____twoism

I've been working on my record on and off for the better part of a decade, but really intently for the last 2 years. I think the final takes will materialize in the next week or two - I've been practicing with a full band for a couple months now and we're pretty much ready to go. But in the meanwhile, I've been struggling with the dichotomy of first-take magic vs. taking the time to dial in everything with layers, EQ, etc. I feel like being too surgical loses the magic I used to feel from playing these songs once or twice into a tape player. So I pose this question to my fellow musicians & creatives - how do you know when enough is enough? How do you let go of your work enough that a few imperfections are OK? That's what I like to hear in others' music but it's so hard to accept in my own recordings.

333 wrote:I've been working on my record on and off for the better part of a decade, but really intently for the last 2 years. I think the final takes will materialize in the next week or two - I've been practicing with a full band for a couple months now and we're pretty much ready to go. But in the meanwhile, I've been struggling with the dichotomy of first-take magic vs. taking the time to dial in everything with layers, EQ, etc. I feel like being too surgical loses the magic I used to feel from playing these songs once or twice into a tape player. So I pose this question to my fellow musicians & creatives - how do you know when enough is enough? How do you let go of your work enough that a few imperfections are OK? That's what I like to hear in others' music but it's so hard to accept in my own recordings.

Hopefully you know to stop when it's been 11 years 4 days and a few hours. More than that; fans might start getting angry or dying before your album comes out.

TheStatPow wrote: Hopefully you know to stop when it's been 11 years 4 days and a few hours. More than that; fans might start getting angry or dying before your album comes out.

Man said might.

Fredd-E wrote:

TheStatPow wrote: Hopefully you know to stop when it's been 11 years 4 days and a few hours. More than that; fans might start getting angry or dying before your album comes out.

Man said might.

Lol

333 wrote:I've been working on my record on and off for the better part of a decade, but really intently for the last 2 years. I think the final takes will materialize in the next week or two - I've been practicing with a full band for a couple months now and we're pretty much ready to go. But in the meanwhile, I've been struggling with the dichotomy of first-take magic vs. taking the time to dial in everything with layers, EQ, etc. I feel like being too surgical loses the magic I used to feel from playing these songs once or twice into a tape player. So I pose this question to my fellow musicians & creatives - how do you know when enough is enough? How do you let go of your work enough that a few imperfections are OK? That's what I like to hear in others' music but it's so hard to accept in my own recordings.

Sorry that TheStatPow decided to turn your genuine questions into their own personal greivances.
For some real feedback, I'd say for me personally, I can really get in my own head when working on / finishing stuff. This leads to me feeling like I need to add more and then I go back and forth snipping out pieces etc. and then I find myself not satisfied with the current state of a song or record.

But what really helps me is if I take a break from the process, whether it be a song or record, and then come back to it and usually find a whole lot of clarity. Usually the imperfections end up being happy accidents, and the over-adjustments become obvious. Typically I end up very happy with how everything sounds.

So TLDR: Maybe give some pause or time away from the project, give everything a listen, take another break, and come back to it. And also I find that the gripes I've had about little imperfections tend to dissolve away. If I let go of the whole thing for a bit, I usually realize there wasn't any issue to begin with. That's my cheesy two cents "Zen" attitude at least lol.

To be an artist is to get lucky, getting lucky involves failing over and over again if required, and getting lucky to make something really good. If you spend all your time on one album over a decade, not having a large pool of songs created in that time then i think you've wasted your opportunity to "get luckier"

Dana made a good point above!
Oftentimes i end up with a folder full of ideas or jams i recorded, stash it in a hard drive then forget about it.
One day those unfinished songs or little musical ideas start playing in my head (like your favorite music does sometimes and you feel the urge to listen to it) and i know it’s time to go back to the music again.
I’m currently On & Off working on stuff i recorded in 2020 and it is becoming to take the shape i sort of envisioned for it. I’m pretty sure it will only be finished (as i intend it to be) by 2025 though.
In the past i used to delete a lot of stuff i recorded or created that I didn’t feel it was that good, nowadays i save everything. There might be a beautiful melody or some interesting drum programming worth saving for a new iteration of the song.
As for “when to stop” with production i think it should be a question of feeling. You can only go so far with your current knowledge and tools available for the job. Most of the people who will listen to it won’t even notice if the mix sounds like this or like that. Instead of thinking how the mix sounds try to think about how the mix feels. At the end of the day the character of a song should prevail over its precision.
I assume you are an amateur musician / music maker (like most of us here) asking this question. Amateur as in you do this out of your passion for the art.
Professionally i have no hints or advice as I don’t have any experience in the field. But i guess it should be a compromise between deadlines and the ability of each professional involved in the process. Most of the processes seem to me to be very streamlined and automatic.
I know what you mean about “first take magic”, some stuff it’s just best to just leave it as it is and if you really like it recreate it later or do something inspired by it.
Who knows if your band or yourself will become big enough so that one day you / they will be able to cash in on a boxset of old tunes and demos.
The most important thing is that you keep doing it for the rest of your life. It’s guaranteed that you will be a happier, smarter and less boring individual.
Also, make sure you keep an organized archive, labeled and multitrack versions of the songs.
Cheers!

Good points above. All I can add is to bolster NTFMTS's comment about stepping away from a track for a bit. If you think it might be done then leave it for two weeks to a month so you forget some of the finer mix details; Distance lends objectivity to the view.
Also, as you listen back after this away time have a pad and pen to quickly write down what you're experiencing, things that could be brought up/down, things to add or subtract, arrangement decisions, etc.

The thing is, that the subtle changes you make while mixing for instance, won't affect the final resault for anyone, execpt for yourself. The listener won't really pick up on it, cause he doesn't know the song inside and out the way you do. So the only advice I can give, as far as mixing, is don't listen to your music with someone elses ears - listen to it with your own, and trust them.

As far as first take, etc. - there is no golden rule. Sometimes when you take too many atempts it goes to shit, othertimes the song will change, and evolve over the takes, and usually (at least for me), when the first take doesn't work, I try to either rework the song with each attempt, or stick with the first take.

Also, don't be afraid to delete stuff altogether, and work from scratch - I've lost all of my projects while recording an album in a computer malfunction, and had to integrate what was left of the songs I've already had (which were demos I've send to friends, and couldn't edit them anymore), and just work on the rest from scratch.

It kinda gave me a new perspective, which to me was a blessing in disguise as I've learned not to overproduce.

stop there but perform it really loud