What I learned from finishing songs
· 2 min read
If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. I recorded the birds by accident and kept them in the mix. Every spring I revisit the same questions about piano sketches. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works.
What did not work
The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes. I attempted the warm version first. It did not last. I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about piano sketches.
You can get surprisingly far with a synthesizer and some a steady hand. Most of the record was tracked in the spare room with the window open. Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years.
Room sound is free reverb, if the room is gentle to you.
Before and after
Finishing songs is a separate skill from writing them. I keep coming back to synthesizers, mainly because it rewards a steady hand. I keep a short list of things to try next; mixing late at night is near the top. Every autumn I revisit the same questions about field recordings.
Odds and ends
Mixing tired is how good songs get ruined. This got going as a quick note and slowly turned into something longer. Tape adds just sufficient unpredictability to keep things alive.