So how much time do you put into producing?

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SynesthesiaC

Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
I've been wondering this recently as I work during the weeks and weedends, go to uni, have a pretty hectic social life, and only really end up producing songs when I have a random day off. Which is probably why some of my tunes lag behind most professional sounding stuff, as I usually make one song in one day if I have it free. I'm guessing that people who's whole life is producing spend a lot longer on each song also produce a lot more.

A few questions:

Does anyone else produce only in their spare time? Or is there no chance of really mastering production unless you dedicate some serious time to it and drop some work hours or education? How long would you say it takes a pro signed producer to make a good quality popular DnB track?
 
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yeh i'd say it takes me too long if anything (one month - two months finishing off), i hear a lot of good tracks from producers, and they seem to take less time to produce them. Take DJ SC from these forums, i have been pretty into his neuro sound lately, and he seems to get much more done - in much quicker time than i can. maybe its personal work flows or styles of working that you just have to get used to. but i'm the same with everything. i do alot of graphic design stuff and take ages on it. I'm a perfectionist, and nothing is ever done until i have (to an extent) overdone it.

Maybe i should just flow with an idea and go with its energy more often.
 
sook said:
Flo wrote Brainwave in 2 days...
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Is 2 days quick to write any drum and bass song then? Because the ones I've made before have tended to been just one huge daily session with an end product.

Theres a guy I know called paragonx9 from newgrounds who wrote an absolutely banging DnB tune in one hour. All he had pre-done was the main drums. All the rest he started one day after I came back from uni. He even went out in the evening after making and uploading it. I think that the fact he can play keyboard did it, so just had to play it all in and briefly tweak. I'm lucky in this regard too being grade 8 piano.

For a one hour production, its fucking amazing. I think it is anyway. Link; http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/245921
 
SynesthesiaC said:
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/245921
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not as bad. sounds like an c64/trance/john b thing. defo good for 1 hour. but its all about how it sounds, not about the time you put into.

so if you need 5 minutes, its all good, if you need 2 month its all good too..

some tunes need more time, some less.. i tend to put a lot of time into production, but im not that effective. i mostly put down 2-3 ideas a day, but finish maybe one out of ten.
 
GiDriK said:
sum tunes just come to you, some need time like 1-2 months, i heard Danny byrd used to spend 3 months on each track
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i think this is an unprofessional work flow...
if your doing it full time a tune ever fortnight
max.. but a week is a better standard...

its all about the epic all day all sessions everyday...
teebee writes for about 12 hour + a day...
teebee is a machine...
 
Yeah if i'm feelin' a track i'm workin' on, I'll be on it for hours in one sitting. Sometimes after that, work on it again here and there for days after that. And when i think it is "finished", I hold off on it for a few days, clear my head of it a bit, and give it a fresh listen, and if I'm still happy with it, it's officially "finished.":D
Different tracks take different amounts of time, can't really set a time in some cases. Some of the tracks I worked less on got more praise than some i worked longer on..depends really. But if you're happy with the finished product, then that's what matters in the end. (y)
 
I don't get nearly as much time to produce now days as I would like. I haven't finished off any tracks for a couple of months now...

I need to get my head down soon!
 
JamesZero said:
I don't get nearly as much time to produce now days as I would like. I haven't finished off any tracks for a couple of months now...

I need to get my head down soon!
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exact same boat... 90% of my producing is done between the hours of 10pm-1am once the missis is in bed (and unfortunatly it has to be done on headphones).... wish i had more time but oh well, majority of my tracks are made in the space of a few hours, normally as an accident whilst messing around! i find it's the last 20% of making a tune that takes 80% of the time! :clown:
 
richie_stix said:
i find it's the last 20% of making a tune that takes 80% of the time! :clown:
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Yeah. I haven't been producing long, but already I have far too many unfinished ideas and not enough to show for it.
But I work more or less 7 days a week (the odd day off) and have a family, so the long uninterrupted sessions that I find more productive are few and far between.

Some of the posts here, have claims of 'few hours' or 'started today'. I definitely can't do that shit. Takes me a lot longer to get anywhere. I'll spend hours just making patches for z3ta or whatever.
 
I can never manage more than about 2 hours at a time, partly because I never have more than that much free time and also because you can't tell whats good or not anymore, because your so used the the same loops over & over.

A finished track usually takes me about 10 hours in total, but I don't have the means of mastering properly so that's always done sketchily.

Oh, and I heard that Spor finsihed Aztec in 6 hours
 
SynesthesiaC said:
For a one hour production, its fucking amazing. I think it is anyway. Link; http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/245921
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Sounds like a computer game tune to me, not my gusto. Boring Kick Snare pattern, wouldnt even call this dnb. Typical House Sound.

Alexi said:
I can never manage more than about 2 hours at a time, partly because I never have more than that much free time and also because you can't tell whats good or not anymore, because your so used the the same loops over & over.
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this, either i have to make pauses or work on 2 tunes at the same time to keep my ears objective and dont get disturbed by hearing loops/phrases on and on.

The important question from my pov is, how long u need to make an outstanding tune. Average tunes with a slightly hooky line like above r available for free sufficiently on the net. But u will not be signed by a good label for such stuff. And i think most keep this at back of the head.

Really try to rebuild some outstanding famous dnb tunes from scratch, make the sounds urselves in a synth/resampling, program drums, only this will take u several days without the time for inspiration and arrangment these guys needed. Read the Q&A on grid, noisia afaik produced "the tide" over months, and they r 3 men team! But the result is an outstanding profile building tune with their own noisia typical sounds and techniques. U can hear it several times in a row and and it gets even better and better.~

Earning ur money with producing music is same competition and sweat u have to put in like any other non artistic full time job. Besides ur a musical genius like Elton John, Michael Jackson, Beethoven ....
 
bear in mind too that you don't get paid much to produce full time.
Was talking to an artist signed to Digital Soundboy the other night and he was saying that he'd be lucky to see £1500 for a tune.. Even the big boys like Fresh etc only pull 2-2.5k a tune..
It's a hell of a lot of work for not a lot of money.
Thats why so many producers supplement ther incomes with Djing- far more lucrative.
 
U know how much a average DJ earns a gig? I read also a lot do other stuff to make a livin of it, like advertisment, film music and so on. Makes me sad that bukem seems to be only djing the past years without putting new tunes out. But maybe u can only be such creative in short period of ur life. In the century of internet living as a musician seems to be a pretty risky business.
 
luzil said:
Sounds like a computer game tune to me, not my gusto. Boring Kick Snare pattern, wouldnt even call this dnb. Typical House Sound.
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i personally thought the kick snare was one of the best bits... but i do agree it is very computer game/house like! it's definatly well composed at any rate, so definatly go musical understanding!
 
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