How much time do you spend on your tracks?

Okay as a disclaimer, I'm not asking how much time I should spend on my tracks. I'm just asking about your habits. Why? I don't know I'm curious, it's as simple as that. I'm really asking about your recent habits. They've probably changed since last year as you've gotten better.

I've spent anywhere from 5-10 hours (on straight up piano tracks) and a max of 68 on a track I did in december. I wish I had more patience as I'd easily like to spend over 100 hours perfecting my favorite tracks, but at some point I really dislike listening to it. Usually after I release a track that took me a while (40+ hours), I'll only rarely listen to it for about a month or 2, and then I listen to it, and it's fresh again.

I'm actually working on my patience, it's of my opinion that you should take ALL of the time possible, until you KNOW it's done (this has never happened to me) if you know you've got a good track on your hands, verses these little practice tracks I like to make every once in a while that take 2-3 hours or something that are kind of throw away.

I've not really kept tabs on the sheer number of hours though I am curious. Of course it depends on the length, style and interface (I tend to make tracks on hardware much faster than software). I remember the first track I ever made took me 4 months to make (on & off) :p

sweet, Oh yes, some tracks of mine take months as well, on and off :). Most completed tracks are 40 hours, which is a full work week in itself, DURING free time of course, and at one time I'm usually working on 5/6 tracks. So there's math involved.

I also have FL Studio which keeps tabs of your hours. It stops counting when you idle and click out so I think it's fairly accurate.

That said my very best tracks were done In like a week 50+ hours :). ALL OF MY FREE TIME, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

  On 5/22/2015 at 5:18 AM, Brisbot said:

 

I also have FL Studio which keeps tabs of your hours. It stops counting when you idle and click out so I think it's fairly accurate.

 

That's a very cool feature. I'd be curious to know how many hours I've spent on some of my tracks. might be kind of depressing though, knowing just how much I've obsessed over small details. Then again, there's almost nothing I enjoy doing more...

On the tracks I've been creating for my upcoming album I've spent significantly more time making them. I used to spend 3 days to a week and a half on a track, but those were the days where I would devote most of my day to working on my own music. Lately I've been spending a couple of weeks to a month on each track, and then going back to revise the mix weeks or months after that. It's rare I get a chance to put more than 4 hours into a track per day though, so... I really have no idea how many hours go into my tracks. I released an ambient album a couple years back, and that was made over the span of two months. If i had to guess, I'd say each track took ~15 hours? Seems like a reasonable guess... but yeah, I have no idea heh.

Can't say but i'd guess 10 hours of pure work. Maybe another couple of hours doing shit that doesn't really make it into the final track. I think i spend way more time with my head in the clouds conceptualizing tracks rather than actually working on them

I consider them ALL the time, then occasionally swoop in and Pollock about for a bit, breath it all in, then exit.

(I did spend a year 24/7 with my tunes which was the happiest time I EVER spent, that is my 42 moment)

Honestly, I spend too long making one track. The last one I finished took about two weeks although I am having to fit my music making in around work. I'm trying to get to the point where I can write one track a week. I'm also considering moving away from using computers, I'm a bit fed up of looking at screens.

I'm one of those who if I don't have anything that catches me within an hour, I have to stop. So basically 1-3 hours is the typical length. After 2 hours I'm mentally drained and can't go on, and I also have a problem with getting back in the mood a day after and stuff like that. It's gotten better but working on tracks for days or weeks... I can't see how people do it and maintain the "vision" in their head and the "pressure".

Edit: also it's much easier to start on a new fresh template, as opposed to working on the same track for a long time. So I can spend a lot more time making music than making an individual track, on a weekly basis

  On 5/22/2015 at 2:37 PM, coax said:

I'm one of those who if I don't have anything that catches me within an hour, I have to stop. So basically 1-3 hours is the typical length. After 2 hours I'm mentally drained and can't go on, and I also have a problem with getting back in the mood a day after and stuff like that. It's gotten better but working on tracks for days or weeks... I can't see how people do it and maintain the "vision" in their head and the "pressure"

Generally, in my case the meat and bones of the idea get done in the first session everything else is refinement of that initial idea. If the idea is strong enough to be finished it will be.

anywhere between 30 mins and lots of hours depending on the track / method

many of my best tracks have been boshed out in under an hour

some slowly grow over weeks, months and years - wouldn't have a clue how many hours have been spent on a particular track

I can spend weeks on a track in Logic and it doesn't sound as good as something I've churned out in a day on my iPad - and vice versa. I reckon the main thing is to let it grow naturally, without having to think about it too much, as they usually sound laboured or fall into cliches if you force it to completion *snigger*

I always get too excited and upload them to soundcloud early - then take them down, tweak them, take them down, tweak them a bit more etc. Need a bit more restraint there.

anywhere from 5 hours to about 3/4 years on and off.

tho i use samples i made 15 years ago in new productions....so who knows

  On 5/22/2015 at 3:25 PM, westhead said:

