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Hey guys. Just wondering what would the average number of tracks be for a finished tune?
Currently I am feeling that I have enough parts for the final product but am peaking at about 30 tracks say 15 or so drums versus 15 or so other pieces (instruments, FX and so on).
But my gut is telling me that this is just not nearly enough for a final professional product.
Listening to the new BrEaCh, XXXY and Route 94 stuff it feels like the productions are very simplified however it is still very full and busy.
Any advice on filling out the tracks or adding various points of interest? Or is just a case of practice and learning various tricks and tips?
Obviously I have started using more than 2-3 hat sounds, more than 1-2 snare sounds and making my drums more full and interesting but I think I get stuck on the FX and other elements.
Anyways. TL;DR. Help me. Am I over thinking things?

Don't worry too much about it. If you look at an average pack of remix stems etc you'll usually have around 7-8 tracks. Most of the fx will be bunched into one though, but the point is there isn't too much going on at the same time in the track.

If it sounds like something is missing in your tune, you might need to add some stuff. Or just fill out what you've got. But you don't need to be counting, that's just overthinking. Add some sweeps, white noise can work wonders for taking up space if you feel it's needed. Put some reverb in there, fill it out with some pads.

Smack a wet delay on some cool synth/one shot/sample, bounce 15 (or something) seconds of the delay and use that as a downsweep, throw it in here and there, or reverse it and have it as a riser. Take some percussion hits, pitch up/down, reverb, pan left/right. I like to heavily sidechain a crash with some reverb and pan it out, fills up the track nicely.

Why 15 drum tracks??? Sounds messy, get ableton and use drum racks or I'm sure your DAW has some kind of racks. I have like 4/5 drum tracks. Overall tracks I usually have around 30-50.

changler wrote:Am I over thinking things?

Yes.

When I used to make House and Hardcore I would usually have around 30 tracks but now I'm making Funky and Dubstep I usually have between 12 - 20 tracks, good use of effects and composition will fill out your tracks!

sometimes 4 if i'm mixing a hiphop record.

sometimes 200+ plus if it's a full pop thing w/ tons of vocal parts and effects.

if I put every percussion sound in its own track it'd probably get to 25? Instead its more like 15.

I average between 8-15.
But that because i do all my drums in maschine and bounce audio to ableton.
So i guess without maschine I would have more tracks.

The song in my sig only has four tracks. Its not a masterpiece, but it can be done.

I'm looking at around 30-40

usually 30-40 track + a few aux..
BUT! most of them are "useless" in the sense that I don't like to have too much automation for levels and ambiance effects, so I end up duplicating/splitting the part it to make the mixing and dynamic clearer/easier.

It depends on the project and its dynamic.

Usually ~150. Probably only 80-100 are used in the final track though

Definitely over thinking.

If it sounds good with 10 tracks then you only need 10 tracks. If it takes you 70 to get the sound you're after, then that's how many you needed. Tracks are just a means to an end.

It's like painting or drawing.
You use various colors to produce shading, texture, etc.

OfficialDAPT wrote:Why 15 drum tracks??? Sounds messy, get ableton and use drum racks or I'm sure your DAW has some kind of racks. I have like 4/5 drum tracks. Overall tracks I usually have around 30-50.

I like to separate all my drum hits so I can mix them all separately. EQ them separately and so on. I found having them all bunched together was just messy for me. I used to use drum racks but now I generally either have the hits in audio or a Simpler just because I find it easier.

Cheers for the responses as well. Def just gotta stop thinking too much and do it. Need to get better at FX and at using plug ins effectively to add interest.

Coming back to this in the less flippant light of day, my standard project will start out with 12 drum tracks (3 kick, 3 snare, 3 hats, 3 'other') which are then sub bussed into element mixes and then bussed overall into a 'drums' mix.

But that's not to say I'll want to use all 12 that are available...a lot of them will remain empty so that I can play around to taste as things progressed with layering etc.

I'd say maybe 4 is my bottom end limit for stuff I've actually finished, though my final post-mixdown project will have around the 6/7 mark depending on what's going on. Don't think I've ever had more than 20 though.

OfficialDAPT wrote:Why 15 drum tracks??? Sounds messy, get ableton and use drum racks or I'm sure your DAW has some kind of racks. I have like 4/5 drum tracks. Overall tracks I usually have around 30-50.

Not really, it doesn't sound messy, it sounds okay. Changing your DAW is not the answer here.

As Shamarji said, it's not about how many tracks you have. Sometimes you'll have 5, other times 250+ (especially when doing soundtrack orchestral stuff).

Not sure my machine would cope with 250 tracks


Though I've not tested it...

Electric_Head wrote:It's like painting or drawing.
You use various colors to produce shading, texture, etc.

Exactly How many colors do you use on an average for a finished painting?

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