I have one week left, and thankfully, I also see the end of this project. I have one more song that I need to rebuild from scratch (it's actually not as bad as it sounds -- it's a simpler and easier one of mine, plus I know exactly how to play each part.) and just a few bits and pieces here and there. I've already started mixing, and it's coming together well.

Each morning, I wake up with a bit of trepidation -- of listening to the previous day's efforts. The morning after is always revealing. Of things that work and don't work. I don't want to listen, almost, because I may discover another mistake, another thing I need to fix. But as the days go on and I live with my work, there are (mercifully) fewers of those remain. For better or worse, you get used to mistakes, too. After a while some of them don't bother me any more. And if that happens, I leave those in. Some others, of course, keep bothering me, like an itch that doesn't go away. So time tells me the value of my work, how it sits within me.

That said, at this point in game I'm going to enlist others to listen, to see if there any train wreck mistakes that I'm just overlooking b/c I'm too close to the situation. Now, I'm not saying I'll fix everything they find -- on the contrary, I probably won't fix most of the things that bother them. As long as they're not all pointing to one same piece going "stop the ship! That rat can't stay on!" I'm in this mostly to satisfy me, but if the world at large disagrees with me on effectiveness of certain bits, I'll definitely consider it. But mostly I just don't want to overlook a trainwreck mistake. Making this for myself doesn't mean that I'll completely ignore the rest of the world. If everyone else in the world calls it black where I see white, then I'm probably inclined to trust what they're saying.

Another tool I'm using now is: distortion on vocals! There are some low, sinister parts that I just couldn't cut just with just my own voice. I was starting to despair, because it was just not working. I sounded like I was trying too hard to be someone I'm not. Then I threw the distortion on and boom! There he is. The devil that I knew lived in me. In fact, with that sound in mind I'm going to retrack the part -- because now I know how to sing that part. Vocal effects shouldn't be too over done, but still, sometimes you have to wear a mask to speak the truth.

Mixing is all about bringing in every resource to make the whole piece fall into place. Singing is a huge part and I've struggled with it -- but I have so much more going here. From little drum fills to guitar riffs to trails of echo -- I'm giving it all I got.