Too much thought

[gecko zzed]

Hey gecko - I love this. Pretty much describes the nightmare of my existence up until very recently. Is this yours, or did it come from somewhere? I'd love to post it on my musical blog, cause it's pretty much perfect - but I don't like to do things on my blog without permission or attribution.

Post it on your blog freely. It's all mine.

 

[gecko zzed]

Details in audio are often in the ear of the beholder that happens to be mixing at that moment in time.

I think I might have posted this before, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

It seems to me there are two seemingly contradictory things that happen when going through the recording process: you hear things that you don't need to hear, and you don't hear things that you should hear.

For example, you can spend hours mixing up minor mistakes, and not realise that the vocals are out of tune. It's a a result of the difference between 'expected' and 'unexpected'. Your brain can fool you into thinking that what you expect to be there is actually there, but reacts instead to what is unexpected, e.g. a funny note in a solo. From the perspective of the listener, who has not been soaked in the process, they hear what for you is 'unexpected' as simply part of the song, but they will notice what your brain threw a cloak of invisibility over. So there is a tendency to sweat over things that don't matter, and not deal with the things that do matter.

 

[jc.harmon]

Think of a show-room car on display for crowds to marvel over. Wouldn't people notice if some minor details looked ugly or were missed during cleaning? I think so. Those minor details contribute to overall quality and first impressions.

Great point though.

 

[mixsit]

I think I might have posted this before, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

It seems to me there are two seemingly contradictory things that happen when going through the recording process: you hear things that you don't need to hear, and you don't hear things that you should hear.

For example, you can spend hours mixing up minor mistakes, and not realise that the vocals are out of tune. It's a a result of the difference between 'expected' and 'unexpected'. Your brain can fool you into thinking that what you expect to be there is actually there, but reacts instead to what is unexpected, e.g. a funny note in a solo. From the perspective of the listener, who has not been soaked in the process, they hear what for you is 'unexpected' as simply part of the song, but they will notice what your brain threw a cloak of invisibility over. So there is a tendency to sweat over things that don't matter, and not deal with the things that do matter.

Two for two. I guess there's million ways we can process and frame ideas like these, just want to say you have a knack for conveying them well.
After reading 'three spirals' earlier, I could see the clearly defined walls and rough edges of my rabbit holes