How Long Does It Take You To Finish A Song?

[sl23]

seriously, how long is a piece of string?

Twice the length from the middle to one end!

[abernathy]

When I used a hardware synth and tape recorder it took me about a day. Now that I have 50 softsynths and 200 plug-in effects it takes me about 20 years. I wish I was kidding.

[EdwardGivens]

If it's an assignment: how soon do you need it?
If it's for me it depends. Some of my best work just pops out and I can't remember how I did it! Mainly I try really hard to not overwork things. It's often helpful for me to start multiple pieces and set them aside until I cool off a bit. Then I can do what needs doing more objectively.

[sl23]

When I used a hardware synth and tape recorder it took me about a day. Now that I have 50 softsynths and 200 plug-in effects it takes me about 20 years. I wish I was kidding.

When I got into software I was the same, but now I've cut back to the essentials and you realise you don't need half of what youve got.

When I started, I worked on each track until it was 'finished' which was around 2-3 weeks. Now I have a lot less time so rarely get to finish anything! Lol

[Timaeus]

I've had a large range of times, honestly.

My fastest song written, remix or original or otherwise, was about 6 hours, but it was a 1 minute loopable theme for a video game.

Usually it might take a few days if I'm particularly inspired. I've done remixing competitions where I wrote something within a week, then after the competition was over, revised it for a few more days. On average, it probably takes about 40 hours of worktime for something I'm really proud of.

My slowest song written was probably "Become Death" remixing Vectorman music, which took a year to write, but roughly 60 hours of worktime in actuality.

[Asuznu]

if I'm giving myself a deadline for how quick i can make a song I'm happy with, Probably 2 days. First day it song writing, structure and song design. The second day is final edits and mastering. (though this is mainly triphop/electronic music)

For other longs I've collaborated with other artists, can take weeks... and i have definitely had songs that's taken months to complete.

The timeframe shouldn't matter. it's about the journey and discovery to how you finished the song. (unless you have a deadline haha)

I remember my music lecturer at SAE (Bachelor of Audio) said
"never aim for perfection, aim for great. Because nothing good comes from being a perfectionist"
it has stuck with me ever since.

[jamcat]

I keep having to wait for faster CPUs to mix all of my plugins. And in the meantime, I keep swapping out my plugins as better ones that use more CPU come out. But one day the trend has to start working in my favour.

[HAL76]

5-7 fishes.

[BONES]

I keep having to wait for faster CPUs to mix all of my plugins.

Really? I recently downgraded from Core i7 to Core i5 without any problems.

Anyway, I wrote a song over Xmas and it made me think about this thread. I got the basic ideas done in a morning, spent the afternoon teasing out an arrangement, wrote some lyrics in the evening and had it in a state where we could perform it live before lunch the next day. All up, probably 30 hours elapsed time, maybe 8 hours on the tools.

I'm thinking that's where a lot of people would consider the song finished but for me that's just the first, small part of the process. Yes, it is absolutely the hardest part but, in the scheme of things, possibly not the most important. I will now spend the next 6 months or so refining it, until I think it's ready to put on an album. By that time it will be about 100 times better than it is now. I won't obsess over it for all that time but I'll open the project most days and listen to it, making a tweak here and there, or trying a different patch/instrument in a part I'm still not happy with. I'll render it out so I can listen to it on the way to work and in the car, to get a feel for how well it works outside the studio, and make more tweaks based on that experience. As the album comes together, it will get more focused attention but for now I will just live with it for a while and improve it where I can.

This is very typical of the process for me/us. Most of our songs come from ideas my bandmate generates but I usually contribute two or three myself. Me doing it all is less than ideal, the songs we both have input into invariably end up better, but my contributions at least manage to hold their own most of the time.

[jamcat]

I keep having to wait for faster CPUs to mix all of my plugins.

Really? I recently downgraded from Core i7 to Core i5 without any problems.

Well, as I’ve discussed, I will create an entire string section with SWAM solo strings, and I use console and tape emulation on every channel. It’s the IK Tape Machines that are real CPU killers. I’m finally able to enable tape on every channel (typically around 16) without choking now, with the native M1 versions on my MacBook Pro. But I still max it out on a few tracks that also use Organteq, which uses ridiculous amounts of CPU.

[BONES]

That's right, I momentarily forgot you were a lunatic!

[jamcat]

Oh, I told you that I give all of my virtual string players aristocratic names?

[BONES]

You didn't need to, it was completely obvious that you would.

[chk071]

How Long Does It Take You To Finish A Song?

More than a lifetime...

[HyperLightDrummer]

Fully writing a 5-minutes arrangement usually takes me between 15 and 30 hours. Producing the song audio takes me about the same time.