While mixing a recent CD project, I found myself running into the problem of endlessly tweaking the mixes without ever finishing them. I would work on one song, tweak it for a while, figure I’d go back to it later, and then move on to another. It became kind of an endless cycle, and nothing ever got completed. Part of the problem was that it was my own music, and I’m a total perfectionist. But what I was experiencing underscores one of the pitfalls of a sequencer’s ability to completely recall a mix: you can endlessly postpone finishing it, hoping to make it better with further adjustments.

So I decided to force myself to make some progress. At the end of every mix session (when I was out of time, or had “lost my ears”), I started printing the mix to disk, rather than just saving and closing the sequencer file. I would then burn it onto an audio CD or transfer it onto my iPod, and the next day, I’d check the mix (usually in another location, such as my car) and make notes about any problems I heard. I’d then go back into my studio at the first chance I had, refer to the notes, and immediately fix the problems (e.g. the crashes were too loud on the choruses or the kick was too boomy). Next, I’d bounce another version of the mix, and hopefully would then have a finished or near-finished mix.

By getting into a routine of printing a mix at the end of each session, then listening for and correcting any problems shortly thereafter, I’ve been able to finish a number of the songs and am now on the way towards completing the project.

Of course, had I been mixing somebody else’s material, I would have probably had a deadline and would have been forced to move more quickly. But for those projects where you don’t have time constraints, it’s good to develop a system to force yourself to make progress. Otherwise, there‘s always another plug-in you can try.