I have quite a library of various Theater Organ concert recordings, made on everything from a Scully, Crown, Studer reel machines, digital recordings, etc. I have seldom ever liked what I had produced. Other don't think of it so badly, but I find a couple shots of whiskey makes my performance reviews by myself a little more tolerable. I console myself that a true musician is never happy and must progress continually. Are you ever just proud of your accomplishments on a recording?

Actually, yes, I'm happy with a couple of the recordings I've made. But most of my recordings are just "ok".

Not that I can play very well at all, but I have written about 40 or so of my own songs and arrangements, recorded them and posted most of them on YouTube. Some are better than others, and none of them are all that good, but they are original.

Every once in a while I'll go back and listen to some of them and a few of them actually surprise me... can't believe that is me playing and singing.

Too bad none of them were a big hit...

Rick

Sometimes yes!

I like them primarily for not having to play a particular piece in order to hear it... getting lazy and skills are diminishing, etc.

The OP is talking about making a finished recording--- as if it were a studio session--- but there is another way to use recording. I scan and print out working scores so I can mark them up all I want... but I don't like to stop playing and write. So I record, then listen and write notes, mark danger spots, pedal, dynamics, etc... and also, listen to the piece as a whole. For this, I just use the little Zoom because it's easy--- no mikes, no fuss.

The other way, the way where it's a big deal and you drag out the console and the good mikes--- yes, it's nice, but it's hard. Plan on a lot of work. The studio-quality performance and recording/editing/mastering takes not only one lifetime of dedication, but two: to the very different disciplines of performance and audio engineering. I don't say it's not worthwhile! But if you find yourself wearing two hats, you might need two heads. And four hands.

Does it ever work out? Yes. It's great, actually. Sometimes, even when it's not perfect, it's still great--- and surprising, if you let some time go by and listen to your tracks again. Think what a wonderful advantage today's technology has given to pianists.

We can try to rise to the challenge... or we can spend a lifetime watching television. (Actually, we could spend a lifetime making television. Wow. When I was a kid, the video recorder didn't even exist.)

If you're going to make serious recordings, it's worth it to do your best to make it good. It can be unbearable otherwise. Charles Rosen talks about this, as a performer... I think it's in "Piano Notes." That tiny little mistake is one thing in a concert, but when you play it over and over again it emerges as the only feature you remember about the piece. We've grown to expect perfection that is inhuman, truly speaking.

>Are you ever just proud of your accomplishments on a recording?

Yes. Most of them are pretty good sound quality (much better than most on the web), and more importantly, I like to hear them also for their music (i.e. the interpretation, flow etc).

Most recently I bought Cakewalk's Sonar X2 recording software. I have the Ivory II piano sample program. Sonar has a thing the call "Pro Channel" which has some very nice professional effects such as EQ, Concrete Limiter, compression, reverb etc....After playing around with the effects, I can make my Ivory II samples sound absolutely fantastic. Even a rough demo sounds great !! So yes I do like the sounds of my recordings, I just wish I would make more, hopefully over the winter I will.

Since I haven't bought recording equipment yet, my guitar-playing friends did record me playing. Love to hear my piano playing more modern pieces (Desperado by the Eagles) but hate to hear myself play. I do use the recording feature on my Casio for practice which really, really helps, but I love it as much as I love using a metronome. For me, an absolute necessity but I hate it.

The quality of my recordings is excellent in terms of sound, but...I just can't stand most of my compositions. Friends have liked them, as have family, but I'm my own worse critic

I have a Zoom H2n and love how it records and love the sound of my piano, but unfortunately it also records my mistakes very well too

I think that we can always find something to do 'better' in our own playing. But sometimes, I get a twofold dissatisfaction: 1) Frustration, because I can play it better now than when it was recorded, 2) Envy, because I can't play it better now than when it was recorded. (I guess that begs another question--do you ever get envious of your own recordings?)

For me, I am absolutely never happy. I have never played or recorded anything perfectly "the way I wanted", and so I always find a reason to criticize myself. I don't take the tack that "...you could never find something to say that I didn't already think of," because others can always find different ideas more easily than me. But I do often say that you could never criticize me any worse than I criticize myself. (Some have tried..)

Well, I like to hear myself play piano but as soon as I hear myself singing I Want to crawl under a stone and die; see why here:......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkWFbuI5sKo

I have always thought that I would like the style which I currently play, especially on the theater organ, I copy no one, however, I certainly wish I could play my style with much more dexterity. Yes Derulux, I know that I have a bit more sophisticated style than, say, 20 years ago, BUT I sometimes wonder on a playback, "How did I do that" Old age creeping! I tell ya.

When I hear my recordings, I tend to remember all the mistakes, be really proud of my playing, and then cringe when I hear the mistake. Overall, pretty proud of a few, not all.