Better to focus writing many ideas, or completely finishing a few tracks?

[superblonde]

For a given chunk of calendar time spent on music projects, say 6 weeks in the schedule of otherwise busy life, is it better to :

a) Spend most of the time writing/drafting many musical ideas (riffs, melodies, harmonies, lyrics, whatever) for use in future tracks, or

b) Spend most of the time focused on completely polishing several tracks from idea to finished master, or

c) Split the time somewhat equally between (a) and (b) then end up with a couple (fewer) polished tracks and a handful of (fewer) musical ideas.

?

[cosmicdolphin]

For me it would be Option B

I think it's better to really study the reference tracks, pull them apart and use what you've learned to make something similar that's finished and done by the deadline.

That way you don't waste a ton of time on half baked ideas that never go anywhere, on the rare occasion I can't get something over the line I'd rather delete it.

[johnnyrowing]

Lean toward option B as well. Continually getting better at your best version of finished as you "finish"will, likely, bear more fruit.

Another way of looking at it, which is more rare? Folks that start or folks that finish? Scarcity usually has more value.

[feaker66]

A for me. I like making songs and keep thinking of new material daily. It is the process for me that is intriguing.. I have been trying to learn mixing techniques for many years, but I am afraid I am just too old to catch up . I am working on a crazy song now that is a lot of fun. peace, love and reverb

[Patrick]

"The first step you never take, will be the longest journey you'll ever have."

Finish those tracks.

[RPaul]

My take is not to overthink it. Figure out what works for you on the workflow and getting to finished work fronts and let that govern where you go at any given time. The mix might vary in different periods. Of course, at some point, you need to finish stuff because unfinished stuff isn't useful, unless maybe you're collaborating with others who are finishers but not good at getting things started, but that's just a different way of getting to finished work.

My personal take varies over time. There have been times, for example, where I've written a bunch of songs, maybe made work demos, but that was it. Then maybe I'd play those songs live, sometimes for years (or even a decade or more) before finally getting to the point of recording it. (In fact, my next single will be one of those. It's something I wrote back in the late 00's. I finally got around to starting on a polished recording of it in late March, but then ended up letting it sit on the shelf for almost 3 months, behind some other specific opportunities that had deadlines, before getting back to it. This time I kept at it until finishing, then moved to working on the cover art to get that last piece needed to get it out there.)

There have been other points where I've been writing or recording for specific TAXI listings, and I've done a whole bunch of starters, but knew there was no chance I'd have to finish all of them by the deadline and maybe only submitted one or a few. In one case, I finished the rest of them after the deadline, partly because I had a flow going for finishing the pieces, and partly in case of a forward and contact that asked for more. (I did get one forward out of that, but haven't heard anything from the library after several months.) At some point, I may add a few more pieces of the same sort and put them out as an album, but they're currently just sitting on the shelf. In another case, I was only able to finish one piece (which did get forwarded), but all the other starts are sitting on the shelf. I may or may not ever get back around to them.

I should probably note that, while I've done some amount of the instrumentals for sync stuff, my main focus has been songs with vocals, especially original songs, but I've also enjoyed doing some covers (mostly aimed at specific TAXI listings). That may inherently result in a different workflow than producing lots of instrumental cues.

Rick

[jdstamper]

Pick one or a few Taxi listings and write specifically to those listings.

That's not only how it works best with Taxi, but also how it works best with the industry if you're working directly with libraries or music supes. Write to as closely as you can to spec and that's your best chance for a placement.

Good luck!

Jim