Hey All,

I had a conversation with a friend of mine and I complained that I don't always think too much about having every layer EQ'd or treated to perfection as I write because I can lose sight of the final product if I spend too much on the details early on. In fact, I remember watching a video by Toolroom that talked about the race to the final song before dealing with the small details.

Anyways, he said there are certain things that become habit over time.

I wanted to pick everyone's brains about things they do without thinking when they're creating. This can be when a certain frequency that occurs when you're synthesizing (either emphasizing or subtracting it) or perhaps using a transient shaper to crisp up those peaks on a snare or gentle compression on a vocal, or using an automated filter to add movement to a bassline, etc.

The most obvious one I can think of is high passing all of my sounds at 110-120 and adjusting to taste, compressing, and then metering to balance the gain of the channel again, but then I just move on in most cases.

Post your good (or bad) habits!