Today while working on my newest track I was having a tough time trying to get certain elements to fit within the mix. I had been working on the track all day and it sounded somewhat decent. I decided it was time to take a break.

2 hours later I come back with a fresh set of ears. Suddenly it becomes BLATANTLY obvious which elements of the track didn't fit and which ones did. I removed the ones that didn't fit because it was obvious that they just sounded forced and awkward.

I'm just amazed by how after listening to something for so many times on repeat you become sort of tone deaf to what sounds good and what sounds bad. I'm beginning to realize that the very best time to make a change or check a track for errors is the first time you listen to it after taking a break. After taking a long break it's like the "errors" just POP out right in my face. It becomes clear what needs to be done and progress is made faster than if I were to sit there tweaking an element trying to get it to fit within a mix down.

Can anyone else relate?

It's almost like the more you listen to something on repeat the faster your ability to differentiate between what sounds good and bad starts to deteriorate.

Which one do you guys think is easier?

Usually when I try to copy my favorite artists I fail miserably.

I don't have the same samples.
I don't have the same synthesizers.
I don't have the same synth patches.
I don't have the same plugins.
I don't have the same daw.
I don't have the same sample packs.

Most importantly...

I don't have the same ears, knowledge, and experience.

When I get stuck on a section in a song for example... I'll look to other artists tracks for inspiration or advice on what to do next. (Pretty normal right?) The thing is that when I try to copy other artists I just end up with cheesy knock off versions of their songs because I don't understand what they're doing in a first place. For example maybe I hear a fill in a track and tell myself "I want to learn how to recreate that fill". I'd say the majority of the time I can never recreate that fill perfectly. Therefore it just ends up as a knock off because mixing wise and sound design wise it is just so hard to create something 100% accurately. When you stop trying to copy other peoples tracks you don't have to deal with that frustration of coming off as a knockoff.

I think being original is easier because you can be 100% you vs 80% someone else if that makes any sense.

What do you guys think? I used to think it was easier to copy others but at this stage in my journey as a producer I'm starting to change my mind. Is it easier at times to just be you?

I'm starting to think lately that there really isn't a shortage of people with a lot of technical skills or even musical skills. There seems to be much more of a shortage of people who really have a strong mindset and truly understand their own creative process/work ethic.

I see a lot of frustration lately with the producer friends that I know both on here and in real life. I'm definitely not claiming to have it all together because I've gone through the same thing in the past. Although I do feel that in the past year I've learned to handle it better.

One of the hardest things I think about learning to produce is somehow managing to stay positive when whatever it is that you're creating seems to disappoint you or when you just happen to have an "off" day. Especially when it takes countless years to really hone in on the craft. My question to you guys is do you think  things like mindset and work ethic can be learned and how important do you think this sort of stuff is relative to other things like technical skills and such?

How do you guys feel about pop albums with a large amount of songwriters? Personally, I don't understand albums that have 100 different writers on it. I mean Kanye's new album has 103 writers! It's good music but what did he actually do? Even Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, & Tiësto. I get it's a business and everything but how can you honestly perform in front of a crowd of 1000 people knowing that you didn't write your own music? It's not Drake's album. It's god knows who's album.

I know I'm over exaggerating a bit. I'm not trying to undervalue a great vocal take. I'm not trying to say that these artists did absolutely nothing. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth to hear people talk about how great "X artist's" album is when you know that the majority of the writing was done by other people. Sure they get "writer credits" on the album but at the end of the day it's "Drakes" album or "Justins" album.

It kinda feels like these pop artists are just brand names that the "real" songwriters use as devices to get their music out to the public. All at the sacrifice of not being able to put their name on their own music. The tradeoff being that the pop artist is the one who get's to call it "their" album.

How do you guys feel about this?

It's to my understanding that the volume level of all the tracks should sound cohesive flowing together is it not? In that case... is mastering done in one project session containing all the mixes?

For example if there was 10 tracks on an album.

Would the artist import those 10 tracks into one project file and process them differently  side to side that way they flow together nicely during transitions?

Does it get harder to learn new things the older you become?

Unleash the kraken.

I'm not going to lie. I have a VERY bad mixing habit. For some reason, I can't really get my mixes to sound as good if I don't mix into an ozone preset.

Go ahead and bag on me all you want lol. I feel like this is limiting me but I'm not sure how. I've never really understood why people advised to not mix into a limiter. Is it because they make it so that you can't see your peaks?

Why is it advised that people don't mixed into limiters? Could someone please name me reasons why I SHOULDN'T mix into a limiter that way I can actually understand it for once and stop doing it?