Problems with finishing songs/motivation

[MixolydianPony]

This is not intended as a help thread, but rather as a discussion of mental trends that I've noticed. However, I suspect that it might turn INTO a help thread, which I'm okay with.

I was just thinking to myself... does like, everyone here have issues with a billion WIP songs lying around, and no motivation to finish them? It seems that everywhere I turn, I see people who have dozens and dozens of unfinished songs that they want to finish but don't have the motivation for. Is this how all musicians are? Is this unique to electronic musicians? Am I noticing nonsense, and this observation is completely false? Am I an ignorant fool who spends too much time thinking?

Just something that occurred to me. I was once told to finish every song I started, whether it sucked or not. Even if I just cut it off right there, it had to be finished. I don't allow myself to have a backlog of WIPs bogging down my mind. I feel so much better when I just decide to let things go. If I haven't worked on something for a long time, I'll just write out any cool parts on paper, put them in a binder, and go to that when I'm out of ideas (which has never happened.)

What are your thoughts on the matter? Keep WIPs forever? DESTROY THEM? Do people have problems with too many unfinished songs bogging down their creativity?

Also... I need to stop making posts at 3am. I can't even think well enough to decide if this is worth posting, or if I should just hit Ctrl+A, Del.

[vladnuke]

Never ever destroy wips. They are good midi digging for when you are either stuck on a song or you've run out of ideas. I personally have about 5 shitty wips to every song that I release. Just the nature of making music, I suppose. My little book of ideas (as in paper) has been marked up and down with song ideas that sound good on paper, but I'm willing to bet most of them will sound terrible when it hits the daw.
I have a couple unfinished songs that I wish I had the time and patience to complete, but ultimately they are just going to have to be gutted for parts.



This dude knows what's up.

Try to get all the sound design-y stuff done on one day, and leave a whole day for just composition. Don't do both at once, because that will mess you up.

That's why collabs are better, because you get sent someone else's stuff and you end up working with that, giving you more time and mind allocation to think of the big picture ideas, like structure, flow, and originality, rather than obsess over how each element sounds individually.

Make a template for your work. This is helpful when you're making an album, because it insures some level of flow between tracks.

[Motivfs]

At this point and time, I have 3-4 WIPs I have to finish still, and one song I am working on right now that is going to be finished sometime in the week.

But the only reason I have 3-4 WIPS is because I like to go from song to song, so they don't get boring for me, so I can come back, and it will sound fresh, I listen to it a few times, and snap back at it.

The only reason I have unfinished WIPS is because they are 1) not good enough, or 2) completely experimental and I was just using it as practise.

[Freewave]

I generally try to finish every track i start on but some take a while before i complete them. I'll often have 3 at a time and sometimes all the projects come to a close around the same date and i just need to stagger their releases for 1 a week. TBH i'm not one of those guys who have a load of half finished WIP's lying around that i never complete. I'm one of those guys who has a load of song ideas i want to do and just haven't started yet.

[nOk]

I have fluctuations of creativity. If you think you're not doing your finest work, and can't think of anything, take a break! About a couple days does it for me, and eventually I have a musical epiphany that I write down on the spot That's just me though, so I don't know if it will work for you all

[soultensionbenjamin]

If you having music problems i feel for your pain son i got 99 wips and a song aint 1


seriously though sometimes ill work on something and i think it ll sound great then i keep working on it and it sounds horrible.

[ph00tbag]

Most tracks I start on never see the light of day. I never willfully delete them, because who knows, I may find a use for one part or another, but for the most part, tracks that don't get finished don't get finished for a reason.

[BlackElectric]

That only happened to me once, and it was a very, very rushed track that I should have taken more time on. I didn't feel like going back and fixing it though because I had inspiration for something else at the time.

I only work on one song at a time (aside from when someone asks for a collab), so they all get finished.

[Sai]

I usually try and work on maybe one or two things at a time, but I still get sort of lost part-way through, every now and then, which tends to make me lose the motivation to go on with it. I've come to realise that this-

Make a template for your work.

-is a very good idea.
Most of my demotivation comes from the fact that I'll get the feeling I have no idea what I'm doing because I don't plan ahead enough.

Also, I still have some old shitty WIPs from when I first discovered DAWs that I keep around in case I can scape any ideas from them later, despite having no intention to actually finish them.
If I feel a project isn't going anywhere, it will usually descend into a bunch of somewhat random, individual patterns in the hope that some future project may find a use for them.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I haven't actually made any songs in a while. I've been practicing experimental/creative sound design and better production techniques instead. That way, the next song I make will actually be interesting to listen to instead of the same style of brostep that so many others have made. I'll have my own style.

