Advice for finishing tracks and not scrapping ideas?

[nowaysj]

I think that Deadmau5's tune Strobe was actually two tunes joined into one, I read it a while back.

Watched a deadmaus related vid and now every fucking suggested video on youtube is f'ing deadmaus, it is like stepping in dog shit that sticks to you and smears everywhere.

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

i would say personally dont give up on old lets say 50-70 percent finished tunes idea wise mixing wise its a matter of time and will to get it to the point you are atm. though ideas with a lower percentage i would say its ok to split cut etc BUT always keep the original file especially with the space you get for low prices i mean you could get two 1tb for like 150 bucks and make one just the back up

i scrap stuff i have no connection to in a way like i make sth and i feel i did this before or this doesnt give me or a possible second person anything. but if you wanna be really causious you could ask people aroudn you for their feedback before deleting. a good test is to ask your mom or dad, sister, brother or sth similar haha they are brutal with feedback most of the time.

but yeah if you wanna finish sth you like but you dont have a last idea you can either make a collabo out of it or think about the rootidea and try to watch movies or listen to similar music or sth taht fits your vibe of this tune. theres a good chance to find sth that could give you the last push to sit down and finish it

edit: sorry for my english and grammar hope its understandable enough

[Simulant]

Watched a deadmaus related vid and now every fucking suggested video on youtube is f'ing deadmaus, it is like stepping in dog shit that sticks to you and smears everywhere.

Go to your Youtube history and delete the deadmau5 vid, that usually sorts it out.

[Gewze]

work as fast as you can then make her beautiful. Thats the only way i got to that stage and now i find my favourite tracks are those made in an hour

[GIMMIK]

Basically force yoursel to finish. I try to get a an entire basic arrangement down before I get carried away w anything else. To me getting down where the track is going in the first session is the most important thing. After that I can come back to the track wo feeling ive lost the vibe.

Also...I hate to advocate drug use...but a three beer buzz helps me get arrangement down...gets rid of those "I suck" inhibition s

I agree with the beer thing. Ive noticed that not only in production but mixing, playing an instrument etc etc a little buzz helps your confidence which ends of giving you a much more solid sound. Its because your brain isnt second guessing itself and its allowing the creative juices to flow freely.
Im not saying become an alcoholic but a few beers when you feel the juices runnin low definitely has helped me.
Also a good sativa helps boost your creativity.
I also agree with getting a barebones arrangement out. You can always come back and add sound fx or tweak things. I usually write up to the end of the first drop of whatever Im working on and then come back and write the rest later.

[3za]

I agree with the beer thing. Ive noticed that not only in production but mixing, playing an instrument etc etc a little buzz helps your confidence which ends of giving you a much more solid sound. Its because your brain isnt second guessing itself and its allowing the creative juices to flow freely.
Im not saying become an alcoholic but a few beers when you feel the juices runnin low definitely has helped me.
Also a good sativa helps boost your creativity.

I would disagree with mixing/production (if by any of them things you mean mixing down), when mixing you don't want to be under the influence of anything that alters your perception. You need to be able to hear what is exactly going on, and what you need to implement to fix. At the creative stage (sound design, composition) being a altered state may be beneficial, but once you get to mixing you need to be able to actually hear whats going on.

When mixing you shouldn't be second guessing your self, and you should be confident in your knowledge, equipment, and experience. Like you should listen back to the track, and be like the snare is lacking around 2khz, so I need to boast around there with this eq etc. If your not at this stage, you need to keeping working on it till you are. Though this is much easier when working on other peoples mixes, when I mix someone else track, straight away I will think it need this, and it need that, so I need to do this, and that. Then when you start listing to individual tracks you might notice a few other thing, like some weird noise that needs taking out of one of the tracks, like bleed from hihats.

With you own stuff it's harder to be like this, as you been working on it for ages in the same environment, but there are way to combat that;
1. Stem your tracks, so your now thinking like a mixing engineer .
2. Don't listen to your track for extended period before mix down.
3. Use your main monitors only to mix (do creative shit on headphones, hifi, shitty monitors)
4. Borrow your friends, uncles, colleges Monitors to mix (though you need regular access to them, and have listen to lost of reference material on them)
5. Get a second opinion from your friend, uncle, tutor, or even do the mix together, and then do their mixs with them.

[NinjaEdit]

An experiment that shows alcohol improves creativity.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/22/h ... reativity/

But yes, alcohol and drugs also affect the inner ear.

[_Agu_]

I think that Deadmau5's tune Strobe was actually two tunes joined into one, I read it a while back.

Watched a deadmaus related vid and now every fucking suggested video on youtube is f'ing deadmaus, it is like stepping in dog shit that sticks to you and smears everywhere.

Every time I hear this type of tunes or some 10min psy-trance tracks with variation through whole track, I think like "how the fuck these guys can do it?". I've got problems getting myself together to make chorus2 being anyhow different from chorus1.

[Eskimo]

Lay down the tune quickly, then when it's over halfway done do the technical part, fix the drum sounds, add more samples/change samples etc. I find that when I get into the technical bit too quickly, I won't finish the tune.

[Walrustown]

Everyone's pretty much covered it from every possible angle I find it best to set aside at least 5 hours for a writing session and bust out a complete arrangement, then come back in a further 1-2 sessions to do the fiddly stuff. If the track just isn't working after five hours you can either save out the project and gut it for parts, or you can try taking away elements until you reach a comfortable open space with a groove that you can look at with a fresher perspective.

The trick is not to try and force something that just isn't working. Use the best parts of that work and move forward and also beer.