The Road To The Final Mix - The Curse of the Creative

When is a final mix, a final mix? Anyone in a creative line of work or hobby will understand this question well. We'll spend hours working on a painting, graphic design, audio mix, whatever it may be, we'll finally finish it, hit export, then take a look or a listen...and instantly see something we missed. We fix it, and five minutes later we're exporting Final Mix 2. We look, listen, and there's something else. So we fix that, export Final Mix 3, let someone else take a look or listen for some external feedback, and they spot something so painfully obvious that we missed due to spending so much time looking at the tiny details that we miss the obvious. Before we know it, we're on Final Mix 8 and the term has lost all meaning.

I find it's really important to take a day away after finishing a mix. When I go back the next day, my ears are fresh and I hear things completely differently. I notice all the little mistakes I couldn't spot at the time, I notice that the mix was far too bright or too dark, when my ears just couldn't tell at the time after spending so long listening to it so intensely. It's at this point that I'll go and make those changes in one go, and I find it's made my workflow far more efficient than trying to fix everything on the first day. Taking a step back and some time away from the project allows me to see it clearly again when I come back to it.

It's so hard to come to a point that you're completely happy with. Every time I listen to something I've worked on in the past, I can think of things I'd change now that my knowledge has improved, my range of available tools has increased, and my tastes and skills have developed. Sometimes it can be cringe-inducing to look back at your past work. I often find myself thinking, "Daaaamn, did I think that sounded good? How did I think this was okay?", and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The key thing to remember is that creative work is a journey. We don't start off being amazing at what we do. We learn, grow and develop with every piece of work that we complete, and it's important to be able to see that growth, that journey. Our past work isn't a sign that we're terrible, it's a sign of how far we've come. I still have a LONG way to go, and still have so much to learn and practice, but I can clearly see the progress I've made so far, and that's something to be proud of.

So while the "Final Mix" is a bit of a mirage in the desert, something to constantly strive for but that just gets further away with every step you take, as you find more things you can improve, it's important to keep your eyes on the big picture and find a spot that you're happy with, otherwise you risk never finishing or releasing anything at all while you keep aiming for that perfect finishing point. That would be the biggest tragedy of all. I spent so long waiting for perfection before I'd ever do anything, and it held me back from taking any action at all, so don't be like me. Be happy with your work, be proud of your work, release it for the world to see or hear, take the feedback and develop with your next project. Export your work and share it with the world. That project you've had on the backburner for months? Export your final version right now. The chances are it's been perfect all along and you just couldn't see it.

Onwards and upwards,

- Dan