Do You Have Any Interest in Re-Recording Your Older Material?

[Anderton]

The new Beatles-like song got me thinking about this, as did listening to one of my old albums on a walk the other day. 

 

There are songs I did in the 80s and 90s that I like, but I don't like the recordings. I've thought about re-recording them, but it seems like I can't capture the inspiration that was behind them in the first place. I'm starting to think that at least for me, songs are of the moment. As I said in a different thread that was about the Beatles song, you can visit the past, but I don't think you can live in it. Re-recording a song feels to me like trying to live in the past while living in the present.

 

Or is it just a shortcoming on my part that I can't see the older material in a new light?

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, Anderton said:

The new Beatles-like song got me thinking about this, as did listening to one of my old albums on a walk the other day. 

 

There are songs I did in the 80s and 90s that I like, but I don't like the recordings. I've thought about re-recording them, but it seems like I can't capture the inspiration that was behind them in the first place. I'm starting to think that at least for me, songs are of the moment. As I said in a different thread that was about the Beatles song, you can visit the past, but I don't think you can live in it. Re-recording a song feels to me like trying to live in the past while living in the present.

 

Or is it just a shortcoming on my part that I can't see the older material in a new light?

I am absolutely wanting to re-record songs I wrote decades ago. I had limited resources, bands with weak members and 4 track tape (reel-to reel and cassette) plus a Tapco 6 channel mixer and a couple of Shure SM58s were the tools I had to work with. I didn't own a bass, nor had I practiced on one. 

 

Yes, there are obstacles. I'm certain there always will be. I plan on doing the best job I can. It is difficult to separate the engineer from the artist when they are both me. 

I've decided that my best path forward is to start with a simple guitar and vocal track - they could both be on one track since I will be re-tracking the vocal and the guitar part may or may not be mandatory. I'll build from that, it's just the sketch for the final result. 

 

I've made a firm decision to allow new ideas and sounds. I played these songs a certain way based on my limitations at that time, including the limitations of my equipment. 

 

I have tools I never could have dreamed of decades ago. The Fishman Triple Play pickup is a game changer, just for one. I can play any and all instrument plugins on my guitar. I have both fretless and fretted basses and for my purposes I can play them both as needed. If I want/need to blend tracks from the two basses I will. The Korg Wavedrum is a game changer as well, my favorite electric drum option because it is very expressive and genuine sounding, the response is organic, not mechanical. 

 

Last but certainly not least I also know some great artists locally and have been on stage with many of them. If I really need somebody else to contribute their talent and creativity that is a possibility. A great friend back in Fresno is also an accomplished songwriter with a recording studio, I played in a band with him for 9 years, we were booked heavily. Modern tech makes it easy to send somebody a track or two and allow them to create something as well. 

 

It is a new era and that can be intimidating. As an excuse I've spent time recently organizing my recording space, this should streamline the engineer tasks. 

I've run out of excuses so it's time to dive in. 

 

Go for it Craig, you have everything you need to bring your songs up to a higher standard!!!! I look forward to hearing the results. Best wishes, Kuru

 

 

[Dave Bryce]

I’ve re-recorded a whole bunch of tunes I originally did in the 20th century.  I’ve always enjoyed revisiting that older material with my current perspective, skill set and equipment.

 

The Funky Young Monks link in my sig is just such a project. 😎

 

dB

[David Emm]

I have a specific problem, in that I failed to make MIDI File copies of many things as I first explored my Korg 01Wfd. Where I did, I've been able to revisit them successfully. One's a biggie. I mourn two of them that were keepers, but its part of becoming seasoned as you learn.

 

In other cases, I've pulled a small technical no-no, where I only had decent stereo recordings to embellish. Some were discarded as lost sheep; others have been pulled up nicely by careful effects use and small added instrument moments. Master Plan has been a welcome addition, like a BBE Maximizer on steroids.

