When is "too much work" too much

[burn em]

Ah! the real world. 1 Job signed sealed delivered and client stoked!

2 down 1 little one to go. The race is on.

[James Steele]

You know what I wonder? What happens to your hearing if you go to long without sleep? If you're having to mix something, I would imagine it might get harder. I remember working on something too long (and worse, too loud) and I got to the point that my ears were completely shot.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You know what I wonder? What happens to your hearing if you go to long without sleep? If you're having to mix something, I would imagine it might get harder. I remember working on something too long (and worse, too loud) and I got to the point that my ears were completely shot.

From my perspective, if I am working that long I am in composing mode and my ears are the last to experience my thoughts. What is of more concern to me working such long hours is fatigue (hitting the wrong button and deleting the last 35 hours of work) and the deterioration of the decision making process. The latter being critical in keeping the work focused thematically and dramatically.

[monkey man]

You know what I wonder? What happens to your hearing if you go to long without sleep?

Tinnitus levels increase, and indeed slowly become more full-spectrum, James.

I'd say that the increasing "dirty"/noisy/diffracted/fragmented thought patterns that often accompany tiredness would in fact have the apparent effect of reducing intelligibility, frequency response, definition and, dare I say it, meaning.

[Radiogal]

When husbands and wifes start talking about wanting to devorce... well..than you need to rearrange ur workflow , and make it really fast!

[monkey man]

Ha ha ha ha! That one brought a tear to my eyes, RG. Too funny, gal.

[burn em]

Out the other end of the train tunnel... I have checked all my work over the 1 and half day stint and everything is ok. Although deadlines would have been missed anything longer than about 16 hours just takes too long to recover from. It does feel good though to have all that work completed and kept the clients happy!

[burn em]

When husbands and wifes start talking about wanting to devorce... well..than you need to rearrange ur workflow , and make it really fast!

What? like avoiding doing audio post for soap operas?

[bralston]

One time...I woke up on a Tuesday and went to bed on a Friday. No joke or exaggeration.

Sometimes deadlines call for unconventional things in this biz. But on the flip side...when I am in between films or other projects...I have a lot of time to myself. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[bongo_x]

..
Do the kick n snare need to be louder?...

yes.

[Jim]

My longest session... editing film back in those days... was 48 hours straight. At a certain point, I got a second wind and was energized. My client kept taking naps, but I slogged all the way through and made her deadline.

The last time I did an all-nighter, I was jamming with my buds a day or two later, and I stood up at one point, and then just blacked out and fell on my drum kit. I woke up on my back and the guys were all standing around me, as if in a huddle, shaking my shoulder. And I had a slight gash on my forehead from hitting a cymbal or stand.

Good times.

[Tritonemusic]

The last time I did an all-nighter, I was jamming with my buds a day or two later, and I stood up at one point, and then just blacked out and fell on my drum kit. I woke up on my back and the guys were all standing around me, as if in a huddle, shaking my shoulder. And I had a slight gash on my forehead from hitting a cymbal or stand.

Good times.

Jim, I don't want to laugh but, since I can't control myself, here goes:

[nk_e]

Geez... I couldn't do that on a daily basis. That's just me I guess. My longest without sleep stint was years ago when I used to do programming in Macromedia Director and I was on some project working with a guy that could NEVER say "no" to a client and impossible deadlines.

Geez...I think I've worked with that exact same guy...

Worse, this guy we were working for-- my bud's client-- was a total horses a**-- one of those guys who's tone of voice and manner of speaking to EVERYONE who worked for him was like you were lower than dirt. To this day I remember his name. One of the client meetings, after we had given him EXACTLY what he asked for and he decided he wanted something else so he blamed us and expected us to start over (which my gutless associate agreed to), I came close as I ever have to blowing up at someone. This guy was a real piece of work. However it was my *friend's* client and I wasn't going to blow up his gig.

What the....? I've worked with him too! Multiple times! I don't know how he changes his looks so completely. Sometimes he's short, sometimes tall. Sometimes young, soumetimes old; Sometimes fat, sometimes thin; Sometimes he even manages to changes his sex and he's a woman! Crafty bastard always disguising him/herself so as to sucker somebody into working with them again...

The last few hours I got through it with lots of caffeinated drinks and eating chocolate M&M's. Stupid. I was younger then, so I could handle it, but today I will not abuse my body that way for anybody. I have no problem telling people that "it can't be done." Will the guy who agrees to kill himself get the gig. Sure. Do I care? Hell, if he wants to die 20 years early, that's his business.

+1,000,000! Amen brother James. Testify. Took me a while to figure that one out myself.

Once, many years ago I worked a Director-based CDROM project for some insane period. I think I worked something like everyday for something like Spring .. literally about 74 straight days with long hours everyday with no time off. An occasional day may have been light...maybe 6 hours only....but there was not one day that I was able to get away from work. (I did get to sleep though!)

I learned several things:

1) I developed a much better appreciation for folks who slip into madness. They don't realize it's happening. To them, it's the world that is becoming weirder while they are remaining rational. I know this because I started to get really weirded out toward the end. Everybody saw it. I had to take a couple of weeks off at the end to get my head back together.

2) I busted my ass, brought in the project and I got a big smile and (literally I think) pat on the back from my boss. Don't quite remember what I was expecting in retrospect, but I distinctly remember thinking at the time "What the f...?"

3) I resolved then and there that I will never work that hard for an employer unless at the end of that time I know with reasonable certainty that my life can be materially different. (Working that hard for myself is called being a freelancer! )

4) You know those folks who work multiple jobs, 6 or 7 days a week, day-in and day-out to make ends meet or get ahead (sometimes immigrants, sometimes not, but almost always on the lower end of the economic scale)? Never ever look down at them until you are sure you can do it too.