Hey a,

He came into the call with a look of despair.

"I really don't understand what's going on. It looks absolutely flawless on the meters, almost exactly like my reference track."

It wasn't the first time we'd had that discussion in our Producer Office Hours. That's one of the four weekly calls we run in our mentorship community.

So I countered with something he didn't expect:

"What does your inner meter tell you?"

He looked like I'd shown him footage of a living alien.

"Don't worry, it's not another VST," I said jokingly.

Then I went on to explain something that took me years to figure out:

"Music production is both an art and a science.

It's physical but also spiritual.

It's facts and emotions.

Whenever we lean into only one of these sides, we're missing critical information the other side has stored for us."

The question mark on his face turned into a curious look.

"Here's what that means for your track," I continued.

"Your meters are telling you that everything is in check. It's balanced. It hits the LUFS values you were targeting.

Now I'd like you to tune into your inner meter. What about this track excites you?"

"Well, honestly? Not that much. It sounds kind of flat," he replied, with a tad of frustration in his voice.

So I gave him a task that would help him look at his productions differently:

"Push that production to where it excites you.

The only constraint: It has to look like something's wrong on all your meters. Frequency, dynamics, stereo field.

I want you to experience what bold moves feel like."

He agreed, though I could sense he didn't fully buy into it yet.

That changed when he came back to the call the following week.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Well, I did try it out," he replied. "And yes, it hurt at first. But then I felt a new kind of relief.

 You know, everyone online tells you to 'trust your ears,' but no one actually shows you how to practice that. I think I get it now."

I smiled and said: "Now you have to bring that track to the finish line.

Use your analytical skills and your meters to catch where you went too far, and back off a little. That's the sweet spot."

So let's bring it back to you.

We all have a bias in one direction or the other.

Are you leaning heavily on the science, the physical, the facts?

Then it might be a good idea to hand some power from your inner scientist to your inner artist.

But maybe the opposite is true. You're the bold, audacious artist who takes risks but constantly runs into a wall with them.

Then your inner artist could use some support from your inner scientist.

They're both in you somewhere.

All you have to do is give yourself permission to hold both perspectives at the same time.

Here's a good place to start:

Run the same experiment on your next track.

Push it until it excites you, then let your meters show you where to back off.

Your music matters. Make it count.

Philip

PS: Figuring out which way you're biased is surprisingly hard on your own. You're too close to your own tracks. That producer only saw it because someone else was listening with him. If you want that kind of feedback, here are two ways I can help:

1. Join my mentorship community and bring your track to one of our four weekly calls, Producer Office Hours included: https://www.skool.com/pickyourself/about 
2. Apply for 1:1 coaching if you want me and my team to guide you personally, from first idea to finished track: https://pickyourself.com/coaching