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Finishing tunes....
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segment 7
IsraTrance Junior Member
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152
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 15:41:07
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I seem to have fallen into quite a habit of starting tunes, getting quite far but not finishing them. I find if i've started a song, i can get really into it, but then a couple of days will go past and my moods etc will have completely changed, and i find it difficult to finish a song without it sounding 'dodgy' because i'm not really feeling the same vibe anymore. It's very frustrating.
I guess this is aimed at the more experienced, but just wondering if anyone else has this problem very often, and if you attempt to finish the songs or just scrap them? And i don't just mean basic ideas of songs, i mean getting about 3/4 of the way through. I guess every song i don't finish is still practice, but it's nice finishing them nevertheless.
Ben
  Projection makes perception. The world is what you gave it, nothing more than that. It is a witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive- Anonymous
www.myspace.com/segment7music |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
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5292
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 17:06
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Every tune you start, yet not finish, is good practise...even if you scrap it at the end, you are working on your ability to create sounds as well as your ability to scrap things that you dont think, sound great...so dont look at this as wasted time.
Anyhow, I am also going wherever my inspiration takes me, so I start a few tunes at a time and just open whatever arrangement I feel like working on when I go for a studio night session. I am currently working on 3 different trance tunes and 2 techno ones.
So depending on how my day went, I open the arrangement I wanna work on.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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x-rayz
IsraTrance Junior Member
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11
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576
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 17:25
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yeah its nice practice like pipe said but nothing more unfortunately.. Although its good to hear your old works later on and laugh at them, and maybe u even get into a vibe and finish it when u have more knowledge, so keep the back ups..
Just try to focus on a track, and if ur not feelin the vibe once u get off the table and return that means somethings wrong cause the audience wont feel the vibe also.. try to put yourself in listeners point of view.. also maybe u should check for some more info on arrangement techniques..
http://www.facebook.com/xrayzproductions
http://www.myspace.com/xrayzproductions |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 17:40
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Quote:
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On 2009-02-05 17:25, x-rayz wrote:
Although its good to hear your old works later on and laugh at them, and maybe u even get into a vibe and finish it when u have more knowledge, so keep the back ups..
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Really importnat that! The last tune we've started (and are almost finished with) has the bassline and a few ideas that we first wrote last march and then simply stopped working on that arrangement.
Now we're really excited how its come out.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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makus
Overdream
Started Topics :
82
Posts :
3087
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 18:04
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Quote:
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On 2009-02-05 17:06, pipe&slippers wrote:
Every tune you start, yet not finish, is good practise...even if you scrap it at the end, you are working on your ability to create sounds as well as your ability to scrap things that you dont think, sound great...so dont look at this as wasted time.
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Agreed, but any work, any impact is twice beautiful if it has a decent result.
www.overdreamstudio.com |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 18:15
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
601
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 18:40
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1. leave them for weeks or month and then re-visit them again.
2. like p&s said, work on many tracks at the same time, so you don't get completely sick of them.
3. when you are inspired, try to work as fast as possible and to get lots of ideas and the overall structure out. try not to waste time with eq'ing things or making sure things sit better together. leave this for a separate session.
4. the better you know your tools, the less they will get in your way. spend some time learning your DAWs shortcut. things like this.
5. try not to listen to a looping section unless absolutely necessary. basically these last 2 points are about the same issue: the faster you work or the less you hear the looping, the better your chances of finishing something before you get completely sick of it.
6. try to set some deadlines. or join some board competitions. having that time constraint will keep you from procrastinating or fucking around too much tweaking filters or whatever.
7. if you have a bunch of 4 minute tracks, try to see if you can combine some of them into complete tracks. maybe the busy section of one 4 minute track would be perfect as the climax section of another track which you can't get past the final breakdown.
but don't really delete anything. it's not like you have to feed your harddrive space. let the tracks sit there for as long as needed. someday you might bust them out and feel inspired and finish them in a couple of hours. but if you are completely sick of whatever you are working on, move on to something else.
p.s. by the way, i should probably be the last person giving you advice on this, seeing as i haven't finished any psy tracks yet. so, yeah, whatever advise you get ain't shit, unless you can stay focused enough to just finish the fucking tracks. that's the hard part and there's no special "inside knowledge" for that. you know it. and i know it. |
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hugaw
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
319
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 18:43
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i'm currently working on 3-4 tunes : house, dubstep, breaks...like Pipe said, i open the project i feel the best considering the mood...
