Tag Archive for: creative process

Choosing Track Finalization over Ghost Producing

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A lot of you might already know what ghost producing is, and you might even have some pretty strong feelings about it. For those who aren’t familiar with the term:

Ghost producing is having your track made from scratch, with your instructions, by another producer.

What you might be more surprised to find out, though, is that many producers — even the most pro or successful ones — sometimes get others to finalize their tracks for them. I can tell you, for example, that even some big-name artists on the Minus label get Richie Hawtin to finalize their songs. But despite how common it is, there’s unfortunately still a sort of stigma around outsourcing your track finalization, and it’s easy to understand.

So first, let’s get this out of the way: song finalization is not the same as ghost production. Track finalization is nothing to be ashamed about, as the song is still the creative work of the producer. Let’s begin with a definition:

Track finalization is having another producer suggest ideas on how to get to a finished product based on your initial ideas.

 

Track finalization: The sources of a stigma

Back at the beginnings of electronic music in the early 1990s, DJs and producers had to be technicians too. You simply couldn’t get very far as an artist without being a jack-of-all-trades and an expert in the hardware of sound engineering and music production. It came with the territory, and DJs and producers prided themselves on their resourcefulness.


The stigma around track finalization (getting others to finalize your songs) can be partly traced to the DIY culture of electronic music production

This DIY nature of electronic music culture became so deeply rooted that when laptops and software began taking off in the early 2000s, many seasoned producers and DJs bristled at the intrusion of laptops into live performances. I remember the very first MUTEK festival in 2000, when the novel machines began appearing on stage with one performer after the next — it was such an alien sight that no one knew how to react! Many of us viewed their use as a form of cheating at first, but it soon became clear that the game had changed.

Music technology continued to develop at an exponential pace, making electronic music-making accessible for more and more people. One impact of this, however, has been to make it seem like electronic music production is so easy… that anyone can do it! Well obviously, it’s much more complicated than that.

If anything, the proliferation of producers has actually made it harder to stand out from the pack. Meanwhile, the infinite musical possibilities opened up by the digital revolution have made it that much easier to get overwhelmed. Where once your kick drum would be a 909, for example, now there are thousands of options to choose from. Sometimes the best creative surges come when you’re faced with constraints, but pure freedom, while it seems tempting, can make it easier to get lost and lose your focus.

Reaching out to others to help you finalize your songs is a form of creative collaborationTrack finalization as creative collaboration

The truth is that even the most experienced artists get writer’s block, and every producer is likely to have a hard drive full of tracks that they never got around to finishing for a variety of reasons. Chances are that there is at least one great album or a few EPs in there waiting to be unearthed and brought to fruition. So what’s holding you back?

Chilean producer Dandy Jack once told me that the day he understood that a shared victory was way more meaningful than doing it alone, his entire perspective on collaboration changed.

dandy jack told me that his perspective on creative collaboration changed when he realized the value of a shared victoryHaving a trusted hand finalize your tracks can be an antidote to writer’s block and a gateway to beautiful and fulfilling creative collaborations. Unlike ghost producing, track finalization isn’t about substituting for your own creativity, but about gaining a fresh and friendly perspective to help you out of a rut. In writing, even the most masterful authors need a good editor. Why should music be any different?

Even if the finalized track isn’t always exactly what you had in mind at first, it then becomes much easier for the producer to take it from there and carry it across the finish line. Track finalization is about finding what’s blocking you and unblocking it. It’s about unleashing your creative potential.

And I’m here to help.

 

 

Turn Your Writer’s Block Into an Opportunity

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You’ve heard about writer’s block many times, and maybe you’ve experienced one. I also get one routinely. Many others have addressed the topic, but I’ll share some of my own views on it here.

Before anything, let’s just check a definition first so we’re on the same page:

Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown.

 

SEE ALSO :   Where to Get Fresh New Ideas for Tracks


What I’ve learned through time is that a writer’s block is also your body and mind telling you to slow down. There’s no better way to see it. While you can learn to change your way of working, which might be leading to feelings of insecurity, frustration, or confusion, you also need to first make sure that you’re really in a writer’s block. These are some symptoms:

  • Nothing you work on makes sense. You feel the music is just copying a trend and that it’s not bringing you joy anymore.
  • Everything music-related sounds crappy. Your brain is tilting and all the beautiful sounds aren’t pretty anymore.
  • You have the omnipresent temptation to give up.

 

relax-smWhere many people get confused is between a writer’s block and being exhausted. I know many prolific producers who work really hard for 3-6 months and then will not do any more productions for the rest of the year. They will focus on DJing, collecting new toys for the studio, or just spending more time playing music.

 

 

 

There’s no better way to approach the situation than taking a step back. For my friends, for example, this usually involves:

  • Collecting music that makes you feel good or listening to early tracks that inspire you. Just make playlists on Soundcloud, listen to old liked tracks, and take a moment to buy some.
  • Listening to music you never listened to before or music you actually don’t normally enjoy.
  • Playing video games.
  • Exercising.

It’s easy to fall into simple psychology tips, but I’ll refrain from doing so, mainly because each person has their own way about it. But one thing that I absolutely encourage you to do is to not panic.

Music producers: Never delete songs or projects you don't like. You may recycle them later!Resist the urge to delete or sell anything you don’t like. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me they deleted a project they were working on. I believe that this is one of the last things you want to do. Not only does every project have at least one great thing about it, but they can probably be recycled later on, maybe even many years later.

Take time to learn sound design or sound engineering. One of the things that happens when you are creatively productive is that you lack the time to perfect your design skills. You’ll be absorbed in mixing and making tracks and arrangements, but sound design is one of the most important parts of your work. Also, when do you ever have time to read technical stuff? Mostly never or just a few minutes here and there. Take the time to read up on the technicalities you usually avoid for fear of boredom.

