How to Make Music Faster

Speaker A: Hey, I'm Ian Austin. I'm joined by my co hosts William Toll and Haddon. We are a team of independent artists with give or take 700,000 monthly listeners combined on Spotify. And today we're talking about how to make music faster. So Will, this was your, this was your topic. You want to take it away?

Speaker B: Yeah. Something that has improved my craft a lot is, is um, just kind of ironing out um, your process. Like so when you, let's say you have a song written and you, you want to go produce it, this is going to be mostly for artists that are like self produced artists. Um, but um, but even if you're a producer that produces for other artists, this works too. But it's essentially just like having the least amount of friction between your idea and getting it, getting it down into your daw, um, into Logic Pro, into GarageBand, into Studio One Pro Tools, whatever you use. Um, so like on the hardware side, um, you can think about how to have your space optimized for, for um, the least amount of hassle. So like if you have to, if you have to unbox your mic and, and like screw it onto the mic stand and then set the mic stand up next to you and then, and then like uncoil the wire, the, the wires and, and connect everything and then get your like if you have to do all that before you even start recording, that's a huge hassle and it's going to be. And like by the time you start recording it's gonna, you're gonna be mostly just frustrated and out of the mood. So, so it's sort of stuff like that, that, that I want to recommend. Um, have, have a, have a physical station that works well for, for fluid, um, ideation and um. And then one other thing that really has made a difference for me is having a template in Logic Pro. I use Logic Pro to produce but having um, having a template it's basically like you know, let's say if you were to go to Google Docs and you could like go into their preloaded templates and you could select like uh, uh, an accounting template or something. It's the same thing. It's not preloaded. You have to make your own. But in Logic Pro I made my own so that when I open it, um, there are certain um, plugins, virtual instruments, um, and uh, audio recording tracks that are ready to record um based um, on my setup. All that's preloaded. So I'll have, I'll have an audio recording track that is set up to um, Pick up whatever's coming from my interface so that if I need to just press record and go, I can. And then I have um. And then. So that, that'll be vocals and acoustics for me that's ready to go. Another thing that's ready to go is there's a drum kit and, and so that's preloaded. The drum kit that I, I've, I did some research on like what works best for what, what I like the best and what, what works best for me. And it's like, it's one of the stock drum kits in Logic Pro. I think it's the Manchester or the Sunset kit. Um, um. But whatever it is, I just, I, I open that, I use the kit, I use it for the kick. You know that's so I'm like, okay, I already know what I'm gonna do for the kick. I already know what I'm gonna do for the claps. Cause the claps are already in that plugin too. And if there's any snares, whatever, whatever percussion I need, I'm m just gonna use that as my starting point. Um, um. And it's preloaded. Don't have to think about it, don't have to like scroll options before I start getting creative. It's there already. So just stuff like that, you know, they got the piano, um, preloaded, I got a, I got pads preloaded. This is stuff that all is relevant to my craft as an artist.

Speaker A: Ah.

Speaker B: And I as a self produced artist. So like I, I know those things to be in line with how I make music and how I want it to sound and what my genre is. Um, um. So just having it. It's been really good to have a template to, to make sure that there's no scrolling and brainstorming of sound selection while I'm just trying to get the ideas down into at least a solid demo form. So that's what I'd say.

Speaker A: Yeah. So I think what, what you're describing is you're saying I'm going to do creative stuff here and then I'm going to do like analytical, like mechanical stuff over here. I'm going to get that boring stuff out of the way. So that's going to free me up to do the creative process stuff. And I think there's actually science behind this. I read in a book that says uh, this book said there's this thing called task inertia and it's when you switch different into different modes, there's inertia meaning like it takes a while to get the ball rolling again. So it's harder to get in a flow state if you're doing a brainstorming thing and then you go into uh, a logistical thing and then you go into a creative thing. That's not an efficient use of your time. So since that is a thing, you need to compartmentalize different modes. So an example of that would be if I am mixing, I'm going to do some pre, like mixing work of you know, labeling the tracks and maybe uh, even color uh, coding them and setting up my uh, different buses like. But an even better version of that would be I have a template for my mixing and all my buses for reverb and delays. Those are already set up. But what you don't want to do is let's say you go into mixing and you're doing your thing and then you realize, oh man, I need to create a whole new reverb send and I need to put the EQ on the reverb and I need to figure out how much of the uh, how much of the lows and highs of the reverb to take off. Oh, what should the time of the reverb be? That, that's not, that's not going to help you. So I think a huge point is I want to stay in one mode as long as possible. So when I'm doing a scratch version, a scratch version is just laying out the production, having like dummy placeholder recordings, um, in there. I'm just going to do scratch version. I'm not going to worry about the EQ or whatever. And then I think that applies to every single um, area of making music. You want to stay in one um, frame. Frame of mind.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker C: Yeah. I think the thing about like inertia is definitely true. Even in production, like within the production phase, when you're recording stuff, just keep recording as many ideas. Like when we recorded here I am will, um, I don't know if you remember, but we just, we just threw so many ideas at the wall and we were just recording like everything and we didn't, we didn't edit anything, we didn't, weren't even focused on arranging. We were just following, you know, every instinct, you know. And um, and it sounded like a mess, you know. And, and if, if anyone, you know, who wasn't a music producer was listening in, they wouldn't have had much faith in the final product. But um, yeah, I just think uh, keeping the momentum with like recording is a big thing. Like um, don't uh, like you were saying, Ian, like, you know, when you're, you know, don't, don't start mixing when you're recording. Um, just kind of stay in the creative mode. Uh, another thing I heard recently, I don't know if this is an official quote or not, but basically like a craftsman, um, someone who's a craftsman knows what the final product is going to look like, um, whereas an artist doesn't know what they're going to make or what it's going to look like in the end. Um, but I think it's kind of a mix of both for me. Like, if you do treat it as a craft, you know, there's a lot of benefits because, uh, you have a palette, you know, you have instruments that, you know, work for your sound and that can give you confidence that you're going in the right direction, that the final piece will sound pretty good. But, um, also, you know, it is good to let the artistic mode shine too and um, let that exploration come out, you know, and kind of find the song as you go. But, um, um, yeah, what do, what do you. How do y' all balance, like the craft with the artistic side? Like making sure streamline, but also explore exploration.

