I recently finished 2 songs. A nice jazzy ambient dnb track and, to quote my friend’s friend, a “new-wave-breaks” track. The jazzy dnb track took a long time to write. Not because I was stuck, but I think more because, as usual, it started one way and then ended another way. This takes a lot of time because it goes a certain way until i discover something by chance or just become unhappy with it and I try something else and find I like that better. Then I have to go and make changes and all that. Another reason it took so long was because I would only work on it here or there. I didn’t sit down and consistently work on it. During that time I was also finishing up the last 2 songs for my EP. In the end though I am completely happy with this track. I think that really counts the most.
So what did all that have to with the breaks track? Well nothing. I have to say I am happy with the breaks track. But comparing the work process between them made me realize a few things about my production style and why I am probably not making as much music as I can.
One thing they both had in common is that they started one way and ended up differently. The breaks track was originally a down tempo track. That really didn’t have much. I think I might of just had some sort of intro written for it. When I opened it up recently I realized I didn’t like so I started messing around with a synth. I ended up recording a couple of synth riffs that became the main lines of the track. So no big deal I always do that when I write.
What made this different is that I recorded the riffs right away. Then came back to continue writing it. What I normally do is, make some kind of cool beat or something. Then I end up just jamming over it while it loops. This is always super fun. But not much gets done. The biggest problem with this is that it’s only cool until I get bored of the loop. After that I usually just close logic and don’t bother with it for awhile.
Here is where I decided that I will make a change in my work flow. Instead of just jamming over it and getting sick of it, like always, I think I will do what I read about the Beastie Boys doing. I can’t remember when I read this article, but they said that they just record their jam sessions and then go through it to find the cool parts and sample and make their beat. I think I’ll try to do more recording when I am just jamming. I realize I let too many cool ideas slip away by not recording.
I hope this will speed up the work flow some.