Stop, and start again

Do you ever get that feeling when you’re working on something that you’ve lost the plot a bit?

I get this sometimes when I’m doing mix notes. I’ll just get this creeping feeling that, although I’m not exactly certain how, I’ve gotten off the path.

What I love doing in moments such as those is just reverting to the previous version of the session — the one that I’d opened up to do the tweaks. No pomp, no huge amount of thought, no dithering — just a split-second decision to trash what I’d been doing and start over.

It’s so freeing! And so much easier than trying to undo back to the point where you screwed it up. Typically losing the plot is iterative and accomplished over a number of small, seemingly benign maneuvers; if I didn’t realize I was screwing my mix up as I was doing the little tweaks, how am I supposed to know the dividing line in reverse?

Just go back and start again. And do less stuff this time; that’s what got you in trouble in the first place.

K.I.S.S. — jamie