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Track Production Time - How Long?
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| CrowdFound |
Hey all one thing im very interested to know across the board is how long (on average) it takes you to produce a track, from start to finish (including mastering etc)?
I know everyone is different, and individual tracks are different, but im just interested to know your average. |
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| Zombie0729 |
done an entire song in 24hrs(probably one of my best) and still have some in the pipe for more than 12 mos...
there's no way to put a time table on something unless there is a deadline and 3 weeks is usually plenty sufficient for that |
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| Rusty O'Hara |
Quickest: 3:43 seconds.
Longest: 10 years and counting..
Average: A few weeks. |
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| Mr.Mystery |
This has never been asked before...
2 hours to 2 weeks. |
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| CrowdFound |
yeah its interesting, im extremely amatuer when it comes to producing but i have found that i can be stuck without inspiration for ages, then all of a sudden something will work and i get on a roll that will result in a very productive period in a very short period of time.
i read that BT spent 6 months on one track for This Binary Universe, writing the track entirely in CSound - that's intense. |
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| derail |
If it's a remix and I have a pretty clear vision of where I want to take it, the track will be done in around 12-15 hours on average.
About 90% of that time is spread over a weekend, with a touchup after a couple of day's break, then listening to it with fresh ears to see what else it needs, production/sequencing-wise.
In terms of sound, after the initial build of the main loop it doesn't change much. The levels/eqs are pretty much set around 2-3 hours in, then the rest is all the sequencing and production. I find it makes the rest of the process more fun if the track already has that "finished" sound to it.
With original compositions, it takes as long as it takes to get the melodic ideas right. But once the ideas are down, it's pretty quick getting the track done.
It's an interesting process, logging the time spent on each aspect of creating a song. It really lets you know where you're spending a lot of time, and whether the end result is worth that investment of time. It'd be interesting to compare production time breakdowns between producers to see if a producer has worked out a way to get something done in half an hour that takes someone else two hours. Everyone would improve their workflow!
p.s. it used to take me months to get tracks done. A combination of inexperience and lack of quality sounds/tools (meaning I had to work a lot harder - you can still do a great job, but it does take longer). I used to use Reason (and still do, rewired into Cubase along with Live) and it can sound great, but it got to a stage where I was trying to do too much with it. If it had a freeze function to free up CPU resources that would have helped me immensely. These days I use a lot of hardware synths which have great sound capabilities, finding good sounds is crazy quick these days. The Waves analysis tools are great, being able to just throw a frequency analyser onto an instrument's channel and see what's going on is handy. And Cubase, for me personally, does everything I want it to do, in such a quick, intuitive manner. I just love being able to grab the physical audio and do what I want with it.
But yes, I'm probably still spending more time on some aspects of production than other people. I'm sure there are tools out there to speed up some of my processes. |
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| richg101 |
| not usually more than ten hours. this time is usually spread into 4 or five sittings over a two week period. |
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| soundrush |
| quote: | Originally posted by CrowdFound
Hey all one thing im very interested to know across the board is how long (on average) it takes you to produce a track, from start to finish (including mastering etc)?
I know everyone is different, and individual tracks are different, but im just interested to know your average. |
10 hours ;) |
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| Ry Thomas |
| I have finished stuff in about 6-8 hours before but like to hang onto it for 2-3 weeks before i send out to DJ's, then to labels to make sure there is nothing needs changing after my ears have had a small break, also leave a few weeks before final mixdown as i find this makes it a lot easier |
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| sterilis |
| from a few hours to 3 weeks after which i scrap it as i'll be forever tweaking it beyond this point. |
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| zodiac9 |
| I started a vocal remix last thursday, and I pretty much finished it by the following Tuesday. I'm still checking a few levels in the mix, but it's basically done. I'm a little surprised I could knock one out that fast. A remix is a little different though, because you have something to build around. For my original tracks, I can take up to a month, and I usually work on 3 or 4 tracks at a time. I could easily turn out 2 tracks a month. Once you streamline your workflow, things go pretty quickly. |
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| Storyteller |
I roughly spend 40hrs on a track :)
spread over a period of several weeks mostly (2 to 8 in most cases). |
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