 

Some seeds became the fuller pieces I had in mind. Most have ended up discarded as I got better at tracking. There's often a moment where you think "Save or ditch?" I recall Dave Stewart's wise point about having 20 compositions you love like kids and needing to whittle it down to the 12 a CD could hold, for example. So yes, I revisit, but its case by case.

[Sundown]

I can only think of a few professional examples where it has turned out well. Using a hair band as an example, Whitesnake’s 1987 re-do of “Here I Go Again” is way better than the 1982 original. But I’ve heard plenty of artists try to re-do their stuff and generally it’s a big disappointment.

 

I’m an amateur instrumental keyboard musician, so for me, it’s a question of whether technology or maturity would now produce a better result than my original. But far more often than not, I want to put old material aside and focus on something new.

 

Todd

[Sundown]

I also think there is magic in imperfection. Listen to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”. Al Kooper is late by an eighth, it’s rough as can be, but it’s the epitome of perfection as-is.

 

My oldest brother had a high school band and they did a 2-track live demo (around 1986). He will point out the flaws and they legitimately bother him, but I think it sounds great and the overall energy far outshines any glitches or missed notes. If they did it in 1980 or ‘81, they would have probably landed a one or two LP deal. They were just too late with their material versus the audience.

 

I like a good cover … When an artist covers another artist’s material and takes it in a totally different direction, that can be exciting. But generally redoing the past with the same artist doesn’t eclipse the past. 

 

Rick Wakeman once said (paraphrased) “When I play a classic track, I try to look at my gear and say ‘What sound would I use if *this* was at my disposal back then?” I hate to say it, but Rick, you had it right the first time. 

 

Todd

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, Sundown said:

But far more often than not, I want to put old material aside and focus on something new.

 

That may be my issue. I'm always looking to record the next song. But the comments in this thread have got me thinking that maybe I do have a couple of older songs that would benefit from a fresh coat of paint   If I start doing them and get excited, I'd take that as a good omen!

[KuruPrionz]

11 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

That may be my issue. I'm always looking to record the next song. But the comments in this thread have got me thinking that maybe I do have a couple of older songs that would benefit from a fresh coat of paint   If I start doing them and get excited, I'd take that as a good omen!

That's really the point. I don't intend to re-record every one of my older songs, just the good ones. 

If the writing doesn't hold up over the years than there's no use trying to make it shiny. 

And, on a couple of my older songs I've found a better word or two in some places so in a way they are "new and improved."

If I didn't think they were good in the first place, they still aren't. Subjective but I've listened to thousands of songs over the decades, I think I have a good sense of what works. I'm not one to stop myself if I'm not writing the "perfect song", I'd rather allow the creativity and maybe find a use for it later. 

[KenElevenShadows]

I am not opposed to it. Also, I often like it when other people do it.

 

However, I've never had any interest in re-recording anything that I've ever done. I'm far more interested in recording the new ideas I have.

 

Also, I feel like I've changed who I am and how I play a decent amount, so there's that.

[David Emm]

52 minutes ago, KenElevenShadows said:

... I've never had any interest in re-recording anything that I've ever done. I'm far more interested in recording the new ideas I have.

Also, I feel like I've changed who I am and how I play a decent amount, so there's that.

 

Hear hear! I've changed so often, I feel like John Carpenter's "Thing!" You can't help but become a better player through sheer persistence over time. Changing who you are and how that shifting center defines your musical self is a headier debate. My reading, my recollection of earlier concerts and grand moments like the second time I saw the great guitarist Leo Kottke provide evolutionary energy that pops up unbidden & surprises me. Creativity is elusive and you probably wouldn't want to fully "catch" it, potentially smudging the mystery a bit.

 

Its not a strictly definable thing, but it speaks pretty clearly when I consider a re-do of an old piece. If the rush that spawned it doesn't still echo a bit, off to Data Heaven it goes. I took the one winning section from an otherwise iffy try and put it in the center of a new one. I had to write a beginning and an end, because it had "100% Mid-Song Transition" written all over it. You never fully know until you suddenly KNOW.     

