Out of curiosity, since many songcrafters are quite productive at creating, recording and posting new songs: on average how long does it take you from conception to putting on the final touches to complete a song? I know it depends on the complexity of the song and whether it's an original or a cover but for me it could take any where from one day to several month's. On average I'd say it's about a month. I might have a couple of songs going at the same time and complete them in the same month but the process for each song would be longer than a few weeks.
I envy those that can get them completed in one or two settings but I'm just curious how long it takes on average.
Farrell
I won't even start a song unless I'm pretty sure I'll be able to finish the whole process in one hit, due mainly to the fact that I'm lazy and have no short term memory and wouldn't recognise one chord from another (by ear). So, usually anywhere between an hour or two. Any longer than that and I'll begin to forget what I'm doing and then I'll lose focus and get bored and start looking out of the window.
henwrench
A quick demo takes me an hour or two. Guitar/vox, including recording and mixing. Obviously, a live in the living room on the hand held recorder takes about as long to play a song.
But I think what you are asking is how long does it make a recording that you're fairly happy with, that you might share with more than just our friends at the site? Most songs takes 6-8 hours. Sometimes that is over several days. Sometimes it takes less and sometimes it takes more. Sometimes I return to a song to tweak it, too. In art you are never finished, you just decide to stop doing this and start doing something else. Getting to that point is hard and recognizing when your returns are diminishing is even harder, I find.
Tracking is the hardest for me. I tense up when I hit the record button. I start to get muscle fatigue (it doesn't help that I generally play a part many times in warm up/practice/learn mode, even if it's my own song) and that = pain and frustration. Vocals take forever or they take hardly any time at all. Seldom is it in between.
Mixing is fun because I'm trying new things and can always go back or redo or start from scratch. I think I've become adequate at mixing but I've realized that, like music in general, there is always something more to learn or to discover. I can throw a fast mix up and be okay with it. Or I can tweak for hours and be really unhappy. It's all crazy how music is so wonderful and frustrating at the same time.
normally 2 to 3 evenings - once I start, there is no stopping - but sometimes starting is the issue!
Quote from: bruno on January 11, 2014, 01:32:09 PM'...starting is the issue!'
+1 to this as well! :-[
Coming up with the idea, writing the lyrics, chords and arrangement usually takes a couple months, but much of that is down time. In man hours I would say it's probably a day, but when I try to wrap it up in a day, I usually get pretty frustrated.
As for the recording process, I would say 4 to 6 hours of solid work. And I'm not very particular because my goal is to WRITE, and the secondary goal is to commit it to paper/memory by recording it. My recording quality goal is to make it presentable enough to show my friends and to post here. I figure I will save the better recording time for when I have the dreaded writers block.
Quote from: Picker on January 11, 2014, 01:49:42 PMComing up with the idea, writing the lyrics, chords and arrangement usually takes a couple months, but much of that is down time. In man hours I would say it's probably a day, but when I try to wrap it up in a day, I usually get pretty frustrated.
As for the recording process, I would say 4 to 6 hours of solid work. And I'm not very particular because my goal is to WRITE, and the secondary goal is to commit it to paper/memory by recording it. My recording quality goal is to make it presentable enough to show my friends and to post here. I figure I will save the better recording time for when I have the dreaded writers block.
Agree. The most of the time for me is the writing of the song... days, month...
The recording process? from 15 mn to some hours...
As said the Master :
"Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my song well before I start singin'And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall"
Bob Dylan, 1963
Knowing well a song takes time... the recording time is not for me the longest
Jean-Sébastien
Henwrench took the words right out of my mouth
I admire the members who are so creative that they are able to write/record several songs in one week or even in a day and their songs are even top class stuff. I can't say exact time how long it takes, depends on many factors. If I have completed lyric, it is easier to consider the structure of my tune. Very often I do collabs, so I have to think about the structure more...
