10 Tips from an ADHD producer on how to finish songs faster

How to do this, that and the other. Share, learn, teach. How did X do that? How can I sound like Y?
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

Great tips! I have ADHD too, and another big one for me is forcing myself not to multitask when producing. Let me preface this by saying I'm still guilty of not practicing what I'm about to preach all the time, but I still believe this. Resist the urge to watch that youtube tutorial, podcast, texting people, in the background when you're writing a new part or doing some arrangement editing (this is especially tempting if you have a multi monitor setup). It may seem innocuous and you may feel less stimulated and time inefficient, but your best work will be done when you are able to bring the full weight of your focus to a task. It's much harder to achieve a flow state with background distractions, and most of the time you actually get something done you will be actively ignoring the secondary task.

There is a lot of reasons to multitask - time efficiency, help motivate and get you into a mindset, absorb the vibe of talented musicians, etc... Realize that this is a tight rope walk and the best way to accomplish this is to accomplish one task first, and then open up your DAW and apply your new techniques or mindsets. Adopt a mantra like this: "Just me, and my tools, and my ideas". Learn or relearn to appreciate the silence and thinking time between tasks when you're producing. It's often more valuable than absorbing tips and tricks or replying to that email.

One more tip is to challenge the notion of "just jump out of my flow to google how to do this or which choice is better". Sometimes staying in your flow and experimenting for yourself is the better way. The "meta skill" is learning when to stay in, and when to seek advice/guidance. I call this "training my google fu"

I've realized I'm starting to sound like a bit of a self help wanker, but yeah - if you've gotten into the habit of multitasking while writing, try a new approach if you're not seeing good results - it may help you! And for my ADHD brethren - single task and fight the pull aways. Use your breathing exersizes and reset your mindset. It's uncomfortable but try to learn to love it. The mental exploration can wait.

Sorry for the dry preaching.

Post

wha-da-hell you pweeple ramblin' on about?

Post

@dasen: Really good tips! :!:

Ultimately, everyone has to decide whether they want to
compose songs - or whether they want to collect plugins
and sounds.

Both have their charm and are fun!
free mp3s + info: andy-enroe.de songs + weird stuff: enroe.de

Post

Thanks so much. I’ve known that creativity can flourish with restrictions, but I’m relatively new to this, so learning about some concrete restrictions is very helpful! (I also only discovered my ADHD very late in life.)

Post

..
Last edited by Passing Bye on Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post

To the OP I’m going to try the 3 track folder thing. Then as you finish then you’ve got like half a little release party for your friends done. Thanks

And about just enjoying the ride from PassingBye that’s a good reminder. Gonna trying to make finishing a track part of the enjoying the ride workflow.

Great thread :)

Post

For me: no browsing, no viewing, no phone on (turn it off), some experimenting but no long excursions. One thing that i do which might not work for everybody is that i either from scratch, or from a preset, patch my synths while writing (sometimes) i don’t recommend doing that unless you patch quickly. And even not always. Get out of your chair approx every 20-30 mns and just move around for 120 seconds, the sit right back down. But also there’s many different ways to make music, this is wot works for me. There’s many phases for me putting something together, what indescribed would be my second phase. The first would be more experimental, that’s when i look for or likely start a patch, rearrange ideas,etc. Third phase: “master”. I don’t press vinyl and if i have a decent room and hi end equip that i am familiar with then i will master it.
gadgets an gizmos..make noise https://soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 3/24
old stuff http://ww.dancingbearaudioresearch.com/
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

Post

CrystalWizard wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:36 pm ...some experimenting but no long excursions. One thing that i do which might not work for everybody is that i either from scratch, or from a preset, patch my synths while writing (sometimes) i don’t recommend doing that unless you patch quickly.
This is where I get caught up; I get obsessed with wanting to make my own patches for everything, and then realize that that's not an efficient way to actually make music. Do you take time to make your own patches and then browse from those when you sit down to try and make a song, or do you also pull presets from packs and bundles?

Post

I have some light ADHD too. At my worst I have to read every sentence 3 times so the words assemble properly in my head. Attention is a skill. If you trained your brain to not finish projects and wander around, you excel at it. When you beat your brain up to focus, it starts becoming better at it.
A strong tip I do all the time now, when I work on a track. I always want to do many things at once. So I open a word document, and write everything that cross my mind while the music is playing, sorted by design and mixing categories: "moment there boring, add a better lead", "bassline needs progressions", "too much bass there", "hole at 6khz", "make an outro out of a field recording", "wash this thing with effects", "section there very muddy, dunno what's wrong", "make the melody longer there".
Then I do each thing literally one by one, and if I think of something else, I write it at the end of the document. This has been crazy effective for me.

Post

This is the best and real tips you can find online.. you can listen your mind and learn this tips tafter years of pain, perfection take time. Limit your tools, focus on a few project and complete them!

Post

bumbervevo wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:14 pm
CrystalWizard wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:36 pm ...some experimenting but no long excursions. One thing that i do which might not work for everybody is that i either from scratch, or from a preset, patch my synths while writing (sometimes) i don’t recommend doing that unless you patch quickly.
This is where I get caught up; I get obsessed with wanting to make my own patches for everything, and then realize that that's not an efficient way to actually make music. Do you take time to make your own patches and then browse from those when you sit down to try and make a song, or do you also pull presets from packs and bundles?
gadgets an gizmos..make noise https://soundcloud.com/crystalawareness Restocked: 3/24
old stuff http://ww.dancingbearaudioresearch.com/
if this post is edited -it was for punctuation, grammar, or to make it coherent (or make me seem coherent).

Post

I have a problem with not finishing my projects. I make 90% of the beat and I close the file without saving it because I'm getting bored, sad and have no energy (I dont know how to explain it). This happens for the last 3 years and I hate myself for doing this but can't stop doing it.

Thank you for these rules, I will print them and hopefully I get out of this loop.

Post

wow i feel ! Now if i can get through your post with out being distracted ! I came here looking for second hand plug ins and here we are ! :)

Post

I find it more difficult in the mastering process or mix down process. Why? Its because im learning all the time the and it takes my creative juices and fries them.

Its a lot of work with adhd thats for sure !

Post

Passing Bye wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:10 pm If one isn't on deadline and making a living out of this, with or without ADHD, it doesn't mater, enjoy in whatever you are doing, messing around, playing with plugins and tools, if nobody is chasing you to deliver a song, relax and enjoy in whatever you are doing, world doesn't need your music to enjoy, you need to enjoy in your music hobby to live in this world, so relax, forget about this steps to self improvement, you aren't really chasing anything, you are living it.

Another thing, I have been doing music for quite some time, full time and as an hobby, I know I'm good at it and I can make a living doing it, but there's other things too, if you really love music, than why forcing that love all the time on yourself, give it space, find something else to do, there's plenty of things around us that are worth exploring, why making music a chore or life calling, world doesn't need you to have music, it's really not your whole existence, especially if it's your hobby, so you don't need to push yourself so hard to do it, enjoy in whatever you are doing.
I think you may not get the point if you are going to use it doesnt matter in speaking for another. In fact it might matter to that individual more than a person under 1 million dollar contract. Wow...what gives one the right?...this man came in here to tell others what has worked for him and your advice is that?

ty dasen :)
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

Post Reply

Return to “Production Techniques”