stamina for producing full songs

[RottenToTheGore]

Last night I had some good progress in getting things rolling.

I took a regular 4/4 beat, made a 8 bar bass line, and then just looped them while I loaded up a synth and started playing, for about 5 minutes I did this, just seeing what I could come up with while messing around. Then I went back and cut out all the parts I liked and put them in order.

I think this really helped because hearing everything repeating so much really got me into it, and when I stopped I still had alot of it stuck in my head, and could see where I wanted to improve.

Good luck!

[Piplodocus]

I took a regular 4/4 beat, made a 8 bar bass line, and then just looped them while I loaded up a synth and started playing, for about 5 minutes I did this, just seeing what I could come up with while messing around. Then I went back and cut out all the parts I liked and put them in order.

I thought this was the whole point of owning Ableton and session view! My problem is I can fill gigabytes of HDD with badly played synth or guitar wank that goes on for hours and I decide I don't really like any of it, or else can't convert it to a proper song!

My current push it to play my guitar more. The best way of writing a song is definitely knowing and playing an instrument well and inventively, then write the song (or bits of it), and play it into the computer. I find trying to write out of practice with no ideas first gets me nowhere. If I can start recording something I already have in my head I can then invent other parts to complement it in session view. Else I have some ideas but spend the entire evening trying to record them reasonably because I'm out of practice, after which I'm annoyed, frustrated, and have failed to produce anything worthwile.

[RottenToTheGore]

I took a regular 4/4 beat, made a 8 bar bass line, and then just looped them while I loaded up a synth and started playing, for about 5 minutes I did this, just seeing what I could come up with while messing around. Then I went back and cut out all the parts I liked and put them in order.

I thought this was the whole point of owning Ableton and session view! My problem is I can fill gigabytes of HDD with badly played synth or guitar wank that goes on for hours and I decide I don't really like any of it, or else can't convert it to a proper song!

It probably is, but usually I don't record everything I do on the keyboard, just when I find something I like I try and record that little bit. This way I recorded minutes of stuff that I could chop up at will, all while the bass and drum tracks are getting plugged in my head so I can't stop thinking about it.

Guess I was burning it in my brain so I could keep thinking even when I'm not around the DAW.

[nepotist]

a while back I had the same problem, was starting a lot of stuff but not finishing it. So i did these two projects "Airlock Vol 1 and 2", Vol 1 I resolved to record 10 songs in 10 days. For volume 2 I took all unfinished tracks I had lying around and turned them into finished tracks, spending no more than 2 nights on them each. I found setting those limits on myself actually freed up the creative part of the process, since it didn't have to be perfect.
The results were pretty good (I think) but check them out in my Bandcamp link below if you are interested...they are free!

Good luck~!

[nafe]

I used to get tracks very close to finished and they would sit for ages almost done and not quite. the result was that i literally had no results for my work. so this is maybe a technique for a bit further down the track for finishing a track before you start or send off for mastering.
when im at a stage where i have the bulk of the track laid down, its almost done but there are just a few things that dont sit comfortably i press play and using a pen and paper listen from start to finish noting things that i want to change, add, delete. noting the time that you want to change something "ie 3min 30 add snare rush".
The most important thing with this technique is to not touch the computer from start to finish
once you have the listed the things (i call this my Polish sheet) go through your list doing the things you have listed untill they are all done. more often than not i find once ive done this i can say ok its finished/ ready.

many other articles to read and inspire i highly recomend a set of guides from tarekith, who is a frequent contributor to this forum and strikes me as being very wise without the bullshit ego that seems all to frequent check them out
http://tarekith.com/tutorials-and-reviews/

take it easy...

[starving student]

also watch the original movies karate kid 1 and 2 with ralph machio back to back and I guarantee after that you will be dying to either kill yourself or make more music than you can handle.

[bassistheplace]

Thanks for all the replies! Found some great tips in all of them.

things i'm going to start putting into practice are:
-creating a "polish sheet"
-making the song b4 adding eq/compression and not "mixing as go"
-I have a few friends at my high school who make music, so i'll ask them for some feedback (studying comes first though)
-write music that I "connect" to emotionally
-listening to music subjectively
-eating salads

@nepotist I checked out the Airlock stuffs and found them to be to my liking! kind of a boards of canada-esque sound
@monobeach the tarekith guides looked great but found great info w/o looking at them. thx though!

btw, idk if you guys care..but this is one of my favorite songs right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuV3D9SSPd4

anywayzz
thx for all the help!

[Earwax69]

Do it like it is your full time job.

Here what I do:

wake-up morning. eat something light. go walk 5min to oxigen my brain a bit. buy or make a coffee.

Sit in your workstation chair, put closed HEADPHONES, not speakers. start ableton and start sipping coffee slowly.

Now listen to your track until the end, without stop... AND SING THE PART THAT SHOULD BE CREATED NEXT. Thats important. Your brain work faster than your fingers. By singing or mumbling a new part in your head, you got more chance to do it right than if you start creating synths or playing with the keyboard.

Headphones help you concentrate on what's in front of you and coffee should keep you going for a while but you need to rehydrat. I find that sport drinks works marvel to resplenish what the coffee steal to your body.

good luck!

[xzusa8ky]

Hey I'm having kind of a hard time with something..

I feel like I understand many of the important "concepts" of producing a good-sounding tuneee, but at the same time I feel like I've lost creativity and stamina to make a full song (I now work on a tune for maybe 20 minutes and stop, whereas I used to work on it for hours.). When I didn't know of these concepts or how I like to do them, I would be able to make a tune within a few days and be reasonably satisfied. feel me?

Please leave your thoughts and some methods you use to increase stamina or creativity.

BTW I've tried things like putting randomvalues into synths and arranging them haphazardly..and then working with that, but have found that I'm not satisfied.

thaaaaaaanks!

Take it easy! you are on the right way! Take a break for a week or two and think about something else. Then start work again when you feel full motivated! Lay down some good ideas and make each part different and interresting without complicating the production, and then always record what you are doing, you will then see that you will actually be making a hole song with ease.....Nice weekend!

[nepotist]

Thanks for all the replies! Found some great tips in all of them.
@nepotist I checked out the Airlock stuffs and found them to be to my liking! kind of a boards of canada-esque sound

thanks for the flattering comparison! love the BoC