How long do you typically spend on a track

[fragments]

I've been working a lot quicker lately, I do all my sound design in around 2 hours. The big difference is I make decisions quickly and bounce everything to audio very quickly...doing several rounds of processing and bouncing to get things crunchy, lo fi, distorted ...whatever.

I find arrangement a lot easier when working with audio and I don't have endless possibilities working in MIDI. Writing a melody, bouncing it, and then just chopping it to make variations is so much easier for me. I can usually get my basic arrangement done in like...45 minutes or an hour. Tweaking automation envelopes takes another hour.

I find working destructively a much, much, much easier process. I still spend a ton of time on mixdown, this is the only part of my process that hours and hours of time spent yield positive results. I usually do a basic mixdown while I arrange, can't stand to do the arrangement with the levels/gain structure all crazy.

So 2 hours for sound design. 2 hours to arrange. Then I usually bounce the tune and just listen to it for like a week or two, making small adjustments to the mix. Then I finally sit down and do a final mix. So it's hard to estimate...but probably 20 hours on a tune... is that crazy to take 16 on mixdown and final processing and automation?

[deafblindmusic]

~16-20 hours give or take to get the fundamentals down. Then another 10-12 for refinement, alternative arrangements, then 4-8 for mixing. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Some tracks take more, some take less

[forsak3n]

Wow, thanks for the responses guys. Looks like it completely varies from person to person. Definitely puts things in perspective, I guess I just have to keep on keepin on.

Bigs ups to everyone who posted!

[Gewze]

far too fucking long, looking through recent projects 12 hours is a cut off point to where i get bored of it. and its gotta be really special to push through. but that 12 hours is spread over weeks and weeks because im slow and lazy

[sketchyderek]

Sometimes I can get one mashed out pretty fast. Other times I bit by bit change things, or just abandon it for a later day (if ever).

[Erisol]

The tracks I've been most satisfied with are the ones that I finish in two three-hour sessions on two different days. I've spent as long as a month finishing a track and honestly only said I was done because I wasn't improving it anymore.

[Killamike49]

My best songs are the ones where i got the idea down in one sitting. Sometimes i'll polish it in a day, or month, depending on the complexity of the track.

[benjam]

Just finished my first in about a year haha

[Mad_Ice]

Soundcloud

Made this tune in like a week , it depends on my inspiration

[AxeD]

Ages, I don't think I even have what it takes yet and I've been at it for quite some time.
I'm never inspired to work on subtle things for hours, which is definitely needed in my kind of music.

[Electric_Head]

from 3 hours to a few weeks

[wub]

Anything more than a few hours and I've generally gotten bored and started something else.

[Khazm]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

[Electric_Head]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

fight the urge to create loops
it`s the one biggest lesson I learned
finish things where ever possible
even if it means creating a fast slapped together structure, it forces you out of the loop mentality

[Augment]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

fight the urge to create loops
it`s the one biggest lesson I learned
finish things where ever possible
even if it means creating a fast slapped together structure, it forces you out of the loop mentality

I forced myself to do this a couple of times, always finished songs when I've done this.

[Electric_Head]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

fight the urge to create loops
it`s the one biggest lesson I learned
finish things where ever possible
even if it means creating a fast slapped together structure, it forces you out of the loop mentality

I forced myself to do this a couple of times, always finished songs when I've done this.

exactly
you view the piece of work as a track rather than a loop which seems to trigger the correct response in my head
it makes me want to finish things

[wub]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

fight the urge to create loops
it`s the one biggest lesson I learned
finish things where ever possible
even if it means creating a fast slapped together structure, it forces you out of the loop mentality

I forced myself to do this a couple of times, always finished songs when I've done this.

exactly
you view the piece of work as a track rather than a loop which seems to trigger the correct response in my head
it makes me want to finish things

This is why I never start my tune with drums - it's easy to get stuck in the loop stage when you've got some drums nicely rolling but no clue how to develop the tune past that stage.

[Electric_Head]

Forever at the moment, I've got about 20 32 bar intros that I've created but rarely get past that stage :/

fight the urge to create loops
it`s the one biggest lesson I learned
finish things where ever possible
even if it means creating a fast slapped together structure, it forces you out of the loop mentality

I forced myself to do this a couple of times, always finished songs when I've done this.

exactly
you view the piece of work as a track rather than a loop which seems to trigger the correct response in my head
it makes me want to finish things

This is why I never start my tune with drums - it's easy to get stuck in the loop stage when you've got some drums nicely rolling but no clue how to develop the tune past that stage.

True Wub, you almost get lost in the head bop you loose focus of what your idea was.
That`s why I`ll get my loop done and as soon as I like it I work it into a rough track.
I`ll then begin removing, cutting, adding, etc.

[Immerse]

i find that if you really force yourself to ignore the technical details, and do your arrangement with the bare minimum amount of FX and processing etc. (things thatll distract you from arrangement), i can finish an arrangement in 2-3 hours if the ideas are rolling. Once the arrangement is done you can simply move out of the creative process and spend a good 10+ hours on things like EQing compressing and other processing. Then the mix. If you really force yourself to not get sidetracked by technicalities and get the arrangement done quick you can really get your best work.
i didnt read all the posts so i might be restating things

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Couple of weeks but my tracks still need a lot of work imo.