All artists can go through periods where they face struggles finishing music. Even if you love the idea, you often decide to just start a new project. Not to worry, here are our 5 favorite strategies to get your song over the finish line.
Table of Contents:
1 - Distractions
The most common reason why producers get stuck on songs is because of distractions.
Say you're fully focused and then your phone rings. This is the moment where you easily get out of your creative process. This happens not just with your phone. It's recommended to turn off all other devices like a TV or even the WiFi.
When you have your full focus on your work, you will not only finish things faster, but also generate a much better result as your mind is clear.
2 - The 3 song method
The 3 song method is a great way to finish songs faster.
Here's how it works: first, you choose 3 projects that you want to work on. Then, you put all of these in a folder, well organized. After that, you choose one of them to work on for now.
As soon as you feel stuck with that project, you switch to another song in the folder. This way, when you can't seem to move forward in a project, you can maintain your creative flow and focus by working on another song.
However, it's not recommended to switch too often since you may lose the understanding of the direction you want to go in with the individual songs. Nonetheless, it's a great way to finish songs faster!
3 - Planning
Planning is another fundamental tip. A thing I like to do is plan my week.
For example, I sit down on Sunday and write down all my tasks for each day of the week. On Tuesday I usually produce so I decide the song I want to work on. After that, I give it a listen and create some kind of checklist of what I don't like or what I want to change/add.
Of course, you cannot control a creative process. But when we're just talking about finishing songs, being strict and following a checklist can be groundbreaking.
Another awesome thing about planning is that you can look back and see what you've already achieved. When I feel frustrated, I usually go back to my calendar, and then I notice what I already achieved.
4 - Taking breaks
Taking breaks is super important. It's completely normal to get stuck on a song, it happens to everyone. Even for the famous artists you follow!
Don't see taking a break as a bad thing. Quite the opposite. Oftentimes after taking a break, your mind will become clear and you will get a fresh view of everything in your project! You could go for a walk, work out, meditate or something else.
Sometimes you even need to take a few weeks off a project to really get some fresh ears on it. Finishing songs is hard, it takes time, hard work and patience. But trust the process and know that it will all be worth it.
Believe in yourself. You're not just anyone. One day your dreams will be a reality. Remember that and always keep faith. This is your journey so enjoy it and know that it takes time!
5 - Organization
This tip kind of connects to taking breaks. Sometimes after taking a break, you can't seem to remember where you saved your project and how you named it.
After a long search you find out it's in music>projects>newwww and it's called "fire idea yeahh.flp". That can be quite frustrating. Make sure you save your project in a separate folder and name it correctly.
When you work on a big project with hundreds of samples, patterns, and mixer tracks, it can get messy as well. You can simply avoid this by staying organized, color group tracks and more importantly naming them. In the FL Studio Mixer, I usually create groups with a right-click. They get separated and every time I open the project I immediately know what's going on!
A great way to organize things faster is to create a template project where every element is named in the mixer and linked to the right track in the playlist.
We hope these tips will help you and if you need help with anything else, make sure to check out our other blogs and ask your questions in our Discord Server! There will always be someone who can help you out!
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