Simplify Your Decisions And Get Things Done

You may disagree, but I think that most people tend to over-complicate things and make them more scary than they really are.

Whenever they’re talking about a new project, they get excited but quickly draw a list of obstacles, get overwhelmed and discouraged . Then the exciting idea never gets real.

That’s human. I am like this too.

To get things done,I strongly believe you have to get rid of distractions and to limit your choices as much as you can.

If you have ten microphones and want to record acoustic guitar, you might be tempted to test them all to see which sounds best on this guitar in this room.

Or worse, you might spend hours on the internet looking for the “best microphone to record acoustic guitar” and spending a fortune on a new mic. Now you have 11 microphones to test.

Days could go by without any progress done on your song.

If you have only one microphone, that’s one less decision to make. You can focus on microphone placement.

If you have two, it’s manageable. You can test but you have to commit. Test microphone A then test microphone B. Choose your favorite and hit record.

If the gear you have does the job fine, don’t purchase anything else. Just use what you have, and keep your gear to the bare minimum.

Simplify your rig and get rid of any redundant piece of gear. For example, if you have two large diaphragm condensers, sell one. The less gear you have, the quicker you’ll decide which to use.

If you have a lot of microphones, you could keep just one of a kind. In your homestudio, keep one large condenser, a pair of small condensers, one dynamic and one kick mic. You can cover most situations with just that.

Same goes for mixing. If you have compressors, which should you choose for your drums bus?

Keep it super simple, and only use your stock plugins. Trust them. They sound great, and they do the job fine. You already have 95% of what you need.

You’ll simplify your decisions, and save money.

I’m not saying third party plugins don’t sound good, but looking for plugins and buying them is a big distraction.

No one can tell what gear you used during recording or what plugins you used when they listen to your mixed song.

So don’t spend hours and thousands of dollars on gear and plugin that should “magically” improve your recordings.

Too many microphones and too many plugins just cause confusion and waste of time.

You can always make everything more complex than it is really.

Get rid of as many distractions as possible to simplify your decisions. Make things simpler. Your songs will get recorded and mixed much faster.

photo credit: alles-schlumpf

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