How long does it take

[Rock Star 87]

i think my biggest issue is my music. i started recording in August, and i only have one song done.that still bothers me a bit. how long do u clock on a song, on average. this includes everything but mastering, and up until u put it in ur library and move on.

[Rokket]

It depends on the song. My own material from start to finish takes me forever. I may put well over 400 hours on it. If I am doing a remake for a friend or family, I can get them done in a couple days. Collaberating, I can get a song done in a week. So it's all subjective.

[Fat_Satchel]

hmm...something like 10 to 40 hrs?? Sounds vague. I sequence drums [not loops] for my stuff which takes me a long time. I also spend alot of time mixing...which probably means Im not spending enough time tracking heheh

[Rokket]

Originally Posted by Fat_Satchel

hmm...something like 10 to 40 hrs?? Sounds vague. I sequence drums [not loops] for my stuff which takes me a long time. I also spend alot of time mixing...which probably means Im not spending enough time tracking heheh

Not really. You read the lyrics I posted. They were first draft. What makes it on tape, so to speak, since I am a digital midget, is about the 20th draft. That's what eats most of my time. Getting it right. Then I usually spend that much time tweaking the music BEFORE I ever record a single note. Then there are the endless do-overs because it doesn't have the emotion I was looking for.
And I have a huge number of them that I never finished because I lost the connection with them.
That's why I spend so much time on them. I started making a CD for my mother almost a year ago. I have 5 songs done. I wanted at least 12.

[mikeh]

I rarely spend less than 20-30 hours on a song. The tracking alone takes anywhere from 10-20 hours per song (assuming I'm doing all the parts myself).

I find it often only takes 1-3 hours to "write" the first draft of a song (basic lyrics, chord progression). Anywhere from 2-10 more hours of re-writes (riffs, hooks, etc), etc. As I said 10-20 hours to track. And perhaps 2-5 hours to mix. There's always about 2-5 hours lost to mic placement and gear set up, etc.

Some songs take much longer - if I'm trying to lay down complex harmonies, that alone can take 20 hours (I'm not a gifted singer with perfect pitch).

The one thing I've had to force myself to learn (something many writers and "do it all" recordists have trouble doing) - learn when a song is done and move on. It is very easy to second guess and re-record, over and over. If we allow ourselves to get too "anal", we will never finish a song.

[EdWonbass]

Once I start to get an idea I spend about 30 min getting some chords and lyrics down. If I hit a wall the I walk away for a bit. I might come back to it the next day. If I have a verse/chorus thing I will through down a quick acoustic/vocal thing to get a feel for how I want to do the drums. At this point I have about 2 hours into a project. My next step is to fine tune and finish the lyrics. Now we're at about 3 hours. All the while even at work the song is in my head and I come up with new ideas. At this point the drums have to be programed. That can take 2 hours. Then I can track the instruments. This goes pretty fast like maybe 4 hours. Then the vocals will be a 3 hour ordeal at best. Once I get all of the parts done I dump it from my recorder onto my laptop. Then I spend about 10 hours over the next week messing with it.

So maybe about 20 hours. Wow I didn't think I spent that much time on a song. And then, is it ever really done?

[philboyd studge]

Hmmm, never really thought about it. I don't stay with one song but instead work on it in pieces, but if time was totaled up from conception to a mixed down 16 bit saleable product I'd guess about 10 hours.

[EdWonbass]

I have writen and recorded songs that were done start to finish in 3 hours.
That's not to say that I didn't go back and do them over again.

[BentRabbit]

It really depends on the song... and the inspiration... and the motivation...
I got inspired one morning and whipped one out in one afternoon... Put it in a drawer for a couple days and made some tracking changes in another afternoon...
Other songs... well... They may NEVER leave the drawer...

[peopleperson]

About five or six solid hours. I do pretty much all of my own stuff in the software domain so Im essentially mixing it as it's being written. The time frame doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else. Everyone's got their own way of doing things. I find for myself that if I spend too much time going over something and coming back to it endlessly, that I'll lose a major amount of interest in it, so I have to make myself plow through it without really stopping. Everyone works differently when writing. I, for one, write better when I'm hyper and a tad angry.

[baerstev]

Here's an interesting tidbit of info. I heard that Bruce Springsteen took six months to record Born to Run (the song only). I guess it paid off-it was make or break time for him, and that song definately made him. One of my all time personal favorites as well.

[Jizz]

It really depends on the tune for me.

