drafting, redrafting, and the perfect product

I have been drafting and redrafting a new entry for about a month. I still can't seem to get it right for some reason. I've become much more nit-picky about what ends up on this blog compared to my general blog.

I've come to realize that this sort of attention to detail, while uncommon in my writing (just ask anyone who has read my large papers...) is a normal function when i compose anything, acoustic or EA, or when i'm mixing and mastering (every click will be defeated!). i don't end up with the same eye when programming for some reason (oh Pd, if i tried but a little bit harder...).

A friend of mine, Eileen, keeps a regular blog about writing, literature, and life. She linked an article by Mette Ivie Harrison entitled "In The Details" about drafting, revisions, and perfection. while it pertained to writing, as i read i substituted "composed" and it was exactly how i felt in regards to music, mixing, and mastering. I guess that's why i'm going pro! i'm not sure what makes me get so detail oriented, if it's a "defect" as Harrison put it (and one she and I would definitely like to keep) or if it's simply paying attention to something i love, or aliens (probably aliens), but i definitely obsess over each note.

is it a good thing? is it a bad thing? Generally i think it's good. The finished product ends up better. I am perpetually late with deadlines, however. And, with my mixing at least, i'll obsess over a sound that others in the room might not even catch. I probably come off as being crazy(-ier?). enough meta-conversation. Check out the article, and tell me what you think!

~John Chittum