Finding that "first listen" type feeling

[NuEra]

I love listening to something I'm working on the first time in a day. I always get such a better perception of what I have been working. Especially with the flow and the arrangement of the track.

After I work on something for a little while, I find I can loose sight of the overall picture. Does anyone else go through this? I try and take breaks and I find a good shower always give me a little bit of a fresh piece of mind.

So does anyone have any tricks they use to keep their ears and perception fresh?

[sven hauck]

Great topic. The more I work on a track the more I get away from the original idea, sometimes even destructively.

My workaround to that is to work on 2 to 3 projects at the same time to take a break from the one that I may be overworking.

But thus far, my best projects are the ones that came together in the shortest period of time.

[NuEra]

Originally Posted by sven hauck

But thus far, my best projects are the ones that came together in the shortest period of time.

haha totally agree!

[djglenn]

I can't agree more!

I was thinking of starting a topic similar to this. It seems the songs I spend a lot of time on, working on the very small details (especially the percussion section) I end up going nowhere with. But the ones I come up with in some sort of 'quick inspiration' in a matter of an hour or so, are the ones that turn out best....which I totally don't get....

For example...I'll go into a new projects with some good ideas of what I want. I'll spend time to program the drums....get the 'perfect' bassline that blends well with everything, then find that I get stuck after that; for whatever reason. (melody problem, arrangement problem, etc....) These projects seem to drag out endlessly. Often I'll just set it aside, forget about it, then 'find' it months later and try again....usually with no success.

But those quick ones. It's like....I'll just be going through various samples, inserting interesting elements as I go....with no pre-conceived notion of how the track should sound. Start playing around with a synth and its settings....Just 'flying by the seat of my pants' sorta song-making. And then after an hour, I have this great 'concept'. After a day of tweaking and getting the arrangement down, I basically have the full track. All that's left is getting down to the nitty-gritty and trying to make it all 'work'.

But getting back to the original post....how does one get truly 'fresh ears' on a track you've been working on for a good amount of time? The only way I can get to that point is to just let it sit for a month. Of course, nobody wants to do that. Any suggestions?

Analogy: Have you ever been sniffing candles or cologne....and eventually get to the point to where everything smells the same? So they have those little cups of coffee beans you can smell to get your nose back to normal. Well, I need same thing for my ears! *L*

[sven hauck]

Well the coffee for my ears are the 3 tracks that I work on at the same time. That doesn't mean that I am able to finish all three faster and get great results but it does give me a release, if you will, from working in that same damn loop for days on end.

Being stuck in that loop mode can easily lead to destructively overworking the track as you know it needs something else but you can't quite hit it. That is the time to either:

1. Let your mate hear it and give you some feedback
2. Park it and come back to it later

Otherwise be aware of the above facts and use your best judgment.

Curiously enough, recently I went back to the original idea of several tracks and ditched weeks of so called 'progress'.

[Medway]

A good technique is the 'think then do' approach. I'll let ideas gather in my head maybe all week until I feel like I know what I need to get down. Then I'll spend just a couple of hours at most getting the idea recorded. I'll then stop and let the idea gel a bit in my mind, listening to other stuff along the way, until I feel like I know where the next step is.

A bad idea is to just sit there waiting for inspiration in front of the computer, better to let that happen naturally in the back of your mind instead of trying to force it.

The general idea is that once you know what's needed the actual production part should go fairly quickly. So don't look for ideas while you're in front of the computer as much and just use that time to put stuff down you've already thought of. Not only will the ideas come easier but you'll also save yourself from getting sick of the track from hearing it too much.

When I do engineering for some DJs here I have them generally come in with ideas, then we work for a couple of hours and they take the project home to listen to it for a bit, collect their thoughts about it and then we resume for a few more hours a week later and implement the ideas they've come up with over that time.

In the past though I used to be guilty of working on tracks for hours on end, until the sun came up the next day only realizing half the work I had done in that state wasn't that great. Unless you've got a deadline on something that just has to be finished it's not generally worth it. Although I do have to say a few of my better things have been done under pressure with long hours, so as always it depends.

[Bitfiend]

why am i always the devils advocate, hehe.
i don't nessecarily strongly disagree but do somewhat. the only time i find i have a problem is the typical ear/mind fatigue that comes on after hours upon hours (no matter how many breaks) mixing.
other than that isn't the big picture in the music, where the song is telling you to go?

[Rambunkcious]

interesting I didnt know it was called the "think then do" approach, i thought i was just being lazy, but i find that that is the most efficient method. Long hours running around in loops are of no use, and deadlines definately help.

change of scenery and project helps if there isnt a deadline.

[Medway]

I actually read about that 'think then do thing' from a graphic designer and it applied exactly to how I do music so thought it was interesting.

As far as what Bill is saying, sure if things are on a roll then keep going. In fact with one client I have we almost prefer doing whole day 8 hour sessions over 4 hours ones as we feel like we really get into the groove and more focused that way. Like once you start going it's easier to keep going.

But I think it really depends on how many ideas you have queued up. As I've also had clients come working here and we end up wasting time as nothing's happening creatively. One of the guys comes over with 2-3 songs so if one's not working we just load up the other.

[sven hauck]

Originally Posted by Medway

One of the guys comes over with 2-3 songs so if one's not working we just load up the other.

Hehe, I like that approach.