and do research,
Overall rehearsal evaluation: Although i’m making progress in these songs i’m still not happy with my timing overall as thats one of the mains thing i’m focusing in this project and also rhythm so i’m starting to play with a metronome. Overall everything needs more practice as i’m still messing up on every song and i want it so i cant at least go through the setlist with no mistakes at least one time. Im also wanting to record my amp and mix it with the song so you can hear what i’m playing better and hear more clearly exactly what i’m doing.
What went well: Made a new schedule to prioritise my EVH solo and make it so i don’t get burnt out and or make my fingers sore and then make it so i cant play guitar the day after. Finally got the mic working with the video so the audio is good along with the video quality, don’t know how it took so long to get to this point but here we are. Evaluated over my college work and research to show explain in more detail what is what. Also micd up my amp for the this video and you can hear my playing a lot better and clearly. And started to use a metronome for the songs that need it most which are ‘You really got me’ ‘Time is running out’ and ‘little sister’ which i spend 20 mins each on.
What went wrong: Still not done any music theory work, i wish i thought of the time stamp idea for my schedule earlier as that helped balance my work out a lot better. Clearly at the end an editing mistake happened just as i was about to show eruption progress so in future i should check my video before uploading it. Cant really hear the song i’m playing to in the video.
What to improve on next week: Need to double check over my editing to make sure there is no major mistakes like i did at the end of this weeks video. Need to focus more on ‘Eruption’ so i can rehearse it with Adam my band drummer just before the gig. Also find a way so i can blend the song i’m playing along with and my micd up cab so you can hear both clearly.
Overall rehearsal evaluation: A massive jump with every song in this rehearsal, maybe it’s cos i’ve been a lone in my studio playing guitar for a week or maybe its the metronome but the precision fretting the notes, timing of starting and finishing riffs or just playing the correct notes is noticeably different, i just wish you could hear the song i’m playing to a bit louder. It would be nice if i could record my amp with my mic a bit better at it sounds a bit distorted at times. Next week i’d still like to spend more time on all solos just so i’m more confident playing them. But overall i’m happy with the progress i’ve made on each song. Id also like to focus on the main ‘waiting room’ riff as i’m still a bit sloppy on that one and same for ‘Be quiet and drive’ my timing is still not great for that one.
Week 7: Im not really sure what happened with this week.
What went well: Although compromised by only having mic audio on the left side i still had audio from the mic and good video quality from my camera. Also started to get a good EVH with my main amp. The issue is is that i don’t want to have to bring 2 amps to the college gig or not use my main amp as it’s a really clear amp with good feel and an amp that i’m used to playing. Also got a backup guitar sorted so if i break a string i can use another guitar instead of stopping the gig.
What went wrong: Not really sure whats gone on with the audio but it’s only got audio on the left side. Cut my nails too short which made it so theres no support on my finger tissue and then damaged my finger shortly after cutting them so definitely not doing that again as i didn’t play guitar for 3 days in fear that i would tear the muscle in my finger again. Also the music that i edited into my video is too loud making it hard to hear what i’m saying.
What to improve on next week: Need to figure out why my vocal recording was only on one side, also making sure that my background music isn’t too loud so you can hear my rambling easy. In future just keep my playing hand nails long as that really messed up my ‘Eruption’ progress and i had to catch up on what i learn’t. And try explain my weekly progress with more detail and less rambling as it’s hard to keep up with what i’m saying sometimes.
Overall rehearsal evaluation:
Didn’t record the amp this time as i couldn’t figure out how to have the amp recording and song mixed together so i just left it, but you can still hear the song and my amp clearly on some songs. i used to struggle with on ‘Time is running out’ the 2nd alternative picking part as on top of playing that have to switch off pedals and then in a split second play the chorus but i nailed that in this recording so pleased with that. Need to work on figuring out the pattern of the open string parts where the main riff is for ‘American idiot’ as sometimes i get it right and sometimes not. The solo for ‘you really got me’ needs more attention on the taping part and the shredding part too. Im glad that i’ve got down the intro riff for ‘Be quiet and drive’ as i seemed to struggle to get the timing for that as it’s kinda off beat. Overall happy with my progress and once again my timing has gotten better.