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Wuss good yall? This is an issue that all musician's share and has been getting some attention around here lately so I figured I'd rig up a thread.

A technique that I've found worked well for advancing tracks is to go into your projects folder and sort it by date modified. Then open up the track that's gone the longest without any attention. Listen to it through once and try to come up with one thing to add or change. It could be adding a whole new instrument or section, making a variation on a part or just "Oh shit why do I have those hats up so high?" Once you've made your change go back to your projects folder, go to the next track and do the same thing.
I find you lose objectivity after working on a project for a long time. By constantly cycling through your tracks you're hearing things for the first time in a while, and because you're not spending too long on each track you don't get bored writer's block. It's also helpful for mixing; With every listen through, your ears get more accustomed to hearing the track a certain way and it becomes harder for you to spot imperfections in the mix. Cycling through your tracks one after another (with reference tracks in between) helps you compare them to one another, and ideas from one project may flow over into another. Also by starting with the oldest modified songs, you're keeping your ideas from falling out of sight and becoming yet another file you scroll past on your hard drive.

Another trick for coming up with ideas is to try to hum, beatbox or vocalize the track in some way while you go make a sandwich or something. Even just tapping your hands or moving your body in some way to the rhythm in your head. You'll often find yourself humming new lines or coming up with new rhythms and it's a good way to get into the track more and focus on its essence. The part that someone would whistle or hum is going to be the focus of the song. If there's nothing you can vocalize, bang on a soup can to, dance or otherwise groove to, then there's something missing. By focusing your attention on some other minute task and letting your brain jam out to the track in your head, your subconscious can take over and fill in the blanks that were blocked out for your conscious mind.
Who knows, you might come up with a primo bassline while havin a wank

Anybody else have any ideas for generating new ideas and getting past writers' block? (g'wan now's ya time to drop a ham vst reference)

turn off the net, cell, tv any outside distractions
become a hermit and focus on it
won't work if you don't have the desire or motivation

Take a few days off from making beats, go out or mong out just don't keep grinding at it if you're getting no where. I find after a good solid week of doing tunes I just need to take a break or my motivation goes out the window.

lp wrote:Take a few days off from making beats, go out or mong out just don't keep grinding at it if you're getting no where. I find after a good solid week of doing tunes I just need to take a break or my motivation goes out the window.

a simple walk or bike ride or hike in nature does wonders

I make myself listen to the tracks I am working on over & over again..

Hearing a half-finished track is pretty annoying to me (whether it be poor mixing, ideas not fully hashed out, bad instrument voicing, etc)... so by making myself listen to it several times, it drives me to actually fix the track so that it finally sounds like what I have in my head.

That is also how I usually know when a track is done - not only does it not annoy me anymore, but it is actually enjoyable for me to listen to (rather than be a shopping list of what needs fixing). It works though - without having to go back to the project files, I could pretty much tell you exactly what needs fixing in every single track I am currently working on (approx 20+?) off the top of my head.

Don't bun in the studio (not implying that you all do). I do and it undoubtably delays me finishing things (as I always get creative and just want to write new things) and also zones you into specific frequencies and sounds so you end up tweaking shit that was perfect before hand!

Work with other people. Obviously collabing all the time isn't ideal or wanted, but I found workign with people (especially those who are F/T musicians) has helped me gain focus on what it is I'm doing and what the end game is. Then I transfer this into my personal production time.

I still take about 2-3 months to finish a tune though.

work on multiple things at a time. go back every month and listen to shit that fell by the wayside. if it's got an idea that was better represented in another tune (ie, the great Dave Sharma battle of the skittering kick drums of 2008), TOSS THE SHIT ONES OUT. otherwise, skim them for good ideas and leave the carcasses in your trash folder.

empty trash.

repeat.

thankyoucomeagain

Sharmaji wrote:thankyoucomeagain

"HELLOPLEASE" <---- if you've been to India you know that one

I find the best way to finish tunes is to create the main business (the drop) first.. then get into your arrangement... walk away, give the tune 24 hours

finish mixing down after your ears have had a break

SunkLo wrote: Another trick for coming up with ideas is to try to hum, beatbox or vocalize the track in some way while you go make a sandwich or something. Even just tapping your hands or moving your body in some way to the rhythm in your head. You'll often find yourself humming new lines or coming up with new rhythms and it's a good way to get into the track more and focus on its essence. The part that someone would whistle or hum is going to be the focus of the song. If there's nothing you can vocalize, bang on a soup can to, dance or otherwise groove to, then there's something missing. By focusing your attention on some other minute task and letting your brain jam out to the track in your head, your subconscious can take over and fill in the blanks that were blocked out for your conscious mind.