Normally, I'm strumming my acoustic guitar and sometimes or quite often I switch my MBR to mp3 mode and push record button on and I save it as a sketch. The problem is that I'm not able to convert song sketches to completed songs. It is usual that I'm thinking to which direction I'd like to take my song; acoustic or with electric guitar, bass, keys... another problem or a chance ;)
The recording. When I've selected right preset I turn metronome on and record the track. Sometimes it takes less time sometimes more and it is usual that I continue the project after days, maybe after weeks. However, just seldom everything goes fine and the song is completed within a few hours! That's rare, but not impossible. It is not important to me that I would write and record it quickly, because I like to try different ideas with my song.
One tip I've learnt by trial and error; don't master/mix your song with tired ears. Listen to it in the next morning, again :)
Quote from: SteveB on January 11, 2014, 01:27:18 PMQuote from: henwrench on January 11, 2014, 10:37:52 AM'...due mainly to the fact that I...have no short term memory and wouldn't recognise one chord from another (by ear). So, usually anywhere between a...year or two. Any longer than that and I'll begin to forget what I'm doing and then I'll lose focus and get bored and start looking out of the window.
+1 over & over. :-\
oh I've forgotten what I was going to say now . . .
I find editing and mixing to be far more time-consuming tasks than actually playing tracks for a song.
Could take several weeks before all is sung and done.
It's different for each song, at least for me. I would say about 4-6 actual hours go into a song if I'm producing a track up but sometimes much faster if I'm in the zone. I rarely get that much time in a single block so some songs get spread out over a few sessions & others get rushed. If I'm feeling really creative I tend to work a bit faster so I can get onto the next one. At this point I still enjoy the writing part more but since incorporating my iphone into the mix the production side is more fun & sneaking into the writing itself.
Rock On!
What's interesting is that for me the recording process is part of the writing. I'm not one of these people that hears the complete thing in my head, rather than I write in layers. First the guitar, then the fills, keys and finally the melody. One thing leads to the next. Chords and progressions is what I like - that comes first, and the song subject matter comes from how the song feels. Because of that, I think it tends to be a faster process. You end up with good and bad, and sometimes repeating yourselve, however the good stuff floats to the top. This method (for me anyway) sounds somewhat fresher, as you are recording when inspired - rather than on the 20th take trying to get something perfect - but often frustrating as you rarely know the song when you playing it - and I'm sure that I could play it better on a second take. Most of the stuff I do is in 1 or 2 takes. I always intend to re-record everything and never do. No easy answers.
I would say I'm like Bruno plus add an evening for mixing and tweeting drum tracks.
Every time is different. However, I mostly only have the basic idea when I start recording and I use the recording process to experiment and write further.
It depends upon how fussy I am being and how hard it is to learn and play. Sometimes I give myself a challenge so that I have to learn something new. Other times, I might be trying out a new recording technique. While other times I might be happy with a 3 chord structure and leave it at that. It whatever the song needs. Then you have to know when to stop. That's usually when I'm getting sick of the song.
Lately I have been getting ideas down as demos and then rerecording an "improved" version once I know what I want.
The writing of the basic song structure is usually fairly quick - maybe a day. The recording can take a few days - usually 2-3 hours per day after work or on a saturday or sunday afternoon. But it could also take weeks. Also, I might do a few demos because I get lots of ideas. And then I might go back to one and try to finish it off. Who knows?
Ian
Elapsed time or actual working time? Elapsed time for me typically varies between 3 months and 1 year! Two reasons: 1) I have limited spare time, 2) I am very obsessive (definitely bordering on OCD), so I spend a lot of time fiddling with stuff.
Actual working time? Probably 10 to 20 hours spread over a long time composing and writing plus finding the right effects and sounds. Recording? Probably 10 to 20 hours at the low end up to 40 hours at the high end depending on the number of tracks. I would say I spend on average about one hour on each track trying to get the sounds right, the take right and the recording right. The recent thing I posted (Weird Science) has 20 tracks and I know I spent 90 minutes one evening just trying to get a decent take of the drums! Mixing? Could be fairly quick if I did the recordings well, perhaps 3 to 5 hours, but could easily be 10 to 20 hours if I am adding lots of post processing.
Told you I was OCD......... The opposite to Henwrench I think.
I forgot to add that of course once a song is done, about 6 months later I will go back to it, re-record various tracks and remix it because I wasn't happy with the finished result. So you can add another slug of time on top of that!