Post creation stress syndrome
Just curious??? :?:
After composing a new tune, recording it, doing the mix, posting it or burning to cd I consider the composition pretty much finished...
Then I come back and start listening to it over the next several days. I always find myself wishing that I should have done this or that and generally just nit-pickin the thing to death.... After a while I start thinking that the tune is total rubbish and you think it was so good when you first finished it.. Then an amazing thing happens. I just don't even listen to the tune anymore, then sometime later, (About a month usually) I revisit the piece and lo and behold, it sounds pretty good :?:
The great guitarist Johnny Smith said he never listened to anything he ever recorded because it just drove him crazy for the above mentioned reasons...
Whereas I have heard other guys say they listen to their recorded pieces over and over to figure out what not to do the next time...
Just curious how you guys deal with the after composition crazies...
See Ya,
Tal
After composing a new tune, recording it, doing the mix, posting it or burning to cd I consider the composition pretty much finished...
Then I come back and start listening to it over the next several days. I always find myself wishing that I should have done this or that and generally just nit-pickin the thing to death.... After a while I start thinking that the tune is total rubbish and you think it was so good when you first finished it.. Then an amazing thing happens. I just don't even listen to the tune anymore, then sometime later, (About a month usually) I revisit the piece and lo and behold, it sounds pretty good :?:
The great guitarist Johnny Smith said he never listened to anything he ever recorded because it just drove him crazy for the above mentioned reasons...
Whereas I have heard other guys say they listen to their recorded pieces over and over to figure out what not to do the next time...
Just curious how you guys deal with the after composition crazies...
See Ya,
Tal
Comments
:?
how many comercial artists can you think of that re-cut one of their own songs several years later, my guess is that record companies are just not interested in an artist get rid of skeletons.
Once I settle with the final mix, I'm done, for good or bad. Unless a problem is glaring at me, I touch nothing, although temptation is high to fix things. For the most part, I consider it a performance, file it away, and come back to it later. I figure my older pieces mark a point in time,
and in hindsight, there is much to repair, but rather than tinker with them, I'll apply what I learned to new compositions. This has kept my sanity intact over time.
Learn when to leave it alone. It is too easy to overwork your art.
The same is true of patches. If I can get a tone that is close to what I have in mind and it sounds musical... I stop.
Take a break from tweaking after 30-45 minutes because ear fatigue can throw things off.
This is 100% true. A very wise person, that professor.
I strongly suggest having multiple arrangements of mixes and such to make comparisons..but again..not in the same day. Good mixes/song arrangements stand out. The more complex the arrangement..the worse we look back at it. That's why most successful artists are Basic arrangements..unless you are Dream Theater, or other prog type band/player. even if you are...you most likely can identify the complexities you wish..or not.
Listen to cd's of similar styles as reference
Always have a second pair of uneducated ears around.. many times the basic listener can add valuable input.
always somewhere else to go with music, i can never see ever get bored with it.