Have you ever found yourself stuck in an endless quest for the perfect mix, pouring countless hours into fine-tuning your tracks, only to realise that the ideal sound you seek remains just out of reach?
It’s a struggle many artists are familiar with, including German DJ-producer Ben Böhmer, who recently spoke about his own battle with perfectionism in a new interview.
Speaking to MusicRadar about his upcoming album BLOOM, Böhmer shares how the recording process drove him “crazy” at times, noting that at one point he had a whopping “130 mixdowns”.
“It took me about 18 months to complete the album and most of the songs were finished at a pretty early stage but it took ages to finalise them,” says the producer. “I felt that was easier to do in the past and figured it would get easier as my knowledge about production grew, but I was completely wrong about that.”
“The last 5 or 10 percent drove me crazy from time to time and at one point I had about 130 mixdowns that I gave to other mix engineers but I didn’t like the results that much. In the end I finished it by myself and I’m still not happy, but please don’t write that [laughs].”
Böhmer also notes that while there are moments when he feels “100 percent happy” with his creations, what sounds interesting and good can change over time “because your tastes are always changing.”
“It’s probably normal for the process to drive you mad,” he adds, “but that’s why I enjoy playing live because even if I perform a song from 2016 it’s never too late to make changes to it or add an idea.”
The musician continues: “What really drives me crazy is the mixdown and trying to find the perfect balance between a sound being clean or not clean or the right sound that works between the big stage and home speakers. Now that I’m on album three, I’ve come to realise that the perfect mix doesn’t exist, although Daft Punk might be able to achieve that because they sound amazing everywhere despite their tracks being made with very little equipment.”