Yeah well I don’t mean literally get rid of the file. I’m just saying finish it and move on. It’s maybe sounds like some obvious advice but this was one thing that really helped me. And like you don’t even have to keep adding deatails. If you aren’t that into it just get it to link and mix and master, everyone needs the practice anyway.
Usually the only time I don’t finish one it’s because I didn’t really get that far into it and had to quit. So sometimes it’s just easier to start from scratch if the idea is too rough.
I recently finished a tune and when I listened again the next day I really really really didn’t like it. It was just a bad idea altogether. Not worth to even try and fix it. But that’s the downside of experiments I guess. There’s no warranty for bearable tunes.
I have plenty of tunes that no one ever hears. I have pretty much sent every embers dub. But the DNB, Texhno and House don’t always get heard. But I don’t regret finishing them. It’s practice.
I am the same. On the one hand I wish I had the discipline to finish every track because as Oura says it’s practice, and the process of finishing tracks is not something you learn without actually completing them … but I have to vibe to it to bother putting in the work.
It’s interesting to consider that if I had a lot more experience with finishing tracks in a timely manner, the last 20% of the tune making process would probably much less painful and less of a cause of dread than it is now. I am sure a lot can be learned by forcing yourself to finish every track for a period, say a month or two. But doing it all the time is not something I can see myself managing. It is a pro skill to have though for sure
You are making excuses. Of course you would want to do it that way all the time if you could do that. And getting over the need to vibe will help. But I usually have 3 or 4 projects open. I either go to the one I’m thinking about or maybe just start something new. But you can’t get there until you go for it.
For the record I don’t care if people take me advice or not but people always ask me how I do things and then when I tell it, it’s almost always well I can’t do that. Haha.
fair enough, there is some truth to that. I am not sure why I would want to spend time completing subpar ideas once I’d become efficient at finishing tracks though, unless it was my job to deliver something all the time.
I feel like my best tips are more philisophical like I always here producers saying they hate making risers or pads or whatever it is that they hate and the way I treat that for myself is to (for example) fuck risers so go in deep and make crazy risers for every tune and really get into it and once you figure out a few things then it opens up more possibillites and next thing you know you are a pro and it’s easy. But I have been trying to find my weakest areas and work on that.
All great tips. I do adhere to a discipline of always finishing tracks if I get past 16 bars; that’s how these got to 150 bars. I try to EQ and balance volumes pretty early on, and bounce a test mixdown every other work session. So there’s no reason I can’t go the last step. The problem is as Oura suggested, I think they are boring as hell. The problem is you all produce such awesome tunes every week. The bar is too high.
Your boring might be someone else’s hypnotic. I feel the pressure too, of everyone else’s high quality, but we shouldn’t be afraid to submit things we’re not sure about. Can be surprising what resonates with other listeners.
I am going to have to make some bad ones haha. You make good tunes tho. That’s what it’s all about, producers of all levels and tastest working together. It’s quite rewarding likening to someone get better at it over a year you know so we all root for everyone. Everyone is getting better and better so.
I tend to put a week in a track. At that point, I’m bored of it, verging on sick of it. But I know that at the 3 day point the track usually sounds pretty bumpin’ to me (at least, in some parts), so I trust in that and just send it out after the week is up.
I figure it’s better to make 4 finished songs in a month than to continue to torture yourself with 1 song. Of course, that one song may have a better outcome with the extended time, but the amount of extra experience gained from finishing those 3 extra songs would likely be more beneficial.
So, what I create in a week is what I give. Keeps me fresh and happy.
As to tunes sounding good, a big thing I learned early on is that the song needs to sound good to you. Don’t worry about what you think others might think, good or bad, odd or corny, silly or messed up. If it sounds good to you, use it. Chances are others will like it if you do.
And if all else fails and your tune is certified horse shit, just fucking send it anyways—keep the fire burnin’.
I have a couple of 16 bar thingy’s that are actually really good but I can’t get myself to make tunes out of them. Too busy with other things at the moment.
If the tunes arent vibing then you need to make some changes to it so that it is vibing. The problem is, it took you too long to make the track. This is how I work. I try to finish it while I’m still on that high. But you can only get to that point with your production if you keep pushing through. It gets easier and easier, quicker and quicker. Unfinished tracks don’t do that much for the development.
Here’s another one I use all the time, definitely nothing groundbreaking but high reward for little effort. Huge reverb on a send, then send the last snare before the next section into it. Especially nice for transitioning into a breakdown or other stripped down section. (Or if the tune is stripped down in general)
The effect of sending a short burst of sound into a big reverb is so nice and works on all sorts of sounds. Used on a snare or clap it works kind of as a cymbal too which is quite interesting
I would feel lost without them! All they do is give you a copy of the channel you are sending so you can process it in parallel. For example, send your drum kit channels to a reverb channel in varying amounts (more on snare, less on kick etc)
Static send levels are cool enough, but automating them is the really fun part. It’s a very central technique to Dub mixing
