How much do you listen to your own music?

I used to listen to my stuff every once in a while, and sometimes be happy with it and sometimes not. But now I listen to my stuff and I usually think, hey, that was pretty awesome, we should do more! And then get frustrated because everything seems stalled right now.

I think I've said this before in other contexts, but I make music I would like to listen to, so it stands to reason that I like listening to the music I make. Of course I'm not always happy with the recordings and/or performances (especially right after they've been committed), but in general I tend to enjoy listening to it.

About the only time I really don't like listening to my own music is when I have been playing it too much. i.e. If I play a song 100 times, the last thing I want to hear after I put my guitar down is the same song. But, give it a couple months without playing that song, and I might revisit it and find something to like about it again even if it isn't what initially excited me into writing the thing.

In some (hopefully healthy rather than just egotistical) ways, I am in fact my biggest fan...

Honeymoon period -> overlisten and overanalyze things (esp. when it's still in the recording or mixing phase and things can be changed), become convinced that it sucks -> don't listen for 6 months -> go back with some degree of detachment, think "hey, that's alright!"

Casuistry -- I feel so much the same right now. We should have a beer.

Jordan OTM

We did a 7-track mini-LP type thing 6 months ago and I've played it a lot. The mix isn't perfect on a couple of tracks and there are some keyboard fluffs that I wish I'd spotted at the time, but really it's fine. It's not perfect, but we worked really hard on it and basically it sounds great.

Jordan is OTM though, but over the years I've become successful at avoiding the overlistening phase. But...I'm mindful of the fact that I am NOT a perfectionist, nor are any of the others in the band. We try and correct obvious flaws and then leave it. I do feel sorry those with perfectionist tendencies!

Jordan is indeed OTM - it's hard to know what else to say on top of that, really.

Now I've been recording for about 23 years, it can be very illuminating to dust off decades-old records and give them a spin. You tend to think what you're doing now is new territory, but frequently it is possible to spy the origins of the current approach in stuff finished many years earlier.

I consistently listen to my music to see what I can do to make it better, or to see what I can do to reach it's full potential. Which, usually is not that much. But in any circumstances I think it is always a good Idea to hear out what you have come up with. Even if it is dumb. I continuely re-edit/re-mix stuff I have come up with 2 years+ . It's not about ego, It's about process. So I fully contend with hearing yourself for tweaking reasons. I hope I have added good insight!

DB