Your first recording

When you make your first recordings your initial urge is play them for everyone and anyone who will listen. It's natural, but very dangerous to the process of a project. Roughs are just that...rough mixes to get an idea of where you are at and what needs to be done next. I recently had a problem when I realized that one of our clients was sending out mixes and soliciting feedback on the tracks. I was forwarded a track by track review from an aquaintance of the artist. Someone who is not involved in the project and certainly should not have possession the tracks. I was not pleased. I had to call the artist down as we say in the south. The tracks were raw, missing additional parts, performances that were scheduled to be replaced and scratch vocals. Big mistake. The thrust of all this is you should hold your mixes close until the producer deems the project ready for primetime. That is the point in time when you play some of the tracks for family, close friends and more importantly, potential partners in the next step in the process. Labels, management, even musicians you may want to have in your band. Do not make copies and send them out. You cannot get them back.