How much time do you spend making a song

H

hello

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I spend on average 40 to 90 minutes making a song but that's before I mix them, I later mix just the best ones. I have over 230 songs right now.
 
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I ussually have bout 5-10 songs at a time ill work on for about a month. I believe in qaulity music so i spend alot of time on every track and just jam on them repetitively with my guitar, then bass then keys etc.....
 
takes usually a day or two, that is 24-48 hours total, to get the instrumentation and composition right. i dont spend any time eqing and mixing it as i dont have a recording solution i like.

i only work on one song at a time. i used to work on like 4 or 5 at a time but i felt like i couldnt make the best song possible without dedicating my time to one song at a time.
 
I go through stints of being horribly anal about every little detail of the song and being flexible enough to leave imperfections open to the listener's interpretation. On average, I'd say it usually takes me a few days (a couple hours a day at most) to get a song to where I like it.

230 songs?!?! Good god, man! What gear are you using?
 
I've been working on the last 9 songs for about 18 months now...They are almost finished :D . What can I say...I take my time, and am extreeeemly picky. ;) . I have a whole bunch more things recorded, but I wouldn't exactly call 'em songs...more like song fragments. Maybe I need some Ritalin or something for my ADD ;) .
 
It really depends if I think I can do something with the track... the first few indications are crucial. I might spend anywhere from 1-5 days composing... I'm picky as well.. and am bad at always feeling the need to add or edit something. If I'm doing mainly a synth beat... I spend alot more time composing on those than I would sampling (after having chopped/edited my samples that is.. not the complete process of recording samples.. if so they might equal in time).

If I'm feeling it after the final composition I'll track it.. give it a pre-mix.. add vocals (if I want to use it for myself).. do some more editing.. mapping out. Then send it for compression and more mastering. If I'm really proud of the **** I might take awhile.. everything from production.. to writing lyrics.. I want to be perfect.
 
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2 DAYS!!!???

Your beats must suck, I spend at least 3 weeks on one instrumental. Then lyrics, memorizing, reciting, and final mixing. Probably about 90 hours per song at least. Me and my friend have been working on our album for an approacing 2 years. We've busted the whole time. 230 crappy songs...or you're not sleeping and don't have a job.
 
It is rely hard to say, I work in bursts. But I would have to say about 40 to 60 hours. But it can also be alot quicker or alot longer than that.

It all depends on how I look at it. If i include the time that i took on sound design then it is a long time. After all I some times will spend about 12 hours creating one sound. And if that is how long it takes for it to sound like it did in my head than that is fine.

The same thing goes with samples. Like some times i will use street sounds or other ambiant sounds and well if I take the time it took to find the quite night when i was up at 3 in the morning waiting for it to rain so i could record it then dam we are getting way up there in the time it takes.

But on the other hand i have sat down at the keyboard and played things on the fly that where done in a couple of takes. Then lets say a couple of hours getting the space right and mastering it. a totaly of 4 hours and the thing is done.

so it rely depends on what i am working on and how I am feeling. As for the two hundred plus songs I do have to wonder.
I have writen about fifty songs in the last 5 years and I feel that is nothing to be shaking a stick at.

Thats my bag.
 
If I'm lucky, composition will take me a week. It usually takes about 4-6 weeks for me to compose. Then it takes about another 2 weeks to mix and master.
 
Days doesn't mean much to me. I look at hours.

I usually spend six or seven hours on scratchpading an idea. If it doesn't start working somewhere in there, I archive what I've done and start over.

Otherwise there's a phase of really working with sincerity on the piece. This takes 20-80 hours, depending on the track, it's style and what I'm trying to do with it. Then another 2-4 hours to mix it down, polish it, etc. This part I wait a week after the bulk of composition to do so it feels new again... disassociate from the material a bit.
 
you people are all CRAZY

I tried working on songs for 3 and 4 hours and didn't make anything better than what I make in a half hour. After a certin point you just don't have the drive anymore, how can you listen to the same thing for hours? 2 hours is the most anyone should spend on a song PERIOD!
 
i disagree hello. 2 hours may be the most you should spend on a song, period, but not others. everyone's compositional habits vary according to their technical skill and understanding, personality, motivation, reasons for writing music, etc.
 
Nobody can take less than two hours on a song and have the end product come out the way it was meant to sound? 5 to 10 minutes? That's a load of bullsh** unless you're using premade loops and all you have to do is a bit of volume leveling and equalizing. I usually spend about a day or two working on the beat if I'm doing a rhythm based song and about two or three days messing with the synth. And when I get all of the loops I need it probably takes about a half hour to an hour to get it all put together. And I'm notorious for stopping a project right in the middle and starting again because what I had sounded like crap. So usually it takes me a couple of weeks to finish a song and I also tend to do alot of after editing so I'm really never finsihed with one particular song.
 
hello, you have a top attitude!


when composing a riddim, i set a timer for 5 minutes. when 5 minutes is up i move on

i will not listen to that riddim again for 40+ days

when i go back, i set a timer again for 5 minutes. with the perspective that time has given me I can easily hear and correct


to kamuae and others:

If you have 8 hours to chop down the tree, take 6 to sharpen the axe

spend the most time collecting, making and tuning your drums and instruments



Hope this helps!
 
hello - in that case, :D!

interesting idea wonpeace. probably won't try it myself, but if it works for you, great!
 
In the last six years I've written over a hundred songs. But I can only consider about twenty of those completely done. I like letting some of those songs sit awhile, and when I get back to working on them, my mind is fresh with new ideas.
:angel:
 
6hours was my quickest and one of my finest songs :D

On average, if my mind is inspired enough at the moment, it would take me 8hours for each song. Longest was a month!
 
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