KVR Audio

justified · Post by **justified** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:08 am

Usually after making bones of a tune: a melody, main drum pattern, bass line etc. I seem to lose interest to it. Do you have the same problem? Do you have to force yourself to finish a tune? How do you do this?
Discuss.

hao nao · Post by **hao nao** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:10 am

try to think of it as a conversation, with a countermelody as a kind of rebuttal or a concerned friend playing devil's advocate, if that helps

crazed one · Post by **crazed one** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:16 am

I just don't worry about it. I have about 20 or so tracks that I've started in the last two months. I let it happen naturally. What this means to me is that if I don't force it, I'll be happier with the results. Out of all the tracks I complete, I usually only like about 10 or 12 a year. I'm cool with that though, it's about an album a year if one was to look at it like that.

drez · Post by **drez** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:25 am

I can't finish a song to save my soul! It used to bother me, but lately it hasn't. I work alot, I have a family, and I work alot

. Because of that, I get creative bursts that are only good for short ideas and then the next time I have time to work on it, I've got a different idea in my head, so I start another idea.

The way I look at it, I'm getting a lot more material together to pull from with a tool like Ableton Live where I can just slap in a bunch of different ideas that didn't have anything to do with each other at the time and possibly assemble a decent tune or two.

Don't lose heart and I agree with crazed one, don't force it...just relax and let it flow.

I think alot of people push out stuff all the time, but to me it all starts sounding exactly the same and I personally I'm not into quantity. I like stuff that sounds great to my ears and if its 8 bars or 800, it doesn't really matter as long as I can honestly say to myself, "hey, that didn't TOTALLY suck!".

crazed one · Post by **crazed one** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:34 am

drez wrote:The way I look at it, I'm getting a lot more material together to pull from with a tool like Ableton Live where I can just slap in a bunch of different ideas that didn't have anything to do with each other at the time and possibly assemble a decent tune or two.

That's a good idea too. I have done the same many times before myself.

And on the same note, I've split tracks into two before and have been happy with the results.

I have been frustrated before however. Especially coming here to KvR and visiting the cafe. I see some of the same people producing track after track while in the same amount of time I've yet to complete just one tune! I just have to realise that I'm different and I work differently and nothing is going to change that. So I strive to go with the flow.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:37 am

I suffer from the same problem, and work/wife/baby doesn't help either. I've often wondered why I tend to lose interest, and finally figured it out- playing the keyboard, making patterns and sounds, coming up with new riffs... this is a very spontaneous, creative process, and immediately rewarding.

Once those parts have been determined, for me at least, the fun is over. Then comes the drudgery of taking those pieces, structuring a song, mixing it down, realizing the mix sucks, remixing it, restructuring it, remixing it again, mastering, mastering again, mastering again, and finally arriving at a finished song which you are so sick of that you never want to hear it again.

The lesson here is to not worry about it. Enjoy being creative. When the mood strikes you, go back and listen to some old recordings... maybe you'll find that the time is right to do some arranging.

drez · Post by **drez** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:44 am

deastman wrote:I suffer from the same problem, and work/wife/baby doesn't help either. I've often wondered why I tend to lose interest, and finally figured it out- playing the keyboard, making patterns and sounds, coming up with new riffs... this is a very spontaneous, creative process, and immediately rewarding.

Once those parts have been determined, for me at least, the fun is over. Then comes the drudgery of taking those pieces, structuring a song, mixing it down, realizing the mix sucks, remixing it, restructuring it, remixing it again, mastering, mastering again, mastering again, and finally arriving at a finished song which you are so sick of that you never want to hear it again.

The lesson here is to not worry about it. Enjoy being creative. When the mood strikes you, go back and listen to some old recordings... maybe you'll find that the time is right to do some arranging.

Amen...That is exACTly the boat I'm in and you described everything perfectly.

I'M NOT ALONE!

crazed one · Post by **crazed one** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:44 am

One thing I also have to remember and deastman reminded me of this... I am originally a guitarist above all else. All this composing, mixing, playing keyboards, etc, these are things I never intended on doing in the first place with music. The fact that I'm able to produce whole tunes with computers is a feat in itself and I have to remind myself how huge, time consuming, and difficult this actually is. I am elated when I think a track is done and still impressed when something is incomplete because it's all so amazing still. Ok, Ok, sort of sappy here but that is what it is to me.

xander · Post by **xander** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:46 am

I guess it happens to everyone.

Some time ago, I left a song looping and wandered off in the house to do some other stuff. In the back room, I could barely hear it thumping along, then I started to hear weird harmonics maybe due to the acoustic warping in the house. I started to "hear" different melodies, harmonies, beats and leads.

Now I will do that on purpose ocassionally when I'm feeling stuck on a part. This ever happen to anyone else?

justified · Post by **justified** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 4:49 am

Xander wrote: then I started to hear weird harmonics maybe due to the acoustic warping in the house. I started to "hear" different melodies, harmonies, beats and leads.

Now I will do that on purpose ocassionally when I'm feeling stuck on a part. This ever happen to anyone else?

Sometimes yes, and it's a happy experience, pure creativity. I love this. I just wish I knew how to trigger it.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 5:03 am

save your track again with a new name and f**k around
just be experimental throw in fx you wouldnt normally and again just enjoy it
it may give you some ideas

CypherOne · Post by **CypherOne** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:16 am

I tend to make a heap of shit, no scrub that, I tend to make a heap of four track, eight bar loops and then get stuck there. I also tend to pick these up or put them down over time, coming back to old work to see if any new ideas hit me on playing it back. This works for me as quality control too, I find it all too easy to get carried away in the moment and sometimes coming back to something after a couple of weeks highlights just how shite it was, but occasionally it's the other way round and I try to develop it further.

I think that for each finished track I make, there are at least ten others that get ditched along the way.

Just my way of working...

deep · Post by **deep** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:01 am

I think we all tend to run into this brick wall at sometime or another. Like many people here, I find it easy to put together twenty odd different layers in an eight bar loop, but when it comes to sorting out an arrangement from that, I often find it hard to decide which direction to take.

To try and get round this firstly i think a lot about the notes I am playing during the creating process. Do they play off eachother nicely? Can I smoothly introduce them into the mix? Have I left room for another part which I might need? etc etc..

I'll then go and lay out a very basic template for my song by simply making variations of the eight bar loop. One I'll use for the intro, one for the break, one for the melody, one for the end etc....

Even at such a basic level, you will be suprised how much better this makes you feel when you look at the screen and see some sort of basic song structure. It will also help give you more ideas as you will start thinking about ways to introduce your elements into the mix (and what other elements it still needs...)

dekky · Post by **dekky** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:10 am

i guess we all know that.

if i run into a situation like that i leave the song sitting on my drive 'til i forget about it.

after a while i go through my tunes and discover either a few hidden gems or simply a whole bunch of bullshit.
i just think about what i like best about the 'forgotten tune' and trash all other elements that are just there or that arent really good.
after that i use the element i liked as the starting point for something new or i simply erase the whole thing.

no wonder it takes me months for a single tune.

Number Six · Post by **Number Six** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:12 am

I think you know when you have a really good track on your hands because it seems to finish itself if you know what I mean... You don't need to think too much about arrangement etc, just sit down and it all falls nicely into place.

Tunes that seem impossible to finish are usually just not meant to be, what I often do in that situation is steal all the good bits and start again, otherwise you get so frustrated...

6.

Cannot finish a tune