Do you find that........ [perfectionists]

[ethios4]

Some of my best results have come from having a tight deadline which led to having to make quick decisions and not over-think things. Sometimes it helps me to think about it as if it were a job and I was getting paid a fixed amount for it. "Ok, I can spend an hour on this 1 bar of a filter tweak, but it's going to cost me." I usually get the most juice from working on a track during the first few days anyway. After that is a point of diminishing returns.

[H20nly]

porfiry +1

i'm getting into stripping my old tracks of bullshit effects...

i try to make all my eq and effects edits when I first turn a track on... unless its the first time. Otherwise, it can get messy. i only messs with volume and pans for the duration... even then i have to be careful.

[Musashi]

I usually get the most juice from working on a track during the first few days anyway. After that is a point of diminishing returns.

I think many would agree with this. I think the longer we work on something we find that the fun factor and initial thrill slowly departs. The "magic" that we felt at the beginning of the creation process is likely very much still there, but we're way too close to it at that point to still recognize it. So we get frustrated and start second-guessing everything we're doing.

What I always find interesting is listening to something I did a year or two ago. At the time I finished it I'm sure I was burnt out on it, maybe even considered it nothing more than a failed attempt or exercise. But when I hear it again after all that time off, it's like...wow, that's MUCH better than I ever thought it was. I wish I was more disciplined to recognize that this type of thing happens. Maybe I'd be more apt to say, okay, I'll set this aside for even a few weeks because I know I'm just way too close to it to be able to judge it right now.

[Nick the Zombie]

*raises hand with tears in his eyes*

[H20nly]

@ Musashi that's where i'm at. i get sick of hearing myself but i'm often really surprised later if i lay off a track for a few weeks or months. now if i could just finish all those "loose ends" grrrr

[Rinsemeister]

Sometimes just saying fuck it and ditching ALL effects, leaving nothing but the clean original tracks, and then bringing more delicate tweaks back in, you end up with a lot more focused remix. I've done this many times since I started recording with cubase a decade ago. Sometimes you just know there's a good song in there somewhere, and you have to get all the crap off it to find the goodness. A lot of the time it's just a matter of heavyhanded shitty EQing or overcompression, at least that's historically my personal experience.

+2

[Angstrom]

I hate it most when some parts are better, and I feel like I achieved something and then I notice that some other part is all fucked up.
I've obviously twiddled a dial by mistake at some point and now I have to somehow merge two versions . That's very hard because Live browser doesn't show the arrangement for dragging old arrangement bits into a new set. When you rely on millions of clips in arrangement and lots of automation envelopes its very hard to merge songs

[ze2be]

I can use a year. Argh!

Or was it more last time.. hmm..

If you got that ADD thing, its way better workflow to work with others vs solo. Whole hartly recommend it!

[shai]

this is why i moved almost totally to live recording sessions. arrangement, is usually where i murder good session.

[Rinsemeister]

I hate it most when some parts are better, and I feel like I achieved something and then I notice that some other part is all fucked up.
I've obviously twiddled a dial by mistake at some point and now I have to somehow merge two versions . That's very hard because Live browser doesn't show the arrangement for dragging old arrangement bits into a new set. When you rely on millions of clips in arrangement and lots of automation envelopes its very hard to merge songs

Keep it simple innit!

I tend toward recording to audio and then fuck it up from there.

Once I've got my MIDI sorted it all gets analog'd dunnit.

I do all my auto's, edit to perfection and chuck on to an audio track.......
job done.........


Z.

[Angstrom]

It very much depends how you work and what sort of music you make.
I don't make dance or 'electronic' or 'glitch' type music so the whole idea of the sound as something to be fucked up doesn't fit.

[SubFunk]

i used to be guilty.

but i learned to stop straight away, if the session, sound finding, etc. does not flow in one piece... i continue another day.

also, i got very minimalistic in my production... less is more, not much plugs and instruments, the ones i use i know inside out.

throw all the rubbish out one day...

and 3rd i am with shai... using recording the arrangement via clip triggering (live) into arrange... if it does not flow either... another day... no tinkering around... waist of time that is.

if a song takes me more then 1 to 3 days with all bells and whistles i feel something is wrong...

[H20nly]

It very much depends how you work and what sort of music you make.
I don't make dance or 'electronic' or 'glitch' type music so the whole idea of the sound as something to be fucked up doesn't fit.

Nah you make dope ass music. I actually meant to PM you a couple of weeks ago about it. I left your myspace up while I was doing something and I was diggin it.

[Minimal Justice System]

I love spending too long on things even if I do screw them up as it's the only way I seem to have those moments of rare genius where I find out how to do something new (especially when using plugins like NI's Massive). I am relatively new to production and know little of standard techniques etc, I'm a DJ at heart with so much music in my head it sometimes gets annoying but I'm very slowly learning how to get it out of my dome and into Live (With much help from peeps on this forum) so I guess my haphazard approach is understandable?

[nuperspective]

when a get into a noodlefest and usually fuck up a decent sound or sequence, i have started making a copy of the track. i then play around for a bit and if something comes out thats good but doesnt fit the track - name the track and drag the entire thing into a folder in the browser [named ideas]. then is saves all the midi, fx, vst settings and auto. you can then create a new session and drag the whole thing in later as the starting point of a new track.

or if i start going off on one and think im changing the direction of a track - just save the whole thing as another track name and carry on. bingo 2 tracks that need to be finished for the price of one.

however, i have around 60 unfinished track on my hard drive. so dont listen to me.