I did too much

I got some mix notes today for a song that’s really close.

And I interpreted the notes a little bit liberally, in an experimental “what if” kind of way.

And after about an hour, when I had done it as well as I could, I listened … and then I listened to the previous version … and the previous version was better. Way better.

It was worth trying. But I had to throw my work away, revert to the backup of the previous version, and start again.

The second attempt took 5 minutes, and sounds much much better — because it sounds much closer to the previous version, which was working really well.

So was that hour wasted? Definitely not. I clearly had something I needed to get out of my system; and I was able to create a situation where, in comparing the new version to the previous version, I was reminded of what I loved about the previous version. I think that’s worth an hour of my time.

The key, of course, is that I compared the new version to the previous version. If I’m asked to tweak a version I loved, I always do that. It’s saved me from ruining something that’s working more times than I can count.

Sometimes you’ve gotta take the long road — jamie