Speaker A: Yeah. I think something that's more important than being disciplined with staying in each mode is following inspiration. I think inspiration is one of the most valuable resources you have as an artist. So when you're inspired to do something, I think you should follow that. Because what we're, what we're talking about, we're saying you should follow a system so that you can have the most momentum. But if inspiration is taking you another way, let's say you're. You're making a demo for your song, but then you feel really inspired to really work on this, uh, this certain effect and you want to kind of make it this one track, a final sounding recording, um, by putting all these effects on it. Well, I think you should actually break modes and follow that bunny trail until the inspiration's gone. I'm not going to like, if I get inspired to, like, if I'm, um, let's say I'm making a ambient guitar part and I could just record it dry and uh, put. Put the reverb on it later and stuff. But if I feel really inspired about that right now, I, I might go into slightly a mixing mode with it and I'm gonna. I. It's like I just gotta chase this thing until I. It's realized in my mind and I think that's actually a good thing. So. But if, um. But there's a difference between, like, sometimes you're just being undisciplined and you're just all over the place, but you'll. You'll kind of know. Sometimes you just really hear something. It's like, I gotta make this thing come into reality before I lose it.

Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. One of my biggest time wasters is just listening to the track on loop and just, you know, avoiding progress. Like, I'll just start searching for the perfect sample or, you know, um, trying to perfect a guitar recording that's like 95% there. But I just keep, you know, trying to make it better, even though, you know, in the context of the full mix, it's not going to matter. Um, so, yeah, I think you're right. Like, you know, the templates and the presets and all that, that's a way to, like, sustain it because, uh, we're not always going to feel that inspiration. So those are things that keep you going even when you're not feeling inspired. But certainly when the inspiration does strike, uh, that should be set above all of the. The time management tactics and, and whatnot.

Speaker A: Like, like, if you had unlimited inspiration, I don't think you would ever need templates. But that, that's just not the case. We ran out of inspiration, so we need to keep the templates keep us going.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And they just help not to. Uh, yeah, so. So that we don't get bogged down by some of the nitty gritty stuff while we're trying to just get the creative juices flowing. Um, nothing worse than a troubleshooting mishap. Uh, so in the middle of trying to just get these ideas flowing.

Speaker A: Um, so I've thought of recording as an analogy for, um. Maybe I heard this somewhere, but it's like an analogy for photographers. Ah. When they take pictures, they'll take like 50 pictures if you're at a photo shoot. And, uh, and then they'll. They'll sort it out later and edit it later. But could you imagine if at the, at the photo shoot they take one picture and they say, okay, I'm going to color grade this right now and I'm going to edit. Uh, oh, maybe turn down the highs, turn the contrast, and then you do that for every picture. That would be so inefficient. And I think that's how some people make music. And sometimes it's just, I'm gonna throw all this stuff in there and I'm gonna sort it out later. And that's what I do with recording guitars. Do a bunch of takes all the vocals and so like, it will like, like Ben, uh, Haddon was saying, it does look really messy. Um, but it's just like I know it's like I need to just keep on putting out stuff and I can do. I can go in the crate, uh, maybe the mixing mode later and figure it out. But yeah.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Well, don't forget to email us if you are interested in our coaching services, um, where we meet with you one on one and we assess your unique situation and help you uh, navigate all the tricky areas of pursuing a life as an independent artist. Um, together we found that it's the most efficient way to advance your career. So uh, don't hesitate to reach out to us for that at indie roots llcmail.com Also, don't forget to like and and subscribe. Leave a comment on the podcast and of course a five star rating and share with a friend and we will see you on the next episode.