A few months back I literally stepped out the front door to do some every day tasks, like the shopping for the week, and a riff came into my head. As I walked I built it up and arranged another riff to follow the first. I done my shopping and walked back home, in this time I made up a chorus and bridge part.

The whole thing appeared to me from nowhere in the space of 1 hour.

I had the demo recorded that night...with no vocals, which I never do.

Then again I have riffs in my head that I've remembered then forgotten, then remembered again for a few years and never recorded.

It could take me 3 to 4 hours making up the drum tracks on my machine and writing down the sequence then recording it. The bassline very rarely strays much from my main guitar riffs anyway, so that usually takes about 1 hour to record.
The guitar parts on the other hand can be an arse. I don't rehearse stuff...as soon as I figure out the riffs, I begin recording. This means I make mistakes, lose count in my head, play the wrong riff at the wrong time, fret it all wrong blah blah blah. This could take 2 to 3 hours also, lol.

A bit of a kick in the teeth when you spend an entire week working on one basic demo then realising the damn thing is only 3 minutes long!!!

Like others have said, I work on stuff while I'm at work also...just running the riffs round my head, and figuring out the changes or whatever there and then.

Meh, like I've sort of said...some songs find their way out my head and onto my Multitracker in a matter of hours...and others can take days.

I find it very frustrating doing it, but when I'm not doing it I feel I NEED to be doing it.

A very odd process for me.

PS - These times are rough estimates....I never actually time myself. I just let it run it's course.

[Rokket]

I've got a few I started 15 years ago! I doubt they will ever be finished....

[bemo]

Originally Posted by baerstev

Here's an interesting tidbit of info. I heard that Bruce Springsteen took six months to record Born to Run (the song only). I guess it paid off-it was make or break time for him, and that song definately made him. One of my all time personal favorites as well.

Six months to do a two chord song with a three note melody????

Maybe I'm trying too hard

[EdWonbass]

I often have songs come to me while I am driving around. I get a good portion of it in my head and keep going over it until I can get somewhere to get a guitar in my hands. If I can get one verse and a chorus the rest is easy.
Right now I have a couple of verses and a chorus for a new song. The problem is that I no longer like the lyrics I have written for the chorus. I went ahead and started recording the music and I'm hoping by tonight when I'm done tracking the instruments something suitable will come to me.

[mikeh]

I recently wrote a "song" in 15 minutes, while I was driving. The verse, chorus, chord progression and melody were just there. I'm sure the song was in the air and I simply drove through at the "write" time. I actually pulled off the road to write the lyrics down (lest I forget) and I then turned of the stereo and hummed the melody for the next hour to make sure I remembered.

The lyrics, melody and progression needed no re-write - I was sure that it was as good as it could be (again, I simply channeled it). However, it still took about 20 hours of recording to get the guitar hooks and to nail the harmonies, etc.

I normally budget 10 hours of tracking & mixing for a band, (to record 1 song)who records the bulk of the song together with limkted guitar overdubs and 3 part harmony (that assumes they already have their parts down before entering the studio).

So I figure, one person tracking every instrument and vocal seperately will take 2 to 3 times as long.

[honedawg]

Like rokkett, I have many that are very old and still in the writing phase. I try to keep 5-6 songs going at any given time in case I get in a rut. Then there's the fact that once I start recording, the song changes throughout the session (not always for the better). Too much fiddling and the piece loses what I liked about it in the first place. The best thing is to set some goals. On my current project I had a goal to complete two songs before Christmas and post them. I missed by a couple of weeks. I have set a goal of finishing the project by April. The counter to that is you don't want to rush things and come up with a cheesy lyric just to complete your goal. Main thing is don't get frustrated.

[Rokket]

Originally Posted by honedawg

Like rokkett, I have many that are very old and still in the writing phase. I try to keep 5-6 songs going at any given time in case I get in a rut. Then there's the fact that once I start recording, the song changes throughout the session (not always for the better). Too much fiddling and the piece loses what I liked about it in the first place. The best thing is to set some goals. On my current project I had a goal to complete two songs before Christmas and post them. I missed by a couple of weeks. I have set a goal of finishing the project by April. The counter to that is you don't want to rush things and come up with a cheesy lyric just to complete your goal. Main thing is don't get frustrated.

Just as important as knowing you've spent enough time on a song or project is knowing when to stop. There are countless examples throughout "recorded" (parden the pun) history of over production killing it. You have to know when to say when. I can almost bet that Springsteen probably went with his initial feleings on that song after spending 5 months trying to "improve it".