May I suggest a subtle reformulation of your objective: every day for thirty days, sit 30 mins in front of your gear and write something. Once you’ve come across a good idea, stick to it and try to finish it into a song. 30 days to do all this, not 9 months. Not producing, only writing and recording.
If you’re stuck in the process, find here below a few decent book references to accompany you during your journey:
Making Music, Dennis Desantis
The Process for Electronic Music Production, Jason Timothy
The Organized Songwriter, Simon Hawkins
The Ultimate Guide to Programming Drums, Chris Nothdurfter
Music Habits, Jason Timothy
Creative Synthesizer Technique, Adam Holzman
Also, if you don’t have any favorite sounds list yet, it’s time to set it up before writing any songs because sound design / finding sounds and songwriting are not entirely compatible activities: both require their dedicated time and one may break the flow of the other. The great thing about songwriting is that it will force you (to get) to know the gear you already have.
EDIT: all the tips in this post are from those books, the only original thing being myself being able to confirm to you that they do work
I pretty much never go back to stuff so I just put it on SoundCloud as soon as I get bored of it. Most of my tracks are 1-2 minutes but that doesn’t bother me.
I recommend you start doing the mission brief challenges. The expectation is usually only for 1 or 2 minutes of rough and ready music and you have a time box to motivate you.
It’s done a huge amount for my production skills.
Edit: another thing that springs to mind is that I don’t have the skills to make a 6 minute track that isn’t super boring. If that was my mission I could wait a hundred years and never complete anything. I shared some loops then some 1 minute jams, now I can make 2 or 3 minute tracks. One day I will get there but it’s a journey that can’t be made in one step.
reading to discover others approaches, known obstacles and how to unblock them
figuring out the best way to improve flow, including, amongst others, splitting sound design and writing so writing flow is not interrupted by sound design (or preset selection) an vice versa.
There’s a free book from Ableton called “Making Music (74 creative strategies)” by Dennis DeSantis, that I found particularly useful.
I finish stuff all the time. I just don’t know it’s finished yet. Lol. I have yet to really compose something from my imagination. I have songs but just haven’t brought them out of me. But I can say I am pretty close to being the most comfortable with using the OT I’ve ever been.
So I would encourage you to do that. Stick with just one main piece. I’m glad I did. I can improvise remixes of a song I load in or of one of my random recordings. It’s getting pretty fluid.
Haha, I did scan your list for that book and totally missed it . Thought it was worth highlighting that one that I found useful however (versus another that I found too narrow in approach)
like others have mentioned, the battles in mission briefs are great for focusing efforts. jamuary works the same way, acting as a forcing factor to motivate folks to produce something. i don’t have the same problem as you, mostly because i don’t assume any of my music is perfect or good. it’s fun to make. i learn as i go. try to build a practice of practice, a routine, and it’ll get easier. i found it got way easier to churn out tracks after doing two things:
practicing every day or at least frequently
focusing on shorter song lengths, like 2-3 minutes, and song structure
just having a basic plan for a track’s structure, even if you don’t know what it is or where it’s going yet, is a huge productivity boost.
I have no recommendations, just validation of the original poster’s experience and the general vibe of this thread. My experience has been an inverse relationship between the hardware I own and the songs I compose. Nearly everything I have ever done to “completion” has been done in Logic. Like others here have noted, nearly all that I have done on my groove boxes and standalone synths, have stayed there, either as snippets or presets. I don’t seem to know how to bridge the gap between creating something interesting in a hardware box (which I think I have done) and getting it into an overall composition or “song.” I did do that regularly in Logic before expanding my hardware gear during the pandemic.
I don’t regret buying the hardware, although much of it is redundant, and I do from time to time contemplate downsizing as others do here, so I can get back to focusing on making music with my main controller, and maybe just 2-3 synths, instead of constantly jumping back and forth between boxes to re-learn how to use them. I probably won’t do that though, because I also like all my choices. I’m a mess! Kidding. I am grateful to be able to have so much fun with too many choices, even if they are ends in themselves, and not so much means to an end (songs).
I started learning from zero about two years ago and I’ve only “finished” one or two tracks. I make a lot of loops but my tracks tend to stall out around the two minute mark where what I’ve been building has outlived its interest. It’s hard to be dynamic in a way that feels cohesive so I often build too many layers on one section.
My own personal journey in the route to finishing and ultimately posting music on here is a similar tale of build and destroy as far as hardware/hybrid/itb workflow goes, started with reason, then spent a fortune on hardware, sold it all and went back itb, rinse and repeat for the following 13 years never really getting anything done or finished and then for me the penny dropped, I never fully committed to anything, especially an idea…
So fast forward to now, all I have at my disposal, is a push 2, Ableton with a few choice vsts and an iPad thats currently on the chopping block… I committed to an idea, the idea that I could complete any beat I like in my chosen environment, they may not all be bangers but I stick with the vast majority of them to completion …
If you’re struggling to finish, you’ll get it done if you commit to it, there always time for tweaking after the idea is realised…
I‘m slowly inching towards finishing an EP. But I have to say, even though the basic song structures have been there for a year now, it‘s painful to sit down and commit to a recording and polish stuff. I feel like it’s worth it. But I am really looking forward to being done with this and feeling freed of having to work on these ideas.
What’s your suggestion on what to do when you feel like you’re starting to hate tracks/EPs/albums you’re finishing? I‘m often torn between forcing myself to work on it instead of noodling. But then sometimes I‘m not sure if I should reward myself with doing something else musically that is just for fun. Jamming would be the obvious solution, but I don’t really have that much creativity in me right now and it often gets frustrating as well if you don’t like any loop or sound you come up with.
All the videos and articles I’ve seen/read say to just wrap it up and be done. Something about trying to perfect your tracks being the same as chasing your own tail.
Submit them for feedback to some friends or good listeners and collect information. I still don’t hate my songs even after having listened to them for hundreds of times.
For me I have two different way of finishing track :
First one, is to record me on keyboard for 64, or 128 bar long, doing melodic with A/B section and trying to do some intro at the beginning and a quick outro, this way I do the melodic stuff
Then adding bass to it later in the process
I call this way, the “one shot”.
And the DAW is good for that kind of work when you feel confortable with a midi keyboard.
second one is to record short 32/64 step bassline on pattern 1, then pattern 2, pattern 3 so I do only my bassline, then I layer on top what I find useful. This way work better for Elektron/MPC for me.
So basically, to make a song, I do only structure at first everytime.
And I don’t care about false note or something a bit wrong when I record, I mean on 128 bar, you are allowed to make few mistake. You continue. If it’s on a 128 step, ok, you rerecord that part. But make the shit done. Put it outside of you. You don’t have energy for 6 hours, so make it quick. Help you to put this out of you. It’s important to commit on pushing thing out. You are not in front of 200 people. It’s between you and the machine.
Finally, lots of time, I do like lots of people do make my “best of the world pattern” with all shinny stuff. But it’s immutable And for me, it’s not a song it’s a glorific pattern. And I’m proud of this baby that I will leave here forever
And please, don’t expect to make a good thing.
It’s been 20 years you do this, the first one will be meeehh, at least it won’t sound as good as loop you are proud of.
It’s like cooking, expect lots of average and be proud of you Yes this is your own shit
. Thought it was worth highlighting that one that I found useful however (versus another that I found too narrow in approach)
make my “best of the world pattern” with all shinny stuff. But it’s immutable