Hey a,

The best way to never finish anything is to obsessively work on a single track at once.

I used to struggle with this as well. Trapped in perfectionism, I'd go back and forth on whether or not that lead sound needs 3dB more at 5kHz, shortly before swapping out the kick sample for the fifth time because it might not be the right one after all.

All of that led to me not finishing a single track for months.

I'd heard the advice to work on several tracks at the same time but I always came up with excuses like "this will steal my focus."

Then I had a casual chat with my buddy Conor Dalton, back when we were both teaching music production, mixing and mastering at Catalyst Institute in Berlin.

He mentioned off the cuff that he'd be working on several client masters at the same time, jumping between them, and making adjustments.

He said that this would allow him to detach from the projects and stay more objective. 

That's especially important if you're working on high-profile jobs for respected artists and labels.

So I started giving it a try. First of all in my mixing and mastering work, then also in my own tracks.

And the difference was massive.

When a track is the only thing on your desk, you keep working on it whether it needs work or not. You have nowhere else to put that energy. 

Come back to it two days later after touching three other projects and you hear it the way someone else would.

That's when you start making decisions that actually move the needle instead of just moving faders.

But the pendulum can also swing too much in the other direction.

An artist we worked with in our program came to the coaching call in distress.

On his to-do list were 36 items of change, spread across 16 different song ideas. 

He couldn't even remember some of the songs he'd produced over the past few weeks.

So he asked me what I thought the sweet spot was for working on several tracks at once.

I told him to think of a juggler. With only 2-3 balls, there's too much time between throws and he starts overthinking every catch. 

With 10 or more, he's just trying to keep everything off the floor.

I find the sweet spot to be around 5-6 songs you work on at once.

Of course, following my Creative Funnel method, you have many more ideas in the earlier phases.

But when it comes to finishing tracks, that's the sweet spot.

Next time you catch yourself on the fifth kick sample, close the project and open a different one. 

Come back in two days and listen without touching anything.

You'll know within thirty seconds whether that kick was ever the problem.

Your music matters. Make it count.

Philip

PS: If your reaction to this is "great, now I'll have six unfinished tracks instead of one," I get it. Working in parallel only helps once you know which ideas actually deserve to reach the finishing stage. That selection process is the part most producers never learn, and it's what we build together in our coaching and mentorship program. Book your free discovery call here to find out if it’s right for you.