[Anderton]

What I have done, though, is taken something that was never really developed but I liked what I had. So, I just decided that a song could be as short or as long as I wanted. That was the basis for my Unconstrained album. It has 11 pieces of music in under 18 minutes. The short pieces became "connective tissues" for the longer ones. They weren't re-recorded per se, but they did get some new overdubs and a real mix. Maybe that doesn't qualify as re-recording older material, but it is re-visiting it.

[bill5]

21 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

That may be my issue. I'm always looking to record the next song. But the comments in this thread have got me thinking that maybe I do have a couple of older songs that would benefit from a fresh coat of paint   If I start doing them and get excited, I'd take that as a good omen!

You could make that the album "theme" for a new album (kind of like Billy Joel's "Songs in the Attic") as a remake of old songs. You even stated a possible title: "Fresh Coat of Paint"  

[Anderton]

"Fresh Coat of Paint"...hmmm...

 

I did remix a song from Mandrake Memorial's 1st album we did back in the 60s. The drummer flipped out. I didn't have individual tracks, but it's amazing what you can do with mastering tool these days. Maybe I should just do the rest of the songs from that album.

[Greg Mein]

I have a couple I'd like to pick apart and rework but I've found a good use for some of the better ones; I'm trying to learn video and animation programs and techniques so I'll use them to create crappy videos as I hopefully develop my skills.

[KenElevenShadows]

4 hours ago, Anderton said:

"Fresh Coat of Paint"...hmmm...

 

I did remix a song from Mandrake Memorial's 1st album we did back in the 60s. The drummer flipped out. I didn't have individual tracks, but it's amazing what you can do with mastering tool these days. Maybe I should just do the rest of the songs from that album.

 

Yes, please.

[Stokely]

My first band started out as a joke, fake band, and along the way we (sort of) learned our instruments (none of us could read music or play).  Many songs were written, and they were...interesting.

I got a call from my buddy from that band who wanted to re-do a lot of these, but "re-imagined".  Not to modernize exactly, but spiffed up with a lot more production but have the instrumentation still appropriate for that time period (early 80s).  For example, when I picked synth sounds I'd pick more vintage sounds and not modern synth sounds.  Diva and Repro featured heavily, as did b3 organ, rhodes and piano.

It was a lot of fun.  The resulting songs bore little resemblance to the original, in some cases they were almost rewritten and made a lot more polished.

[Nowarezman]

I really enjoy re-recording older songs of mine.  I'm almost always happier with the newer version.  I'm always upgrading my equipment incrementally. One year to the next, I'm better at almost everything I do musically, barring some bad years with lots of health problems, moving, and major disruptions of my routine due to whatever. 

 

And I keep changing my singing style and melodic improv while tracking. 

 

I move forward by adding another engine at the front - still got all the old engines and boxcars around going way back. 

 

nat

 

[BMD]

Yes. Smoke (the album in my sig) is a 2017 re-record of some songs I wrote and recorded in the 80s

 

No idea why I used a pic of a synth for the tracks, as they were all done using PreSonus Studio One 2

 

 

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

I used to work with an artist (a Worship Director at church) who, every time he changed jobs and his local, would re-record his songs over and over. It was fun to try and improve on his past work, but often I would try and push him to move on and write new material.

 

On the personal side, I have an entire album tracked that I had spent a year working on, and thanks to a catastrophic hard drive crash (which of course, taught me the value of backing up my work), I lost the entire project. Any time I consider going back and re-building those pieces, I usually end up just working on new songs.

[George Toledo]

On 11/6/2023 at 10:05 PM, Sundown said:

I can only think of a few professional examples where it has turned out well. Using a hair band as an example, Whitesnake’s 1987 re-do of “Here I Go Again” is way better than the 1982 original. But I’ve heard plenty of artists try to re-do their stuff and generally it’s a big disappointment.

