I thought this might be fun:
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a perfectionist are you?
And please elaborate.
 
EXAMPLE:
10 - I waste a lot of time on things that don't much matter (i.e. - making the project look nice & tidy, but doesn't affect the final audio) My audio results are as perfect as I am able to do

5 - I get my projects done in a fair amount of time with good results
 
1 - I get a lot of projects done, but they could be better if I invested more of my time
 
Thanks, Have Fun

I'm Bapu.

I'd say way down, maybe below 1 as I will leave something as soon as I please than try to hammer it out-
level "1" you state as getting projects done- I found that even a rough finish is better than nothing at all, and I might have started and scrapped 20 or more other things before I have something I feel is interesting.
but I am my only intended audience and I don't make a penny off of it 

I'd like to be "8" but as I'm painfully aware of my limitations I settle with "-2".

I am anywhere between 6 and 10... I have a hard time letting go, because it is always something that can be improved. I am trying make myself say it is finished as good as I can get it for now, and leave it at that. But I always go back
All the best.

If I were a perfectionist I would have to just quit. I finally figured out, about 15 years ago, that I can only play my guitar like me. When that happened I got a lot better. With recording, if I can't get it there I get help. Life is short... be happy.
Most of my time recording is spent in frustration just trying to get things to do what they are supposed to do. I am a midiot, started too late I think but it will not beat me.
 
I guess my goal is perfection but then I try to remember that some of the best recordings were made using equipment in ways it wasn't intended to be used or with very minimal equipment... like one mic. Early Motown was recorded in Berry Gordy's dirt floor basement. Deke Dickerson relates a story in the new TapeOP magazine of a recording done in the 50s with one broad field mic on a boom above the band. They would swing it around over anyone who had a solo, he said it sounds great and adds a natural compression from being moved over one artist.
The Beatles recorded Sgt. Peppers on a 4-track tape machine (they did have some good help).
 
I think we get in the weeds with "stuff" and forget that some of the best music ever is FAR from perfect, rather it is spontaneous and magic.
That said... I am neither. However, it is fun being a hack!
 
J

Hi,
 
Never thought of it as a number, but having a slight issue finishing things lately and decided to concentrate on the website and the rest of my reviews before anything else, and then one of my novels. I guess I have to setup some kind of importance level to things ... but I am not sure that they "rule" my life, because if another chapter wakes up in my soul, the world stops and that chapter gets written out immediately.
 
Probably between 5 and 8 or 9, but I do not really have a scale to get it done with. At work, I'm excellent about projects and being done fast and efficient. And I do more escalations than the whole team. This is all a part of my "I care" thing ... and not just something having to do with wanting to be mean or just pushy.

What jbow said!
 
T

Hi,
 
Perfection for me, is being able to "bring down" that poem, or story, as complete as the vision was ... has nothing to do with the "result" itself, because that is already "after the fact" for me, and now it is a copy, not an original. Usually, the only thing I do is fix the terminology, and English sentencing so it seems clearer than before, but in poetry this is illusory ... at best.
 
Fixing it later, regardless of the fixes you do, takes away the original feeling, and I treasure the vision that brought it to me in the first place, not how I manipulated and changed it ... which is more of an ego thing than otherwise for me. I tend to be more intuitive and for me it means ... let if fly on its own ... and see where it lands first. The best music for me is like this, and rarely a "song" because in a song, it is already pre-determined what is going to happen and that takes the fun out of the "experience" for me.

I'd rate myself a 7.5.  This is based on my ability.  If I spend too much time on a song I start to second guess the mixes (sounded good in car but what about headphones ... wait no was in in the studio monitors...).  I also have limited time based on the working for a living thing.  When tracking I also would rather keep a rough take with feeling over a sterile boring take.  I use comping as little as possible.
 
Rock On!
Ken