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Sometimes It's Best to Slow Down

Metadata

title
Sometimes It's Best to Slow Down
description
You know how much I love pace. While speed is super important, there are times to downshift and take it slow. Finding the balance between speed and accuracy is key for athletes and creatives alike. As someone that airs on the side of fast, I want to share some of the tips I've been finding as a mixing engineer, and hopefully expand the way you listen to music from a technical perspective.
status
complete
date
2023-03-06
kind
solo
guestSlugs
listenUrl
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/Sometimes-Its-Best-to-Slow-Down-e1vegug
appleUrl
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sometimes-its-best-to-slow-down/id1567355195?i=1000602982135&uo=4
spotifyUrl
https://open.spotify.com/episode/502xCKVsd28h1cxEXYaXlk
topicsDiscussed
  • Creativity
  • Mixing
  • Music production
  • Singing and vocals
  • Importance of detail
  • Managing recording flow
  • Creative decision making
  • Vocal editing insights
  • Balancing speed and accuracy
  • Understanding audio dynamics
hostNote
"There's a really fine line between being fast and being sloppy, and I don't always hit it." I lean toward fast, it's a bias that serves me most of the time and buries me in specific moments that are very hard to fix later. I go through the places in a mix where speed costs you: vocal breaths that get printed into a track, the accidental space-bar click that ends up sounding like a rim shot, quantization decisions you can't undo. The moments that require you to sit with the detail rather than push through it. The frame is mixing, but the principle applies anywhere precision and momentum pull in opposite directions. You come away with a more calibrated sense of where in your workflow to downshift, not as a general virtue, but as a specific, targeted habit.
selectedMoments
  • label
    The need to slow down in music production
    startSec
    1
    note
    I discuss the necessity of slowing down and finding balance in music production.
  • label
    Clear recording practices
    startSec
    136
    note
    I highlight common mistakes in recording, such as accidental noise.
  • label
    Vocal editing intricacies
    startSec
    227
    note
    The importance of careful editing of vocal breaths and sounds.
  • label
    Quantization choices
    startSec
    405
    note
    I share my approach to quantizing music, preferring hands-on methods.
  • label
    Finding your creative rhythm
    startSec
    581
    note
    I encourage a balance between speed and attention to detail in music making.
  • label
    Emphasizing importance of vocal tracks
    startSec
    633
    note
    The significance of preparing vocal tracks before handing them over to mixing engineers.
excerptQuotes
  • text
    There are moments in the creative process that you do need to slow down.
    startSec
    47
    reviewed
    true
  • text
    You get that sound in the background, it's like, oh, is that a rim click on a snare drum? Nope, space bar.
    startSec
    134
    reviewed
    true
  • text
    It would have been a real bummer, and there's a chance, probably I would have caught it, but there's a chance that I wouldn't have caught it until after it was released.
    startSec
    770
    reviewed
    true
  • text
    There's a really fine line between being fast and being sloppy, and I don't always hit it.
    startSec
    811
    reviewed
    true
faq
  • question
    What are the benefits of slowing down in music production?
    answer
    Slowing down allows for more thoughtful decision-making and can prevent mistakes that happen when rushing, ultimately leading to a better final product.
  • question
    How can I improve my vocal editing skills?
    answer
    Focus on the entrances and exits of your vocal tracks, and be mindful of breath sounds that can become amplified during mixing.
  • question
    What does quantizing mean in music production?
    answer
    Quantizing is the process of adjusting the timing of notes or beats in a recorded performance to fit a grid, but doing it by hand can create a more personalized feel.
transcriptPublished
false
draft
false

Content

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