It’s Just a Take
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment”
Romans 12:3
Getting perspective
The first take of the recording was over. We put our musical instruments aside and walked over to the console booth, eager and excited to listen to what the engineer had captured of the band’s art.
Tommy, the engineer, hit “play” on the console. Everyone started smiling just from the joy of listening to our labor of love.
Everyone except me. I listened to the entire track, feeling something wasn’t right.
As the rest of the band left the console and returned to their instruments, I stood there with Tommy. He asked if I wanted to listen again with my track isolated (that means listening to just my part), and I confirmed. I think he suspected what I was feeling.
I frowned as I listened to my own part. It was sloppy. Every note felt either slightly out of time or that my technique was poor and the note wasn’t clear. The excitement and adrenaline of the recording process had gotten to me, causing my heart rate to increase, my mind to race, and my fingers to turn from appendages fully controlled by my brain to sausages attached to my palm by rubber bands.
Pausing the playback, Tommy smiled at me. “If you’re not happy with it, you can do another take, no problem,” he said. “I know you’ll nail it. I’ve heard you play. It’s just a take, and we can do as many as you need.” Tommy knew what was going on.
It was a moment for that “sober judgment” Paul speaks of.
Enter the Director
In Your Brain at Work, Rock gives examples of how our cognitive functions affect our emotions and behavior. This is demonstrated within the fictional story of two people and their lives, primarily at work, but also outside of work.
Quoting Kevin Ochsner, Rock states, “Self-awareness is the capacity to step outside your own skin and look at yourself with as close to an objective eye as you possibly can.” [1] This encapsulates the concept of the ‘director’, “a metaphor for the part of your awareness that can stand outside of experience.” [2]
The first-hand human experience is difficult to see and respond to objectively. In the emotion of the first take of the recording, my pre-frontal cortex was overstimulated and oversaturated by stress. [3] But, like listening to the recording with Tommy, the director provides the capacity to step outside of that experience and reduce that to a level of positive eustress. [4]
Rock describes two important tools of the director function that can help in this process: labeling and cognitive reappraisal. [3] Labeling manages emotional stress by putting a label on and naming the emotions we experience. Cognitive reappraisal, the “killer application for emotional regulation,” [4] does likewise by responding to emotion with reinterpretation, normalization, reordering, or repositioning.
Directing with Tommy
Let’s go back to the studio and consider how listening with Tommy, a seasoned recording engineer, became the direction I needed, and how that compares to the ‘director’ Rock describes:
- Tommy labeled both my emotions and the objective assessment of the performance. He identified my dissatisfaction and kindly recognized that the performance was not my best work.
- Listening to the recording with Tommy, a critical ear, allowed me to reposition and take another perspective instead of being wrapped up in the moment’s emotion during the recording.
- Listening helped me identify mistakes and realize that the things that mattered when playing live didn’t apply in the studio. “I know you will nail it” was Tommy’s way of saying that precision and accuracy were what mattered in the studio. Diligence, hard work, and patience needed to take priority over the joyful energy that normally accompanied live shows. I needed to reorganize my maps for the recording.
- “It’s just a take,” was Tommy’s way of removing the threat of the recording. We had already done one, and more were possible. By removing the threat, Tommy reinterpreted the event.
- Finally, Tommy normalized the reality of making errors in a recording. By saying, “we can do as many as you need,” he reminded me that they are called takes and can be taken multiple times. It was normal to not reach perfection the first time around every time, and I had permission to try again.
Living Directed
Rock’s SCARF model identifies the domains of social experience that the brain treats similarly to issues of survival. [5] These include issues of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.
Listening to our own mistakes recorded for posterity has the potential to threaten status and certainty. My experience in the studio was revelatory. Hearing so many mistakes triggered a sense of embarrassment (a status threat) and self-doubt (a certainty threat). However, Tommy helped accelerate my inner director by identifying my emotions, labeling them, and reappraising the situation.
I wonder what it would be like if, instead of a recording of my music performance, there was a constant recording of my behavior in everyday life that I could retrospectively watch. Something tells me that, much like at the recording booth, I would be cringing and staring wide-eyed a lot.
Rock’s work inspires us to develop the director for everyday life. By doing so, we can look at real-life ‘takes’ as they happen, pay attention to our emotional states, craft our ‘notes’ to fit well, and serve the ‘music’ we are making with God and those around us.
PS, I was surprised to find that the local newspaper preserved an early recording of the specific song in this article. Listening to it today is like being at Tommy’s desk all over again.
Notes
[1] David Rock, Your Brain at Work, Revised and Updated: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long, 1st ed (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2020), 89.
[2] Rock, 87.
[3] Rock, 67.
[4] Rock, 62.
[5] Rock, 112.
[6] Rock, 130.
[7] Rock, 197-198.
About the Author
Joff Williams
I help communities and people discover their identity and purpose by discovering the identity and intent of their Creator. I am a follower of Jesus, husband, father, son, sibling, music nerd, recovering IT nerd, just an all-around nerd nerd, and mediocre but happy runner. My work involves leading and loving the communities of Mercy Ships, an international hospital ship mission deeply rooted in the love of Jesus.6 responses to “It’s Just a Take”
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Joff, after reading your post, I wonder how many people just need a second take to do it over. I was also impressed to try applying the SCARF model in my day-to-day life.
Also, I listened to that song. I like it. It sounds like it came out of 2008 with the late oughts’ frustration at the system. It’s not grunge, but it’s got the PNW vibe.
You got me, Robert. Our lead songwriter was pretty much raised on Seattle music though the 80s and 90s.
Second takes are wonderful. Thank God for his grace on us!
Joff,
The idea of an ongoing recording of our life that we get to rewatch brought me back to Eve Poole and her self-evaluation framework. I am intrigued by the idea of scheduling time each day to combine your ‘rewatch’ idea with Rock’s concept of an ‘undistracted brain’ and Poole’s approach to ‘self-evaluation’. I wonder if it would be beneficial and sustainable?
Good question, Darren. There are a number of contemplative practices that would encourage reflecting at the end of each day. I’ve never been one for journaling, but some cool people in history were diligent about keeping regular records of their thoughts and reflections, so I wonder if I’m missing out.
If we get a moment at the end of the day in 2025, we seem more likely to fill it with distraction than reflection and self-evaluation. It does seem that some are now starting to listen to the voices of Twenge, Haidt, and others about the problems of social media, and that habits are changing. I read Facebook referred to as becoming a digital ‘retirement community’ the other day, reflecting the number of younger people leaving the platform.
Perhaps there is hope yet for our reflective practices too?
First of all, good music flashback. I visited the High Desert museum in Bend today. There is an exhibit celebrating flannel, including a nod to the ubiquitous plaid shirts worn by Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Your verse reference is great. It is easy to read just ‘judgment’ and focus on knocking down my ego. Sober judgment implies the balance needed to be self-aware. Judgment of my actions leads to the embarrassment you describe, a path I find myself taking too often.
I will often reflect on exchanges long after the fact. How do you decide if it is only a take or if the issue needs to be readdressed? How do you exercise sober judgment? Is it only your inner director or do you have more Tommys in your life?
Yeah, that’s a very good point, Rich. Some issues truly need more fundamental reframing, not just another ‘take’ with a different attitude.
I certainly have some Tommys in my life. My wife is #1. Kind, but absolutely able to call me out on nonsense. Now my children are teenagers they are very good at it too. It’s remarkable how often the prompting of the Holy Spirit sounds like those closest to me! I’m also grateful for a couple of colleagues at work with whom I have a mutually developed trust and we are able to speak honestly with one another. If anything, my inner director needs maturing to the quality of these awesome people.