Getting your house in order AKA Organisation Skills

[Lucifa]

Right, 6 months into my new desktop PC and i've already amassed over 600 project files again. No completed tracks. HOW DO I BREAK THIS CYCLE GUYS???

It's the same old process thats getting me nowhere. Whenever I read or hear something that intrigues me, I load up my DAW and off the back of that inspiration create a synth/drum pattern/chord progression/atmosphere/bassline. I then save it, contented, move on and never return to it. It's relentless.

I've had a bit of a mini tidy up today. Compiled all my written and processed notes into one fat word document. I've assorted every image/audio/video that invokes inspiration seperate concept folders. Deleted samples I'll never used.

For those who've written and released EPs, were they meticiously planned? Did your tracks develop organically or from pre-written ideas?

I'm out of work until October so it's not like im short for time. But I need advice on how to use it productively instead of fannying about all the time.

[VirtualMark]

If you find out let me know. I've got dozens of unfinished projects! I think we need to force ourselves to finish tracks, no matter how unhappy we get with them.

[Brothulhu]

Self discipline. Just tell yourself to finish one of the projects in x amount of hours and do it no matter how shitty the outcome. I had the same problem last year, didn't finish anything for over 6 months

[Lucifa]

If you find out let me know. I've got dozens of unfinished projects! I think we need to force ourselves to finish tracks, no matter how unhappy we get with them.

Thats the problem for me, think im at the point where my output would be considered decent by most. But just... not enough to stand out from the sea of other 'decent' Dubstep producers about at the moment.

I want to make something that'll grab peoples attention rather then annoymously just blend into any other mix. But with that im really limiting my output, and i reckon i should probably just get over myself and lower my standards a bit.

[Brothulhu]

You don't go from decent to outstanding without finishing tunes. Remember I didn't say anything about sharing the outcome, just get it done, you can improve on it at a later date when you can make it outstanding

[Ledger]

I tend to work on about 5 tracks at a time, only to finish 1 to 0 of them. It takes me time to work on tracks, which is why I hate remix contests. I sort of get inspiration from myself. Like, I'll learn a few tips, or techniques, and attempt to apply them to a new project file, but after a couple of days, I tend to just abandon the project forever. I really need to finish a track.

Lately though, I've mainly just been learning my way in and out of Cubase, FX, and NI Massive, to make more full sounds straight out of the box, to really form my sound.

[twilitez]

Go for a little lowering of the standards. I do that often enough. While i pretty much never make dubstep i think the principle is the same across the board.
A nice track can lean on just a couple of good sounds/ samples, while you obviously need some half decent arrangement around these, just try to push on if your sitting on some sounds that your excited about. Just do it. Insert a generic breakdown sequence, re-use a sweep you made 2 years ago, whatever. At some point you will know whether or its possible to make it good just by keeping working. Im slow with that but getting better

[Lucifa]

You don't go from decent to outstanding without finishing tunes. Remember I didn't say anything about sharing the outcome, just get it done, you can improve on it at a later date when you can make it outstanding

When working on a track i find i'll go from over inflated enthuasiasm to complete dismissal in the space of a bout 3 days. After that I can never rekindle whatever sense of direction i had it. Is it worthwhile progressing to the end when you no longer have any faith in it?

Overall I'm focusing too much on sound design vs composition. Sort of realising now its more how sounds fit into the mix and play off others rather then eaches individual sonic character, and that presets are more than adequate as long as theyre the right preset.

[skimpi]

600 project files and no finished tracks? WUT!?

[Lucifa]

A nice track can lean on just a couple of good sounds/ samples, while you obviously need some half decent arrangement around these, just try to push on if your sitting on some sounds that your excited about. Just do it. Insert a generic breakdown sequence, re-use a sweep you made 2 years ago, whatever. At some point you will know whether or its possible to make it good just by keeping working. Im slow with that but getting better

Another problem i have when coming up with something im really excited about, is not wanting to 'ruin' it with elements that arent up to that standard. All my project files are basically hoarded away until a time i come up with a perfect complement for it, altho clearly i never do.

