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I was wondering how much do you guys/girls repeat the song u are working on when producing? I am repeating it like atleast once every time I do a bigger change just to hear so that everything fits together =P my producing is probably like 70% repeating the song

I'll literally just have the whole song on loop. Have it going on in the background till there's something that strikes me as standing out and then I stop, adjust it and then go back to looping

sometimes i just have to step a away after it playing for so long

i usually get to the point where by the time i have finished the song i can't stand it

elyhess wrote:sometimes i just have to step a away after it playing for so long

Its always good to take short breaks and give your ears some time to reset. We have a knack for killing the "magic" of a song listening to it over and over ad nauseum. So if you find yourself just looping the same thing over and over without making too much changes, its a good idea to take a break.

I have it on loop too, plus it's techno so it's repetitive on it's own.

Usually have it on loop all the way through, though sometimes I'll loop x amount of bars and work on a part. By the time
I finish that though my brain kinda wants to explode. I also find that looping segments can sometimes cause me to mess up the flow or synergy. My process is kind of all over the place right now. I try to bust out a good chunk and move to the car and give it a listen on different speakers, then usually right back into it. Sometimes ends up with crazy dreams of my song looping over and over but something is always wrong... So it repeats more. Hahaha. Yeah, I've found myself getting sick of my songs, especially certain parts. After I feel like that I'll start a new one or Skyrim.


How loud do you usually have things? I'll end up starting quiet and by the end of a sesh I've cranked it again. I need to be nicer to my ears.

ehbrums1 wrote:i usually get to the point where by the time i have finished the song i can't stand it

pretty much this

I try not to listen to my music while I'm making it. It distracts me.

mks wrote:I try not to listen to my music while I'm making it. It distracts me.

What is your typical process for laying things out if you do it this way? Do you start with your biggest loop and pick it apart from there?

I reckon he uses that book Oprah went on about, The Excrete or something.

gwest wrote:Sometimes ends up with crazy dreams of my song looping over and over

That's called the 'Tetris effect'. Maybe an audio equivalent of it anyway. If someone plays Tetris for hours, when they go to sleep they can dream of falling blocks.

Anyway I play my tunes in sections, every now and again I'll play it through from start to finish. I also suffer from hating the tune by the time I'm finished though. I tried making two at once, swapping between them, but I end up getting really into one as my ideas develop, and thus I now have a load of half finished tunes.

I play my tunes all the time.
Everything needs to work in the context of everything.

If you can`t enjoy your own music then what`s the point?
I currently have a 15 track LP of my own on repeat.

ehbrums1 wrote:i usually get to the point where by the time i have finished the song i can't stand it

Haha this is so true, I try to minimize the time I listen to my track while creating it, otherwise I feel like I block my own creativity and can't really think of what goes next.

I listen to my tracks in 8 bar loops at a time, if i spend more than 5 minutes producing an 8 bar loop i'll go back to the last 32 and listen from there so I can get some context. If you get stuck in a loop for too long you lose sight of the bigger picture.

Raziel wrote:I listen to my tracks in 8 bar loops at a time, if i spend more than 5 minutes producing an 8 bar loop i'll go back to the last 32 and listen from there so I can get some context. If you get stuck in a loop for too long you lose sight of the bigger picture.

^ So true

I use ableton, so I usually use the session view to create a few melodies and whatnot looping usually 4 or 8 bars, then I go into arrangement view and basically have the whole thing on repeat. Sometimes I'll loop it without the intro though just because of time

I try not to listen too much.
I will play it like 3 or 4 times for context
and then mute the channels and try and write
the next part by itself.
If you write in key and have an decent amount of music theory
knowledge it's not the hardest to do.
Also, this way I have a bunch of elements that if need be
are melodically and rythmically able to stand on there own
since they were written that way.

lowpass wrote:I'll literally just have the whole song on loop. Have it going on in the background till there's something that strikes me as standing out and then I stop, adjust it and then go back to looping

ehbrums1 wrote:i usually get to the point where by the time i have finished the song i can't stand it

ehbrums wins.