TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- Finishing tracks?

Finishing tracks?

Does anyone ever find themselves not being able to finish tunes? I've started well over 800 projects, I'll write a decent riff (in my opinion), some basic percs and a bassline and then drop it and start something new. Any suggestions to overcome this? I'm thinking of just doing a personal remix of an old favourite to see if I can get a tune completed... Help, please!

I do that a lot. I think it all boils down to how much you connect with the song you are working on. A song worth finishing is something that connects with you beyond the point of it being "catchy."

quote:

Originally posted by Nickerous I do that a lot. I think it all boils down to how much you connect with the song you are working on. A song worth finishing is something that connects with you beyond the point of it being "catchy."

+1

usually i give up on tracks if their not working and start afresh however ive been working on the same one for around a month now as i really like it and it reminds me of certain things.

I think I'll just give System F - Out Of The Blue a bashing then get back to my own stuff. Cheers guys

Here's a trick to get you thinking in terms of arrangement from before you've entered a single event:

In your sequencer, set aside about 32 blank phrases (1 phrase = 32 kicks). You now have the length of your track; anything you create has to go in one of these phrases.

The nice psychological trick here is that your brain realises that you no longer have infinite space to fill in, only that amount is available to "tell your story". Once you fill a phrase, try and imagine and work on the phrase that occurs before it, and the one after it. This should help kick you out of only thinking in loops.

quote:

Originally posted by rounser Here's a trick to get you thinking in terms of arrangement from before you've entered a single event: In your sequencer, set aside about 32 blank phrases (1 phrase = 32 kicks). You now have the length of your track; anything you create has to go in one of these phrases. The nice psychological trick here is that your brain realises that you no longer have infinite space to fill in, only that amount is available to "tell your story". Once you fill a phrase, try and imagine and work on the phrase that occurs before it, and the one after it. This should help kick you out of only thinking in loops.

this is a good point. i do this when designing websites. should have thought about it when coming to production.

quote:

Originally posted by rounser Here's a trick to get you thinking in terms of arrangement from before you've entered a single event: In your sequencer, set aside about 32 blank phrases (1 phrase = 32 kicks). You now have the length of your track; anything you create has to go in one of these phrases. The nice psychological trick here is that your brain realises that you no longer have infinite space to fill in, only that amount is available to "tell your story". Once you fill a phrase, try and imagine and work on the phrase that occurs before it, and the one after it. This should help kick you out of only thinking in loops.

hahaha...this actualy may work

I was actually thinking about this in the car on the way to work this morning, defining the length prior to arranging the track... Will give it a try and obviously keep you guys posted as to how I go.

Sometimes you just have to discipline yourself to finish a track. Seems to me, people that can't finish a track lack motivation for some reason. Think about this, if you were getting paid a good sum of money for a track, could you finish it? The answer is most likely, yes. So the ability to finish tracks is in you somewhere, you probably just lack the motivation. Sidestep that lack of mostivation by forcing yourself to finish one track, it will get easier after that.

The problem is, forcing yourself to do anything can feel like work, and that's where the fun ends for a lot of people, so they quit. You have to just get through that part, then you'll see the rewards. Serious producing requires a lot of dedication. The more songs you finish, the easier it gets. Your arrangement skills increase with ever track you finish.

quote:

Originally posted by rounser Here's a trick to get you thinking in terms of arrangement from before you've entered a single event: In your sequencer, set aside about 32 blank phrases (1 phrase = 32 kicks). You now have the length of your track; anything you create has to go in one of these phrases. The nice psychological trick here is that your brain realises that you no longer have infinite space to fill in, only that amount is available to "tell your story". Once you fill a phrase, try and imagine and work on the phrase that occurs before it, and the one after it. This should help kick you out of only thinking in loops.

hehe, 1 phrase = 16 kicks anyways, i do this when i write tracks. i'll sit there with a loop of maybe 8 - 16 bars (depends what the melody/bassline is) and just add midi

add midi
add midi
add midi

until i'm at like 15-20 sounds and then just stretch it all out in arrangement view.

thanks for playing

quote:

hehe, 1 phrase = 16 kicks

Yes and no. We're both right according to wikipedia:

quote:

In common practice phrases are often four and most often eight bars, or measures, long.

In any case, I'm certain from DJing that in the vast majority of cases dance music makes significant changes every 32 kicks:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 [ready to throw new record in]
[throw!]1...

It's possible to throw on the 16th kick, but then builds and fills usually don't match.

quote:

anyways, i do this when i write tracks. i'll sit there with a loop of maybe 8 - 16 bars (depends what the melody/bassline is) and just add midi add midi add midi add midi until i'm at like 15-20 sounds and then just stretch it all out in arrangement view.

