Interesting videos on Self Editing and Finishing

BlueGreenSpiral

Curious to hear how others approach this? I have so many half finished things.
More truthfully I only have half finished things

CracklePot

Thanks for sharing those. Now i don't feel so bad about hardly ever recording myself when I am jamming/dabbling. Saved myself the trouble of having to dump all that junk.

As far as finishing goes, as long as you can still work on something it is never "finished." Deadlines just let you stop for now, but when someone comes back changes or to rework something to bring it up to date, you are working on it again. The only thing that makes something finished is that it is literally impossible to work on it anymore, otherwise there is always the possibility of doing more. Just look at George Lucas and his Original Star Wars trilogy. He would probably still be changing stuff if he still had the rights.

Tarekith

One thing I always tell my clients, is that if you want to get better at writing songs, you need to be finishing songs.

Although the slacker musician in me also thinks that it's important to just play and jam sometimes with no thought to recording or completing what you're doing. Giving yourself a free pass to just have fun and be a musician, not a producer. Sometimes. All too easy to ONLY get stuck in that mode too as mentioned above.

BlueGreenSpiral

Good repies so far, thanks all!

The weird thing for me is that if someone send something that's not quite ready I find it much easier to get the stuff done and be happy with it.

RedSkyLullaby

Usually if something remains half done it's because it failed to hold my interest and if it does that to me then can't expect anyone else to get in to it. I have taken abandoned projects and sampled small bits to get something more interesting. Self remixing one good idea from a track on mainly bad ideas can definitely spark things

BlueGreenSpiral

I have been thinking more on this and listening to some of the archives. Was pleasantly surprised by a few things, lots are ready for the bin and some things have parts that are annoying and were added mindlessly.

Maybe my problem is that I want my stuff to be on the same level as Aphex Twin, Max Richter, Cocteau Twins, Elliot Smith etc before I feel comfortable sharing. I consider those artists as geniuses but tonight I realised that they have all done some stuff that I don't like all that much.

CracklePot

I think another way to get stuff done is to not always go for the homerun or whatever on every project. Do simpler things with limited realistic goals, and then move on. Kind of like you are just practicing something, experimenting with some new ideas. That would relieve a lot of pressure and allow you to be satisfied enough to say "Done!"

I started this draft way earlier today and was going to bin it, but after reading the above post decided to add it to the conversation.

BlueGreenSpiral

Thanks for the input @CracklePot @RedSkyLullaby

I'm still not sure if I prefer my old way... Mess around with something until I enjoy the sounds, then go to work/sleep, don't record or save anything, don't worry

Or the new way ... Do exactly the same thing, the iPad auto saves it and often gives it a name, now I have 'projects' to manage

Ableton export makes me feel a bit guilty because I know the results would be a lot better after some swift edits in the arrangement view.

Tarekith

@CracklePot said:
I think another way to get stuff done is to not always go for the homerun or whatever on every project.

Agreed. Chasing perfection often leads to the opposite result. Sometimes it's the stuff I've released that I thought was really raw and undone at the time that I end up liking the most in the long run..

JohnnyGoodyear

@Tarekith said:
One thing I always tell my clients, is that if you want to get better at writing songs, you need to be finishing songs.

Although the slacker musician in me also thinks that it's important to just play and jam sometimes with no thought to recording or completing what you're doing. Giving yourself a free pass to just have fun and be a musician, not a producer. Sometimes. All too easy to ONLY get stuck in that mode too as mentioned above.

This is a large part of the drive or philosophy (how grand!) behind SOTMC....and it works I think.

audiblevideo

I'm starting to make "songs" this year, and I'm trying to base it around the principles of storytelling and story archs, climax and denumont - all that.

That way I can jam and see which bits fit the story I'm trying to tell. Working on feel more than technical voicings.

Hope it works

CracklePot

@audiblevideo said:
I'm starting to make "songs" this year, and I'm trying to base it around the principles of storytelling and story archs, climax and denumont - all that.

That way I can jam and see which bits fit the story I'm trying to tell. Working on feel more than technical voicings.

Hope it works

That sounds like an interesting approach. It would be cool if you let us know how it goes after you try it for a while.
I too try to think of different approaches or models to use when thinking about composition, so I would really like to know about how this works out for you.

audiblevideo

@CracklePot said:

@audiblevideo said:
I'm starting to make "songs" this year, and I'm trying to base it around the principles of storytelling and story archs, climax and denumont - all that.

That way I can jam and see which bits fit the story I'm trying to tell. Working on feel more than technical voicings.

Hope it works

That sounds like an interesting approach. It would be cool if you let us know how it goes after you try it for a while.
I too try to think of different approaches or models to use when thinking about composition, so I would really like to know about how this works out for you.

Will keep you in the loop

supadom

It all sounds like a bunch mandalas to me!

CracklePot

@supadom said:
It all sounds like a bunch mandalas to me!

Wish I was hearing that.

supadom

@CracklePot said:

@supadom said:
It all sounds like a bunch mandalas to me!

Wish I was hearing that.

Well, it is just the sound of the grains of sand.