Sounds like me. I have pretty bad ADHD... Meds work for the focus, my brain jumps around a lot less and I'll stick with what I'm doing...

As for changing tracks though, I'm guessing this is your instinct and its not something you should be fighting with what doesn't suit you. There will be a biological reason why your mind does this. It could be that you aren't finishing tracks fast enough because you haven't set up well enough in advance. Maybe you don't have an established way of working to a finish?

There's plusses in pushing a track to a finish and keeping a lot of that general balance as a Template that evolves. There's an argument for rotating tracks because your mind might want this variety to keep interested maybe?

I'd be looking for something that brings everything together in a way that can accomadate these constant shifts, so to me that would be a Template, like maybe the Busses that you engineer into that makes all your creative moves happen faster and be completed faster. It might mean an organised sample library with sounds that are instant, so maybe that's Reverb, Delay, Saturation etc all on a 'preset' that you build and recall at speed

Otherwise I think you're fighting an impossible battle and if you aren't finishing tracks its telling me that you need some kind of structure... I don't think deadlines will work in your case because its not really addressing the key issue - focus. Its adding some kind of pressure and maybe encouraging you to make faster and more decisive decisions but without a definite plan, like the sounds you'll use, the style you're producing (especially when that shifts so much), etc I can't see how you can speed up the finishing process

I figured out a tweak to my productions, to break my tracks down to an 'unplugged' version. So focus on what matters - Vocals, Hooklines, then strip the track down to an arrangement so that I can see where I'm going. Then drop the parts in where they belong. In the way I'm working right now this means muting everything and just working on 8 bar phrases to get that energy right and only bring in what enhances the track until it sounds good enough where I'm happy... I find I can rotate tracks quite easily like this and I've got 2 or 3 tracks pretty much finished now and a focus on where I'm going and what I'm after

Another little tip that I'm still working on and its moving forward but not quite there yet is figuring out my 'sound'. So if you like the sound of SSL on your Master Buss then make that consistent, so that you can learn about the other aspects one step at a time. I have Busses that give me focus on the mix that I'm trying to build into something consistent so that I don't have to put much time or energy into this in the future and can concentrate on finishing tracks quickly. My Busses are Groove, Near, Deep, Air and Panning. These have different FX on them to enhance these dimensions and add to the Master Buss sound.... So I'm building this consistency. Then I have Reverbs that I'm planning to keep consistent. I can change these in the future easily enough, but at this stage its important to keep building my sound while I'm not familiar with what that is yet... This is helping me get closer to what I've always been after and to figuring out myself. Might not help you but maybe it helps you to think about what you are looking for exactly when you're jumping around so much

 

@reziduchamp, I think for Musicians; you really have nailed the point. I wouldn't want to be dealing with a computer and trying to play at all. I'd much rather have a few superb mixer templates built up in my DAW. And monitoring is very important for this aspect. But once a guitarist (as example), has a great room/line compressor/limiter and anything they like on the entire project; they can play into it. Rather than trying to create all this effects stage after the fact. Back to your UAD or other external DSP offloading as well. It would stress the importance to me of something like a Line6 or Kemper, rather than re-amping all the time. Things like this.

Any of this is "overproduction", to figure out while you are playing your guitar part. or drums, or anything aside from dance music. (and even then maybe this is not great too).

But for dance music, if you do not do this progressively as you go along; you can also dig yourself a rabbit hole of junk very very quickly. I don't need to explain this to you, as you have heard some of my tracks.

If I was a "musician" playing acoustic things, I would maybe even want something like The Hated Particle to stick at the end of the master bus so I could hear it without printing it to the audio. And a nice channel, DSP based or not; to hear some resemblance of how it will end up like while I perform it in real-time. Deal with the rest in Post. The more you incorrectly process the audio along the way can only degrade things or ruin them with over compression.

 

First of all, have a sex then the stress will fade! then when composing music for the next spielberg movie will be a snip!

 

Last edited: Nov 26, 2022

You really have to get rid of all the distractions to really perform a musical part, artistically and without quantization.
I am switching a little workflow around, and this Magic Mouse is about to join Herschel Walker and take flight; as example. It all has to be removed for you to be your best. I think the only real solution is quality sources from the get-go.

 

How do music makers stay focused?
It's very simple....do not have a life outside of music. So far, I've spent 55 yrs in the music business. After enduring 2 wives, and 3 kids I love, the focus totally engaged after they were all on their own. No interruptions, no more "pay attention to me" BS. I do other occasional things, but music has always been my passion, and will get much of my waking hours. Focus is not a problem.

 

Ok, but if you do this and stay inside; you are an agoraphobic. If you do it inside, but for Money; you are a Hermit. If you do it outside, but for money; you are a street performer. If you do it surrounded by Water, you are Deserted.

It's all relative.

 

Focus is a matter of habit to put in place. I try some pills to help me fight those distraction that my brain create, but at the end they tend to kill the creativity and create other problem. So the best way I find is to install some production habits, force you to have some sort of discipline at first, cause it's not easy to install an habit, but once it's there (after a month) it become easier.

As a production routine, I do this (it doesn't matter the genre you do), when I do my first draft, I try to end the session with a little structure (in electronic music it's easy to copy it from a released track), and export it, maybe add some quick automation. That way I have something to listen later, without having to open the DAW. The structure in itself is not important, it's just to have something correct to listen after instead of just an endless loop. It give me something easier to visualize as a final track.
I'll do lot of little sketch like that, 1 or 2 minute structure, sometime more, but rarely less. Once I export it, I let them on the side for one week, without listening. At some point if you do this, you'll have a lot of idea to choose from, listen them all and pick the best (keep the bad one on another folder). Then when I find one I like, I take note on what I need to do to finish the track, it can be little detail, the point is to open the DAW with a purpose. If you know what you have to do, it's easier to keep focus on that task instead of not knowing where to go.
Once I've done the thing on my list, I export again, and work on something else (or call it a day, depending on the mood). And I do the same the next day, until the track is done.

The idea is to make music everyday, but even for a little period of time. If you know what you do when you open the DAW, you can achieve more with a 10 minute instead of searching for an hour. I do the same with mixing session, I separate it from the production session, so I can focus on one task instead of doing everything (exporting all your stem in audio help for that, it's also a good back up system).

The idea is to install an habit of production everyday, once that habit is there, it's easier to focus cause your brain will do it without thinking.

Also, some little thing I use to avoid distraction : not having the music computer online, so no facebook, no instagram when I'm producing. I keep my phone next to me, cause I need to be able to answer if a customer call, but I got a filter on my screen so it's in black and white (actually more a yellow touch, cause I also got a blue light filter), like that it's less tempting for my brain to go on an instagram ride or a youtube tunnel. Also no social media when I wake up, just after an hour and a half I can open it (cause if you do it too early, your brain will start it's day in a unfocus mode and it will give you that impulse for the day - better to start the day with a little production session).

If you want to dig more into the focus theory, go watch what Mike Monday put on his youtube chanel, he got some great program that focus on the productivity side of the work, most of what I wrote here come from him. He really help me get back on my track and stop all those medication which aren't great solution on the long run.

Hope that help

 

You left out senility, and being a curmudgeon. Now, get off my lawn!!

 

I left out the crazy lady on the corner too. but she just dances for nickels. I didn't realize that was your lawn.

 

Coffee, lots and lots of coffee.