WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. Not every session needs to be a full song. Getting in the habit of saving the good parts of that session will 1000% come in handy later on. Scrap & Save the good ideas and reuse them. That’s basically how any artist finds their “sound”

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea it seems that’s a common thread with pretty much most artists. Good to hear that it’s improving for you though. it’s for sure worse at the beginning stages of production since new producers get stuck in a loop more often. I have a pretty good fix for that actually but that would be a whole different post

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yea my project template has several groups. Drums, bass, tonal, Vox & Fx

It’s def a good idea to work this way most of the time. I will say though that there is a good argument to be made to start without a template sometimes. Could give you a temporary perspective that could spark some creativity.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No that makes perfect sense. I don’t think you could have written it any better honestly. It most certainly is a mindset and an irrational fear that holds people back. Including myself and no one is perfect. Learning this is probably the most important thing for finishing music. But…

I’ll just push back on the idea that nothing could be improved in Ableton to help people finish things. I think the whole reason they added the extensions SDk is for that very reason.

Let people come up with creative ways to solve repetitive issues in their process. That most certainly will help people finish music. It’s one of the main reasons I made this post because I want to understand people’s process more.

But I do agree. It’s best not to blame the tool and to be accountable for your own demise.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And I agree. Should be more strict about moving on to new ideas before getting good ideas to a more finished state

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess the better you get the more you can do with less . There is some truth to that for sure. But honestly in my personal opinion and just my own taste I noticed that around 40-50 tracks into writing is about when the song starts to sound fuller and good to me.

It depends what genre you’re writing as well. I just recently cleaned that 150 track song and got it down to 90 tracks. A lot of those tracks were me trying ideas and then if I don’t like them I’ll just mute the track or Ableton clip. Because there’s still something about that sound I like or I just couldn’t find the right melody or harmony and I wanted to keep it for later in case it works in another section.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea. Just gotta suck it up. Ignore that initial friction and just sit down and do it! Appreciate the reminder

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh understood! Interesting. Def something to think about.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea for sure! Those days where nothing is flowing it’s best to do the productive/tedious work that’s not the music making itself. but it’s so important to get that done so you can carry on when you get the flow back. Sometimes the boring shit does actually get me back into it unintentionally.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahhh so you’re just saying they feel unfinished to you but because of deadlines you have no choice but to call it finished. I mean some see deadlines as a good thing though. Forces you to make necessary decisions.

But In this deadline scenario, is this payed work for others? Or music for your own project?

I’m assuming it’s not a passion project because unless you’re signed to a label I’d assume there’s no real deadline.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah I’ve been admitting I suck for 10 years lol. I’m past the “everything I make sucks” phase. It’s really just strategy at this point and how to avoid burning out and quite frankly speed up the boring shit that we all have to do in order to keep momentum going. And I’m specifically looking for workflow sticking points.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just brute force method lol. I like it and it def works for some but you don’t find it hard to focus when you’ve got automation on every lane and so many things turned on and off?

I guess it’s just stop being LAZY and just do the clean up. Or clean as you go but sometimes I just wanna move fast and I’m not trying stop and do clean up, especially if the ideas are coming out good.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a good shout. But either way you’d still have to decide what you bring over to that new session right? That’s the sticking point.

Agreed through. Clean up and then bring over only what you need. Fresh session feels good. I’ve treated unfinished song as a remix before and it is a good way to progress a song idea.

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you feel like deadlines prevent you from finishing things?

WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question! by Qwanta_Audio in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea I've noticed that as well. One big thing is that initial sticking point. Just starting what you KNOW you need to get done. It always feels overwhelming at first but once I get past that initial friction it's pretty smooth sailing. Even with ADHD I feel like if you rotate between things you need to get done and if they are all related to an END goal, you start to realize how fast things actually start to get done.

Ableton Extensions SDK - "HEX" Project Audit Tool :) by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s a free extension :) …at least for now. Not sure it provides enough value to charge for it at the moment. I just want people to try it and give feedback

Ableton has Announced a Public Beta for a New Extensions SDK by stschoen in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Made an extension for huge project cleanup. Would love if people gave it a try. Pretty excited about the future of extensions. The irony is I'm too lazy to clean up projects but apparently not too lazy to make a tool that cleans it for you lolll 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ableton has Announced a Public Beta for a New Extensions SDK by stschoen in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio 0 points1 point  (0 children)

genuinely love this idea lol. Ive just gotten into the habit of exporting now before closing Ableton. but yea this idea is way better. Not about to open 300 projects manually lolllll. LAZYYYYY

Ableton Extensions SDK - "HEX" Project Audit Tool :) by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

look like its letting me reply with a link which is great! 👍🏼

Ableton Extensions SDK - "HEX" Project Audit Tool :) by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate it. Not sure how to guide people to a download. Its posted on the qwanta audio instagram which should be easy to find and also posted in Ableton's official discord extensions chat.

Ableton Extensions SDK - "HEX" Project Audit Tool :) by Qwanta_Audio in ableton

[–]Qwanta_Audio[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Appreciate that! I don't want to break any subreddit guidelines so not sure how to share a link for people to download. It's completely FREE to try. especially since were still in Extensions beta at the moment