[Brothulhu]

You don't go from decent to outstanding without finishing tunes. Remember I didn't say anything about sharing the outcome, just get it done, you can improve on it at a later date when you can make it outstanding

When working on a track i find i'll go from over inflated enthuasiasm to complete dismissal in the space of a bout 3 days. After that I can never rekindle whatever sense of direction i had it. Is it worthwhile progressing to the end when you no longer have any faith in it?

Yes, if nothing else it will improve your workflow

[VirtualMark]

If you find out let me know. I've got dozens of unfinished projects! I think we need to force ourselves to finish tracks, no matter how unhappy we get with them.

Thats the problem for me, think im at the point where my output would be considered decent by most. But just... not enough to stand out from the sea of other 'decent' Dubstep producers about at the moment.

I want to make something that'll grab peoples attention rather then annoymously just blend into any other mix. But with that im really limiting my output, and i reckon i should probably just get over myself and lower my standards a bit.

Yeah, that's kinda where I'm at. My early stuff sounded like badly produced generic trash. Now I'm looking to make something that stands out from the crowd, but I find that everything I do sounds rehashed!

I suppose it's all good tho, practice is practice after all.

One thing to try - remix competitions. You get the basis of a track, it's a good starting point and you can add your own stuff.

[Sharmaji]

Dance music LP's generally get planned because they fit into a cycle--ie, we put out a record 18 months ago and have toured around it, we have 4-6 songs that we've written in that time that go off in the dance-- let's see what we can write to create a cohesive set of songs. So there's a certain amount of planning, but a wide-open target for creativity.

on the smaller end-- an 8-bar loop isn't a song idea. create a folder of loops and save those in there. maybe create subfolders as well-- drum loops, synth loops, etc. same goes for synth lines, etc-- they're not songs yet. save them as such.

when you have a song-- something that's got at least 2 sections-- save it as such and BOUNCE IT, with the same title as the project, so that you always have a record of song ideas. keep a playlist in itunes of those and keep up-to-date on what's in there. At the very least, you should know your songs!

in terms of the micro-level in a project-- you can keep various handy loops and presets in your template(s) to make things handy. mute the channels, but maybe keep a channel of a straight kick pattern, one of a backbeat snare, one of 8th note hats, one of claps... that way once you have a melody idea, you can just drag some simple drums under it rather than have to scan for samples and waste time like that. keep various sidechain patterns in there, a channel of white noise, etc, etc.

all very easy and all things to help you stay on target.

[VirtualMark]

Some good ideas Sharmaji!

[Genevieve]

Use the drums, of one file and combine them with the chords and atmospheres of the other and use that to inspire more. And for new drums, use those drumsounds to play a pattern you created in another project file, etc.

If you have 600 project files, there's bount to be about 200 usable ideas in there or maybe like a couple of tunes at least.

[samurai]

I used to keep on amassing project files until I had to finish projects for college. a song has to be finished by a deadline, so you have to finish it. I may not be 100% happy with it, but at least it evolved into something and didn't stay as just another loop.

now I do what Sharmaji was talking about. whenever I open up my DAW to create a drum loop, melody or bassline I just bounce the audio. I don't save the project file. I might spend a couple of hours working on a nice chord sound and drum loop. but like already mentioned that isn't a song. after doing this for close to a year I now have a pretty large folder full of custom sounds. drum hits, drum loops, vocal samples, melodies, etc...

the handy thing about having a large enough collection of samples you've created yourself is that you know you like all the sounds. I know the kind of tracks I know the types of sounds I want to be using in them.

now I don't start a track unless I have a clear idea of what I want to do. and I don't do anything else until I finish it (ie. I don't open up a new project file and start work on a new drum loop the next day). over the past 6 months I've finished 4 tracks. which obviously isn't huge, but for me it's extremely positive as I used to just have countless project files that were loops going nowhere.

on the issue of lowering your standards... well for me I always used to give up on tracks unless they sounded absolutely amazing. as none of my tracks sounded like that it meant I would give up on all of them. now I am trying to finish tracks. make them as best as I can and then move onto the next project. hopefully I should be half-way decent in the next couple of years...