Delusions

I've always thought that music was the most rewarding and accessible art form. People can and do talk about it without feeling out of their depth; it's so ubiquitous. You can listen to a three-and-a-half minute song dozens upon dozens of times, discovering and gaining more from it on each play. Striking a good balance between density and subtlety is the most difficult thing.

Like some kind of brain-wine, a piece of music can ferment and improve in the time spent playing and thinking about it and with the memories attached to that time, until with all but the most transcendent works, the time spent playing and thinking about it becomes too long, the associations too strong, the song too old a vintage and spoiled and worn out and contaminated.

When I mix (or anyone mixes) a song, I have to listen to it dozens of times, and get to the point at which there is nothing more I can gain from it. Obsession over the smallest things overshadows the big picture permanently, and it becomes impossible to actually hear what's happening. How many miniscule decisions must be made? 

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