I had a breakthrough this afternoon which has made a whole lot a whole lot more clear...

I've learnt some important lessons from listening back to my previous lessons this time last album...

Ho hum. I'm doing it, but not really "doing it" if you know what I mean. Time to bring out the "big guns" and press go on a challenge idea I've been developing for a couple of years...

What's the hidden reason behind my use of Autotune on my last album, and what am I going to do about it on this one?

Lyrics ARE hard when you think too much. They can be easy when you don't.

Can I do 47 Splurges in one day? And even if I can...WHY?

The more I splurge, the more I let go. The more I let go the more me I become.

It's proving to be a little sticky shifting from finishing album 5 to starting album 6...

Waiting feeds doubt. Deciding destroys it.

I have made an album.

Work with what you have - not what you don't...

I just went for a drive to listen to this thing in the car. As expected the insights came thick and fast...

On Sunday and Monday I accidentally ran an A/B test on 2 approaches to finishing. Here are the enlightening results...

Quicker, easier, better AND more authentically unique?

This is the FASTEST way to acquire and build any musical skill..

Today was one of those days I thank my lucky stars I'm not making this album alone...

What's happening in this final week of The Album season 1? IT'S THE FINAL PUSH! Over the next 7 days I'm doing something different with this podcast...

Sometimes (in fact, quite often) the simplest and quickest solution is also the best one...

UH OH... That all too familiar trap at the end of the creative process ensnared me ONCE AGAIN! (Will I never learn?)

As the finish line fast approaches, the insights keep coming...

It's amazing how different the experience of making this album is from ALL the others I've made...

Here's something different for you today...

I had a revelation on Sunday when trying ChatGpt4 for the first time. I'd used ChatGPT3 for a while, but this was a whole other level. If you're worried about AI and what it will do to music (which I certainly am!) then here's an application which points to a huge opportunity. It's certaintly helping me solve a big problem with my album... Here's the PodWalk episode I reference: I Had My "AI Moment" Yesterday 🤖😱 Listen to that next to get more background and context on the use of large language models (what ChatGPT is) in various ways.

I've got 17 songs into DONE! (So now the real work begins.) 🤓 Thing is, I didn't get that many into Done by working my finger to the bone day and night. I did it because "Done" in the Music Machine represents a particular "state" of a piece which helps you finish better music in many different ways...

On the latest "Make an Album With Mike" (MAWM) program session, as we're all getting to the "sharp end" of our albums, the thorny question of feedback came up. Because of course while feedback can be valuable, it's also dangerous and potentially damaging. And I've always struggled to put my finger on the difference between useful feedback and the other kind. What I realised on this MAWM session is that this is less to do with what the feedback giver says, and more about what YOU are looking to get from the feedback, and why you're getting it.