Modern Pitfalls
Modern 21st century human nature sadly has a “do it all at once” mentality; I am guilty of it daily. I catch myself simultaneously eating, tweeting, creating, reading, fiddling and surfing.
Sometimes it’s important to focus simply on one single task at hand, and really be in the moment with it.
The “do it all” mentality can also cause anxiety with the mere thought of starting a large, overwhelming project or task. If you procrastinate composing or mixing (or anything) because you’re overwhelmed by all the steps involved in creating a finished product (or by your own self limiting beliefs), you should consider breaking up your workflow into smaller, more manageable bits.
I want to give you some tips that can help streamline your workflow, and allow for increased uninterrupted creative moments.
Tips
—Try creating templates for specific types of sessions (mixing, recording, composing etc.) These can be specific too, such as having a template for recording vocals.
—Learn the import functions of your DAW (Logic 9 & Pro Tools). Importing a previous channel strip setting or specific instrument sound can really come in handy in the moment and enhance your workflow.
—Take care of hardware patches, software routing, and troubleshooting before you begin mixing or recording.
—For producers/composers: make sure your sample libraries & loops are organized and easy to access.
—Load your sessions up with enough audio, instrument, and aux tracks for synths, reverbs, delays, summing etc. (whatever you inevitably end up using during your sessions)
—Turn off the computer screen or close your eyes occasionally to focus on what you hear and not what you see.
—Allow yourself to let loose and explore with no expectations of finishing a song or mix.
—Give yourself permission to simply explore your DAW and learn new things. Experimentation and exploration is vital, and lowered expectations might be exactly what you need to learn something new, get started on a song, or just gain more confidence.
—Get to know your hardware/software instruments and tools, and move beyond the presets. In the moment, it might be quick and easy to just scan presets, but giving yourself the time to explore and customize them will let you really get to know your tools and their parameters, which is extremely valuable!
—Go through your samples or software instruments and create a “favorites list” or even create and save your own presets.
—Clean up your work environment. A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind.
Dan Comerchero is the founder and editor of the ProAudioFiles.com, a community blog where audio professionals from around the world share pro audio related articles, techniques, and advice on recording, mixing, production and more.
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