(Another follow-up to the creativity hangover. Bear with me.)

Back in September, equalization finally became clear to me. I would toy with EQ plug-ins, not really knowing what sliders I was sliding or knobs I was turning. After a bit of web surfing and a video demonstration — the location of which I no longer remember — I understood. So I went on a tear and retracked a whole bunch of songs so that I may properly apply equalization on the various parts.

I went through a good 40 songs in a week. That got me hungover.

I've spent the last three years recording and writing like a madman. Lots of songs which have been in limbo for more than a decade finally took shape, and I even added a few new songs to fill in the gaps. At this point, I have about 95 tracks in progress, and all of them are about 80 to 90 percent complete. Thing is, that last 10 to 20 percent are the persnicketty details which tend to make any project drag.

Also, 90 percent spread over 95 tracks is a big whomp of 10 percent unfinished.

I already have these songs organized by albums, EPs and singles, so why not just concentrate on finishing one album, EP or single? Well, that would make sense, wouldn't it?

I'm still learning how to do all this home recording studio stuff, and when I figure out some new technique, I want to apply it — to everything. Usually it's because I've listened to these songs in one fashion for a number of months that I want to hear them differently. So I never just work on one particular piece.

But now I'm hunkering down, and I'm focusing on the first album I finished writing in 2005. The vocals are the only thing on which I've been dragging my feet — mostly because I suck at singing — but I think I've got a few performances that don't make me totally wretch.

Getting some new toys also helped ease me out of the hangover. I recently purchased a $233 condenser microphone, which is nearly 4 times more than I paid for my previous condenser microphone. And yes, I can absolutely tell the difference. I also bought a pair of $100 headphones, to replace the $50 headphones I bought 10 years ago. Now I don't have headphones bleeding into the vocal track — it makes pitch correction easier. (Yeah, I use pitch correction. Believe me — you will thank me.)

These past few weekends have me encouraged that I can get one album done. Of course, that leaves four others to finish. And five EPs. And three singles.