Choose creative magic.
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Notes
The word “quality” can have three meanings:
- Meeting spec
- Luxury
- Creative magic
A 1995 Toyota Corolla had the first. A 1995 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow had the second.
The Broadway musical Hamilton had all three. The Broadway revival of West Side Story (put on at the same time) only had the first two.
If you can only have one, choose the last.
Thoughts
I’ve encountered the tension between the first (meeting spec) and last (creative magic) as I’ve been relearning recording and mixing. The conversation (in various forums on the internet—many of which are helpful!) often centers around what’s right, or what works best—which compressor should I use? how should I gain stage? etc. But when I listen to interviews with great engineers, they’re focused almost entirely on the creative magic.
It’s tricky, of course. Without working to a certain amount of spec, it’s possible to miss or mess up the creative magic. But it’s a limited focus on spec: many of the engineers learned on the job, and no two meet spec quite the same way.
As a returning engineer—very much still a beginner—and a low-intermediate musician, spec matters. Sloppy playing, or failing to capture a performance, etc. undermine creative magic.
I’ve finally made an early decision about a “practice” for me. It’s basic—trying to manage half an hour each day working on ear training and guitar practice as a foundation, and then another hour working on the album.
It’s not enough, but it’s a start. And it will help me learn how to “meet spec” while I seek to capture what I hope will be creative magic.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.