But not finishing tunes is often a beginner, semi-pro thing. i've been doing it for years...not that i'm pro now but when you begin to release tunes, you need to improve your workflow and avoid to be stuck on tracks.
So i can say that i made 7-8 finished tunes, considering the amount of unfinished ones...(which is huge)
Psy stuff : myspace.com/neyaprod
Non-psy stuff : myspace.com/cheaperbits
french psy production forum : http://www.hadra.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=18 |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 19:29
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We finished a trance album since we decided to work on more than one tunes at a time. It also helps not making the same sounding trance tunes, should you decide to only make trance music.
For example, you have one tune doing a monotonous 16th bassline pattern, then you are like, I want a bassline that progresses well with the chords/leads, but at the same time you feel like working on something that has a gliding bassline, that is not made up of 16th notes, but wildly varying lenghts that fall under the kick (God forbid).
The end result would be quite different sounding tunes, that will (probably) retain your signature sound.
Its a lot better than pushing your self to squeeze the psychedelic juices out in time for a deadline. It does not work like that, from my experience anyway.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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~d2~
Inactive User
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
751
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 19:36
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Quote:
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On 2009-02-05 17:06, pipe&slippers wrote:
So depending on how my day went, I open the arrangement I wanna work on.
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Moot point, I am curious. What in your day would make you open a trance track? And what would make you open a techno track? |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 19:39
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Fuck knows, there are no set conditions that derive a mood to work on something, it just happens.
It all depends on the lead lines and basslines I've been humming in my brain when I am at work.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
601
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 19:41
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i think it's a good point. you don't necessarily need to understand what exactly influenced your mood. all that's important is to know that i really feel like working on a breakcore tune right now, out of all the other ones that i have started. |
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segment 7
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
152
Posted : Feb 5, 2009 22:22
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good feedback guys cheers! working on quite a few tunes is probably a good idea, i usually have 2 or so going at a time, usually a trance one and an electro one, but getting some more going will probably be a good idea, like you said pipe; more options for different moods.
just wanted to know if it happened to other people as much as me, i seem to go through patches of finishing lots and then nothing. it's all a learning curve though i guess, can't wait to fully understand my instruments.
anywho i'll carry on in full force 
ta, ben
Projection makes perception. The world is what you gave it, nothing more than that. It is a witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive- Anonymous
www.myspace.com/segment7music |
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Freeflow
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
60
Posts :
3709
Posted : Feb 6, 2009 00:05
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I think it depends on the potential a track has. If it has good groove and nice flow...
sometimes you work your self to over 4mins and think you are done when you infact have alot of work left..
it all depends on your goal or standards, if you want a top notch track it will take time and frustration and sometimes you cannot force creativity so you get stuck at some point,
what you can do here is alot of technical work, if the flow of creating new sections stops..
clean up the arrangement, color events, make grouptracks, naming tracks, exporting tracks and so on...
you have to have a drive to finish stuff, after a while your fun side will tell you its no good, its more fun doing something else, you have to kick your funside in the butt and say, it dont matter i will finish this one..
for some people deadlines works..
and after all its you who decide when its finished.
i got loads of tracks i wanna finish and loads of shit that i can just throw away...
its nice like some of you say to have a couple of tracks to work with, some for fun and some serious.. or why not everything serious...
But try and keep focus on tracks you want to finish, casue after a while you will have new ones that you want to finish...
im in the same process of trying to finish tracks and im getting closer and closer, even if i have some tracks that i have finished it dont mean its easy 
its a struggle!
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nick
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
60
Posted : Feb 6, 2009 02:40
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Finish the track, put absolutely everything else aside, go to your computer, and do not get up until the track is finished.
Ok, it will not be perfect probably, but the first draft of the arrangement WILL be finished. You can go and fix anything, but you can't fix what doesn't exist yet.
Sit down and FINISH it, even if it is shit, FINISH it. Even if you just have a solo kickdrum for the last 2 minutes. Do that, and you'll see, you'll find something better to replace. And something better to replace that.
http://www.myspace.com/nickbugayev |
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