Completing a production requires an immersive lock-in, not piecemeal sessions

May describes his production ethic: ‘I cannot walk out that room until it’s done.’ He rejects piecemeal work — ‘I can’t make music for two or three hours, turn off the gear, and come back tomorrow’ — in favour of locking in until completion. You then work the material ‘so much to the point where you get tired of listening to it’, step away, and return to ‘hear all the shit you did right and all the shit you did wrong’ with fresh ears. That distance is what tells you the work is finished. The immersive lock-in is the discipline that carries a production from start to a self-assessed finish.

Examples

May contrasts his method against those who ‘turn it off and come back to it’: ‘You got to lock down. You really got to lock down.’ At the time of the lecture he is locked into a special production for a film project.

Assessment

Describe May’s immersive lock-in production method and the role of the ‘step away, then return with fresh ears’ phase. How might a beginner apply the lock-in approach to finishing a first full track?