I've honestly been considering adding psychedelic elements to my songs as well...

[Kopachris]

I have folders full of WIPs (I mean, actual folders, containing paper with pen scribbles all over). A lot of them I've never even heard.

[colortwelve]

I work out of a pretty large template myself, made up mostly of a bunch of patches I've just kind of stumbled upon while working on various tracks - and on that note, I'd like to say that while devoting time and energy mostly into composition in a single session can be a good idea, opening up a project and just fiddling with the knobs for a while can lead you to discover a sound that inspires you to write more in the project you have open. At least, that's how some of my more recent efforts have come together, and they feel pretty good when I'm actually in the process of finishing up.

On to the actual topic. I do find myself just opening FL without thinking about it, then shitting out an idea that can go nowhere in its current state, and just seals itself into a project file that I don't open for months. But that time can be a good thing; next time I look at it, I have a fresh perspective, and may see an actual direction for this fragment I've put together - or, alternatively, I could transplant it into a different project I've got going.

But that's another thing - I start a lot of projects, knowing that eventually, some combination of ideas will come together and I'll end up with a finished song. Everything else is a casualty.

[nOk]

I just had an idea! Make a single track out of all your failed works. Like, meld them in to one another or something. I keep all my failed projects in a folder named "neglected project graveyard of the damned", so that would be pretty easy for me to put together. ALWAYS save your projects: NEVER delete them!

[Lectro Dub]

9 out of every 10 projects I make never see completion. I think it's a combination of motivation dissipation and quality control. My scraps folder is really frickin' huge. Sometimes I wish I could just give my unfinished projects to someone else to complete for me. Or be an electronic duo with someone.

I just had an idea! Make a single track out of all your failed works.

^I actually want to do an album like this one day.

[Nine Volt]

I keep all my WIPs, just in case I want to reuse melodies or chord progressions. I do the same for my really old songs (which are no longer on SC) for the same reason.

I have yet to organize them, but there's a lot. Most of them are labelled as 'some _____ song', because I usually decide on a name after they are finished. 1/2 will probably never see the light of day, and 1/4 will have their melodies reused, and the remaining ones will be finished. I never delete them though.

[Captain Ironhelm]

usually I toss my wips into a folder that I never want to open again, to clean off the dirt on my hands and be gone with the heresies. If I'm not passionate about what I do, I don't waste my time on it, 'cause it'll end up mediocre at best.

[Freewave]

9 out of every 10 projects I make never see completion. I think it's a combination of motivation dissipation and quality control. My scraps folder is really frickin' huge. Sometimes I wish I could just give my unfinished projects to someone else to complete for me. Or be an electronic duo with someone.

I just had an idea! Make a single track out of all your failed works.

^I actually want to do an album like this one day.

Certainly The Beatles did this with b-side of Abbey Road and A Day in the Life. Nothing wrong with taking part of uncompleted /unfinished songs and making a medley that works together (kinda the inate characteristic of prog rock actually).

[ph00tbag]

^I actually want to do an album like this one day.

I've wanted to do this for a while. Not so much with incomplete works, but works that were botched enough I wouldn't list them as my A-list, but still have a grain of inspiration to them.

[itroitnyah]

I've never had problems with this. Every single piece of work that I've made has seen the light of internet. Although, there are two pieces that I've made that I've posted but made hidden because they've been deemed so horrible.

Like, for example, the current song that I'm working on right now, and have been for the past 5, almost 6 weeks now. I make a song, and then I have some friends that review my stuff before I post (mostly just recently, hence the hidden songs). But all that I've done is:

Remade the drop (yeah, it's dubstep), specifically the synths that make up the drops, because they were horribly made.

Redid the drum loops. Too cliche.

Redid the drop (again). It was too random.

Learned music theory. This process took a bit over a week, since I already had a bit of knowledge of music theory. I literally took a notebook and went to this awesome website and would write down every single lesson, whether it would be necessary for EDM or not. I did this whenever I had freetime on my school laptop, whether I was at school or home. I stopped just before cadences. But, I have a list of every single chord, scale and 7th now, for future reference. And if you want me to teach you something about music theory, I will gladly do so. Just pm me for my skype

Redid the rhythm. And the melody

Redid the rhythm and melody again.

Learned about song structure. I've started analyzing songs for patterns ever since.

And I'm currently in the process of restructuring the entire song, although I see the finish coming soon.