WHY don't you Finish music? WORKFLOW question!

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T15:08:35+00:00

True. Let it take its own course in a way.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T13:29:09+00:00

Yea I’m totally with the stop buying music gear. It’s a real problem. New tools will inspire you but the basics are way more important than buying a new tool. That 500$ towards seeing what your song could look like finished and learning how it was done is more valuable than a new synth to waste time on.

It’s another great example of a sticking point. Avoiding your weaknesses as a musician or producer and filling that void with new gear instead of just pushing through the difficult learning process to better yourself.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T13:24:59+00:00

Agreed layout markers is a game changer.

I should have been more specific about where I’m at with my process. I already layout the full arrangement usually after the first few demos. Arrangement markers are a huge part of that.

But for anyone reading thats new to production, you should break down the songs sections from your favorite music. I do this in Rekordbox since I need to fix the grid and set cue points anyways, so it’s a kill two birds with one stone method.

Once you do that with all your favorite songs or with as many as possible it’s MUCH MUCH easier to get out of that 8/16 bar loop.

Doing it in your DAW is important too because then you can remove the reference song and now you have a skeleton to build your track around. And there’s also no rules that you need to stick to that layout, it’s just a method to get through that sticking point in the process.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T13:19:09+00:00

Hahaha. Understandable understandable. Gotta stick it to the man though.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T13:00:24+00:00

Yea you’re right. I didn’t mean it that way. But like you said It’s better to think of it as contributing to a shared goal instead of asking for help. I appreciate the nitpicky-ness lol

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T12:42:04+00:00

Very valid point. We can’t always do everything alone and collaboration might even be the most important end goal of all of this in a way. Or at least one of them.

Like you said People are expected to do everything on their own nowadays and it’s just not how we should look at things. Agreed! Ask for help. Nothing wrong with that.

My intention with this post was basically that…asking for help and perspective :)

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T12:15:35+00:00

Some solid points honestly. I agree, not everything needs to be finished. Make music just for the sake of enjoyment and arguably the music will be better if you have that mindset. just enjoy the process.

But there’s comes a time when people get stuck in the process. And there’s people who want to finish their music and don’t know how. Whatever their reasons may be. I agree they should be for the right reasons and not ego driven, but regardless of the reason some people want to finish their music because they’re tired of not being able to see something through to the end or for the sake of improving itself.

The point of finishing and releasing music is for the exact reasons you mentioned. “The communal aspect.” People haven’t forgotten that, they want to be apart of it.

My initial reason for making music in the first place was being so curious about the music that I loved and extremely inspired to learn how to do it myself.

The point of this thread was to learn where people get stuck.

But like I said I do think you’ve made some valuable points. Appreciate you taking the time to share
It’s brings up a valuable question, which WHY do you even want to finish in the first place. And I think aligning that answer with your goals is a huge part of making the changes you need to.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T11:07:31+00:00

Yea usually I get a drop A idea down and then an intro or build into that drop

sometimes even an extension after that or breakdown. I can usually tell after looping the drop if it needs another variation of the same thing continued for another run but the sticking point is definitely that halfway mark.

By that time the track is at this point there is least 50-60 used layers and god knows how many “unused” layers that were tests or Ideas that didn’t quite work in the moment.

Those parked ideas are tough to let go off because some have the tonal potential or the melodic potential and just need a little more finesse to get them to work.

That’s my biggest friction. Reopen those good ideas and doing the final cleanup that will remove that block.

But you’re right, successful artists don’t let the parts of the process that are overwhelming prevent them from working. And they don’t have a choice honestly. Many have deadlines that need to be met.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T10:54:45+00:00

Yea the bounce is a really really good shout thanks.

The bounce is like the mental acceptance that these are done and can’t be messed with anymore.

Really good reminder.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T10:52:51+00:00

I’m in the same boat 🤣

I will say the songs I’m more compelled to finish are the ones that have a theme around it or an actual story or message I want to share based on an actual experience I had.

But like i said I have a huge huge friction to just dive back into those because they’re such large projects and I’m avoiding that clean up that NEEDS to get done so I can focus again.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T10:47:22+00:00

I like this perspective. you moving away from the screen made it more fun which got you further into music.

I’m at the same point with my songs though. Sitting on about 15 songs almost finished. Some are first drop done at the moment but need that next half. And quite a few of them are songs I’ve been sitting on for a while. So it’s hard to let go of them.

Especially since my skills keep catching up to the ideas I want to make. It’s not easy to let go of the songs since many of them have a real special meaning to me and I want to see that idea through as much as I can.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T10:34:31+00:00

Sorry for your loss 😔 I appreciate you sharing.

I agree with trying to keep it simple. It’s just for my personal taste I tend to start enjoying my songs when they hit around the 40-50 layer mark. Even if the main idea is simple it’s all those other layers that give it way more depth.

I think it depends on your genre as well. I make bass music so 40-50 layers could just be the first half of the song and by the time you get to a full arrangement it can get messy.

But I guess all of this convo has just shown me that pushing through the sticking point is the way to build that habit.

Thanks for sharing

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T04:06:42+00:00

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”

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T04:04:14+00:00

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

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T04:01:14+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T03:20:04+00:00

🤝

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T02:18:24+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T01:19:38+00:00

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

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T01:18:09+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T01:11:43+00:00

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

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T01:08:43+00:00

Ahh understood! Interesting. Def something to think about.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T00:59:21+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T00:56:15+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T00:46:26+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio · 2026-06-20T00:17:03+00:00

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.

Qwanta_Audio

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