In the 21st century audio engineers have been gifted powerful digital audio workstations, excellent plugins, and a high concentration of well made analog gear that their record making forefathers could only dream of. They have used these tools to craft a great many, excellent sounding records, but one modern day issue rears its ugly head from the promise filled landscape... indecision. Access to all of this wonderful technology allows for multitudes of options to be presented to the engineer, and sometimes all of these options can be paralyzing. This was a luxury that was not afforded to record makers of the pure analog age.
Those who were working before the dawn of the digital revolution were limited by tape and these limitations forced decisions. Analog engineers needed to have the confidence to know when to bounce instrument sections to gain more track space (or add another tape machine), when it was appropriate to whip out the razor blade to edit (Steve Albini cutting tape on DOCUMENT: A film about Malojian by Colm Laverty 35:52-37:36), and when it was time to print the mix; as most times when a mix was deemed finished, it was finished. Recalls of course happened, but not as frequent as in the digital age, where the whole recording team (from band, to producer, to recording, mix, and mastering engineer) all know in the back of their minds that most digital processing can be endlessly tweaked.
Confidence without hubris is essential for an engineer to possess. It is akin to the same confidence an excellent songwriter has. Songwriters know that they could endlessly write and rewrite a single song, but there comes a point in time where all of the notes begin to sit right, where a sweet spot is created within their ears and mind. They then deem the song finished and move on to create another work. Part of the art of record making is knowing when to declare a piece of music complete. Each member of the record making team must make this decision before a project can be finalized and released. I am sure many record makers will tell you that at some point in their career they had a project that they continually tweaked, and redone, only to realize that their first, or second pass should be the finished version. Saving studio time aside, ears are kept fresh by making definitive decisions, and a momentum that leads to excitement is created for both the band and engineer when decisiveness rules the day. This often leads to a better album when the completed formats are distributed to the public, as the record making team doesn’t think, but knows that the best possible iteration is being released.