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Trouble finishing tunes. Any tips?
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| ralpheeee |
Hi TA!
I have been producing for about 1 yr now. I have a problem where I can almost never finish a track.
What tends to happen is I start something, it sounds cool, I keep adding more and more VST's turning it into a big melting pot of sounds but then i kind of lose focus.
Instead of progressing and sequencing I just sort of play and jam and mess with the filters. Eventualy i get sick of it and start something new and the cycle starts again.
So, how do y'all finish your tracks, any advice or stories would be cool.
:cool: |
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| armanivespucci |
| Take lots of breaks. If you listen to your track too much you'll hear imperfections. I'm working on my perfectionism myself... |
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| DJ Shibby |
| quote: | Originally posted by ralpheeee
Hi TA!
I have been producing for about 1 yr now. I have a problem where I can almost never finish a track.
What tends to happen is I start something, it sounds cool, I keep adding more and more VST's turning it into a big melting pot of sounds but then i kind of lose focus.
Instead of progressing and sequencing I just sort of play and jam and mess with the filters. Eventualy i get sick of it and start something new and the cycle starts again.
So, how do y'all finish your tracks, any advice or stories would be cool.
:cool: |
Same thing happens to me.
Tons of material waiting to be finished. |
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| ralpheeee |
| quote: | Originally posted by armanivespucci
Take lots of breaks. If you listen to your track too much you'll hear imperfections. I'm working on my perfectionism myself... |
Yeah, I hear u there, I'm always getting accused of being a perfectionist, but hey, I'd rather that than being called sloppy. |
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| Speactra |
Best tip imo is to take a long break, try 1 week, 2 weeks and so on...
It works for me. I got so much inspiration when I come back :tongue2 |
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| ralpheeee |
| quote: | Originally posted by Speactra
Best tip imo is to take a long break, try 1 week, 2 weeks and so on...
It works for me. I got so much inspiration when I come back :tongue2 |
Cripes, thats a long break, maybe I'll try working on a few different ones at a time, do one for a few days then start another and another and another.... |
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| Axolotyl |
Try working on multiple tracks at once and alternate between them.
Also keep your sounds raw, even if your going for a squeaky clean track. If you over program your sounds, they will end up sounding dull and lifeless. A bit of grit here and there is what makes a good track imho.
Render parts out to audio as soon as you can. You get a better picture of how it will really sound in the mix and makes you commit to the idea of the track. |
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| mzvirbulis |
one thing i have found dont add too much to the mix! focus on what you are doing at the moment. so say once your nearly finished with the percussion then move on!
but basically you haVE to figure that out as a producer for yourself so you know your work flow. everyone has different methods.
i have the same trouble and have just started since july 2005. man its a tuff road but if you love it then learn it.
dont think you have to make your best track within a certin time period and that you need to be pro in 2 years, it will only come with time/determination/talent.
ohh yeah and take a break every now and then!
i like master my tracks on the fly, cause i need to see where they fit in the mix.
who said tons of unfinished material was bad, if not its a good thing to be honest. one day you will learn to finish one that makes you happy! |
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| Low Profile |
I often do the same thing but I've been working on my arrangements for the last few months...
I often have the same problem you have, I make 20 instruments and blend them all together, making a big puddle of mud, but what I've realized is that you should space everything out. Keep the main melody playing / bass / basic percussion, and then have one or two sub-melodies playing at a time, don't just throw more and more stuff into the pile until everything is a blur (this also gives you more stuff to use for breakdowns and outros :) )
Finish the track any way you can! If you're sick of it, then just try grabbing some breaks from the intro and reusing them for an outro. This way you'll have a complete track but it may not be that great, but now you can listen to the whole thing and decide what you want to change (it's easier to have something and change it to you liking rather than building from scratch). |
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| DJ_RoKo |
omg, story of my life, i know exactly what you mean except i dont really add more and more instruments, i more just make like a little demo of the song, like i make a main melody, bass and percs and maybe a sub-melody and make it sound decent and make like a fragment from the middle of the song, then because of the way i set everything up and arranged it i cant be stuffed changing it around and setting it up neat so i can turn it into an auctual track.
because of this i have sooo many unfinished projects its not funny, theres probably a few good ones in there too. its only been in the last 6 months that i've been doing this heaps and heaps, but its probably over this period of time that my production skills have gotten alot better.
i've found that if i try and keep things a little more basic it helps and like someone else mentioned keepin it raw, but also i think this happens to me alot because most of these projects set out as experiments, like tweaking a good synth or perfecting some percs, so what i've started to do is create experimental projects seperate from my new song projects and bounce all the good elements from my experiments to a folder, that way when im looking at starting a new song project i can go through that folder and extract the elements i want to put in my new project. helps keep it clean and easier to arrange. i only just started doing this but i think its working ok.
good luck and i hope we get past it because its a very bad habit.
(it pisses the f*kin outta me)
peace
robb-sonykc))) |
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| ralpheeee |
Hey RoKo!
Good to see another Adelaide boy on here.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I think it like everything else is just a matter of time and effort.
I will be making an experimental folder tho, that I think is a good idea, just pop all my bits in there for use later maybe. |
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| Aquarian |
I get the same thing. Only about 1 out of 50 tracks I ever start make it to the point of completetion.
| quote: | Originally posted by armanivespucci
Take lots of breaks. If you listen to your track too much you'll hear imperfections. I'm working on my perfectionism myself... |
This is the best advice I've ever had in my entire producing experience. It sounds like nothing, but it really helps ALOT. Let it go for two or three days without hearing it or even thinking about it. Listen to other stuff, other genres of music even. When you come back to it, it'll sound nothing like you remembered. |
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