How long does it take YOU to make a beat?

When im in the zone,i load up FL Studio 10,turn on my M-Audio Keyrig 49,and now that ive recently started playing my own melodies using VSTs,it can take me 30 minutes tops to get it down the way i want.I usually come back the next day and fix it up if need be.
 
It really depends. Some beats I am able to start and finish within 20 minutes, however that seems to be when I'm having a good day. Usually, it's more about an hour or two before I get things layered and mixed properly to my liking. Plus I like to go start on a beat and go back to it later, that way I can not overanalyze what I'm doing and the song flows more naturally
 
Sometimes 8 hours straight just working on a stupid chorus...and it gets progressively worse, (but then I stumble across a nice melody in the process and start a new project).
 
It depends on if I'm in the zone. But most of my beats take a day because I like to listen to it after a 8-9 hour break. That lets me truly know if I like it or not.
 
For me it take me somewhere between 2-4 hours, then Ill come back to it throughout the week making adjustments until Im completely satisfied. But I mean everyone has their own workflow, so if youre making beats in 15 minutes and they sound dope I guess thats pretty tight.
 
Last edited:
A day mainly because I just can't call something what I do in an hour finished since I always have to sleep on it. Still to this today I always go back to my old beats in order to change or improve something, if I hear a sound that's not perfectly pitched or whatever I always gotta go back and fix it(however in some cases I make it even worse lol)

But yeah, at least a day, always gotta sleep on it
 
chief rocka said:
i'm a perfectionist, especially with my beats. usually 5-6 hours before I'm even happy enough with it to even save it as an Mp3. at that point I tend to start another beat or call it a day. what will happen though is i'll listen to the track again in a day or so and notice something i'm not happy with, which which results in me having 3-4 versions of some tracks, because every couple of days for the next week i'll open it up again and change the drums or fix up a drop or something like that. i have beats i've been working on for months in this sense.
Click to expand...


i have the SAME EXACT process...i just pop the beat i made in the mp3 player and listen to it on a loop trough out the day to filter out various imperfections and hear what i could have done different...on every 5 beats i make,only one makes the cut...the rest gets trashed....
 
TripMX said:
Interesting thread, well for me, I make all my music exclusively on iOS (iPad/iPhone) using Xewton Music Studio app. Starting out, it took me only 2 hours to make simple instrumentals, but as the year passed, I got better and out more work into my music, which costed more time...it went from 4hours to 6hours to up to 10.5hours per song.
Click to expand...

Nice someone eles that uses that app! LOVE IT. I don't have an iPad just yet. been saving up. interested in hearing your music from there! Check mine out in my sig PEACE
 
When I was producing back in the days with the ASR and EPS I use to make beats in 10 minutes...but now the DAW setup you have to spend more time getting just right.
 
It can take 20 minutes to lay a foundation but one to two hours to do a beat. As for actual tracks it takes longer, from a few hours to weeks. I sometimes make something, leave it for a few days and then come back to it, leave it and return again in a cycle until I can say... done!
 
Takes me 'round 9-10 hours to make a song I'm proud of.

If I'm just chilling or showing off, I'll use one of the cheaper programs then it'll take me 10-30 minutes to make an almost decent beat.
 
It depends... If I know exactly what I want to make I can have a draft out in an hour. Normally can have something I'm proud of within 3-4. I don't really make hip hop or rap music though, or even EDM.. I guess more of acoustic sounding pop. Think OneRepublic or Jason Mraz. Even Bruno Mars in some instances. I don't really have a lot going on so it doesn't take me as long as most. I try to stay away from anything that sounds artificial or synthesized, mostly just instruments. I have been looking into working with some EDM artists though, so maybe I'll be working on some more complex stuff soon.
 
It could take me a few minutes but most of my hottest tracks il take bout 2-4 hours.If I dont finish the beat I dont save it
 
It takes me a weekend to come up with a good base for a song but I work everyday of the week except on weekends 8am-5pm. So after work I use that time to fine tune my songs.
 
If we're talking about a beat, like the layout of a kick, snare, hat etc.. then yeah i can see how 15-30 minutes makes sense, but i have to be completely honest a full track (that sounds like a full track) will take up to three weeks (maybe more if i'm not happy with it) I think some of the longest times mentioned here are like 10 hours? In that amount of time I would probably get a decent groove down over a looped 8 bar with a bunch of sound i will have built up over the ten hours which fit. After that i have to literally turn noise into music, add structure to the sounds im feeling around the 'beat' i figured out at the start (or the other way around).

I 100% need to sleep on my progress each time the sound or direction of sound changes, i can't comprehend being able to sample (wisely), arrange, eq, re arrange, re eq, re arrange, re sample, structure, fill in, mix and master the track and at the same time have the ability to listen to the track as if it wasn't mine to get a true feeling for what i've made.

BUT, if you can complete a track in that time, damn get your tuts videos on youtube!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top