When I have too much, I never finish anything. There is always, always, always something more that you could be doing, a better tool you could have, a crisper product you could make. The delicate dance is that there has to be some time when it's good enough. Otherwise you'll have never done anything. I often find myself falling into pits of procrastination like this as I walk along my create path. I can spend hours on insignificant details on a song, tweaking the reverb on a synth, adjusting a vocal layer by .01 db up and down, which I think is my subtle way of avoiding staking a claim. My fear of putting a more permanent flag into the creative ground and claiming it to be my own. I often think — if I just had one more piece of equipment, or one more person to guide me, it'd be that much better. But in the end, the best things I've made, or even just the things I'm most proud of, are the moments when I just made things with what I had. I didn't spend hours trying to research how to buy more synths just to fill out the background, and I stopped putting off turning the camera on, and I just filmed or sang or made.
Chet Faker had a great segment in an interview recently where expounded on the idea that we can't worry so much about making the best thing we've ever made every time we put something out. Because by doing that, you actually prevent greatness from every appearing. You squash it down to fit a box that only you can ever see into, where as true greatness is just realizing there is no perfect box, and giving your gifts to the world and letting the rest of us find use for it. That doesn't mean don't try to make great things, it's more about not worrying that the thing you made doesn't live up to some unrealistic expectation. Make it, release it and keep growing.
Comments