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How much do you spend producing per day? Just curious.

A lot/not enough.

Per day is a hard one. Depends if the mood is right, if it is I can produce for up to 3-4 hours solidly. Harder and harder now though with outside life trying to seep into me time.

When I started out I produced for most of a day, but the results weren't anything you'd write home about. I didn't pay any attention to EQ, compression or levelling in the slightest, so it was all just creative time and it seemed to whisk away the hours.

My DAW is always open. If I leave it open long enough, maybe a friendly raccoon will pop in and write something good for me.

not enough. and sadly when there's time, there's no mood/inspiration.

a bit off topic, but have you guys faced the situation where you thought you did something great but somehow stop working on it because you're not fully in the zone and fear you might fuck it up in the next step?

Mushroom Buttons wrote:a bit off topic, but have you guys faced the situation where you thought you did something great but somehow stop working on it because you're not fully in the zone and fear you might fuck it up in the next step?

just do it

multi project files u can always go back even if u could not go back do it

I make a track in a few hours then just loop it over for a few days getting high and making the odd change when things in the track dont feel right. so if getting high counts as production i am doing bare if it dont then not much time at all

(I swear this all has a point) When I was in graduate school (creative writing) a lot of my peers talked about "having to be inspired" or all that "waiting on the muse" bullshit. A lot of them talked about "not being in the mood". The fact is most of those folks dropped out or are rushing to complete their course work and thesis before their six year time limit is up.

I was lucky to have more than a few mentors as an undergraduate and as a grad student who really believed and lived the idea that writing is a practice--you have to do it a lot, you have to write a lot of shit to get anything good.

The same idea applies to music (and not just producing). It's a practice. You have to practice it. Good. Bad. Awful. Genius. You'll have moments of it all and you have to work on it when there is time whether or not you are inspired or in the mood.

@Mushroom: Never have I ever been worried about that. You can always save different versions of the project file. Also, most DAWs have pretty serious Undo/Histories.

@OP: Lately I've been spending up to six hour stretches, which is how I prefer to work, but that is because of FAWM. Before that it was probably like 6-8 hrs a week for the past three-four months broken up however I could make it work. Before I got a bit more serious about it recently I would usually hole up for a week during semester breaks and work for 6-8 hours a day.

Only just started producing recently, but right now: too much time. It's becoming somewhat of an addiction, really.

Mushroom Buttons wrote:a bit off topic, but have you guys faced the situation where you thought you did something great but somehow stop working on it because you're not fully in the zone and fear you might fuck it up in the next step?

hell yea, ahah i thought i was the only one. i would come up with something mental then just be like "oooo shhiiiiiiiiitt" then im like "wtf do I do next" i just think it sounds too good to have anything added to it.

kebnoa wrote:

Mushroom Buttons wrote:a bit off topic, but have you guys faced the situation where you thought you did something great but somehow stop working on it because you're not fully in the zone and fear you might fuck it up in the next step?

just do it

multi project files u can always go back even if u could not go back do it

I make a track in a few hours then just loop it over for a few days getting high and making the odd change when things in the track dont feel right. so if getting high counts as production i am doing bare if it dont then not much time at all

ahahahahah

Sorry, i meant to say that you get a good bit, and then you cant make the rest of the track up to standard. Therefore either ruining the whole track or not continuing at all.

But yeah, back to topic. I agree with "you have to write a lot of shit to get anything good". Every loop/patch/random sound you make, even if you dont use it, will still be a learning process.

Mushroom Buttons wrote:Sorry, i meant to say that you get a good bit, and then you cant make the rest of the track up to standard. Therefore either ruining the whole track or not continuing at all.

But yeah, back to topic. I agree with "you have to write a lot of shit to get anything good". Every loop/patch/random sound you make, even if you dont use it, will still be a learning process.

Yea. I've certainly hit brickwalls with a certain project/tune. I will fight with a tune if I've already put a lot of hours into to it or stuff it in the unfinished bin and come back to it later (that is HUGE fucking bin...). For me it's all about how early I am in the track. In the past I often found myself making a cool sound/beat right off the bat that felt like it could be a center piece for a song then messed about for hours trying to make other stuff work with it. As far as getting tracks "finished" not an effective method. But I learned a lot from those hours fiddling and trying to make shit work.

I'll produce anywhere from 1-5 hours in a day depending on how much of a life i have at any given time..

5am - 12pm

It varies for me. Being an independent contractor I'm usually either swamped for a month or two straight, or producing for two months straight. When I know I'm not gonna work for a while I can go from 7am one day to 3am the next day, and keep repeating this for a few days straight. When I'm busy I don't really want to get sidetracked, so if i have an idea I'll just record a few tracks of humming and beat boxing whatever's in my head at the moment, cause I know if i start adding drums and synths I'll get fired for not showing up.

Averaging about 5 hours a day with more time on my hands this semester. But some days as many as 12 hours.

Between 2 - 3 hours a day I guess, what with work and a family I only ever get the evenings during the week after the kids are in bed...

In hindsight, I really should have learnt my craft when I was single and unemployed! Always 20/20 though innit. I only started taking it seriously a couple years ago and by then I was out of the house 12 hours a day with work and a Dad for the first time, so it's been a slow process for me.

Anyway, enough self flagellating. Fact is I enjoy it immensely, however much time I get, and that is the main thing.

a bit off topic, but have you guys faced the situation where you thought you did something great but somehow stop working on it because you're not fully in the zone and fear you might fuck it up in the next step?

Ha ha yeah, all the time! Get something runnin' and you like 'yeah, that's dope', then you have it on loop just repeating, adjust the EQ on here, close the filter a little there, open the filter again, EQ the bass, undo the EQ of the bass... Ah fuck it. But as another poster said, you just have to do it man, chuck something in there (save first!), go a bit mad with it, sometimes it works, sometimes not, that's the learning process!

Oh, and if you are ever really stuck, get blazed. You stop worrying about fucking things up and just start playing, does wonders for writers block IMO

Whenever the gf leaves me alone for long enough haha
Whoever said about leaving projects for fear of fucking up too right. If ive been working on a tune for hours Id rather leave it a week or whatever and come back with fresh ears for the mixdown. Ear fatigue is a bitch and im very careful about it these days.

Not enough

on an average, 5+ hours easily..