When do you hit that "submit" button?

[Chimpazilla]

Hey folks, so how do you judge when your track is really REALLY REEEEEEEAAALLLY ready to submit? I've written a track, wrote the basics pretty quickly then took my time adding the details, I've had it in the wip forum for awhile now, got some great suggestions and made some really great improvements to it... I can't imagine doing anything more (I'm even shy about posting it again, as I'm not sure I have the heart to do anything new to it), I'm at that point but I just can't seem to stop tweaking it and I'm making myself crazy! What is your personal cutoff point, how do you know it's ready? (or, maybe it truly never is, but you hit the submit button anyway) Thanks. (feel better already, just typing this out)

[jnWake]

I think that when you reach the point of "I can't imagine doing anything more", you're ready to either submit or take a break.

If you don't feel ready to submit, then take a break of the song. Don't listen to it for a couple of days, then listen to it again. If you feel "this is a good song", submit it! Otherwise, identify what makes you unhappy and fix it. But don't become obsessed.

[Garpocalypse]

By the time OCR actually gets around to judging it you are probably going to see a whole lot of things you needed to fix that you never thought about or knew of before. That's the #1 reason why i haven't flooded OCR's sub box with my stuff....yet. Because I keep thinking that in another few months it could be alot better. In short, i'm not getting anywhere.

Go for it when you feel you have something unique and don't take rejection too personally.

Good luck

[Garrett Williamson]

I submit when everything sounds exactly right. That simple.

My problem is there's always something wrong when I listen to it again a few days later, and I get mad. But I've heard and learned that's just how it goes. You think it sounds just right and then there's some issue that you no longer can fix.

Things. They just happen.

[Eino Keskitalo]

I think you should always take a break between thinking it's finished and submitting.

When to stop? Well, if you're aiming to get posted on OCR, you should work on the track until you think it will pass the panel. No point submitting before that! Workshop mod reviews are what I use to gauge that (apart from my own ears). After that, if you feel the track has obvious spots to improvement that you want to do, you should do them. Of course, there comes a point where you should let go of the track.

If you're just tweaking things without improving them, that sounds not very productive. But really finishing the mixes seem to take a lot of tweaking, at least for me.. I love the saying "when you're 90% done, you still have 90% left to do". It's hard work. I hope it gets faster when I get better.

--Eino

[quintin3265]

I think you should always take a break between thinking it's finished and submitting.

When to stop? Well, if you're aiming to get posted on OCR, you should work on the track until you think it will pass the panel. No point submitting before that! Workshop mod reviews are what I use to gauge that (apart from my own ears). After that, if you feel the track has obvious spots to improvement that you want to do, you should do them. Of course, there comes a point where you should let go of the track.

If you're just tweaking things without improving them, that sounds not very productive. But really finishing the mixes seem to take a lot of tweaking, at least for me.. I love the saying "when you're 90% done, you still have 90% left to do". It's hard work. I hope it gets faster when I get better.

--Eino

I think you should follow what I call the "five day rule." It comes from my observation that no matter how strongly I feel about something, there will be a greater perspective in five days.

For example, romantic rejections and breakups can seem insurmountable immediately after they occur. But five days later, you find yourself wondering what the big deal was. If you make a bad business decision, chances are that five days later it won't seem that bad, or that you'll be able to figure out how to fix it. If you embarrass yourself by choking during a big speech, you'll probably laugh about it in five days.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to get the remix to a point where you think it's good, and then do nothing to it for five days. Don't open the editing program, and don't listen to it. On the fifth day, listen to the piece again and see what you think. Chances are, your opinion will be that it's still fine and you are finished. If not, then you still have the opportunity to make corrections.

[ectogemia]

Considering I have 2 RESUBs at this point, I would say "too soon" is when I hit the submit button.

[Chimpazilla]

I think you should follow what I call the "five day rule." It comes from my observation that no matter how strongly I feel about something, there will be a greater perspective in five days.

For example, romantic rejections and breakups can seem insurmountable immediately after they occur. But five days later, you find yourself wondering what the big deal was. If you make a bad business decision, chances are that five days later it won't seem that bad, or that you'll be able to figure out how to fix it. If you embarrass yourself by choking during a big speech, you'll probably laugh about it in five days.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to get the remix to a point where you think it's good, and then do nothing to it for five days. Don't open the editing program, and don't listen to it. On the fifth day, listen to the piece again and see what you think. Chances are, your opinion will be that it's still fine and you are finished. If not, then you still have the opportunity to make corrections.

^this^ is the greatest advice ever. Thank you. Thanks everyone, those are great comments and suggestions and kind words too!

I also have one rejected track, it seems to be beyond hope at this point (collab partner agrees). I also have one track in the queue now that I've already found fault with after submitting. I'm going to take the above advice on my current track! Thanks again. Good luck to us all.

[Darangen]

I was going to suggest the same thing, but with 3 days. 5 works though.

[OceansAndrew]

What I like to is make a track for Dwelling of Duels. The one month deadline is awesome for getting me to actually finish in a timely manner. After I get feedback from the fine folks at the Shizz, I evaluate their comments and see how much needs to be further polished. I think 5 days of not even thinking about it is a good timeframe.

[DusK]

Whenever I damn well feel like it.

I get NO'd a lot.

Don't do what I do.

[Chimpazilla]

Whenever I damn well feel like it.

I get NO'd a lot.

Don't do what I do.

Hahahaha hilarious! Looks like you've gotten at least one "yes."

[Nabeel Ansari]

You don't. There is no submit button.

[Chimpazilla]

You don't. There is no submit button.

But I have one! It's the big red button in the middle of my keyboard that says "come on and push me, you know it's ready." It's five inches in diameter and flashes brightly at me full time. It's sooooo annoying and hard to resist....

[timaeus222]

I agree with the 5 day timeframe, but I personally do it every morning. Since he didn't specify when in the day... I'll add that in the morning it appears to be best. Lots of people think better in the morning; at least, that's what I've found a lot of people saying on random google searches.

Another thing is to close your eyes and only listen to a rendered audio file, not the project itself. Then see what stands out too much and write down notes on what to fix. Wait a day and see if you still want to fix that the next morning. If so, keep whatever you still want to fix and add anything new. You just do this four times, and then on the fifth morning, do your edits and take a fifth listen.

I don't actually do that, but that's just because I feel decently confident about my ears. xD

[quintin3265]

I like this idea about the morning. Perhaps I should go a step further and say that you should wait until a Saturday morning.

Most people, during the week, are stressed out about work. I know that I worry often about my performance, and I always feel a pressure to keep writing code while I'm on the clock, even if I'm ahead of schedule. When I come home and add features to Game Remixes or even do something non-productive like go to the gym, I feel that same pressure, even though there isn't any boss behind my back.

When Saturday comes around, all that is forgotten, though. I can always think more clearly about any problem on a Saturday or a Sunday.

Even though your job is not on the line when remixing a song, I think that you can find yourself subconsciously influenced by the stress. Try listening to your song on a Wednesday and then compare it to a Sunday listen and I bet that you feel differently about it.

I agree with the 5 day timeframe, but I personally do it every morning. Since he didn't specify when in the day... I'll add that in the morning it appears to be best. Lots of people think better in the morning; at least, that's what I've found a lot of people saying on random google searches.

Another thing is to close your eyes and only listen to a rendered audio file, not the project itself. Then see what stands out too much and write down notes on what to fix. Wait a day and see if you still want to fix that the next morning. If so, keep whatever you still want to fix and add anything new. You just do this four times, and then on the fifth morning, do your edits and take a fifth listen.

I don't actually do that, but that's just because I feel decently confident about my ears. xD