Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on May 30, 2007,
Way back when, a few months ago, when I started a blog, I read somewhere that if you hope to establish a widely read blog you must find subjects of interest to others, find a niche, and be committed to writing every day.
Not one to follow the rules, I decided to write whatever i wanted to write about, cover nearly any subject imaginable – both on public matters and personal matters, and take extended vacations.
Now, I’m not saying I have a widely read blog. In fact, I know by my view count that I don’t. Apparently, my approach isn’t working.
Oh, well. I guess it takes a special kind of narcissism to keep a great blog going. This would be opposed to the kind of narcissism that starts a blog that isn’t great. I’m not sure there’s much of a difference, unless you consider one kind of narcissism the successful kind, and the other kind some weird mental sickness that drives a person to write things that few people will ever read.
Armed with that preface, I’ll catch you up on a couple things. You see, I do have some reasons for my laxity. The primary reason is the CD I had mentioned in my last post. You know, the one where I was really excited to be “done.” Well, that post was the kiss of death. Oh, I was done all right… until I started listening to the master I put together.
Maybe it’s me being overly perfectionistic for a CD project that almost nobody will ever hear, but I just didn’t like the way the vocals came out, and the music mix needed some work. This drove me to purchase a studio compressor microphone, which in turn has driven me to re-do at least half of my vocals. In addition, I have really spent a great deal of time mixing the music and applying all the necessary effects, and mastering each song to the desired sound. This is no easy task. The whole process takes hours for just one song. You wouldn’t think it would take that long since everything’s already recorded, but it does. For one thing, one mistake during the mix necessitates starting over. For another, I’m only working with 16 tracks, and four effects that can get applied. For yet another, I have found that I don’t like the sound of an entire mix with the vocals with mastering effects applied to the whole mix. So, I’ve now been mixing the music as desired, then mixing the vocals as desired, and then doing a final mix where mastering effects are applied to the music, but not the vocals.
If all this sounds confusing, just nod your head and say, “I see.”
Anyway, the whole point is that I was NOT done. It’s a bit frustrating, I guess, but I would rather take the time to get it as right as I can, given the time I’ve put into it. I’d kick myself forever if I’d listen to something and know that it could have been a lot better had I just spent a couple more hours here and there.
So, tonight I finished the master mix of the tenth song. There are five more to go. I’m getting there. And I’ve listened to these songs enough to believe I have them the way I want them. There is one song I may re-mix again, but 9 out of 10 ain’t bad.
I’ve learned a ton through this whole thing. I have learned that perseverence pays off. I have learned that if you have some good equipment with a capable punch-in button, you can be a subpar musician in real life and sound like a professional “on tape.” I have learned that even the songs you write, and songs you think are really cool at the beginning, you will start to hate after hearing them for the thousandth time. I have also learned that spending 4-6 hours a day with music blasting into headphones will give you a constant ringing in your ears that you pray to God will not affect you for the rest of your life. I have learned that it is easy to forget Who gives us our talents, and it is easy to take credit for “our” creativity.
