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Finishing tracks?
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| deceptikon |
| 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! |
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| 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." |
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| dj_kane |
| 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. |
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| deceptikon |
| I think I'll just give System F - Out Of The Blue a bashing then get back to my own stuff. Cheers guys :) |
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| 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. |
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| dj_kane |
| 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. |
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| djsphere |
| 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 :happy2: |
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| deceptikon |
| 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. |
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| zodiac9 |
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. |
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| Zombie0729 |
| 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 :) |
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| rounser |
| 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. |
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| Thomas Radman |
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. |
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