Reach out to fellow producers to collaborate or remix. When working with others, things usually flow easily. That is, it’s not really your work, and teaming up brings motivation. Try it!

Recycling Your Tracks Into Fresh New Ideas

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Like with any creative work, writer’s block can be a very frustrating and demoralizing thing for producers of electronic music. Many artists spend hours and hours wrestling with their ideas just trying to come up with something new – but what if what you were looking for was already under your nose? What if old tracks that you thought weren’t good enough to release were actually the seeds of something brilliant?

I’ve found there are many practical ways for electronic music producers to beat the writer’s block and jumpstart their creative process. Recycling old tracks is a great place to start. 

 

Generally, producers might make between 5 and 10 tracks before stumbling on the one that they love. But then, we’re also our own harshest critics! I’m not going to address the tracks that don’t even get done as we all have a huge collection of those.

The truth is that each song has something cool in it, even if it’s not good enough for release.

 

Elements (or “stems”) of old songs, whether it’s a kick, a bass line, a loop, or a vocal sample, can be remixed and made into something completely fresh.

It’s important to remember that remixing is the most accessible part of music production. Reusing stems, loops and parts of old tracks instead of starting fresh can kickstart your creativity and help you jumpstart a new song. This isn’t just about saving time. More importantly, it will make the creative process less intimidating and more exciting by allowing the creative juices to flow more freely. When you start with small ideas, bigger ones follow.

Pulling your inspiration from old material can also be a fantastic way to re-appreciate your own work. This will in turn boost your confidence and momentum as a producer.

 

To get you started on recycling old tracks, here are a few tips to think about:

 

To help with recycling tracks, organize all your music projects in the same folder.

  • Organize all your music projects in the same folder. This will make going back and reviewing old tracks easier. Avoid the temptation to sort tracks into different folders depending on how good or finished you think they are right after creating them — and never, never trash them! You might be surprised later at what gems you’ll find that you had written off or forgotten about!

 

  •  To help with recycling tracks into fresh new music, save all your synths and effects as presets for later use. Save your effects and synths as presets. The key to being an efficient producer is to never let your creative time and energies go to waste. Nothing is a more valuable resource for an artist – don’t deprive yourself of these resources, harness them! Building up your bank of presets will save you from always having to return to square one, and it will encourage you to develop your own distinctive sound and aesthetic over time. I also encourage you to create groups/macros in Ableton as a way to have personal tools.

 

 

  • Another tip for recycling tracks is to open an old song and keep all arrangements as they are, but swap the sounds.Open an old song and keep all arrangements as they are, but swap the sounds. For example, you can import the stem of a kick you did from a certain song, which has its variations and moments of silence or its own structure. Then you combine it with the snare-clap of another track. Removed from their original context, united in a new canvas, they might interact in a way you’d never have thought to do on your own.

Recycling old tracks can be an extremely practical, effective, and (most importantly) fun way to beat writer’s block and take your production to a dimension you rarely visit. It will make you feel less stale and more fulfilled in ways that will surprise you, and it will encourage you to develop new styles or rhythmics.

Give it a try!

SEE ALSO : Is My Song Good ?

Need Help To Finalize Your Unfinished Songs?

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In this post, I will discuss the advantages of having someone else take a look at your unfinished tracks.

Time to finish those sleeping projects

Have you ever watched those renovation shows where an expert takes over a messy apartment and gives it a complete makeover? I know that for myself and most people I know, these shows make us dream. We love the transformation, the before and after, the journey to an incredible final product.

Now what if I told you there might be a future for all those unfinished songs of yours?

Are you one of those producers that have dozens of projects that were never finished?

Perhaps you are here because this rings a bell:

 

  • You get bored of the song you’re making.
  • You get a new idea that seems better than the one that you’re working on.
  • What you work on doesn’t sound like what you have in mind.

I hear these comments all the time from fellow producers or aspiring ones. Not being able to finish a song is a very common problem for all of us. The world goes by so quickly today, and being exposed to so much music on Soundcloud triggers our A.D.D. and stimulates the excitement to always want to do more. As an artist, you set expectations for your own work too high, which then leads to you getting overwhelmed and succumbing to procrastination.

Many people have ideas, but once they get on the computer they get lost in the details of sound design and start to feel very sluggish. Eventually, the hype disappears and the person gets bored.

The problem is, your song might actually be great, and you’re not realizing it!

Just like with mixing, sometimes asking someone else to take a look can be critical to pinpointing what was wrong.

I once said to a friend, “That chord here is just too loud and makes the rest of the sounds pale!” That was all he needed to hear to finish what became one of his favourite songs. I’m not taking any credit here: the important part was his curiosity and openness to asking for help.

That’s often the main obstacle here: asking for help.

Mainly because you think:

  • It won’t be my track if someone does it for me.
  • I won’t feel proud of it.
  • It’s not going to work, period.

I can tell you one thing, and that’s that when it comes to remixes, people usually work fast. Well guess what? Asking someone to take over a song that’s blocking you is just like asking for a remix. The only difference is that you’re the maestro who provides the creative direction.

You’ll also need to have enough trust to be able let go of things. This is for your own good.

In the meantime, here are a few tips of mine:

  • Set a deadline on when a song should be done.
  • Set reminders and alarms.
  • Don’t spend more than 30 minutes at a time on the song.
  • Impose limits on yourself.

 

I can help you produce your song and finish it. Fast.

One of my specialties is listening to an artist’s vision, and then using their creative direction to help bring their projects to fruition. With almost 20 completed albums in my portfolio, I’m ready and eager to put my experience to work for you. Book me today!

 

SEE ALSO: Getting Lost in the Sea of Tracks