Take A Break--Trust Me
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 10:28PM Today I started in the studio with a client at 11:30. We took one break at 4:30 for thirty minutes to eat and then went back to work until twenty to ten. My ears are drooping.
We spent the day fine tuning, tweaking and mixing songs that we’d already recorded, but by the end of the day, not only were we fried, but the computer started putting wav files in the wrong folders. Everyone was fried.
Here’s a big thing to remember. Your ears get tired before you do.
You need to take a break from listening so intently at least ten minutes every three hours or so.
When your ears fatigue, they begin to not respond to various frequencies, which means, if you are mixing something you could actually not hear something that is there as loudly as it is actually there. That sounds like a sentence no one should have ever written, but as i said, I'm french fried.
Consequently, when you come back the next day, you wonder what in the world you were thinking. You weren’t thinking. You were fried.
I like to work in six hour blocks with a twenty minute break in between the two.
I believe that is ideal, but to be perfectly candid, I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life. I am such a Trojan about this stuff. I start working and I do it til I drop, droop or drink.
So this advice is to me as much as it is for you. Make a schedule and try to adhere to it.
Now I’m not saying you should abandon a magic flow if it shows up. Never do that. When the wave comes you’ve got to ride it. But they don’t show up as regularly as they do in the ocean, so you’ve got some wiggle room.
Take a break. Give your ears a rest. Take a break from the project. I’ll be listening to nothing tomorrow as Cliff Everhardt and I are starting back on the All Wood and Doors project on Friday and we’ll work every day til next Thursday when we both return to the road.
You need rest and you need some distance from your projects. The breaks give you new energy and new perspective.
Trust me…take a break…fire one up, have a glass of wine…relax, it’ll do you goooooooood.
Reader Comments (3)
James—I think stepping away for awhile and taking a break can be applied to enhancing the outcome of any activity. Songwriting comes to mind. It’s always wise to take a break and come back with a fresh perspective, especially during “writers block”—which can be extremely frustrating. And yes, a glass of wine always seems to do the trick!
By the way, nice pic and great guitar.
Max
There have been studies done that show that breaks actually make us work more efficiently and accurately.
It's like pressing a "reset" button in the brain.
Not a bad thing that :)
I'm looking for a great quotes that i can use on my everyday task and duties. Lucky enough to drop by on your blog. Thanks. imaxkl imaxkl - Hermes Shop.