How long do you spend on a tune?

parsons19

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Swear I asked this before but I did a search and seems nobody has! (I did find a funny thread by myself though where I was going to do a remix comp for one of my tunes. I had only been producing 5 months then though :lol:)

Anyways, I was just wondering. How long do you guys spend making a tune? Obviously you don't know exactly but on your average track how long do you reckon?

I think I have come to the conclusion I work quite slowly, which isn't to bad. I spend quite a long time coming up with the initial idea/starting point to be honest but once I get going I get into quite a nice flow :) I am normally spending a few weeks on a tune I think. I have to take into consideration though that I don't produce every single day, sometimes work on other stuff etc.

I do also have projects that are from months ago though! However, I find that the tracks you get out of the way quicker are normally the better ones.

What about you guys?
 
recently I only really spend 1 whole day on a tune, and if its not finished that day it doesn't usually get finished. unless it just needs some little bits a and peices.

it was best when i had serious amounts of times on my hand then id spend a week on a tune.
 
Ive found recently if you find yourself having to work real hard to get the track finished it will end up too manufactured, the best shit is what flows out real organically. I heard an interesting story as to how Turbulence came together, the vocal sample didnt even need to be altered in any way, just worked off the bat!

Tweaking can take a good fews/weeks depending on how anal you are i guess.
 
Depends really.
Generally I like to take my time with tunes. Most of my time is spent making noises or drums that i save after making an 8bar loop to use later.
Usually i just go back n forth from old projects to new all the time and never get anywhere! I have a tune atm thats nearly 3years old that ive gone back to over n over but all i keep doing is getting stuck on the same loop, not willing to change or add anything as it just sounds different!

But Sometimes if i get an idea and approach fruity with an agenda, an everything works well and flows etc I could get it done in a few hours and then spend the rest of the week listening back and tweaking bits here n there.

I wont count a tune by how much time ive taken on it, its usually by how many saves i do cause the better it gets the more i save so a lot of saves= a good tune.
After 10 saves its still laughable, 20 an its starting to take shape, 30 there's half a tune done. 40 im tweaking bits and working on second drop, by about the 60th save the tune is at the mastering stage.
This could all happen in a few hours or a few weeks. I try my hardest not to save stuff that hasnt improved the tune.
 
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It really depends on the moment. my latest track was made in about six hours.
I had a really good 5 hour session, everything was going great,
the next day I spend another hour finetuning and I'm pretty happy with the end result.

most of the time I try to finish my track within a week, after that I'll probably move on with another project.
 
Thanks for the responses, interesting to see how it varies person to person :P

elmar, that is crazy man, it would be wicked to be able to whack tunes out of the quality you make in a day!

And let us know when it is done Phenlight :D
 
Usually a track from start to finish would take me an average of about 6-12 hours studio time. Which is usually spread out over a few days / weeks depending on how much free time I have!

I can sometimes sit there in one day and complete a track, other times I'll go back to it. It definately all comes down to workflow for me. It seems more natural when it all just flows. If I find myself struggling with a loop for too long, chances are the project will be scrapped!
 
~20-40hours of project time + the time that goes making/resampling the samples I use in the tune.
 
I tend to lay out the basic stuffs and get all my ideas down and in to the project and structure it up on a day. Then I sit and fiddle with it for about a week or two and just play around! And I usually work on two tracks at the same time so that when I get bored with all the sounds in the first one I can take it of my mind and still get stuff done in another track ^^
 
i'm down to 1 track a month :cry:

mainly as i only have a couple hours after work, so only actually spend 30 to 50 hours/track. that might seem quite slow but i am happiest fussing with details and layers.

---------- Post added at 12:29 ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 ----------

Ive found recently if you find yourself having to work real hard to get the track finished it will end up too manufactured, the best shit is what flows out real organically.

I've come to the same conclusion. My favorite tracks are the one's that took the least amount of time, but I figure I have to struggle through tracks from time to time to be at the point where a simpler idea comes together so seamlessly. Or so I have convinced myself when something starts taking ages. :teeth:
 
usually 1 full day writing the bulk of the tune
2nd half arsed day adding extra elements
3rd day tweaking, trying to get the mix down
 
Sometime hours, sometimes days, sometime weeks and sometimes months.

I don't set any limits, I'm not in a position where I have to work to deadlines so I just let it all happen.
 
Don't think i've even finished one tune yet haha. I have one or two that are very close and a lot that are just 16 bar loops that need some work
 
I will say one hundred hours, then I'm not on software for a long time and I chipotte for little things sometimes, which wastes my time.
The longest for me is the beginning, to find a Lemps air synths that I like ...
 
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