Project management

45:58“I try to keep as much as I can loaded into the sampler, so I can go back and change it – but there comes a point where you need to bounce it down, due to processor overload, or the project’s become too complicated and you need to simplify it. So I work in the same project until it becomes overloaded. I’m a sloppy worker!”

Paul opens a project for us: Conformity, from his debut album. “This track is basically loads of little bits of sounds pieced together, and I needed to simplify it. The CPU meter was going mental, so I grouped things together, then stemmed it all out into a new project. This way, you go in with a fresh head, and you have headroom on all the channels, and everything’s separate again, so you can pick out tracks and add details. Seeing everything as a wave file is refreshing, and I’ll cut into them even more and fine-tune the project, drawing the bass out of the way of the kick, for example. This process can go on – if this project gets too much, I’ll re-stem it again, until the track’s completely done… and I’m sick of it!”