I have another magic music machine question this time from p. and he asks, So what stage in the machine? He said, Okay, to start fixing mistakes. I know that leaving mistakes there can lead to other ideas, but sometimes it’s just distracting. Yes, it is . Um, but yeah, let’s just, uh, be honest here. Lots of things are distracting
Um, so. Yeah, it being distracting isn’t necessarily always a good reason to, uh, fix a mistake, uh, because, you know, it could go on forever. Um,
You know, you might find that if your trigger for fixing something is that it’s distracting you. All you end up doing is fixing things rather than moving forward. Now you might think, hang on a minute though, isn’t fixing things moving forward? Hmm. It could be depending on where you are in the process. . Uh, but also what it can be is a not so subtle way, but procrast.
Yeah, so for instance, if I’m in splurge or discover or even draft and I’m like, Oh, you know, that I hat is just like not quite cutting through. So, uh, and then I spend an hour, uh, you know, messing around with a high HAKU in various different, uh, EQ plugins. Uh,
Even though I am fixing a mistake and sort of making sure that I’m not constantly distracted by it, uh, I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing in draft, which is basically working on the arc. Right. So if so, that’s a con, that’s a slight concern I have with, with the, with the question or, or with, with the, with the trigger for fixing the mistake.
So this really brings me on to the answer. Yes, it is. Okay to fix mistakes, I would say do your best not to. I mean, it is okay to fix mistakes. I should, uh, clarify that it is okay to fix mistakes earlier on in the. But as you go through the machine it becomes more, okay, . Okay, so pl in splurge, if you were being utterly splurgy, cuz they’re no the number one rule of splurgy cuz zero focus on quality, then you wouldn’t fix any mistakes at all.
You just wouldn’t do that. In fact, Even though there are videos in the past of me, uh, doing pls and fixing mistakes, I don’t do that anymore. I just don’t do it. Why? Well, as, uh, panel, uh, says it can lead to other ideas, but also it’s a. It, it’s basically a waste of time. , you don’t, you don’t need to do, you just don’t need to do that.
If you’re going as fast as you can and not worrying about the mistakes, then, then you don’t need to. You gotta remember that the Mu, the music machine isn’t just about
making better music, although it totally is about that. It does it. Upgrading you and how not fixing mistakes, upgrades, you are not fixing mistakes early on in the process. Upgrades you is by training you in focusing on what’s important. Yes. So there is an argument for saying don’t fix mistakes. So you’re train yourself in not being, It’s distracted by mistakes.
That’s a different way of looking at it, isn’t it? Um, the other thing is, so actually let, let’s come back to it. So, in splurge, I would recommend just not, I mean, if you have to, if you really, really have to. Okay. Little bit of this, little bit of that just, but, and obviously if you. need to practice more. So what you’re actually doing is just a complete and utter, uh, mess.
Well, this solution to that could be to spend your time fixing mistakes, or it could be to splurge more and practice more and improve those skills so you don’t, you have less mistakes to fix cuz that is what starts happening. You start noticing that you’re actually making less mistakes because you’re actually making a lot more idea.
Okay. So I mean, that’s the other thing about fixing mistakes early on in the process is that you are practicing a skill that you actually want to reduce the amount of time you’re spending on that skill, not increase it. Yeah. I mean, again, I keep saying if you are making music to express yourself, there is an element of what you are is the constellation of skills and abilities that you have.
Right. And if your entire, Well, you know, like 99% of your music making process is covering up what you are, are you truly expressing yourself? Are you being authentic? So how about instead upgrading who you are? Yeah. By actually hearing those mistakes. Yeah. Now obviously we are finishing pieces of music here.
It’s not just a practice machine, although it is that too. We are, we are, we, you know, we want to fix those mistakes, so, My recommendation would be don’t in splurge, in discover, really, you’re splurge on a splurge. So I’d probably say don’t do it there either. Although, you know, it’s okay if if there’s something you just want to, to fix, all right.
But you’re not really meant to be, but that’s okay. Yeah. Uh, so again, this is, this is coming from, you know, this is the sort of, uh, the, uh, The, the tablets of stone version . Okay? But recognize these are all at the same time. You are the artist. So I don’t wanna say you must do this and you must do that, but if you are following the, uh, music machine as intended, you wouldn’t be fixing anything in splurge at all.