^ This

pete bubonic wrote:Don't bun in the studio (not implying that you all do). I do and it undoubtably delays me finishing things (as I always get creative and just want to write new things) and also zones you into specific frequencies and sounds so you end up tweaking shit that was perfect before hand!

^ And this for sure!

dont get married or have kids

just force your self. other wise you'll be jamming on the loop again for another 5 hours

Ok.. here's what I tend to do as far as a timeline .. (assuming you have a kick and a snare)

hammer out the main body of the track as quickly as you can while the creative vibe is still fresh and exciting, trust yourself that you will be able to make your synths sound super banging later on. Get the riff down and the main synth lines dialed, dont worry too much about processing, instead spend that creative power on making the riff as interesting and dynamic as possible. After I have say a 64 bar loop going, I start to work on synth edits and drum edits to liven it all up. Ok... now I go back and process each synth so that it sounds as dirty/grimy/elegant as it can be, and I'll usually give all the bass synths some sort of master processing to make them sound slightly similar (overdrive / bitcrush - subtly).

At this point the song may start to make itself. Certain synths you have already created do interesting things when changing octaves or attack / decay speeds or whatever, so experiment with these and you may find that there is an obvious breakdown just waiting to be midi'd in. Ideally I will have created up to the breakdown part in the first day. It is nice to come back to it the next day that you can produce and start a fresh section using the sounds that you have already created. It gives my brain a chance to be more objective about what I have already made and where I need to go. Usually at this point the track either builds itself or the opposite occurs where I have to struggle to put anything down that I like. I will often emulate breakdowns that I enjoy from other genre's of music, especially drum n bass.
TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP -> have a pen and paper handy and write down changes you want to make, but dont necessarily make those changes right away. It takes your focus away from the section you are currently working on. If you hate your HH's yet you are working on your breakdown, stay focused, write down what you hate and attack that later. This will help for two obvious reasons. 1 - you stay focused on the section, 2- because you are trying to work on a particular section, if you do go back and make changes on something else, they will often be rushed.

Once you have the meat and the potatoes (drop and breakdown) you can build all your little breakdowns/intros/outros/.

OKOK we have a tune, and it has taken probably 3 production days. Now time for edits and making all the changes you have written down. Spend a whole day on this because the details are what will make your tunes exciting and will add to the re-listen-ablitity (if that is a word).

DAY 5,6 - MIXING MIXING MIXING, mix it down as best as you can on your monitors, then listen on headphones, then listen on ear buds, then listen in your car, then listen while you are making lunch. You will and I stress WILL find some sounds that need tweaking in the mix, and you wouldn't have known this if you hadn't used a variety of sound sources.

LAST TIP: bounce things out if you like them. Often you are correct on you decisions yet you come back later and your mood has changed and you spend two hours modifying the synths when really they were great to start with. Bounce them because it gives you incentive to keep them as they were when you were originally feeling the vibe of the track.

CALL IT STAMPED, go have a pint and talk to some women.

CHEERS - BOOMBOOMCLAP

Soundcloud

paradigm x wrote:dont get married or have kids

my kid has never stopped from finishing a tune...

however her mothe has made several attempts to stop the productions

that is why she's lonely now

great thread

BBC wrote:hammer out the main body of the track as quickly as you can while the creative vibe is still fresh and exciting

^ this is what i came into here to post

best motivation i've found for finishing tunes is that it's the only way you can actually measure your progress. you might think all those ideas you have hanging around your hard drive are getting better but until you have a finished mastered tune that you can shutdown your DAW and listen to on your audio player how can you really know?

mc wayne wrote:just force your self.

this works. sometimes i have to finish 10 subpar tunes to get 1 sick tune but i always finish em. i never start a track that doesnt get finished. thats my rule.

Don't force yourself, take your time, If you have talent it should be a natural process. Don't rush and don't be too much of a perfectionist because at the end of the day, if it sounds good, that's all that matters.

Get the right amount of sleep and exercise, stay hydrated. The more you do, the better your frame of mind.

Most of all, have fun with it and enjoy it. Remember the reason you started making tunes in the first place. This should be enough to motivate you.

oh that's nice!

thanks for this thread!

@ BBC

Cheers mate those are some great tips,def gotta start doing this in the future i fucking spend way to long perfecting that synth and doing the processing on til im out of creative juices for making the song... and I go for that Pint way too early too.

i have an habit of not finishing my beats. ive got 3 im workin on now and im not gonna start another till ive finished at least too. Alot of the stuff i do is just fukin around practising sheet.