In Season 4 of Project Runway, Tim Gunn visited almost-finalist Chris Marsh to see how his Fashion Week collection was coming along. After examining the strangely grotesque pieces using actual human hair, Tim compared Chris' work to the monkey house at the zoo.
When you first walk into the monkey house, the stench hits you, says Tim, but after a while, you get used to it. Chris was working in the monkey house. He had gotten used to his collection and didn't realize parts of it that reeked.
I'm sure that's what happening to me with my studio work.
I've been living with these recordings for so long, I don't have the perspective to see what needs improvement. I can hear my voice and not mind the warble of diminishing breath control, the scrape of imprecise intonation, the noises of unpracticed mic technique. It doesn't occur to me maybe a little reverb here or a bit less compression there might make a world of difference.
Familiarity breeds distress, and I don't realize just how familiar I am with this work.
These songs could be much better if I could just get out of the way.