 

I’m an amateur instrumental keyboard musician, so for me, it’s a question of whether technology or maturity would now produce a better result than my original. But far more often than not, I want to put old material aside and focus on something new.

 

Todd

 

The thing that amazes me about that one, is that there’s the original with the “hobo” lyric.

 

Then you have the version with acoustic that kicks in to high gear, pretty popular, often used in movie placements.

 

But the version in the music video was yet another, third version. Quicker, and I think in different key.

 

I was really fascinated with these different versions and the differences at one point.

 

 

[Anderton]

15 hours ago, George Toledo said:

I was really fascinated with these different versions and the differences at one point.

 

Well, as you well know, I'm fascinated with hearing different versions of the same song

[techristian]

I have a few orchestral type things that would benefit from new recording and editing. My equipment is much better that what I used over 20 years ago.

 

Dan

[Polychrest]

Time and abuse have morphed my voice from a run-of-the-mill honky baritone to a rougher, raspier honkier baritone—I’ve now got more “character” in my tubes, according to charitable friends.  Whether or not it’s worth revisiting some old tunes to deploy this refurbished instrument is something I’ve been contemplating recently.

[Nowarezman]

When I re-do old songs, I often get ideas for new songs.  Dunno why, but it seems my creative brain, such as it is, always wants to stand on familiar ground first before stepping into new territory.  Sort of a running start, I guess.

 

nat

 

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, Polychrest said:

Whether or not it’s worth revisiting some old tunes to deploy this refurbished instrument is something I’ve been contemplating recently.

That might be kind of cool...reminds me of how Serge Gainsbourg's voice got more trashed as he got older, courtesy of smoking and drinking   But it added a compelling edge he didn't have earlier.

[Notes_Norton]

Probably in a different way from what you were thinking when you asked the question.

 

For my duo, I make my own backing tracks. I've bought some in the past, but always spend too much time “fixing” them for our tastes, figuring out what chords/substitutions the programmer used, in many cases shifting notes, so they would fall into the groove I want, adding backing vocal lines with synth voices, etc, that it would to buy the music and do them myself,

 

I started this in 1995, and I have over 650 songs in our playlist. +25 years ago, I wasn't as good at it as I am now. For the songs we still often play, due to audience requests, I've resequenced and re-recorded them. I have a list of more to do, but I'm also learning new material. We played one spot for 12.5 years, moved the party with the same crowd to a new spot, and we're going on 3 years.

 

Part of the strategy to keep the same audience coming back again and again is to learn new songs. We are commercial, so we mostly do what people request of us, mixed with a few we think they would like, and a few just for ourselves.

 

When I was in bigger bands, all I had to do was to learn my part. Now I have to learn everyone's parts. But since 1985, when Mrs. Notes and I broke out of the 5-piece band, we haven't been out of work, except for the COVID pause. We are both workaholics, and dedicated to giving the audience the best experience that we can, so it's working for us.

 

It's a very time-consuming and rewarding job. I can't think of a better way to make a living.

 

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Claus H]

To me, recordings from the past are timeless; they exist as part of my development as a composer/player.

I have cassettes from 50 years ago, and reel-to-reels.

From out-of-tune piano solos done on a portable cassette deck to early attempts at overdubs, all of them are a snapshot of my musical life at that moment, and, in some cases, the melodies from then can be useful still.

 

Now, with better musical skills, a better recording setup and some perspective, re-doing an early recording can be quite illuminating in terms of how I approach it musically now, compared to the decades-old first recording.

 

C.

[David Emm]

I keep swearing that I'm going to cover Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" on pipe organ. It may yet happen, because the idea is so bizarre, its also a great challenge. 🤔 The song speaks to me, which may or may not be healthy. 😬

[Bill Heins]

Here you go-

 

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, Bill Heins said:

Here you go-

 

 

That's appalling, so I loved it. It reminds me of Weird Al Yankovic's "Weasel Stomping Day." There's a "Claymation' version out there, too.