You might occasionally do something in discover, uh, to sort of fix something that’s a mistake. Um, but you would be doing an absolute. Yeah. Cause really what you’re doing is you’re finding out what it wants to be by kind of creating more stuff. You’re s splurging on a, on a splurge, um, in draft. Okay. Well now we’re into where we’re actually creating the a or we’re kind of getting to a particular point and we have the idea, you know, we know what the purpose is in our head at this point, I think.
It makes sense that you are, depending on what kind of mistake you’re talking about. Cause this is the other thing. It’s, it’s, it’s, what kind of mistake are you talking about? If it’s a little mixing mistake. Then I wouldn’t be doing that in draft unless it was like making my ears bleed or, you know, have inva involuntary bowel movements or breaking the speakers or something like that.
I just, I just wouldn’t be doing that if it’s a, in scare quotes, mistake with the arrangement with the arc. , Well, you’re working on the arc, so that’s okay, . Yep. Um, you know, if, if there’s something in the. This is interesting though. You know, is it a mistake if I was to say if there is something in some of the hooks, which mean that they’re not really expressing the, um, the purpose of the piece of music.
Cause that’s what we’re doing in draft. We know what the purpose is and we are kind of, uh, expressing you think, well that’s really not expressing the purpose. Is that a mistake? If, if the answer to that question is yes, then yes you can fix mistakes. Um, . And if the, if the thing that is a mistake is actually eclipsing the purpose, well then of course you fix, uh, that mistake.
But I, I think you would be hard pushed to say that, you know, the high hat being a bit dull or the basin kick being a bit muddy, uh, or a lot muddy is eclipsing the purpose. Yeah. It’s more like it’s being distracting. So, so, so plo, you know, again, this is what I mean about. , what is the trigger for you wanting to fix those mistakes?
This is really the, the algorithm or the, the, uh, the sort of little formula that you have to have in your head is, what am I supposed to be doing, focusing on at this stage of the machine? Right? So, and is the thing that I’m, you know, is the purpose of this particular stage of the machine. Being eclipsed by the mistake.
Yeah. Being, uh, so, you know, if there’s something like, there’s a big, it’s like weird section in your track in draft and uh, it’s outta place or something cause it just doesn’t fit the purpose well, that’s something you wanna fix. Right? But that is the purpose of draft. So, So again, um, . And of course when we’re moving things into done and remember, they stay there and done, uh, for seven days before we decide what we want to prepare for.
Release. Well, the, that’s the final that into the done, you know, done prep, um, that final draft, uh, session, uh, where. Essentially do a rough mix by taking a particular approach, you know, based around what kind of spaces we’re creating. Well, in that case, uh, we are doing some mixing things and I mean, yeah, of course.
I think at that point, fixing and, uh, air quotes, mistakes. It might be something that you would, uh, find yourself doing and then once you’ve decided what you’re gonna prepare to release in the, in the release, uh, phase, uh, at that stage, Yeah. I mean, you are fixing mistakes for sure. , that’s, that’s, that’s kind of what you’re doing.
You’re actually, I mean, specifically in the music machine, the idea is that you are locating problems. Yeah, you, you’re lit, you’re listening, direct listening, and then you’re actually going, right? Where are the problems? You’re locating them. You’re describe, you are, um, observing them. You’re describing them mutually, and then you’re explaining why they’re a problem.
And then you are, out of that will come, uh, the solution. So like literally you are. Fixing mistakes at that, Uh, um, at that point, I, I prefer not to call them, uh, mistakes cuz hard to know what a mistake is. I prefer to call them problems. Um, so, so maybe, maybe that’s what I kind of wanna leave you with. The whole idea of a mistake is something I’m not sure about.
I think what’s, what a much better way of putting this is, what are the problems? and are the problems that I’m hearing, the problems I wanna be solving at this stage of the machine. So again, if there’s a problem, not a mistake with the mix, do I wanna be solving that in discover? Well, of course I don’t.
Cause everything might change and it’s probably gonna be a complete waste of. Yeah. And you know, are those problems eclipsing what I actually need to be doing so that you know, if it’s just like literally you can’t hit, you can’t, you can’t notice anything else, but I want want you to make that quite a high bar for yourself, then alright, take a bit of time and sort it out.
But I would thoroughly recommend not doing any of this in Splurge and almost none of it in d.