Ableton Forum

I'm curious to know if any of you have any good tips or suggestions for gaining a new perspective on your tracks. I mean after writing, arranging, mixing and mastering a track my ears are pretty much dead to how that track really feels or sounds anymore. Do any of you use any sort of techniques to hear you work from new ears and different angles?

For example: My father is a painter and to see his work from different eyes while painting he often turns the painting upside down or on its side or even better looks at it through a mirror which can sometimes really help to become aware of an imbalance in the composition. Do any of you have the audio equivalent?

yeah.

step away.

im always working on 4-5 tracks at the same time and ive developed enough discipline and ear to know which of those three that i should finish. when i start to get into a mundane, just listening to the loop, zone ... i load up a different track, find myself super excited again and bust on that for a bit. maybe ill go back weeks later and be like "holy shit, this is hot i have to finish it!"

but man, i know some people that sit and tweak and tweak a tune for two months and never really finish anything. they force themselves to work on something. i dunno, to me, that's not what i enjoy about writing music... i love the creative process which is fueled by my enthusiasm. if i have to force anything then im not gonna be the most creative.

with this approach, i finish a good 3-5 tracks a month and that's with a 70 hour work week. it's also worth nothing that i maximize my time in the studio and i spend as little time as possible telling myself how great i am (lol) and listening to loops and more time moving forward. my studio time begins at 11pm and i have to be up for work at 7 so you best bet that im focused on the task at hand. less time working on a track means more enthusiasm for finishing it. if you arent working or have a ton of time to jam then it takes away from the urgency of the moment. reward yourself with studio time. :]

like that old adage: if the sound doesnt stand on its own, then it shouldnt be in your mix.

same thing. trust your instincts.

mission wrote:yeah.

step away.

im always working on 4-5 tracks at the same time and ive developed enough discipline and ear to know which of those three that i should finish. when i start to get into a mundane, just listening to the loop, zone ... i load up a different track, find myself super excited again and bust on that for a bit. maybe ill go back weeks later and be like "holy shit, this is hot i have to finish it!"

but man, i know some people that sit and tweak and tweak a tune for two months and never really finish anything. they force themselves to work on something. i dunno, to me, that's not what i enjoy about writing music... i love the creative process which is fueled by my enthusiasm. if i have to force anything then im not gonna be the most creative.

with this approach, i finish a good 3-5 tracks a month and that's with a 70 hour work week. it's also worth nothing that i maximize my time in the studio and i spend as little time as possible telling myself how great i am (lol) and listening to loops and more time moving forward. my studio time begins at 11pm and i have to be up for work at 7 so you best bet that im focused on the task at hand. less time working on a track means more enthusiasm for finishing it. if you arent working or have a ton of time to jam then it takes away from the urgency of the moment. reward yourself with studio time. :]

like that old adage: if the sound doesnt stand on its own, then it shouldnt be in your mix.

same thing. trust your instincts.

Yeah thanks I'd have to agree with most of what you said. And I'm feeling quite shitty knowing you finish 3 tracks a months and are working a 70 hour a week job. I used to work about 10 hours a day doing construction and by the time I got home I simply had no energy to work on music. Thats very admirable that you can finish that many tracks whilst working that hard too.

listen to it backwards. you might be surprised at how bad it sounds. i noticed that some dope tracks sound good both forward and in reverse.

Take a reasonably long break. After you come back, swap the L/R channels and listen to it like that.

Listen in different environments e.g. car stereo, personal stereo, put it amongst a shuffle with similair established songs that perhaps influenced you, I guess this helps more for mix and production rather than quality of song arrangement.

Showing friends and asking them to be critical i find helps.

mission wrote:yeah.

step away.

im always working on 4-5 tracks at the same time and ive developed enough discipline and ear to know which of those three that i should finish. when i start to get into a mundane, just listening to the loop, zone ... i load up a different track, find myself super excited again and bust on that for a bit. maybe ill go back weeks later and be like "holy shit, this is hot i have to finish it!"

but man, i know some people that sit and tweak and tweak a tune for two months and never really finish anything. they force themselves to work on something. i dunno, to me, that's not what i enjoy about writing music... i love the creative process which is fueled by my enthusiasm. if i have to force anything then im not gonna be the most creative.

with this approach, i finish a good 3-5 tracks a month and that's with a 70 hour work week. it's also worth nothing that i maximize my time in the studio and i spend as little time as possible telling myself how great i am (lol) and listening to loops and more time moving forward. my studio time begins at 11pm and i have to be up for work at 7 so you best bet that im focused on the task at hand. less time working on a track means more enthusiasm for finishing it. if you arent working or have a ton of time to jam then it takes away from the urgency of the moment. reward yourself with studio time. :]

like that old adage: if the sound doesnt stand on its own, then it shouldnt be in your mix.

same thing. trust your instincts.

ATL..... what's your alias?!

we just had a huge fest.... www.nophest.com hit a brother up!

