Knowing When To Quit

One of the drawbacks to independently producing your own album is that there is nobody telling you when you’re done. A producer can work as both an editor and a boss, two things that can come in very handy in a project like this.

Since my studio is PC-based, I’m not limited to a certain number of tracks. I can record as many things as I like, and edit for content later when I’m mixing. The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” album was recorded with two 4-track machines. They recorded the drums on two (for stereo), the bass, a few guitars, vocal tracks, and the weird effects that they became famous for. For such an elaborate, intricate recording, it is incomprehensible to do it with only eight tracks. Most of the Overture songs are currently running between 15 and 24 tracks. Eight for the drums alone! Most songs have 4 or 5 guitars weaving in and out. And I haven’t even gotten to the vocals yet… Later, I’ll worry about editing; right now I’m just throwing ideas into the bowl with a basic recipe that I’ll let develop on it’s own. I already know that there are some parts that I'll omit from the mix completely - that's par for the course. The soft piano drifting along in 'One Night Stand' may not fit with the slidey gritty guitar. One will win, the other will be silenced until I find a reason to remix.

My other issue is schedule-based. As this isn’t being recorded for a record label, and is completely self-funded (thanks for buying Reflecting – you’re enabling me to do this one), there is no rush to complete. What could have been done in 2 weeks, originally planned as a bare acoustic-guitar-driven project, has now grown to 2 months. And the stripped-down theme has gone out the window too. It’s still based on acoustic guitar songs, but it’s much fuller. The are more guitars, the drums are bigger… there’s a lot of stuff that you might not notice when you first hear the songs.

Over the last few weeks, whenever I’ve thought I was almost finished, I’d hear something missing. Setting up to sing, I’d suddenly decide that I needed another guitar quietly whomp-whomping in the background. So I’m locking out the week of June 29 to finish recording. I promise to complete all tracking by Friday June 3, just in time to take Kate out for her birthday. Whatever doesn’t get done by then, won’t. Unless I get laryngitis or something, this promise isn’t absolute. But if I don’t set a schedule, I’ll twiddle forever and never finish.


As an aside, this guitar seems to be inspiring Overture. The songs are honest: not really pretty, but good. They were written by a man sometimes beaten down, but resolute. And those are all qualities I see in my '74 Telecaster.