That's another good approach, perhaps superior to the one I suggested. It sounds a bit like the "mute programming" method used by the Neptunes, where they have all riffs running all the time and just add and subtract mutes to arrange the track.

which ever you do.

keep your projects...


sometimes when you leave something locked away for a while you return to it later with new inspiration and you start to add things. in most cases you'll add noises and sounds and end up deleting the original parts. 800 huh? have you completed any tracks at all yet? or are you still finding your style?

i had those phases like 3 years ago... you'll overcome it.

seriuosly why would you make 800 tracks.. thers no way anyone could make 800 good track in a single lifetime..

and i thought i was bad with my like 50 unfinished tracks..

I've noticed that many people who have a hard time finishing tracks use the "trial-and-error method" of composition. Knowing how to write music (melodies, counterpoint, harmony, even instrumental improvisation) helps a great deal.

When it all comes down to it, there aren't that many things to do to continue an arrangement. Add layers, add fills, modulate to another key, build up or break down, or write another section/melody/progression. Or if you're good at it, just screw around mercilessly with the material you've got (glitches, stutters, modulations, granular synth, reverb/echo effects, whatever). That's pretty much it. Those are your options. Pick one and get on with the damn thing!

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut I've noticed that many people who have a hard time finishing tracks use the "trial-and-error method" of composition. Knowing how to write music (melodies, counterpoint, harmony, even instrumental improvisation) helps a great deal. When it all comes down to it, there aren't that many things to do to continue an arrangement. Add layers, add fills, modulate to another key, build up or break down, or write another section/melody/progression. Or if you're good at it, just screw around mercilessly with the material you've got (glitches, stutters, modulations, granular synth, reverb/echo effects, whatever). That's pretty much it. Those are your options. Pick one and get on with the damn thing!

Great points Diginut. Even if a song isn't very good, just finish the thing already. There's only so much you can do with a song. I don't see how anyone can compose without any musical background, people that have never played an instrument and so forth, it can't be easy for them. Yes, I'm sure that's a big part of why they have a hard time crafting songs.

What's funny is, I think I'm going to have several unfinished tracks. I was working on several Progressive Trance tracks, but now I've decided to go over to the dark side and produce Electro House and Progressive house. So looks like I might be abandoning the Proggy Trance project. I hate having unfinished songs though, so I might finish them just so I don't feel like I've left something undone.

hehehe this syndromw is well known. well I dop like this, I make a loop of a track if I think hey this might have potential I keep working on it if it doesent i throw it away and start with something new, How ever if the track has potential I naturally finnishi it and when I feel theres something missing I let a vocalist have a listen to it, or I add a few more midis , I dont stopp until ive got a good grove on the track, and then BEFORE i finnish the track I stopp and sleep or have sex or whatever. then the day after I come and finnish up. thats the hard part cuz your finggers might ich for the new project buttons but What you do then is to open the track you made yester day and just give it a listen I promise if it sounds good you will do the rest on it if not... keep training or if you feel youve had enopug training start another track ey its no sin , and then a few days later open that old track again and give it a go. I usally do like 6-7 tracks at the time some times you feel damn this riff sould be great in that other track . or this vocals would fit likle a glove in the 3d track, but hey thats me. keep it up mate. love - Mavve

Edit I just read it myself, and it makes no sense hahahah!!! I hope you get it.,

quote:

Originally posted by mavve Edit I just read it myself, and it makes no sense hahahah!!! I hope you get it.,

It was kind of hard to read, but it made sense.

The bottom line is, most of the time finishing a track requires some discipline. I find this true for every track I produce. Making loops is the fun part, but after you've created enough loops for a song you must get down to business and begin arranging it, adding percussion fills and breaks, ect. Then of course mixing and EQing is another tedious step that really isn't "fun" for most people. So it's no wonder people lose interest after they have fun creating loops, because the rest of the process can feel a lot like work. You must decide whether you want to dedicate yourself to finishing the project or not.

zodiac9, I agree entirely. It requires discipline but also note that finishing tracks becomes loads easier with experience, as with everything, actually finishing tracks makes you better at finishing tracks. It's well worth the effort, if you're serious about making high quality tunes.

dedication is the key DUM DUM DUM

i always thought after you get your rhythem going the end was a breeze? but i guess it depends on the style and structure

i work on a track and rework the track untili'm sick of it... that's when i know i'm done =)

Yeah yeah, dedication and discipline, that's all great, but outside of WoW and Everquest, no amount of time and effort will get you all the way across the pond.

It's important to develop the actual skills related to composition and producing - it's easy enough to spend 14 hours in front of the sequencer without learning a thing, and I've seen many people do just that, in production and in other areas.

Better skill means less time and less effort and less "lack of inspiration". I don't think that classical and renaissance composers had the luxury of only writing music when they were motivated to - and yet they wrote consistently good music in consistently short time, because that was their job, and they knew how to do it.

Now if you've got a day job and you're dog tired by the time you have a few minutes to spend with the sequencer, that's a different story. But if you've got several hours to kill anyway, spend a few of them actually learning something instead of inserting notes at random and hoping they turn into a melody.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.