the first producer room officially wrapped this weekend.

for the last two weeks, I’ve been working closely with five artists and producers on their music.

different genres.

different styles.

different stages of their careers.

and honestly, I think I learned almost as much from the experience as they did.

but one thing kept coming up in different ways.

we probably need to trust ourselves a little more.

and I don’t think that’s just a music problem.

the longer you spend creating anything, the easier it becomes to lose perspective on it.

you start questioning decisions that initially felt completely instinctive.

is this finished?

is this actually good?

should I change it?

will anyone care?

sometimes the answer is yes.

but sometimes you made the right decision ten versions ago.

a big part of what I found myself doing over the last two weeks wasn’t just showing someone another production technique.

it was helping them step back from the record, work out what was actually holding it back, and make a decision.

in some cases, people had been trying to find that final 20% for months.

then we’d sit together, listen properly, talk through the record, and suddenly the path forward became much clearer.

not because I had some secret trick they didn’t know.

sometimes you just need someone with experience and a fresh set of ears to help you hear what you’ve stopped being able to hear yourself.

and sometimes you need someone to tell you:

you already had it right. stop fucking with it.

I think that’s one of the hardest skills to develop as a creative person.

knowing when the work needs more from you.

and knowing when you need to leave it alone.

because the strange thing about making art is that there usually isn’t a correct answer.

you can ask ten people what they think and get ten different opinions.

you can keep changing things forever if you want to.

eventually, someone has to decide what the thing is.

and if it’s yours, that person has to be you.

that’s judgement.

knowing when something genuinely needs work, and knowing when you’ve simply spent so long with it that you no longer trust yourself.

I still second-guess my own decisions.

I don’t think that ever completely disappears.

but eventually, you have to make the call and decide:

this is mine. this is what I want it to be.

and put it into the world.

the first producer room gave me a lot to think about, and I’m already brainstorming the next one.

right now, it’s looking like we’ll do it again in January.

more on that later.