I am a drummer and often record my playing to listen to my flaws and fix them. Almost every time I play, I feel like i’m playing awesome and im doing perfectly…then when i listen to the recording it sounds AWFUL and totally uncoordinated. whats the deal here? Is it a difference of left and right brain? On a same note…why does your voice sound different on a recording than it does when you are just speaking? Thanks in advance.
The difference in hearing your own voice is due to the fact that you’re hearing it purely as sound waves in air, as opposed to air and bone/flesh when you speak - normally, a considerable amount of the sound you hear when speaking gets to your ears via your skull (put your fingers in your ears and talk, you’ll hear it) - typically this consists of the deeper notes and so your voice sounds more resonant and ‘musical’ to yourself that it does to others.
Dunno about the instrument thing, but I have observed the effect you describe.
Your voice sounds different because of the internal resonances in your skull. When you listen to a recording, you don’t hear those resonances, hence the difference.
No clue on the drums though.
The drums probably sound different because your mind knows what it should be hearing, and fills in the gaps.
Ever been at a concert, and the band plays a new song you don’t know? You can barely make it out! But when they play the songs you know, you can hear it a lot better because your mind is filling in the missing bits with what you expect.
I suspect somethign similar is happening with your drumming.
Objectivity.
During performance the brain is fairly busy managing the mechanics of the thing (and, in your case, telling you how wonderful you’re doing). When you listen to a recording you can devote a lot more brain power to criticism.