Imperfections: Final Thoughts

Eight weeks, fourteen tracks. To be fair, some were closer to sketches than finished pieces—but that was kind of the point. The experiment was to outrun my inner critic: to quiet my obsession with quality by focusing instead on quantity.

So, what happened?

Well, I definitely forced myself to release music that wasn’t fully ready. But honestly—if I’d sat on those same tracks for a few more weeks, fiddled endlessly, second-guessed myself—would they have ended up all that much better? Maybe. A little more polish in the mix or mastering, sure. But if a track doesn’t move you in its raw form, no amount of sheen will save it.

What I Learned

• You can’t rush the process—especially when you’re balancing music with work, family, and everything else. Some ideas land, others don’t, and that’s okay.

• Substack isn’t for me. I went in with high hopes, but it turned out to be another attention drain. Judging by the number of abandoned newsletters I stumbled across, I’m not the only one who felt that way.

What’s Next
A few of the ideas from this challenge might grow into something more fully realized. Time will tell.

Spending part of this stretch in Florida—so different from home in California—shifted my perspective. It sparked different thoughts, different melodies. Right now I’m feeling the pull of the guitar more than the synths. I’ll always love instrumental music, but there’s something undeniable about the human voice. A song can hold emotional weight in a way that cuts through everything else.

So, we’ll see where this next chapter goes. Until next time.

Imperfections: Weeks 7-8

Here are the tracks I produced in the last two weeks of the challenge.

Imperfections: Weeks 5-6

I missed last week’s post so I’m putting everything in here for this week. I was able to complete 3 tracks in the past 2 weeks. 

I feel like the gear-oriented videos I’ve been posting have been getting more attention than the nature and time-lapse nature material I’ve been putting out. Maybe that’s a learning. 

Imperfections: Week 4

It’s week 4 in my summer-long push to create as much music as possible—at minimum, two tracks per week. That means written, recorded, roughly mixed/mastered, and published. 

This week I was only able to complete one track. 

What’s Working

• I liked the feeling of being in the moment here. It’s a live jam and it definitely has that feel. 

What’s Not Working

• Exactly that — it’s rough. It’s not a ‘finished track’ and the haphazard arrangement reflects what was happening at the moment. Not a lot of forethought. It’s imperfect, for sure. 

💬 Open Invitation

If you’re making imperfect things too—music, writing, whatever—I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment below and link to what you’re up to.

Imperfections: Week 3

It’s week 3 in my summer-long push to create as much music as possible—at minimum, two tracks per week. That means written, recorded, roughly mixed/mastered, and published. 

This week I was able to complete 2. 

What’s Working

• I like that I was able to meld my particular ambient sound with a more prominent, traditional sounding guitar on Golden Chumash Silence. I’ve always used guitar in my music, but in the past I’ve always treated more like a synth: slow attack, drifty release, lots of effects. Ringing out. This time I actually started with the guitar. It felt right. After visiting Lake Cachuma, this particular Strat > Fender Amp sound felt right. I like how the Korg Polysix pads sounds here, too (soft synth emulation FYI). 

• The field recordings I used here are actually from Lake Cachuma and Chumash Painted Cave site.  

• Pizza Lawsuit was the result of delving deeper into the capabilities of the Elektron Syntakt. Aside from being a great drum machine, that little box has a ton of potential just in the synth zone. Great sounding machine. I’ve always been a big fan of groove boxes. I love sitting down with just one machine and seeing what you can get out of it, rubbing up against its natural limitations. 

What’s Not Working

• Nothing comes to mind this week. 

💬 Open Invitation

If you’re making imperfect things too—music, writing, whatever—I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment below and link to what you’re up to.

Imperfections: Week 2

It’s week 2 in my summer-long push to create as much music as possible—at minimum, two tracks per week. That means written, recorded, roughly mixed/mastered, and published. 

This week I was able to complete three. 

What’s Working

• I like the textures I was able to coax out of Paul Stretch X app in Anger Relief Area and Paleozoic. That was a success. Paul Stretch is a great tool for stretching samples to extreme lengths and essentially turn them into pads. 

What’s Not Working

• I put a lot of time and energy into Beautyway. I wanted to try to do a pop song a la Magnetic Fields. It’s material I’ve listened to a lot over the years, but have only tried producing in that vein sparingly. So I’m going out on a limb here, a bit. Feeling pretty vulnerable here, especially with the vocals.

• Now that a few days have past, I must say… it’s pretty cringey. The vocals are too far back in the mix, the effects are wrong and there’s no sparkle. It all sounds uninspired TBH. But that’s why the series is called Imperfections.  

💬 Open Invitation

If you’re making imperfect things too—music, writing, whatever—I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment below and link to what you’re up to. 

Imperfections: Week 1

There’s a point in the creative life of any artist where quantity is quality. 

You need to hit a certain critical mass to achieve momentum, whereby you can start to create with more fluidity. You need to be able to explore what you do on a deeper level and your own limits. This is achieved by dedicating more time to the process. The commitment to output allows you to outrun the inner critic.

I’m starting a new regiment, dedicating myself to creating two tracks per week: written, produced, and published. 

The purpose of this practice is to become so immersed in the act of creation, so obsessed with my own inner vision, that I don’t have time to second guess. I want to concentrate on the act of creation—writing and producing music. That is what I love to do, to become immersed in the world of my imagination. No filter. No editing (or as little as I can get away with). I’m practicing pure manifestation.

I’m calling this practice “Imperfections” as that’s definitely part of it. Starting now through Labor Day. Eight weeks. 

My intention is to able to look back at this period and begin to see some patterns. Patterns I can begin to cultivate. Imperfections and idiosyncrasies that may eventually mutate into style and voice. 

Off we go. Here’s week one.