Often times I just find myself playing the arrangement over and over again until I get an idea. I get bored and start doing some mixing. Open an EQ, just a lil bit of filtering and wow I spent like 10 mins EQ'ing that. That was supposed to be like 30 secs.

This happens too often when I am trying out something new. I also feel I am spending too little time in finding the correct sounds and spending much more time in whatever sound I get to fit together in the arrangement. Not like I don't have sample packs, and Loopcloud helps me find out stuff faster.

When I feel like I hit a wall, I open youtube play a song in the genre I am making and get some ideas. That doesn't always work tho. When I first open my DAW, it takes around an hour roughly to get in the flow and I actually start arranging and adding stuff, new sounds. I only have real time in afternoon and its such a boring time to think of music.

When I finish a song, I always feel I skimped over something important just because I thought that I am taking too much time for it.

How to just start producing faster? How much time should I spend on mixing vs producing?

 

try the 60min method. try to finish the whole song in an hour. trust your instincts. good luck

 

No rules!

Then it will flow!

 

I think you have the overthinking disease, it affects 100% of music producers.

 

I'm really glad Leonard Cohen didn't think he was working within a time limit.

https://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-25...eonard-cohen-talks-about-his-writing-process/

 

I get like this sometimes. I will have done a few tracks, patterns, or whatever; and then catch myself working too much on any one of them.
I feel myself get sucked into the trap of putting effects, eq decisions, too much time on any of the channels; I just remind myself "Keep Going". Otherwise you will lose the creative momentum.

3/4 of the minor technical stuff you do at this stage will not even survive the rest of the channels happening anyway. never mind your mixing stage.

Sometimes if I was using a sample or something I recorded, and I can already tell something is going to need a lot of work and it is not a main element anyway; I will just delete it rather than screw around with it. Otherwise I will spend hours on something to fix it, and it becomes horribly unproductive. That stuff can mostly be done later.

 

who do you produce for...? because if youre just doing it for you, spend as much time as you want doing either, it'll come to you eventually. If its for a client, spend more time on producing rather than mixing because the idea just needs to be put down and fuck the details atm, fix em later

 

Ps. How he made that sick basses using only his own voice?
And female vocals? Wtf?

 

haha seems fun !! every 15min , just left what u do and take the next step xDDD

 

im this kind of producer... haha pure anxious... but what i discover recently... its if u have low skills... u find yourself spending a loooot of time in details that maybe:
-u cannot resolve
-u dondt have the knowledge to resolve
-u r overthinking it
-ur ears are just tired and every decisions changes everytime
-u r smoking too much weed xdddd

 

Mix after the song is completed and recorded, that is if you record proper songs and not just piece samples together to create whatever you do, then finish everything in your arrangement and then and only then begin to mix. Also, loose the limiter in the master track while you are working until the end of your mixing chores. It will give you a false sense of what you are doing and it is not necessary. It is the icing on the cake and not the layers themselves.

Of course there are no rules and people do their own thing to good end all the time, but if you are just killing time then just wait until the proper mix.

 

I actually never put a limiter on master. I just don't get the idea behind compose -> arrange -> mix one after other. Without an EQ, Reverb, Delay, Filter automations, synths and vocals sound so plain and boring its no fun. Although, it always boils down to how good the source is, so sound selection is quite important.

If you mean recording vocals and real instruments then nope, that's an alien workflow to me. Samples and synths all the way for me.

 

I think the biggest thing (other definitely said this) is to not limit yourself, unless you are working for or in front of a client.
If you are just being creative timing yourself can help you learn, but don't get stressed over it have fun.
If the time of day you are producing seems wrong, then change something up. Move your studio, call off work and do it at a different time. Stop producing, cause I'm better, you know.