Listening to/watching your own work?

[JiJi]

I listen a lot. My new monitors expose everything so it's easier to spot mistakes to fix.
I hate anything I record by me because I am super harsh on my own recordings thinking I could do everything better, but now days I record others so its fun.
Still vocal and guitar tracks I do make me cringe, however my older stuff makes me worse so I'm slowly getting more satisfied with my newer work.

[Term]

Time between production and review can often help in the self-review/criticism angle much as it does with other mediums.

I constantly look back at old productions, be them personal or professional that I worked on and try to find faults or other things that time and possibly greater experience has allowed me to discover. In some cases, I'll go back and re-cut something in order to see if things look better if done another way.

I often hear from anchors that they "can't stand listening to" themselves. Most of the reason why is because these people have spent countless hours reviewing shows they've hosted in order to improve themselves. They subject themselves to every mispronunciation, mumble, flub, lapse in concentration, slouch, or tick that ends up on camera and then attempt to rectify them for the next broadcast. Eventually they stop once they've developed a style all their own, but it takes a lot of self-improvement that can only be accomplished from watching themselves perform.

[Greg]

I regret every single thing I release.

[Rory]

Time between production and review can often help in the self-review/criticism angle much as it does with other mediums.

I constantly look back at old productions, be them personal or professional that I worked on and try to find faults or other things that time and possibly greater experience has allowed me to discover. In some cases, I'll go back and re-cut something in order to see if things look better if done another way.

I often hear from anchors that they "can't stand listening to" themselves. Most of the reason why is because these people have spent countless hours reviewing shows they've hosted in order to improve themselves. They subject themselves to every mispronunciation, mumble, flub, lapse in concentration, slouch, or tick that ends up on camera and then attempt to rectify them for the next broadcast. Eventually they stop once they've developed a style all their own, but it takes a lot of self-improvement that can only be accomplished from watching themselves perform.

Awesome, I was hoping to hear from a few non-musical perspectives too. That's some pretty cool insight as to how anchors improve themselves. A critical eye is always important, and it really is amazing to see the things you do out of habit without realizing. That's why I've really started to keep records of myself playing guitar, so I can see all the weird habits I picked up. Like, for instance, I notice that I forcibly scowl a lot when I'm playing, in concentration. It looks really goofy and is something that should probably be fixed.

I regret every single thing I release.

So what motivates you to keep releasing, then? You must be excited at some point, right? :c

[JiJi]

I regret every single thing I release.

I feel like this with everything I do aha.

[Greg]

So what motivates you to keep releasing, then? You must be excited at some point, right? :c

Anxiety's a tough thing to beat. I keep on releasing things because before I became a depresso espresso music was the thing that made me the most joyous. I go on the logical assumption that I'd have a better critique of myself if I weren't in such a mental rutt. I just sort of push myself constantly to do it. By the time a piece is overworked and released, I'm frustrated and exhausted. Satisfaction isn't really an option until I have the enrgy to feel more for my music.

I guess I keep going because I don't really enjoy anything anymore but on the rare occasion, when I hear things I was doing or listening to when I was feeling good, it takes me back. I guess I keep going because I hope that at the end of it all, I'll review my work and feel the sensations I did when I saw beauty in my music, when everything I heard or produced or performed made me get shivers, made me feel...
alive.

[Rory]

Anxiety's a tough thing to beat. I keep on releasing things because before I became a depresso espresso music was the thing that made me the most joyous. I go on the logical assumption that I'd have a better critique of myself if I weren't in such a mental rutt. I just sort of push myself constantly to do it. By the time a piece is overworked and released, I'm frustrated and exhausted. Satisfaction isn't really an option until I have the enrgy to feel more for my music.

I guess I keep going because I don't really enjoy anything anymore but on the rare occasion, when I hear things I was doing or listening to when I was feeling good, it takes me back. I guess I keep going because I hope that at the end of it all, I'll review my work and feel the sensations I did when I saw beauty in my music, when everything I heard or produced or performed made me get shivers, made me feel...
alive.

Aw man, that blows. I totally empathize with you, it's one of the few outlets that I have to relieve anxiety. Recording has always stressed me out due to all the variables you have to control, including yourself not sucking and overcompensating. I actually noticed I scowl when I'm recording, but I don't when I'm just playing for myself.

Have you thought about just putting down recording for a long time, and just playing to play for yourself, then? I try not to record when I'm in my depressive moods, because it just comes out stiff, which just depresses me more that I can't even record right.

Sometimes you just need to do it, improvement or impressing other people be damned.

[Tiido]

I do all my things for myself foremost, and then I'll see about all the otherns. Usually I am very häppy with what I have managed to create and off it goes to receive some extra exposure. Since I made it for myself and I'm happy I will not be bothered a single bit with negative comments whatever they may be, and if someone else likes that stuff it is only icing on the cake.

[Hlavco]

Music-wise, I think that if somebody else had made the things I made, I wouldn't listen to them because they're not that great. But because I was the one that made them, I'm more connected with them and enjoy listening to them anyway. I guess it's like how somebody can drive the most boring car in the world, but perceive it as something special because they've grown accustomed to it. They know all the ins and outs of that particular car, and that makes them like it more than somebody else who is simply glancing at it in passing.

[Python Blue]

Personally, I listen to my own work all the time. Even right now, I'm listening to my latest Weasyl submission. It certainly helps me find ways to remaster it later, for one.