3rdordertrauma wrote:

mission wrote:yeah.

step away.

im always working on 4-5 tracks at the same time and ive developed enough discipline and ear to know which of those three that i should finish. when i start to get into a mundane, just listening to the loop, zone ... i load up a different track, find myself super excited again and bust on that for a bit. maybe ill go back weeks later and be like "holy shit, this is hot i have to finish it!"

but man, i know some people that sit and tweak and tweak a tune for two months and never really finish anything. they force themselves to work on something. i dunno, to me, that's not what i enjoy about writing music... i love the creative process which is fueled by my enthusiasm. if i have to force anything then im not gonna be the most creative.

with this approach, i finish a good 3-5 tracks a month and that's with a 70 hour work week. it's also worth nothing that i maximize my time in the studio and i spend as little time as possible telling myself how great i am (lol) and listening to loops and more time moving forward. my studio time begins at 11pm and i have to be up for work at 7 so you best bet that im focused on the task at hand. less time working on a track means more enthusiasm for finishing it. if you arent working or have a ton of time to jam then it takes away from the urgency of the moment. reward yourself with studio time. :]

like that old adage: if the sound doesnt stand on its own, then it shouldnt be in your mix.

same thing. trust your instincts.

Yeah thanks I'd have to agree with most of what you said. And I'm feeling quite shitty knowing you finish 3 tracks a months and are working a 70 hour a week job. I used to work about 10 hours a day doing construction and by the time I got home I simply had no energy to work on music. Thats very admirable that you can finish that many tracks whilst working that hard too.

bro!

dont feel bad man. im a weirdo! i do business leadership development for a living and if you worked with a bunch of positive, goal driven people, and finally after two years of sacrifice started seeing it paying off financially, you'd have a lot of energy when you got home too. yeah i work a lot but its not tough like construction. i love my job, get to hire hot assistants and get paid to help OTHËR people be successful. it changed my life. i help people for a living, it doesnt drain me much.

ive also been producing for about seven years pretty seriously with a lot of good teachers along the way so i dont spend a lot of time figuring out how to do something. i just do it. my main problem or wall right now is theory and melodies... im better than a lot of people with that but i learned from engineers, not musicians, so im really working on incorporating a lot more FEEL now. more human touch... coming from the drum and bass scene you could imagine that's a barrier.

yes, im drunk and high... sorry for the 4am rant about nothing important

tricil wrote:

mission wrote:yeah.

step away.

im always working on 4-5 tracks at the same time and ive developed enough discipline and ear to know which of those three that i should finish. when i start to get into a mundane, just listening to the loop, zone ... i load up a different track, find myself super excited again and bust on that for a bit. maybe ill go back weeks later and be like "holy shit, this is hot i have to finish it!"

but man, i know some people that sit and tweak and tweak a tune for two months and never really finish anything. they force themselves to work on something. i dunno, to me, that's not what i enjoy about writing music... i love the creative process which is fueled by my enthusiasm. if i have to force anything then im not gonna be the most creative.

with this approach, i finish a good 3-5 tracks a month and that's with a 70 hour work week. it's also worth nothing that i maximize my time in the studio and i spend as little time as possible telling myself how great i am (lol) and listening to loops and more time moving forward. my studio time begins at 11pm and i have to be up for work at 7 so you best bet that im focused on the task at hand. less time working on a track means more enthusiasm for finishing it. if you arent working or have a ton of time to jam then it takes away from the urgency of the moment. reward yourself with studio time. :]

like that old adage: if the sound doesnt stand on its own, then it shouldnt be in your mix.

same thing. trust your instincts.

ATL..... what's your alias?!

we just had a huge fest.... www.nophest.com hit a brother up!

i see you have moka on that list. kevin is my roommate.

i go by mission now but i was decide/dside from Defiant. we have releases on G2 and magic vinyl and my partner went on to put stuff out on moving shadow under the Gein moniker. obviously he was the one who taught me what to do. hahah

id love to get up on an instrumental hip hop / half speed drum and bass set somewhere. i think this shit is original and ill play for anyone for free right now as long as you're more interested in music than double drops. you'd hear all original tunes with a huge variety. blurring genre lines, lets do it!

hit me up pm styles or whatever mango... im new to the A and love collabs

- tony

i go with the rule: IF you have an idea FINISH IT NOW!..dont come back to it after 2 days or a week..cause it wont sound as good.or the idea will be gone (to me at least)

i might stay up a whole night or be all day on live just to finish a track..i work that way.i'm sure a lot of other people work that way as well..others might just sit on a track for months and not finish it cause they just wanna learn how to use live...live is full of surprises and the way people work on it differs.

Nokatus wrote:Take a reasonably long break. After you come back, swap the L/R channels and listen to it like that.

or take no break and suddenly swop L&R (easily by lifting up your headphones and turn it 180 degrees)

I have found that as soon as I physically put someone in front of the monitors and start an unfinished track, I start hearing the bad stuff immediately and stop hearing all the good stuff.
It doesn't matter what your victim says, the things that need work will just immediately jump out at you.
The hats are too loud.
The reverb is too dense.
The arrangement sucks.
Etc....
Your victim will make pleasant encouraging comments which you graciously accept while jotting down all the problems.
Then you wipeout/rework all the junk and repeat.

Oh yeah, your victim should be from outside your household.