Daily Blog - May 13th 2021

Have you ever gotten so attached to your demo, rough mix or raw tones that any change in the mix seems to ruin everything? I've been there.

Demoitis is completely natural but has hurt many records

It's hard to let go of something you've been working on for a very long time. The more time, effort and money went into something, the more we tend to fight for it. Even when there's a better idea.

Part of the problem is, after spending months on a record it's impossible to be objective. 

Especially if you really liked your original tones right away and then got used to them over time, you won't be very open to someone else's suggestions and ideas. But there will always be blind spots that you've missed and only a fresh pair of ears can find them and fix the problem. Trusting anyone in that situation is hard but necessary.

Also, even if your tones are really awesome, they might not be ideal in the context of the mix.

Let's say you really love your guitar tones and you see no reason to fix them. But your mixing engineer might decide to carve out a little space for the vocals, or roll off a little top end, so they blend well with the cymbals, or tame the low end a bit to prevent the mix from becoming muddy and help the body of the snare cut through better. 

What do you do now? Fight for your original tones, even if that hurts the mix? Give in and let go of the tones you crafted so carefully? Doesn't sound like a fun decision to make, right?

Ask yourself these questions: 

• Individual tones aside, does the overall mix really benefit from the changes?
• If so, what's more important for the feeling, vibe and emotional impact of the song? The individual, awesome tone or everything working together perfectly in the mix?
• Is the original character really gone, or are my tones actually still unique and awesome after the tweak? After all, a good mixing engineer should always respect your creative decisions.
• What will hurt more: Knowing that it's not exactly what I've recorded or knowing that I've sacrificed the perfect mix and sabotaged my release, because I got too attached to my rough mix?

We're intentional with our tones and should fight for our ideas and creative decisions. But demoitis is real. 

-Benedikt

PS: I often post videos to these daily blog posts in my Instagram Stories: @benedikthain