First Response: Avoiding Decision Fatigue in the Studio

Behold, my first entry into the world of blog-posting and the perilous descent into the murky depths of self expression! So with it comes my recent thoughts on ‘first response’, or rather my term for acting intuitively and trying not to think too hard in the studio. Tread lightly…

I always feel that the greatest challenge of any recording session comes about in the face of direction and decision making: there’s always the inevitable rush of set-up, the ‘thrill’ of finding why that one input fails to show up, and of course trying to capture the same purity and emotion of a demo track. But, there is always that certain point where the voice of doubt creeps in, wondering whether the entire direction of a track is working.

My remedy to combat this is to always consider what my gut-feel, or first response is to an idea. In basic, does this support, develop, or further the sense of emotion in a recording, and if not then does it need to be poured over? That’s not to say that no idea should present itself immediately, but when in a pressured recording environment there is a need to quickly capture a shape or outline of a recording. It is always crucial to make decisions fast and early, and to stop that conscious brain from influencing a response which most of the time is subconscious. In fact, I’m always chasing for that part of a performance or song where you just find that point of transcendence - where you feel or experience something that commands your attention or hits you with an emotional punch that you never saw coming.

So, if you’re like me - prone to chronic overthinking - it’s these sort of moments where you have to acknowledge that responding quickly with intuition to ideas is far better than adopting a rational approach. You can save that for later, and trim the fat once it’s there in the first place. The goal is to get a shape, and lean into it - like a sculpture. You’re always making thousands of decisions every minute anyway and, on some level, you’re already filtering ideas down so that they’ll pair together later. In my mind, I’ll be recording a track and thinking of where the key element is - what is it I want to push forward and make my listener pay attention to? What’s the focus of this verse, and what part is integral to this idea? From there, other elements tend to fit better as they’ll purposefully sit back to support or reinforce an idea without taking the limelight. I always find mixing to be the worst part of a project, so if you can get that locked in place before the session is over - you’re onto a good foundation.

Speaking of spotlights - I often try and remind myself that when recording an artist, the first three takes are likely to be the most emotionally engaged. As a producer, you’re really just trying to frame a song in a way that facilitates its message, so chasing the ‘correct’ take nearly never exists. Instead, it’s better to re-contextualise an idea if it’s becoming turgid, maybe with guiding questions - ‘sing it as if you were…’ or ‘what if the voice isn’t who they seem?’ - simple ideas, or twists and turns, just to get a performer thinking from an outside angle. It’s often not even reliant on a good question so much as reversing or breaking out of habitual thinking - especially when the artist is attached to a demo. From here, any technological decisions should just be to reinforce any sentiment being expressed.

Maybe this approach is also futile, but I wonder if redirecting an urge to repeat an idea into an urge to reframe an idea is better for maintaining the pace and enthusiasm of a session, and often the best ideas seem to emerge unexpectedly, not by following a devised formula. Ultimately - I try not to think in terms of comparison, or with set objectives beyond ‘complete the track’, because I find it stifles creativity. It’s far better to just build on decisions, quickly, and if the final result isn’t what you want - flip it over and start again. But to some extent, it guarantees a final result, and in any session - both the producer and artist’s fundamental goal is to create something beautiful, not mediocre. I think it’s inevitably easy to be critical ‘in the moment’, when a new idea is proposed - but often when revisiting old ideas there is an ability to listen with fresh ears because you’ve established that critical distance from the core emotion of an idea - instead you become more impartial as a listener.

So then, I fear, as my overthinking sets in, that a lot of this sounds hideously saccharine, but I do believe there is something concrete in putting intuition and emotion first in a creative endeavour. Ultimately, you can wear a theatrical mask in any performance, but at some level it’s still your own character looking through a lens, and hopefully with some hard work you end up with a song that resonates with someone.