I spent a couple of hours this morning editing and mixing a song, which has rescued it from being annoyingly Wrong. I cut out a verse (economy is queen), boosted the bass EQ on the guitar, compressed it, and panned some of the additional overdubs about the place to give it a bit of space to breathe. All that remains is a lead vocal performance on a proper microphone, but it's too noisy today what with the rain outside and it being wash day inside.
So I settled down to play a rather difficult guitar part but couldn't nail it. I had fret buzz problems even though I cut my nails and could play it perfectly in time. Those chords just wouldn't sit right even after I worked out a way to do it. I guess I was just tired after the mornings session. So I've made a pie instead, and will eat that with peas, and be glad that at least the first track has worked out OK.
Every time I record I learn more about how to make things sound good, so getting things wrong is a learning experience more than a disappointment. I am 100% confident in my songs, but the difficult thing is holding back: I know the arrangements and mixing are going to be such fun, but I've got to get really good basics before that, and I'm an impatient person in some ways. But not all.
Also, playing guitar parts over and over is rehearsing. Would I sit for an hour and play just one little bit over and over to get it right? I would not! And these are songs that I haven't played live before so they're not in my muscle memory yet. I think perhaps what has felt like a not very productive day will prove to have been much more productive than I thought, further down the line.
BTW Gideon Coe played not only half a Chefs session last night, he also played No Man's Land straight after one of the tracks. That was a great thing to come back to after a seaside trip!
Gideon Coe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y6lz
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