celynwalters Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I'm aiming this generally at people who have submitted, but I guess this can apply to anybody on these forums. About how long does it take you, start to finish, to remix a track? I've got a good ear for harmony, and I've been a fan of video game music since forever. Now I can understand enough of music software (e.g. Logic) to make something sound the way I want, I can get my ideas down. But it takes ages! It's not boring, but at the rate I go, I'll never get anything out. I imagine it'll get easier, and I'll get faster, but I've noticed some people churn out tracks all the time, and this is just a hobby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ectogemia Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 When I'm being productive, not long. Maybe 10-15 hours? That may even be a couple of hours too long. I think generally, I tend to write fairly quickly, though, and I almost never repeat sections. It's easy to spend forever just dicking around not really getting anything done, though. That can add up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 It honestly depends for me. If it's a source tune that I'm REALLY feeling, and a genre or soundset that I have plenty of presets for, then I can crank a song out in as little as four hours. However, I've had other mixes that have taken me a few weeks to complete, because of their complexity or other requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederic Petitpas Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 10 years sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 It's easy to spend forever just dicking around not really getting anything done, though. That can add up. +1 For me I'm still pretty new, so it depends on what I'm trying to achieve. If I'm doing something I am familiar with (like a bluegrass arrangement), it'll probably take me 2-5 sessions of 3 hours each over the course of a week. If I'm unfamiliar with it OR there aren't many live instruments and I have to audition samples, it takes me much longer. That's one of the reasons I prefer to try and use whatever live skills I have first, and use synthetic samples as touch-ups. I don't always have that option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 If it's a source I love, I can get the song written in less than a week, spending 2-3 hours per day. But then it can take me a month after that to get it mixed right and to add in all the bells and whistles. And of course, I always think of that "one more thing" right after hitting the submit button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celynwalters Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Thanks, that's... reassuring. It's easy to spend forever just dicking around not really getting anything done, though. That can add up. I know exactly what you mean: I always think of that "one more thing" right after hitting the submit button. I think I must spend ages doing this, but after writing small sections, rather than at the end, and I sometimes end up scrapping them altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Williamson Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I'm aiming this generally at people who have submitted, but I guess this can apply to anybody on these forums.About how long does it take you, start to finish, to remix a track? I've got a good ear for harmony, and I've been a fan of video game music since forever. Now I can understand enough of music software (e.g. Logic) to make something sound the way I want, I can get my ideas down. But it takes ages! It's not boring, but at the rate I go, I'll never get anything out. I imagine it'll get easier, and I'll get faster, but I've noticed some people churn out tracks all the time, and this is just a hobby It all depends. Sometimes I'm so into the mix that I can get it done in less than 2 days. Other times I take breaks and work on my original music, and sometimes I won't get it done til 2 months later. I am able to quickly just start putting something together. It's how I work. I hear a piece I like from a OST and I just open up a new file in Logic and start screwing around. Hardly any of my remixes ever actually are arranged beforehand. I do have those, but hardly do I do them. Most of the time I just feel it out as I go, just having a simple idea of what I want the mix to sound like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 1-3 weeks, not necessarily working every day. I don't rush a song. It's done when it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Within a week, if I have time to work on it and know the source well enough and get the core of the arrangement down in the first day. Otherwise they'll take years, most of that time spent sitting around, getting little edits and sound upgrades occasionally. I revived an older thing for AOCC this year. Took me most of autumn to just sit down and screw with the sound. Then I fixed up the arrangement is pretty much a day or so. In between work and stuff. To improve, figure out what you need to do and what's just added bonus if you have time to do it. A great way of doing this is to challenge your self to eg one-hour mixes. Whether you take part in the one-hour compo over at thasauce or not, giving yourself that arbitrary limitation forces you to get something done. For example, this thing was made in 40 minutes trying out REAPER with a couple of free synths. I've done other challenges as well, like a no-samples, custom synth patches only track. Challenges like that help you work and improve faster than just screwing around with stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Hmm, depends on song, ranging from 20 minutes-30mins-1hr to a day. I usually do songs in 1 session or when I feel tired,stuck/out of idea,or lazy then up to 2 or more sessions. I did make a electronica album in about 1.5 weeks and most of the songs were done in about 1 session. I now create more tracks alot more often but I do not release them immediatly. This song took a good 1 or 2 hours in one sitting to make the synths then resample them, find bass samples, struggle with cpu because fo the massive cpu hog 2cAtherverb is and a whole lot of other stuff https://soundcloud.com/aires/sonic-the-hedgehog-stage (which is done/longer, but im not uploading the full version yet) http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42251 this song also was within one hour, but it was a synth and automation sound demo for a actual original song that I am going to make that is winter themed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC Ricers Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 My productivity seems to follow a 80-20 rule. 80% of my time is spent on the last 20% of the track. It just takes asymptotically longer to finish the rest. I would usually spend a week on doing most of it and come back to it every now and then for a few months. Which brings me to the next point: I really need to release more tracks. Now I believe great music nobody gets to hear isn't really great music. A 80% good song (in your mind) that people actually hear lasts better than a 99% good song that nobody hears because it’s in your studio where you’re endlessly polishing the thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Between 8 hours and three months. If I'm really inspired, I can write and finish a song, usually a remix, within a few 2-4 hour sessions over the course of about 2-4 weeks. I sometimes end up going back to it a few weeks later, if it's not yet released, to fix it up, if I know I can do something more with it. When I fix the song up, it's usually just mastering, but there have been times where I actually replaced entire sections in some of my tracks (once). That's why I'm always looking to expand my set of instruments to find inspiring sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PROTO·DOME Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 It's easy to spend forever just dicking around not really getting anything done, though. yeahthatsprettymuchit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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