I can spend weeks on a track in Logic and it doesn't sound as good as something I've churned out in a day on my iPad - and vice versa. I reckon the main thing is to let it grow naturally, without having to think about it too much, as they usually sound laboured or fall into cliches if you force it to completion *snigger*

I always get too excited and upload them to soundcloud early - then take them down, tweak them, take them down, tweak them a bit more etc. Need a bit more restraint there.

what you using on the ipad?

not nearly enough

i keep getting swiped away by ending my tracks

I find it too nice working on a fresh template as it breeds creativity and so have issues finishing stuff. Have really good intentions to finish stuff but get bloody annoyed at my laptop lagging when I'm doing stuff like Eqing multiple tracks with loads of effects etc. I can't wait to have the cash to have something better than a dual core 4gb ram :(

Hey nice replies guys! I enjoyed reading them :)

I want to do this at some point. Save up to take a year off my job, get rid of my internet on my computer (just use it on my phone or something if I really need it)

sooooo much would get done. I bet you improved TONS in that year.

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I normally get the demo/rough arrangement done in 20 minutes, by the time I hit the 8 hour mark it'll be pretty fleshed out. From there its polished up a bit.

8 hours 20 minutes? Well I'm jelly...

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I'm one of those who if I don't have anything that catches me within an hour, I have to stop. So basically 1-3 hours is the typical length. After 2 hours I'm mentally drained and can't go on, and I also have a problem with getting back in the mood a day after and stuff like that. It's gotten better but working on tracks for days or weeks... I can't see how people do it and maintain the "vision" in their head and the "pressure".

I have the 'day after' problem a bit. That's only if I spend ALL DAY on my track, and my brain is reluctant to start working on the music again. That said if I force myself to (which is not easy) I can get into it. Some days I produce pure shit though. I've noticed that I'm at my best when I'm especially enjoying listening to music, so I basically have to choose between working on music and listening to it. I try to choose working more often :) So if you're the same way then you might be able to better gauge how well you're going to do that day if you're really enjoying listening to music.

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Honestly, I spend too long making one track. The last one I finished took about two weeks although I am having to fit my music making in around work. I'm trying to get to the point where I can write one track a week. I'm also considering moving away from using computers, I'm a bit fed up of looking at screens.

hmm, I don't think it's a good idea to count making tracks by weeks. If I were you (and I'm not) I'd work on increasing the time you work on music per week. In a year It's better to have 25 good to great tracks you made every 2 weeks or so, than 50 bad to decent to good (occasionally great) tracks you made. I guess it depends on what music you're making though.

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anywhere between 30 mins and lots of hours depending on the track / method

 

many of my best tracks have been boshed out in under an hour

 

some slowly grow over weeks, months and years - wouldn't have a clue how many hours have been spent on a particular track

hey LErd! I am kind of like that, where I can get a really good template out in an hour, but there's never been a time personally for me where I feel like I'm done after an hour, but you like to make ambient stuff in addition to the faster stuff, so that's different I suppose.

A potentially interesting question I just thought up:

Assuming you had

1. Infinite patience in completing your tracks, where you could work on a track from age 5 till death if you wanted.
2. but a finite lifespan

At what point would working on a single track become absurd, since you could potentially work on 1 (phenomenal, best ever) track from the time you can make music until you die. Would it be better to make like 5 amazing tracks per year, and come out with a 15 track album every 3 years? How would you go about that.

one year full time for one track with video. Currently most of the tracks are half finished after 3 hours and it's pretty hard to take up the thread again the next day

If it's a "big" tune, I spend about two days working on it. If it's a "small" tune, I get it done in a day. I don't count the hours but it's most of the free time I have during days. I can't work on one track too long because I get bored. My mindset is to improve on the next tune and not spend all my time perfecting just one thing. I don't know if that's actually good though.

Anywhere from an hour or two to years. I keep everything, so sometimes I'll load up an oldie and play around with it.

I have tracks going back 15 years or so and I think they will all eventually get finished.

from 10 minutes to 10 yrs

  On 5/22/2015 at 2:47 PM, LUDD said:

anywhere between 30 mins and lots of hours depending on the track / method

 

many of my best tracks have been boshed out in under an hour

 

some slowly grow over weeks, months and years - wouldn't have a clue how many hours have been spent on a particular track

this.

Indeed! Bouncing to audio for me is essential. I have to do multiple takes where I'm adding eq and effects in layers and then resampling that stuff to audio. Annoying as that takes time to render it all out to audio too. Suppose I just need more patience.

eons

  On 5/22/2015 at 3:39 PM, miim said:

what you using on the ipad?

Garageband. Works well for me because I can import the project file into Logic if its any good.

It varies - a lot. Some tracks take a couple of hours, some days, and some months. It all depends on if I can see a clear path for the track. I've got a couple of tracks I've been working on for over a year, and I've been working on them for so long now that I don't think I'll ever finish them, because nothing can live up to one year of work.