Focus, concentration, listening

One of the toughest things for me in the studio is staying focused, listening like a hawk for extended periods.

It's easy to zero in on any one of these for a verse or chorus:

Intonation
Time
Feel
Energy

But, how do you stay focused on ALL of these while tracking, for sometimes hours?

I find I need to:

Kick out unnecessary people from the control room.
Have the remaining people be as quiet as possible.
Instruct the musicians to remain quiet in between takes as much as possible.
Not monitor too loudly, for fatigue sets in easily. In mixing things are a little different, but tracking, I prefer to just be able to speak over the monitors.
Take a couple minute break after working on a section, and return focused!

Thoughts?

Seems too controlling to me. You need to chill man.

Cheers

Ian

Everyone is going to work differently and need different things to feel they are giving the moment 100%. I find when there are unnecessary musicians, or even worse someone not really associated with the project in the control room I find it VERY distracting.
    Some people don't seem to mind and could work through a hurricane. I am not one of those people! I think the dynamic in the room has a direct influence on how and why I mix, and what I hear.

coffee? 
fatigue is just a fact of physiology, keeping things efficient and following your own work rules will help stave it off and make it easier to push through.  i try not to 'listen hard,' but rather sit back and let the problems just pop out.  i find the whole 'intent listening' thing very fatiguing in and of itself, and if i'm forced to dial in to that degree then i'm usually narrowing my focus to the minutia of a certain type rather than getting the big picture.  i've done this and listened to 'bad takes' from a better mental reference point... never figured out what the hell i even heard  :.  for me, good notes with better shorthand are a must (i'm an admitted take hoarder).  somewhere on my to-do list is a set of keystroke macros to classify and 'rank' potential issues along the lines of the categories you present.  some distractions (spectators) are optional, but for the necessary ones (notes, for me) i try to reduce them to something pseudo-reflexive and thus reduce the span/severity of attention break.

grantlack said:

coffee?  

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I've read somewhere and noticed a bit with myself that drinking coffee changes the way you hear things. Its seems to only be after I haven't drunken any for a while then drink quite a bit.

When I mix.  I work hard to a point.  Then back off.  Doesn't mean you have to walk away entirely.  Just back off.  Listening too hard can be worse than being completely inattentive.  You can drive yourself mad over nothing if you listen too hard.

Like right now, I have a mix I've been working on for the last 3.5 hours playing in the background while I peruse the forum.  Anything really bad is going to poke out if you're not really paying attention.  Every couple of minutes, I'll tweak something to give the mix some clarity.  That being said, when I'm hired for mix work, I work alone.  Usually.  I prefer to take my time and let things soak in, before I chase any rabbits down the hole.

When I'm tracking, I don't mind if there's a bunch of people in the control room.  I just need at least one other set of ears to critique the performance at hand, and I'm happy.  It's not the same frame of mind.  They're two different hats and should be worn as such.  

Everyone has different comfort zones for these things.

I too like to have other people around for mixing - crack some jokes, have a cup of tea and let the problems hop out of the mix.

But I prefer to do the boring editing stuff by myself, without the talent hanging over wondering how long it will take. That's a good time to send them away for a sandwich / smoke / pint.

riggler said:

One of the toughest things for me in the studio is staying focused, listening like a hawk for extended periods.

It's easy to zero in on any one of these for a verse or chorus:

Intonation
Time
Feel
Energy

But, how do you stay focused on ALL of these while tracking, for sometimes hours?

Click to expand...

If you do that, you're not doing your job, you're doing the producer's job.
Once the levels are set, I very seldom have to adjust them, and tracking is more a matter of patience than attention. The only thing that may require attention is drop-in/drop-out, but even that is usually automated today.
I WANT to have a producer who takes care of the performance; if not, I'll charge double fee.