Good stuff, Danny! Thanks!

Yes to the first question, I very often think of mix ideas, solutions and arrangement tweaks when I'm doing something else, usually when I'm working. Remembering them until I get home is the problem..

My problem is that my brain seems to ease into its peak of creativity at around 1am, just when I should be jolly well going to bed. Before you know it, it's 3:30am and I have to be up at 8.....

sharke


My problem is that my brain seems to ease into its peak of creativity at around 1am, just when I should be jolly well going to bed. Before you know it, it's 3:30am and I have to be up at 8.....

This would bother me sharke. The reason being, if we are constantly challenged within our own mixes to the point of having to come up with ways to bail ourselves out....we need to address why the issues are happening in the first place.
 
I'm only slightly faced with that stuff with certain client mixes. I've never sat here on my own stuff wondering how to fix something or where to go with it. That's not because my stuff is good or anything, but it doesn't have blatant errors that warrant excessive problem solving. I either get it right or I re-record the problem area. :)
 
-Danny 

Danny Danzi

sharke


My problem is that my brain seems to ease into its peak of creativity at around 1am, just when I should be jolly well going to bed. Before you know it, it's 3:30am and I have to be up at 8.....

This would bother me sharke. The reason being, if we are constantly challenged within our own mixes to the point of having to come up with ways to bail ourselves out....we need to address why the issues are happening in the first place.
 
I'm only slightly faced with that stuff with certain client mixes. I've never sat here on my own stuff wondering how to fix something or where to go with it. That's not because my stuff is good or anything, but it doesn't have blatant errors that warrant excessive problem solving. I either get it right or I re-record the problem area. :)
 
-Danny 

I do that all the beeping time...and I still get it worgn!!!!


Then again, sometimes it just might be me second guessing myself....aaarrgh.

One of the things I've found helpful is to print a cd and listen to it in the car.  I have about an hours easy drive (opposite of the traffic flow) out to the ranch a couple of times a week.  When I've tweaked mixes I'll burn them to a CD and listen coming home.  It is an interesting listening experience, since my mind wanders what w/ traffic, etc. while I'm listening.  It is a different environment - both sonically and emotionally not being at the desk.

@

Danny Danzi

sharke


My problem is that my brain seems to ease into its peak of creativity at around 1am, just when I should be jolly well going to bed. Before you know it, it's 3:30am and I have to be up at 8.....

This would bother me sharke. The reason being, if we are constantly challenged within our own mixes to the point of having to come up with ways to bail ourselves out....we need to address why the issues are happening in the first place.
 
I'm only slightly faced with that stuff with certain client mixes. I've never sat here on my own stuff wondering how to fix something or where to go with it. That's not because my stuff is good or anything, but it doesn't have blatant errors that warrant excessive problem solving. I either get it right or I re-record the problem area. :)
 
-Danny 

For me it's less about consciously trying to solve a problem (although at my extreme novice level, I would say that all of my mixes are "problem" cases anyway, something which will improve with experience hopefully ) than it is about getting ideas about the creative side of mixing, like "I wonder what it would sound like if I stuck a band-pass filter on this keyboard riff during this break" etc. I guess it's different for me because this is just a hobby and not my living, so I'm quite content to "fiddle" with tracks and experiment with stuff to my heart's content, which has been a great learning experience.


I'm running a non-music related business during the day which can be quite the ordeal at times, so the evenings are my music time. And for a large chunk of the evening I'm winding down from the day and eating and such, and although I would love to be able to be more constructive with this part of the evening, I find it hard. I've always had a "second wind" in the wee hours however, back when I was dabbling with computer programming it was the same deal. Wasting the evening and then getting all revved up at 1am....maybe I'm just a night person 

Sometimes I've gone to bed after trying to fix a mix problem unsuccessfully, and have woken up with the solution fresh in my mind

The brain is a wonderful machine and keeps on working on a problem long after you've "forgotten" it.

^^^ Agreed.  Sometimes the best solution is the simplest!

It is the subconscious mind that does all the work solving problems that the conscious mind cannot. And you don't have to hope and wonder if it is going to do it either. 

The conscious mind can solve problems too and often easily and while being totally away from the studio as well. The mere act of taking a break and spending some rest time somewhere else is often enough to bring a simple elegant solution to mind.

But if this is still not working for you just in those half awake half sleepy moments just before you go to sleep and also when you first wake up get your conscious mind to instruct the subconscious mind to do the job and get onto the problem. Be patient it might take two or three nights sleep to sort it out too. Don't hurry or force it. But the solution often comes quickly.

The subconscious mind is most vulnerable to being instructed by the conscious mind in those half sleepy half awake moments. It won't listen to your conscious mind as much at other times. It tends to do its own thing at those times.