Am I the only one.......?

[Jacob]

......Who has a hard time calling anything finished, I started recording about three years ago, and maybe it's just my lack of experience but I just have a hell of a time saying "yep" "that's it, all done". Did any of you have this road block or do I just suck? I mean I have finished some stuff here and there and think it sounds pretty good, I just know what really great music sounds like and know that mine isn't quite there yet. Everyone keeps asking me, "when can I get a CD". I'm starting to think the answer is never....:confused:

[Sandyrb]

......Who has a hard time calling anything finished

I'm afraid both myself and the owner of our studio have the same problem; no record is ever truly "finished". There's always something which could be done better, which could have sounded nicer, played tighter, whatever. I suppose this is me admitting to being an intolerable perfectionist. :)

But I have come to view the process as a bit like writing software. After all, a final release copy of a given software is simply a beta-test version with an acceptably low number of bugs! When the bugs are at a sufficiently low level, they release the software. We still find bugs though don't we?

So I have reached a point of setting what I think of as an acceptable standard for a given project and when the work reaches that threshold I have learned to let it go. The client's pockets are empty, it's mixed and mastered... I have learned to save myself from putting 99% effort into making a 1% improvement. Most of the time, no-one will notice the little things I notice anyway.

And if the musicians sucked... then I have created an accurate recording of that! :eek:

A lot of the time I worry that I've pooped the bed after a project is finished, so I tend not to listen for a long time. Then, some months later I'll typically go back to it, have a listen and think "well, actually it's not that bad after all!" :)

Cheers,

[pauly]

i consider this to be a good quality to have, it means your working to be better all the time, you should feel lucky.

i also have the same infliction, and it can be frustrating listening to incredible works of art and feeling that my sounds don't measure up. the best thing is to release your best effort and try again. use the perfectionism in a positive constructive way.

[Jacob]

Thanks alot guys! It is nice to hear that I'm not alone in this. Hey Sandy you have been a total badass in answering my questions right on point, thanks again for the chewy nougat of wisdom.

[Sandyrb]

Thanks [...] you have been a total badass in answering my questions.

You're very welcome. :) I like to feel that I still have some use left in me haha.

Cheers,

[bitflipper]

I have come to view the process as a bit like writing software.

Software is indeed a good analogy. As a software developer who'd usually rather be recording music, I see lots of parallels.

The main difference is that software has measurable benchmarks. When we've satisfied the requirements of the functional spec, we can then say the software is "done".

But even then we'd only be technically correct. The programmers would almost certainly like to rewrite portions of it, given the chance. Maybe to implement a feature more elegantly, or do some optimization. Fortunately, they can do that in the next revision, a luxury that professional recording engineers rarely have.

But as a hobbyist recordist, I have the luxury of no set deadlines. Consequently, a song is only "done" when I tire of it. And even then, I might listen to it a year later and think "hmm, that needs a tambourine...".

So Jacob, the answer is no, you are not the only one. At least not among us amateurs unconstrained by external deadlines. For us, boredom is the only limiting factor that saves us from obsessing over a song forever.