How proud are you of your old works?

[bostjan]

So, I was just talking to a new musician acquaintance and wanted to share my music so he could get a gauge for what I am like, and I cringed really hard when I listened back to some of my older bands.

Man...what was I doing with my life back when I recorded some of this stuff?!

Any tips on how to deal with music you aren't too proud of making? Or am I the only one on the board who sucked this bad (not that I'm good now, just hopefully a little less bad )?

 

[Sogradde]

Eh, I think that's pretty normal. It's not only that you improve as a musician but also your taste differs from when you were younger. Don't cringe over old stuff, be proud of how far you've come instead.

 

[CrazyDean]

What do you mean "deal with"? Like with anything, treat it as a learning experience. Is it the style that you don't like or your ability to play? maybe mixing ability?

Somewhat related: it's fun to watch interviews of famous musicians. A lot of them will cringe at their past albums and songs, even those that were really popular. You gotta feel bad for Jani Lane of Warrant who went on to become "The Cherry Pie Guy". He hated himself for writing that song even though it made him a lot of money.

On the other hand, you have Jimmy Page who thinks that everything he writes is the best song ever. I remember reading a Guitar World interview with him back in the early 2000's, over 20 years after Led Zeppelin. The interviewer asked him what he had heard recently that he liked. Page responded by saying he was too busy writing his own music to listen to anyone else and didn't have an opinion on any other bands at the time.

 

[bostjan]

What do you mean "deal with"? Like with anything, treat it as a learning experience. Is it the style that you don't like or your ability to play? maybe mixing ability?

Mostly production, but it depends on the delivery system, and reviewing 20 minutes of old music had me cringing for the entire range of reasons to cringe at something. I think my playing more or less is what it is. It's neither improved nor deteriorated over the years, but outside of purely what the techniques are I do think I used to be far worse at knowing when to cull it and when to let it rip. But yeah, production was consistently bad any time I was responsible for it.
Maybe it doesn't need to be "dealt with," but, at the current moment, I have an overwhelming urge to try to delete it off of the internet. Maybe I should reconnect with the other musicians on these recordings and see if they feel the same way, not that anything can ever be deleted off the internet once it's there.

You gotta feel bad for Jani Lane of Warrant who went on to become "The Cherry Pie Guy".

I've actually met people in that same sort of situation before. Some people own it, some people regret it. I guess if you get people's attention with a song like "Cherry Pie," and think of it as an opportunity to introduce music of which you are more proud, and end up being a "one hit wonder" it could mess you up from a self-worth perspective. Mm-mn-nn, it's got to be better than nothing.

On the other hand, you have Jimmy Page who thinks that everything he writes is the best song ever.

Dick Dale. I love his stuff, but he is very very very confident in interviews.

 

[stevexc]

Some of it I'm proud of.

Some of it... not so much.

My old folk metal band? I can still put that on and play along and just get washed over by feels.

My old hard rock/numetal band? Oh god. The pain.

 

[budda]

Once Im done any recording, very rarely do I revisit it.

 

[beerandbeards]

Everything I’ve ever done is pretty much dogshit

 

[Discoqueen]

I can’t listen to the recordings from my band when I was, like, 21z. It’s really awful.

When I am playing around these days I remember chord progressions I came up years ago and have been delighted by one or two of them

I don’t have enough recorded material to really have a cut off as to when I started making music I wasn’t embarrassed of later on.

 

[Hollowway]

I'm actually pretty pleased with the stuff I wrote years ago. What little WAS recorded (on a TASCAM 4 track) sucked, though. But, the writing I feel was good. I think at the time I was writing the most I was really committed to just sounding original, and wasn't too concerned about what was popular. That being said, it could also be that I just look back with fondness at the period of time. IMO, there is literally nothing better than band practice as a teenager. Getting that feeling of everyone in sync, playing original music, and with the energy of someone who has only played for a few years, is a feeling that's pretty special to get that early in life. Most people never get it at all, and that alone is a shame. But that's the feeling I imagine you'd have 24/7 in Valhalla, Heaven, or whatever the afterlife you imagine. (Hell would be the moments right after a girl says, "Sit down, we have to talk.")

 

[odibrom]

I still play, seldom must I say, some of my old stuff for fun and memory sake since most isn't recorded. My oldest tune goes way back to '94 and is one of the reasons I haven't sold my 6 stringer. A few years on and at the turn of the millennium I had a band which I was proud of. We made some tunes, I was at the bass most of the time, but also at the guitars we would alternate. If I still had a Bass I'd still be rocking those tunes. The ones I've made on the guitar are still at my fingertips... again, with my trusty old '93 Ibby S540. I've never been in any nu metal or grind stuff so I guess I have nothing to be embarrassed of. Many tunes have already been lost, who cares any way weren't that special so...

