http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_JReiE1uFk

I thought this was a good reply:

"Yeah, I saw a wicked program on time management and focus where they talked about "switching costs" and how it slows you down immensely.  Staying focused on one area at a time, through to completion, it very effective. Cheers!"

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

very close to the way I work though I mix & sound design at the same time as I think the two are very closely related.

I live by that 8 bar rule though, I won't bust out of it until i think i've got the meat of the track pretty much nailed

this is what ive been trying to say all the time around here.

this is how i do it:
1. make individual elements/parts.
2. put parts together aka arrangements and transitions.
3. fix the mixdown and maybe add some master eq and compression.

i know many of you make your music on a timeline instead (combining part1 and 2). and most of you also start thinking about mastering before the mixdown is done.

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 very close to the way I work though I mix & sound design at the same time as I think the two are very closely related. I live by that 8 bar rule though, I won't bust out of it until i think i've got the meat of the track pretty much nailed

A potential problem of the 8 bar method is that if your FX and/or variations are not good enough, the track fucking sounds like loops just stacked on one another.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux A potential problem of the 8 bar method is that if your FX and/or variations are not good enough, the track fucking sounds like loops just stacked on one another.

you should not be using FX in your 8 bar loop. Your 8 bar loop is all the major components of a track, after you feel happy with that you should arrange your track so it flows the way you want.

The very last step before I mix or master is doing all the "bells & whistles", the turn arounds, the drum fills, the fx, etc. Don't waste your time on that stuff until the end when you know what sections require more tension, less tension, etc.

good info, i tend to combine steps 1 and 2 together.

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Garrido & Skehan ft. Erin - Waiting For You (Nightshift Remix)
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Tidal Forces - Machine Blue (Nightshift Remix)

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

this is very very similar to my workflow:

___________________

@Soundcloud

:::OUT NOW!:::
Garrido & Skehan ft. Erin - Waiting For You (Nightshift Remix)
Elvin Ong - Motion (Nightshift Remix)
Tidal Forces - Machine Blue (Nightshift Remix)

quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

Haha good vid. Obviously the reason why I haven't finished a track in like 4 years now.
Its kinda sad but I honestly don't care as much about the arrangment unless my sounds are cleaned up and sounding the best they can. So naturally I get lost in the mixdown/pre-mastering type shit before I've even gotten past the first break of my track.

Its sad but I can't just sit down and pick all the instruments I need. I have to pick one (bass) make the bass, see how it sounds. Then pick another (drums) make the drums, see how they sound with the bass... clean up kick/bass/drums. THEN I go onto the melodies, but rarely ever finish them because I keep going back to clean up my kick/bass/drums.
Its a serious issue but I figure one day I'll actually get good enough at cleaning up sounds so it doesn't take so much time to do. And then maybe I'll be able to get back to the arrangment/song writing process. I just can't write a good song and risk the possibility it will sound like shit. So I get the sounds up to par first (which is sometimes an endless process) and then on to the song writing. I realize I'm a fucking idiot for doing it this way but habits are habits.

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Sequencers: FL Studio 9XXL & Reason 3.
Main Synth Bass GTs - Pro-53, V-Station, Sytrus, Subtractor, Trilian, Blue, Sylenth & Z3ta.
Main Synth Lead/Pad GTs - Z3ta, Sytrus, Sylenth, Vangard, Albino & Nexus.
Main FXs GTs - Waves Plugins, Soundtoys, Volcano, FL Native FX.
Hardware - Truths, Echo Audiofire, Virus Snow, & Novation Xio Midi-Synth.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I just can't write a good song and risk the possibility it will sound like shit.

Unfinished tracks always sound like shit. :P

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox Its kinda sad but I honestly don't care as much about the arrangment unless my sounds are cleaned up and sounding the best they can. So naturally I get lost in the mixdown/pre-mastering type shit before I've even gotten past the first break of my track.

I seriously dread the day you find out how to sound exactly like Andy Blueman and can't come up with a single decent melody to put it to, you're going to fucking kill yourself. Not trying to pick on you, you know I love you, but seriously dude, stop worrying about it so much and just make some fucking music. It's fun.

Next time don't open up FL and dive into Sylenth trying to play sound engineer. Get a nice sounding pad, make some chords, come up with a melody over them, and then go from there. I don't know why anyone would try and make the perfect sounding kick and bassline when he doesn't even have a song or anything to put them with. We really should team up, seriously, you ignore every aspect of songwriting I focus on, and the things you pour all of your time into trying to make perfect are things I suck at executing.

Now send me that kick sample already.

Yeh I hear you man I dread that day myself lol. Its not like I sit around though just trying to copy his bass its more the properties I'm after than the exact sound. And for people who bash blueman I think the guy has released something like 13 tracks in total, and 11 of those tracks made it to the top 1000 best trance tunes ever.

Most artists on that list just have 1 or 2 singles so I don't care how much people like to criticize the guy, he knew what he was doing and his basses had an in your face energy that bigger names still seem to have trouble with. Sure he used one specific bass in too many tracks but with time he would have became way more versatile.

Anyway enough validating my love gay love for andy. The reality is when I do need to start making melodies all I'm gonna do is open up improvisator again. Its like having your own little M4B in the form of a vst that will randomly play chords for you. And it does progressions too that sound great. I'm not going to copy the chords but all I know is when I need to make melodies there is no single plugin as useful as it. It can do some pretty elaborate progressions that even if I studied music theory for years wouldn't be able to write.

And like you said Ky our focuses will only benefit each other as we're polar opposites in how we produce. So once we finish that first collab it'll be damn interesting to see what the result is.

___________________
Sequencers: FL Studio 9XXL & Reason 3.
Main Synth Bass GTs - Pro-53, V-Station, Sytrus, Subtractor, Trilian, Blue, Sylenth & Z3ta.
Main Synth Lead/Pad GTs - Z3ta, Sytrus, Sylenth, Vangard, Albino & Nexus.
Main FXs GTs - Waves Plugins, Soundtoys, Volcano, FL Native FX.
Hardware - Truths, Echo Audiofire, Virus Snow, & Novation Xio Midi-Synth.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux Unfinished tracks always sound like shit. :P

That's a pretty broad statement. If my initial set of sounds doesn't work really well, I don't proceed with the mix process. If it doesn't sound "release ready" after I've mixed the main loop, I don't waste time turning it into a complete song.