Finishing tracks

[hayze99]

I'm certain this is a problem with quite a lot of people. It's the fact that I can get up to about 2 songs 90% completed in a day, but I can never actually finish them. I'm either too fatigued to be able to finish it right and get to a point where everything I do makes it sound worse, or just get so sick of the song that it all sounds shit by the end of it. I try coming back later, but I still feel, agh, I'd be a lot more amused if I just started another new one. The mastering is not what gets to me, it's the finetuning of everything, making sure everything's in the right place, cutting samples, etc.

Opinions...

[86.]

I was saying this in another thread...sampling parts of your unfinished shit and finding a place for it in your new tune can be helpful. like 3 seconds of the lead...etc.

[nowaysj]

I just don't even finish tracks, not for years. Just sketches. Its more fun. But you have to ask yourself, do you want to finish tracks? If you really do, then you're gonna have to man up, and realize that you're not 90% done with the track, you're more like 50% done, and there is a whole world of pain waiting for you on the other side of doing it for real.

[youthful_implants]

Learning to finish tunes is all about being able to objectively critique them without others approval.

I used to get so wrapped up in the track, I lost sight of it altogether and hence wasn't very good at finishing them to a satisfactory standard and was then disappointed when other people pointed out what was wrong with it.

Finishing a track properly comes with practice and experience - its all about knowing what you need to do to, to take it from being good to great.

If you spend too long listening to it, you'll never finish it. Give it a break, for an hour maybe even a day.

Listen to how other people finish their arrangements. Does it go bang at the end, or out with a whimper? Does it have a breakdown, or does it just keep rolling?

Its just about making arbitrary but correct decisions at the end of day, and that should be a fun process.

[dj.ik]

I know what you by everything new added just sounds s**t.

I tend to find that less is more, especially if the sounds fit nicely into the spectrum. If I get to the point where adding extra tracks just sound crappy, I'll take a good look at what I've got and see how I can edit those parts to sound different, perhaps a different sound, tweak the synth modulation, add another patterns, switch up the arrangement, add/change the percussion sounds, send tracks to new fx groups, etc...

I recently set my mind to finishing tracks and the biggest thing that helped me was once I got a loop, to 'track' out the song from start to end, for example, (and I mean EXAMPLE, not saying this is the structure for all/or any of my tracks) intro, buildup, section 1, 2, break down, build up, section 3, 4, and outro....then work to that outline.

[yunomi donchu]

I'm certain this is a problem with quite a lot of people. It's the fact that I can get up to about 2 songs 90% completed in a day, but I can never actually finish them. I'm either too fatigued to be able to finish it right and get to a point where everything I do makes it sound worse, or just get so sick of the song that it all sounds shit by the end of it. I try coming back later, but I still feel, agh, I'd be a lot more amused if I just started another new one. The mastering is not what gets to me, it's the finetuning of everything, making sure everything's in the right place, cutting samples, etc.

Opinions...

I had the same problem. Until i discovered how friggin fun mixing a tune is!
I start a tune and start two others along a few days. So i can work on mutliple tunes to overcome the things you mention.
Then when they are finished i start mixing them one by one.
It really helps to overcome the urge to start something new anytime.
Another tip i can give you is how bad do you want to get your music out?
If you never finish a tune you'll be 80 and say:
"Damn why didn't i finish any tunes? I wasted all these years with making unfinished tunes what a waste, i could be famous now.. "

Just push yourself and try to like mixing a tune more then making it!

[nowaysj]

Nah, when you're 80 you'll be wondering who shit in your pants.

Have fun while u can.

[Sinus Sawtooth]

collab!!!