Workrate

C

chz

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
So im interested in some work rate techniques that some of you may have learnt over the past years. For example making templates for your daw so you can load in and crack out a song, or folders and shiz. Any suggestions to be a bit more organised/ improve general work rate?

I feel like I take ages when Im working on one song. I'm thinking of maybe working on 2 or 3 more tracks at a time to stop myself getting bored, but I think i'd be locked in my room for months if I did this. What's the general length of time you guys make tracks in, do you set yourself time limits or goals?
 
Only use a core bunch of about 10 plugins, uninstall any plugins you don't use
 
Just been slowly saving things i like or exporting stuff from failed tracks to improve on. Just banks of created sounds. Mainly folders full of drums.
4 bar Loops of either kicks and snares, fills, or highend. then processed FX/crashes. Bass patches/presets. fx settings for specific sounds or vocals.
Presets for vsts to make it easier to go to then just tweak. That way you can get the ideas out quick then spend the rest of the time working on the elements etc.


I make 1-infinity tracks at a time, I switch as I go, just to avoid boredom. I'll carry on with stuff in bursts really, as soon as I get into that loop coma I will focus on another track or start a new one. I just try capitalise on inspiration as and when it comes. I could be going at a dnb tune then make a synth play about with it and then stop to start a house tune randomly?
It's a terrible way to produce as you just have 100's of half arsed tracks/intros or drops. But you can build a big bank of stuff quite easily this way. All about frankenstien tunes!

But when it's crunch time and there are deadlines to meet, i do just force myself to finish stuff, luckily i can bounce stuff off the other guys for feedback and stuff to focus on instead of just listening to the same loop making small changes. I get bored/annoyed at repetitive stuff quite easily, which is probably why i cram a lot of ideas into a track and then later strip it all back, pick the best of the elements etc...This method is entirely flawed though.
I wouldn't advise it personally, but its just what im used to now?
 
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i have very very specific folders for my samples. my snare folder has like 14 different sub folders for different flavours of snares. makes finding what im looking for waay easier.

I also have a template for tunes, with a lot of stuff. it starts with channel folders (in logic) for percussion audio, bass audio and fx audio. it includes machines 16 outputs summed into a channel folder because i pretty much always use it. it has an instruments folder, and a folder for a frequency-split setup, with all the busses already routed (very handy). i have perc bus, fx buss and bass bus which have inputs from all the relative audio channels, and other busses like send busses hidden so the arrangement doesnt get too cluttered. I also have a sub setup ready to go, which i made with massive, an EQ and a compressor, to my tastes.

And also pretty important is having all my commonly used plugins have a default template, saves a lot of time. I also have custom keyboard shortcuts for all the daws features (piano roll, mixer, smart controls, etc)

Lastly, i created a chart with all the plugins in my daw, split into groups by type (EQ, distortion, filter, stereo, etc) so whenever i want to do something i can check out exactly what all my options are.
 
I start a track from scratch work, on it for a few hours, decided it is shit and start another, then repeat. I will do this a bunch of times until I make something I like and go for it on a day where I have time. Then I start a track from scratch work, on it for a few hours, decided it is shit and start another, then repeat. One of them will be good and I will start to make the track. Then I give that track a break and go back to the first track that started to sound good and work on that. When I get bored with that track I start a track from scratch work, on it for a few hours, decided it is shit and start another, then repeat.

This process is cyclical and helps with the learning curve. I make it a point to learn and try something new with every new project failed or not. In the end about 10% of everything I make I finish. However, usually in some way or another that song is 90% of my failed tracks.

My process sucks but it is my process.
 
I spend about 15 minutes before any production session to figure out a track Key, Chord progression and sometimes melodies.
Just to get started, I just find it easier to (I guess) have an idea of what I'm trying to accomplish....
Otherwise I can sit at my computer for hours and make rubbish music and totally lose focus.

Each to their own I suppose. Patience is important.

In regards to track templates, I use a template for my productions. When producing albums, it creates consistency within the production process.
Otherwise, It is perfectly fine to produce from a template or from a fresh.
 
I start my projects from scratch as well. Then, I choose some basic stuff, like tempo, key and what scale to follow (natural minor, harmonic minor, mixolydian?).

Then, I start layering drum sounds, to get a good kick, good snare, two or three hats, one or two rides, two crashes, and maybe some toms, and replicate that common dnb pattern, just to have and idea on how it sounds.

Then, I start the "creative" part of the project: sound design (starting normally with some ambiance pads, and then bass, percussive fx, etc.), then I try to arrange it together. In this creative part, I don't usually do technical stuff (like sidechain, EQ, etc).

Then, when I think it's good enough, I'll go to the technical part, eq things, compress things, eq some more, compress some more.

After every technical aspect is set up, then I'll work on the mixing: I pull down the faders on every track, and then start raising individual mixer tracks, starting with the kick, snare, sub bass and bass (or basses), until they're sounding pretty well together. And then I work on the rest of the elements, until everything is good enough.
 
Most of the thing I do have already been said...
When I see a track is getting nowhere, I just delete it.. I don't save anything from it, just some new technique maybe.
I don't like taking full patches from other tracks I'm working on. It reminds me of the failed one, and mostly I just recreate it.
I do remember what bass was sounding fine, what snare I like, that stuff.

And yea, my samples aren't organized, but I do know where everything is.

Before a new projects, I don't think about the technical stuff... I just know my basic scales, so stuff like that isn't my style. I just start... When I feel it's getting somewhere, I start doing the smaller things: tuning the kick, snare, maybe tune the melody samples a bit, eq stuff (take resonant notes out of there, lowcutting,..)
I only do this when I feel the track might sound good at the end, if I feel it's getting nowhere, I feel it's just time consuming
 
One thing that I know a shed load of pros do it spend a few hours a week/day resampling some basses so you have your own bank of sounds that you can use at will. Can really speed up getting the basis of a track down.

I usually find tho if a track doesn't write itself and becomes a chore, just bounce out any good bits and move on. The best tracks ive made are usually done in like a few days.
 
I think it's also important to consciously pay attention while your working to identify your personal sticking points. For example, I've been drumming for 14+ years now, I can come up with a solid groove in about a minute if i go slowly. But chords used to take me forever, so I did some scouring and wound up getting Xfer's Cthulhu which is a chord-gen/arp plug-in and i have that pre-loaded in a template so I can just immediately throw down a random chord progression with my rhythm and really get something resembling a song going quickly.


So, here's what you do to get better:

1. Identify where you struggle
2. Ask others for input on fixing the issue
3. Do the 100% of what is suggested to you
4. Hustle
 
Some really good posts in here. Thanks for the advice. I pretty much start most of my tracks from scratch aswell, I got the basic template for a few drum tracks, a few synths e.t.c I guess my problem is at the moment (as Russia - DJ has said) the tracks start becoming a chore. I think i'll try a few different things suggested here, like spending some time resampling bass and making my own samples. Or just starting new tracks and see what I can get out of them. Or fuck, maybe make something else than dnb :lol:
 
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