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Start and never finish -anyone else do this? (pg. 2)
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| Villan881 |
Thanks everyone for your replies; I'm glad I'm not alone. Here are some of my responses to your posts:
Rulzz - This is great advice - finish regardless of what you think of it. Better to give birth to ugly and then learn from it than never give birth at all would be my takeaway.
Tehlord - More good advice. The finish line is to the right, not down below. I need to remind myself of that more often.
FSP - When I listen to my old stuff (from a few months to a few years) I often remember what inspired me in the first place and move it along a bit...and then stop again. Sometime soon, I guess a whole lot of tracks are going to pop out...but there again....:o
Kysora - Well, you are very lucky - a completer/finisher is a very rare type of person and much sought after in all walks of life.
Waza - Same here - I start a track and then as it develops, the whole mood can change so that means the chords and melody. Starts out light and ambient; ends up dark and broody.;) |
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| Storyteller |
| quote: | Originally posted by Villan881
Tehlord - More good advice. The finish line is to the right, not down below. I need to remind myself of that more often.
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For me it's the opposite. I do finish on the bottom. No joke. |
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| Subtle |
I always finish tracks that i think has potential to be good.
Those tracks I never finish, werent that good to begin with.
In the end you just have to know what your track needs to be completed. |
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| cryophonik |
I always finish my tracks. However, I differentiate that from just coming up with ideas. I'm constantly coming up with little snippets of ideas that come about from just playing on the piano. I don't really consider them "works in progress", though - they're just basic melodies/progressions that may be from 8 to 32 bars long, but aren't part of a larger arrangement. I just sequence it and store it away for later use. I have a lot of those saved on my computer and they're very useful for getting me out of ruts.
Once I take an idea to the next level, where I'm adding other parts around the melody and arranging it into some sort of structured song, that's when I consider it a WIP and I always finish it. Sometimes it takes days, but usually it's weeks or even months depending on my family/social/work schedule and the availability of the singer, but it always gets completed. It's also a lot easier to finish tracks when you're working with another person, particularly when it's a singer who calls you every day to find out when it's going to be done. ;) |
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| Owsey2008 |
I used to have 100's of unfinished projects. Nowadays, however, I finish everything I start. I have a Piano template set up so I can get some ideas down in the one file and not have lots of different ones all over the place.
I think working only when I'm inspired to do so has seriously cut down all the junk. |
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| Kysora |
| quote: | Originally posted by Owsey2008
I think working only when I'm inspired to do so has seriously cut down all the junk. |
Yeah, definitely, for me the planning stages of making a song probably take longer than actually making the track itself, and that includes waiting for something inspiring
I used to start tracks by laying down a kick and some percussion, then a bassline, maybe a nice textural pad in the background, a melody or two, and then think "now what?". It really helps to at least have a vague idea of what you're doing before you go ahead and dive into making a track |
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| Villan881 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Owsey2008
I used to have 100's of unfinished projects. Nowadays, however, I finish everything I start. I have a Piano template set up so I can get some ideas down in the one file and not have lots of different ones all over the place.
I think working only when I'm inspired to do so has seriously cut down all the junk. |
Yes, I can understand that and have sample files full of "shorts" that I can recycle later but I'm talking about full blown WIP tracks here.
I also have a template for every synth I own so I can step off my track and noodle around with sounds to see if I can get a good fit with my current project. Maybe its there that I go wrong - it takes over!:whip:
:crazy: |
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| Villan881 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Kysora
Yeah, definitely, for me the planning stages of making a song probably take longer than actually making the track itself, and that includes waiting for something inspiring
I used to start tracks by laying down a kick and some percussion, then a bassline, maybe a nice textural pad in the background, a melody or two, and then think "now what?". It really helps to at least have a vague idea of what you're doing before you go ahead and dive into making a track |
Yes, well said, I do too but then I get lost in the detail....
I should admit here that I have been a musician for many years and have a whole wadge of stuff that I have collected hoping to one day finish. Which I sometimes do use.
Peter Gabriel actually employs a full time music archeologist to dig up clips he has recorded going back 15 years to recycle :eyes: |
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| Lolo |
if you cook at times you know that good recipes get even better if you bake them into the oven at lower temperatures, and longer. or even better, you cook them, put them in the fridge and bake them the day after into the oven for a few minutes.
got the idea?
well lemme testify just a little.
I used to be a machine. Like 5 productions a week or even 3 a day. What for? Nothing. At the end of the day, this behaviour put me on unwanted tracks. I touched the wrong audience and now I don't understand it anymore. Why? Not enough detail put into my stuff, not enough belief into my stuff, not enough balls to sell it out like jewels, you get the idea probably?
It has a direct relationship with this thread, because IMHO, time put into something also means time put into researching your own soul. More than a simple therapy.
You need those moments when you can't finish at track but do 10 at once, and keep playing with toys. It's part of the magic, things happen by accident, accidents get translated into new techniques for you, or even for everyone, or maybe not. Crashed drives happen for a reason and sometimes show you the right way, redoing a whole part for just one note happens because you need that one, that's cool after all. Deleting a whole part just because you're in the wrong mood might also be a good thing!
Never ever ever ever underestimate the importance of those moments of doubt, hope, and (un)expectation, and please have them reflected into your music. If everyone keeps bashing today's mood, that's because we'd better spend more time on our stuff, more heart, and think less about a crowd reaction.
I feel guilty and horrible for being one of the first production robots in the business, alongside with others from that period! A very very bad example that I sincerely suggest not to follow. I literally puke on half my discography that I personally judge bland, unimpressive, poor, execrable, disposable. Never again. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lolo
if you cook at times you know that good recipes get even better if you bake them into the oven at lower temperatures, and longer. or even better, you cook them, put them in the fridge and bake them the day after into the oven for a few minutes.
got the idea?
well lemme testify just a little.
I used to be a machine. Like 5 productions a week or even 3 a day. What for? Nothing. At the end of the day, this behaviour put me on unwanted tracks. I touched the wrong audience and now I don't understand it anymore. Why? Not enough detail put into my stuff, not enough belief into my stuff, not enough balls to sell it out like jewels, you get the idea probably?
It has a direct relationship with this thread, because IMHO, time put into something also means time put into researching your own soul. More than a simple therapy.
You need those moments when you can't finish at track but do 10 at once, and keep playing with toys. It's part of the magic, things happen by accident, accidents get translated into new techniques for you, or even for everyone, or maybe not. Crashed drives happen for a reason and sometimes show you the right way, redoing a whole part for just one note happens because you need that one, that's cool after all. Deleting a whole part just because you're in the wrong mood might also be a good thing!
Never ever ever ever underestimate the importance of those moments of doubt, hope, and (un)expectation, and please have them reflected into your music. If everyone keeps bashing today's mood, that's because we'd better spend more time on our stuff, more heart, and think less about a crowd reaction.
I feel guilty and horrible for being one of the first production robots in the business, alongside with others from that period! A very very bad example that I sincerely suggest not to follow. I literally puke on half my discography that I personally judge bland, unimpressive, poor, execrable, disposable. Never again. |
Interesting thoughts. |
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| Beautiful Beast |
@Lolo:
Your discography? Never regret. Your choices then define who you are now.
Thank you for your honest and open response.
BB |
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| Kysora |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beautiful Beast
Your discography? Never regret. Your choices then define who you are now. |
Bull, usually that would make sense but not when you're talking about maturing as a producer and an artist. |
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