8 bars. Hasn't changed in 30 years.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

i can understand where your coming from as i find it hard to finish anything, once i get over the initial buzz - and especially if i reference with something that sounds great.

I do think that finishing tracks is important as its the only way to learn about arrangement / final mix downs etc. Whether you get it released or not is up to you, but by finishing stuff it helps your own development.

As you mentioned confidence is a big issue - if you have confidence (for good reason) in your music then you will finish it as you know it sounds good and someone will like it.

Perhaps its an idea to study other peoples arrangements if this is a particular issue?

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https://soundcloud.com/cj-marshall-2

http://soundcloud.com/auroraproject

A lot of good responses so thanks. I think the night I wrote that I had been drinking tequila, but I'm glad I wrote it. I agree that being able to hear what sucks, I know it is a necessary skill which I've had for a while, which is why I've been giving feedback and constructive criticism on this website for over half a decade. A lot of producers I've helped with feedback have gotten better, some haven't, either way, I was always honest and if it sounded truly awful I would tell them. There are few tracks on here where I simply was in awe and left them such words that it was amazing and I just loved it to death, but it has happened.

Personally I think it's a feeling that there are certain elements of my productions I know for a fact I can improve and make better. That's because I started working in FruityLoops 10 years ago, and since then there have always been things I've found that I needed and had to improve and I've had success in every single area. Some took dramatically longer to improve than others, but generally speaking if I tried hard and was very persistent that area of production would improve.

It may also be a lack of discipline, which is also something else I've been struggling with. When I'm in the mood, working on tracks is one of the most enjoyable things I can do besides partying, drugs or sex... that primal euphoria. However, I have noticed that linearly speaking, my level of enjoyment become disproportionate to the amount of time I spend on a track. Right when the idea starts to emerge and all of my elements start to come together and I've been lots of work into it, and I can loop an 8 bar and it feels solid, dancable and professional, it's the most rewarding and fun part. Now once I start to try and arrange that into intro, chorus, verse, outro, whatever, it becomes such a pain, and instead of opening up that track in my DAW the next day I will start a new track, seeking that original feeling of fun, enjoyment and satisfaction.

My usage of the word perfection was misused, too. I don't really mean the perfect track because I don't believe a perfect track exists. What I mean is maybe a finer, more professional and artistic development of my style and workflow to know how I want the arrangement and production to sound, and be able to sit down and execute it without getting super bored or uninspired once I spend too long working on a track. I feel like I'm so close to that point it's surreal, because like I mentioned about using DAWs and "making music" for 10 years, I'm only 24 now and even though it took me this long, I think every moment was worth it because I spent all the necessary time on each element to nurture it.

So my overall feeling about this now is that there may be a few things I can work on to improve like style and arrangement and overall song writing, but that it's not an excuse to wait any longer to start releasing my tracks. I'm not trying to make perfect tracks that satisfy everyone, stuff I've made get certain people really excited, but not others, and vice versa when they've heard something else I've done. It would just be a step in the right direction to demonstrate I'm serious about making dance music by not being lazy, and finishing productions, instead of just trying to constantly have "fun" -- and do some actual fucking work.

I can spend another year or so perfecting my craft? I'm great at what I do but I need to be a little better for me to be personally satisfied. Why struggle with "perfection"? Some producers are like that where they never feel satisfied with the end result and they don't know when to stop...

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney 8 bars. Hasn't changed in 30 years.

What, since 12 bar blues?

i have like 3 categories of tracks:

A) Good ones, i don't feel they need major changes.
B) Tracks that have potential and i ask for feedback to see if something can be done to fix them
C) Experimental stuff that i keep to myself, sometimes i show it to other people and they give me ideas to rearrange them in a more fashionable way.

Thing is that you should finish your stuff and classify it, some tracks will be beatport worthy, others won't and others even though they don't meet the current standards to be released, are great pieces of music and you should consider to give them for free and create a following nevertheless.

quote:

Originally posted by LoveHate you know the bar it is that you have to reach and wont settle for less,

reading this again, thanks... totally agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Rodri Santos Thing is that you should finish your stuff and classify it, some tracks will be beatport worthy, others won't and others even though they don't meet the current standards to be released, are great pieces of music and you should consider to give them for free and create a following nevertheless.

True that... true true.