There’s a well-known axiom in music production: “Mix with your ears, not your eyes.”
When I first heard this, it made perfect sense to me; my reaction was that sort of “Oh yeah, of course, right?” But after mulling over it a bit I realised how true it was – technology, digital tools and numbers are great and all, but at the end of the day, if it sounds good, it sounds good. Fully realising this was quite mindblowing for me, and, if you’ll excuse the pun, it really struck a chord.1
What “mix with your ears” really means is, don’t just rely on the numbers, and visuals, and that artificial feedback. Use your senses to judge what you’re doing.
Of course, the scientist in me says our senses are flawed, inconsistent and unreliable. We shouldn’t trust them, because they deceive us. Often, we see what we want to see, we hear what we want to hear, we choose to ignore certain things and exaggerate others. Numbers are objective and keep us in sync.
But the artist in me feels tied down by numbers. They may help me be ever more surgical and precise, yet they trap me into obsessing over numerical details instead of enjoying the flow. Many things aren’t great because of how perfect the numbers involved are, but the feeling and meaning they evoke in humans. Recently, I’ve come to see this in so many places beyond music production.
In playing piano. (Ok this is till music production, but more the composition side of things.) Keys and chords are cool, and there’s a lot of complex and brilliant theory that goes into them. You can consciously play a suspended IV 9th, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, it’s nice to just let go, and let your hands wander. Forget the key, forget degrees of the scale. Just play something chromatic and atonal, shifting between wack harmonies.
In graphic design. Yes, alignment, spacing, margins and consistency are paramount. It’s not just OCD, these genuinely make designs look better. Buuut at the same time, if it looks good, it looks good. Especially with spacing and margins. Checking with measurements can certainly help you identify and fix issues, but with stuff like kerning complex shapes or aligning icons that aren’t the same shapes and sizes, sometimes just doing it by eye is good enough.
In working out. If it’s stretching, or best of all burning, then you’re working. I stopped counting reps because honestly, it’s more fun to do it until you feel it. Don’t let the number dictate when you’re at your breaking point; push through with your feeling.
In volume. (Argh, another sound one.) Did you know I only turn the volume on my laptop to 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36, 40, or other nice numbers? It’s honestly ridiculous. I really do prefer the new increment-less continuous slider that iOS has, because I can adjust volume based purely on how loud I want it, rather than being distracted by rounding off to a number I like. Like, come on.
And in life. Live in the moment. Savour the moment. You don’t always need to know the time; just enjoy life as it passes. I often find myself rationalising the progress of the day so much with the time that I find myself restricting my own activities and mindset based on the clock. Again, it’s ludicrous.
Of course, I love numbers.2 But sometimes, life is more carefree and colourful without them.