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Songwriting schedule

idssdi

Sold-out Crowd Surfer
Nov 11, 2019
5,336
6,754
Groningen
11
So I have no plans for my summer holiday and I figured I could get an interface, a mic and positive grid bias and write/record mix and master some songs. I already have the chord progression down for one song(lyrics are difficult for me) but I figured I could make a schedule that I do 1 song per week. At the moment that means I’ll have at least 7 songs by the end of the summer holiday. Would any of you recommend this or have any of you ever done this before?
 

Isaac Moss

Free Bird Player
Nov 11, 2019
113
1
I haven’t done anything like that before but I’ve heard of people saying that limits are a good thing when it comes to writing and stuff and that you’ll probably come up with stuff you never would have without the limit.
 

Filip Tomiša

Campfire Attention Holder
Nov 11, 2019
917
431
26
Croatia
www.youtube.com
6
All i can say is that it’s probably gonna take you longer than one week to do a song because you’ll most likely run into some problems during that process (making mistakes during recording, not being satisfied, not knowing how to use a daw…) especially in the beginning and it will all lengthen the process. Then comes mixing and mastering that takes some time to do and if you’ve never done it before it’s gonna take even longer. I think you should be happy if you manage to do 2 songs in 7 weeks because there is way more work than it seems. If you manage to do more props to you! Good luck.
 

idssdi

Sold-out Crowd Surfer
Nov 11, 2019
5,336
6,754
Groningen
11
I think if I spend a regular workweek per song(40 hours per week) per song It should be possible. Maybe the first couple ones take a bit longer to mix and master but usually I pick up things pretty quickly. If I still have trouble then I can always use emastered if it really takes forever.
I also have the weird ability to write songs pretty quickly sometimes(like I have the chords done within 30 minutes)
 

Firsty Lasty

New Student
Nov 11, 2019
278
284
I used to spend a lot of time working on writing and recording music, before my computer died and I lost everything lol fml.
Anyways, here’s my thoughts.
-Spend your time being creative; you won’t Produce & Mix anything that resembles a radio-ready pro recording unless you’re the greatest musical genius on the planet. Make the music first, don’t worry until much later about how to make it sound perfect.
-I don’t recommend buying vst amp sim, and I have bought many of them. Free is good enough for songwriting. Using the money for something like an Arturia minilab with its bundled software gives you far more creative power. Poulin amps -> Pulse IR loader works. All of my top favorite IRs are paid, not free, but the free Pulse cab is good and versatile.
-My experience was that sometimes I got a lot done quickly, and sometimes things took ten times longer than I thought they would. Don’t stress about how many songs you get done in how many hours of work.
-Start early every day, like right when you wake up. If you can take a lot of breaks walking around outside and exposing yourself to a lot of visual/spatial stimulus, that will help you stay happy and productive.
 

Ed Seith

Supreme Galactic Overlord
Staff member
Legend+
  • Nov 11, 2019
    3,882
    15
    6,603
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    Marana, AZ USA
    soundcloud.com
    35
    It’s a great exercise, and can work on important parts of your brain and expose issues with your processes, but like others who have done this sort of challenge before, don’t expect all the songs to be GOOD. The PROGRESS will be good, and that’s the reward, and in the end you will like some parts of some songs, and can create something great from your learning.
     

    Isaac Moss

    Free Bird Player
    Nov 11, 2019
    113
    1
    Maybe something to try that might result in better songs is spending a lot of that time just trying come up with a bunch of ideas and stuff and at the end you could pick out the best ones and write full songs off the best ideas. That’s kinda how I do it, I haven’t written a full length song yet but I have a ton of ideas and stuff. Yesterday I started one that is like a combination of Mr. Crowley by Ozzy and The Stage and Dimebag Darrell, I can’t wait to write the whole thing!
     

    Calvin Phillips

    Music Theory Bragger
    Nov 11, 2019
    2,588
    1,988
    Wouldn’t put a time line on song writing. You’ll force things rather then let it flow naturally. If the song is unfinished set it aside start another one and eventually you’ll go back and usually in my experiences that’s when you find the melody you wanted. A time line for an album is a good idea but for songs specifically I wouldn’t try to put a deadline on. You don’t wanna rush the song writing process.