10 years and I've still not managed to finish a track, any advice?

[filkertom]

All fantastic advice. For my own two cents, there you might want to check the site hooktheory.com, which is a treasure trove of musical advice (along with some simple software), and also get Chordpulse Lite, a very basic (and free) auto-accompaniment program. Put in a few chords, generate a MIDI file, import that into your DAW, and swap in better instruments.

I also know there are a gazillion looping programs and semi-SAWs out there that have tools to help you put together your first song, like Magix' free Music Maker.

[incubus]

"I sense the parody is strong with this one"

[highkoo]

Oh, another one of these completely ridiculous threads?
Ok.

My advice; Quit, immediately. Sell everything. Live life.

[Numanoid]

I've been producing for 10 years now, I've started a new track every other day

Every other day = 365/2 = 182.5

This means you got more than 1800 tracks you started

[jancivil]

Yeah, that sounds absurd and my first impression was to wonder if it's a parody thread.
If that's real, 10 yrs and nothing to show for it, my advice is find something in life you can actually do, instead. unless the process is just rewarding, and I doubt that

[incubus]

Oh, another one of these completely ridiculous threads?
Ok.

My advice; Quit, immediately. Sell everything. Live life.

You mean as opposed to all the other completely ridiculous threads?

Noodling can be as fun as anything else. If you like it, keep banging away. No need to sell everything and "live life" ... life is no fun w/o toys to bang away at

[highkoo]

Noodling can be as fun as anything else. If you like it, keep banging away. No need to sell everything and "live life" ... life is no fun w/o toys to bang away at

I agree completely!
Half of us probably feel a little bit like OP sometimes, cept we arent complaining about that time spent!



So what Im saying, and the reason for my advice, is that if OP didnt have a great time in that first ten years of noodling, dont expect to have a blast in the next ten...
I mean, shit even if there is no output, the learning process itself should at least be exciting and fulfilling of its own merits right?

[Numanoid]

Napalm Death finished a groundbreaking track in just three seconds.

Groundbreaking in the sense that nobody thought that tracks could be so short, and it also got a mind boggling title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybGOT4d2Hs8

[highkoo]

Im reading into OP I guess, as usual...

My real advice would be to render every unfinished track, in chronological order of creation, and sit and listen to them.
Eventually you will hear where your process stops. You will hear what is missing. Your ear will keep expecting something that isnt there. Maybe there you identify your "problem".
Then, just take one of those tracks, and add what it "needs", and nothing else.
Theres your first finished track!

Things that have helped me:

Collab
Come back to unfinished tracks waaay later
Deadline or track-a-week, or whatever
Copying arrangement I know and like

[BluesMuse]

Make a verbal commitment to someone other than yourself. My friend the photographer made a slideshow "P.R. promo" for a (non music related) group I am part of. I told him I would write/produce a soundtrack for it. Well, I had to finish the job because he held up his end of the bargain. Since then it has been easier to finish my projects that are "sharing optional".

[Richard deHove]

Don't start anything else until you've finished the track you're working on. If you don't think the track is worth finishing then delete it.

[Numanoid]

Aphex Twin once said:

Start as you mean to go on

[Boone777]

I have problems with that too what helped me:
Denis Disantis book. I make a quick crappy scratch track from start to finish. Ex.: Open chords here, palm mutes there, atmo riff here, solo ,back to chorus, outro. This way I have a beginning and an end right away that is really helpfull not to get stucked in the middle of it.

I let the song guide me but I do have a little plan like : Ethereal half catchy half prog. Now I start from the begining again and improve every sections to my taste so it feels more like making a cover better than scratching my head wondering what should I do next.

When a little block comes I listen to the entire song and add markers: back vox here, doubling guitars there, weird sound fx there, etc. So I always have markers and know what to do next.

Then I focus on only one task. If its just finding the right flanger for today so be it. If you think about all you have to do to finish the song its a huge mountain of work and a drag. One little mission at a time, releasing the pressure having fun like a kid with your toys and really getting into it without watching the clock...except when you have deadline !

[VariKusBrainZ]

Don't start anything else until you've finished the track you're working on.

We'd still be painting on cave walls with our own excrement if we followed that rule

[Richard deHove]

Don't start anything else until you've finished the track you're working on.

We'd still be painting on cave walls with our own excrement if we followed that rule

Really? An even simpler version is "Finish what you start". Might be why there's not many half-drawn bisons at Chauvet caves.