How I finally started finishing tracks

Fruitbat1919

@Littlewoodg said:

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@Littlewoodg said:
@Fruitbat1919
Comrade!
good to see you on the forum, it's been a while, yes?

the detailed post you shared is fantastic and much needed

and you have ignited a fantastic and much needed topic

Thanks. i have been back on the forum for about a couple of years now lol

funny
thats more about my being out of orbit i reckon! or out of my gourd
anyways thanks!

Isn't a gourd a squash or something? Lol yeah I'm often out of orbit or out my tree lol

ambrosiajam

Thanks for the insight! Yes I think setting up templates or just taking things step by step really helps workflow to be more efficient when inspiration strikes!

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@ambrosiajam said:
Honest question: can you elaborate on the difference between step one and two, and maybe 5 as well? I get carried away jamming a lot and maybe I’m just over thinking it lol

Certainly

While my music may be made up of lots of things, like physically played music, programmed in music, created musical loops, sampled sounds, designed synth sounds, app created midi and many other things, I find that putting musical material together to make a track, is best done in clear and organised actions, as opposed to doing everything just when it is needed.

Imagine you are writing a piece of music and then you need a particular sound, drum loop or sample. Doing any of these actions, I.e. making new material (my step 1.) will take you out of the flow of making the track. I’ve found that this makes making tracks long, disjointed and laborious - in other words not very productive. You may well be doing all the same things, but this way of ordering them is more likely to be tiring and more mentally challenging.

So, I make ‘musical material’ in step 1. This includes loops, samples, design synth sounds, etc. I’m also trying out new apps during this process. I then store lots of these. I have thousands of presets and self designed sounds to choose from and rarely find I need to make something beyond light alterations and tweaking to fit a track. I have lots of loops ready to be warped by fx. I have lots of ready made drum loops that can be place holders while starting ideas and tracks, than altered later or completely changed if needed.

Step 2 is different from step 1, in that I’m using some of those sounds and loops and samples etc to make an ‘idea’. This may also have played music in too. These are usually short sections of music that are small ideas that later I may use to start, continue or finish a track. Sometimes the idea may have parts I put into a track, or sometimes it’s just the combination of notes, midi or sequences that make me think of something that will start a track (step 3). I will often make up many musical ideas at a time. The second I have an idea, I need to get it down, as my brain will soon forget it otherwise!

Step 5 is just sitting here:

And playing on my keyboard and hopefully learning to play the bass guitar in the future. Step 5 is great fun, but can be a distraction from track making at times, that’s why I say to limit any one action in the time you do it. Sometimes it’s great fun to jam either to one’s own music or to other people’s, but if careful, you may never get any finished tracks….like I found myself doing for years. I spent so long on jamming, making musical material and learning new apps, that I never finished a track!

Hope that explains it a bit better.