 

[Nlelith]

Some tracks that I've composed don't seem to be all that impressive for me now, but most of the time whenever I listen back to old demos I'm reaaally digging them.

The sad part is.. I never managed to practice enough to be able to play those songs, and I didn't pick up guitar for like 3 months now. These tracks will remain as GuitarPro tabs & VST demos, most likely. And I moved on to composing synthwave, haha.

 

[Rizzo]

I think it's commonly human to cringe back on past efforts, especially artistic ones. You shouldn't feel ashamed though, just glad you got stuff done. Also it's a sign you have matured your taste and experience

 

[Shoeless_jose]

Just embrace it for what it was a stage in your life, memories, learning experience, and so on and so forth.

Also Jimmy Page is so ridiculously arrogant, his guitar world interviews are the best, a bit of a paraphrase but he says stuff like "well I had heard that the Beatles had tried this technique a few years earlier, so then I invented it."

 

[bostjan]

That's encouraging. Thanks!

I think what I would have liked to have done differently, was that I should have started with basic stuff, when it comes to production. Looking wayyyy back, stuff I recorded on a Radio Shack tape recorder sounded better, production-wise, than some of the demos I did in my 20's with a 16-track digital console. It's funny now, looking back, how, at that time, I thought that things were sounding so much better, but it's obvious now that it wasn't the case. Same when I went from console to PC recording - the production was really rough immediately after the transition, yet, somehow, at that time, I thought it was so much better.

As far as my playing goes, it's always been pretty bad. The funny thing is that no matter how simple a part is, I can never nail it 100%, ever. I just get it to the point where I say "fuck it" and just keep the least bad take. And it's not for lack of practice, it's just me.

As far as singing, I've always abhorred my own voice. Starting in my early 20's, I just gave up looking for a singer for our bands, so it was always a case of "fine, I guess, I'll have to sing it, then," rather than me ever wanting to be the singer.

When I first took up bass playing full time for a band, I actually thought my bass playing sounded pretty good, but the band, to me, sounded horrible. Not that anyone in the band was a bad musician, I just never thought the personal styles blended well together - laid back drummer always a little behind the beat (but tastefully so IMO) and frantic guitar player always pushing ahead of the beat (which would work in a more aggressive band, probably), and a keyboard player who was always flying by the seat of his pants. I could jam 1:1 with any of those guys and have a blast, but coming together as a band, it always sounded to me like a trainwreck, timing-wise, so I'd just try to lock with the drummer and let everything else either get with the program or fall apart. And I think that caused a lot of personality friction between me an dthe guitar player at rehearsals. Yet it was probably the most popular cover band I had ever played in, so ...I dunno, I think a lot of "popularity" has nothing to do with musicianship or even professionalism, and more to do with marketing.

Right now, I love my new stuff, but I know that a year or two from now, I'll be wondering what the hell I was thinking. Maybe I moved full-on into my regrettable concept phase. But, if I die with no regrets, did I ever actually live?!

 

[TedEH]

I have an overwhelming urge to try to delete it off of the internet.

The title of this thread prompted me to go back and delete a bunch of super old "demo recorded on a webcam"-quality junk from my soundcloud and replace it with decent quality stuff. I did it before even reading any of the actual thread content . I'm sure there's something to be said about appreciating and respecting the journey, but on some level I want to be in control of how I'm representing myself. I'd rather not have a fully produced, relatively good sounding track right next to a demo made with a behringer amp and drumkit from hell when I was 16. (And now that I think of it, that means anyone following me on there will get notifications and maybe end up checking out the new stuff, which is a bonus.)

 

[bostjan]

Maybe you need a second soundcloud channel for 16-year-old-Tom.

 

[odibrom]

(...)

Right now, I love my new stuff, but I know that a year or two from now, I'll be wondering what the hell I was thinking. Maybe I moved full-on into my regrettable concept phase. But, if I die with no regrets, did I ever actually live?!

That's the spirit of a creative mind... one is always searching for something else to fulfill and/or to accomplish... never satisfied... it's a curse, run away!

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I cringe so bad at my old videos and songs.

 

[vilk]

What's the opposite of pride?
Humility?
Let's go with embarrassment.

 

[Strobe]

Some of my old stuff is cringe worthy. Even more so, reocordings of live shows. Honestly, it takes maybe a couple years with a band before I feel the quality live is consistent for me. Most other people will not be as harsh of a critic as you are of yourself. Every musician sucked at some point and almost every musician still sucks sometimes. You can occasionally suck and still be a primordial badass.