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[SanctusAudio]

So over the past couple of years I have been composing music on a monthly basis. I have so far done 1 independent video game as a composer(Non-paid). https://soundcloud.com/jacob-kauble/sets/full-moon-rising

The deadlines for that project were very rough for me. It was like a song a week and the songs did not turn out as in depth as I would have hoped, though I have gotten most positive feedback from it.

As far as personal composing, and by that I mean composing random songs to hone in on my skills, I am finding that I am usually not happy with a song that is finished in under a month to two months. These two are examples of that:

https://soundcloud.com/jacob-kauble/terror-and-serenity

https://soundcloud.com/jacob-kauble/night-life-yuppies-era

"Night life" took around two months, while "Terror and Serenity" took around three.

It has become blatantly obvious that I need to start working in a system that will allow me to both compose in a timely manor in which I am satisfied on the quality end and those I am composing for are satisfied on the deadline end.

Are any of you skilled at speed writing? If so, what formula's or systems do you use? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jacob Kauble

[Daniel Pellicer]

Ok, you are saying two months of composition, but how many hours do you invest on it everyday? One? Two hours a day?

It would be easier if you tell us how many hours you have to dedicate to a song so that you are satisfied with it. For me for example, i take between 15 and 25 hours to do a 3 min theme and be satisfied. If i work hard, i can do that in a weekend, but if i do one hour a day then it will take 25 days

Why do you need 2 months?

[MoritzPGKatz]

Hey Jacob,

Speed is a vital trait in a composer. Not just for keeping up with deadlines!
The faster I can translate the music in my head to paper / DAW, the more focused I'll be at sticking with a healthy workflow, and the less likely it is for me to get stuck in seemingly infinite loops of aimless sound-browsing, straying into different musical moods that sound separated from the rest of the piece, or generally dealing with one little detail while the rest of the arrangement isn't even finished yet. That's something that still happens on a regular basis, by the way - and it happens to every composer I've talked to.

Sure enough, there's no one way to deal with this or to improve your workflow in general.
There are lots of little obstacles on the way to a track, so let's look at this step by step.

Keep in mind that while I'll try to dissect the process of composition into smaller segments, you'll probably agree that the best things we create are done in one single motion. The best artists can create beautiful things with a single stroke of the brush, and that is something we should all strive for.

Also, these are just my personal experiences. What works, works, and everyone's workflow differs a bit.

1. Core Idea and References

This one's pretty much the base of the whole pyramid and without it, you'll dabble and monkey around for days on end without ever getting that satisfying feeling that only comes with creating something: that point where you feel like the creative part of your brain works in one continuous motion while harmonizing with your personal set of musical crafts.

One way to get an idea in your head before you face that dreadful blank sheet is to gather references: Spend some time listening to music in the genre / timbre you're aiming for, and do it with clear intention.
Listen for elements in the arrangement that convey the same mood you're going for: Pace and Pulse is one of the more abstract but crucial aspects and so is how dense or open a mix is; but there's also more concrete stuff like tonality, melodic compass or the notorious arc of suspense.

It's easy to digress on this topic… the important thing about references is that you're able to take away something from it - even if it's just the BPM count and style of the bass line, you've now got a slightly less blank sheet in front of you and something concrete to start with.

By the way, producing straight-forward soundalikes (i.e. imitating a production style without committing copyright infringement) is a sure-proof way to learn more about all the arrangement and sound tools at your disposal, and thus speeding up your workflow. Many young composers have an almost arrogant mindset concerning the work that preceded them, and an unworldly fear of producing redundant or disposable music. Imitation is - to a point - a great thing; and if you're confident enough in your own creativity, people will start hearing your individual style even in soundalikes.

Coming up with that one (seemingly) ingenuous idea that leads to a whole musical piece is not so different from this; the main difference is that inspiration and imitation occur unwittingly. The muse is a fickle dame, as we all know… she likes to appear in open minds though, and if you treat her well she'll visit on a regular basis.

In any case, in most cases I'll scan all material I have, do some research, and then dive into a scoring project.
Being well prepared helps speeding up the rest of the process.

2. Choosing Sounds

For most game composing peeps who are typically one-man shows, keeping a good sound library is a biggie, a continuous process of adding and replacing sample instruments, files piling up on numerous hard drives…Of course, the most important thing here is to have good sounds. The production value even of semi-professional DAW composers has increased significantly over the years and we feel a constant urge to keep up.

The harder and significantly less pricey part though is to know, organize and choose your sounds.
A composer who knows his tools and when to use them is significantly faster, and this organized speed often leads to better productions with less clutter.

Again, the key to advancing here is to do things with intention. Find out good uses for each sound, treat each sound like an instrument you need to practice, don't hesitate to sort out sounds when you feel they're redundant, and mark sounds that you think will be especially useful. (Many sample instruments and synths have options to favorite presets or to put them into separate folders.)

Especially when I start with scoring a bigger project with multiple pieces, I spent the most time not actually composing, but choosing a sound palette that I will generally stick with throughout the whole process of production. Limit your sound palette and only leave it if you're confident it will add something valuable to the piece, and you'll have more time actually making music!

3. Musical Craft and Arrangement

This is where most of the speed is at!

Structure and focus are key words here. Regardless of what element of the piece we're starting with, we often reach the point of "What should I do now?".
Establishing a song structure early on helps: Make a plan - even if you don't stick with it later, you'll have marks in your arrangement that you can work towards to, and instead of musical phrases ending somewhere in the unknown there'll be sign posts that will "tell a melody where to go".

When I need to produce a track fast (often within a day's notice in the advertisement field), I often start with one instrument track that contains as much of the musical structure as I have already imagined, and as much musical content as I can fit in without going into too much detail. This track doesn't necessarily need the right sound yet; it could be a simple drum set that provides a simple pace and timespan that I can work on top of, or a piano that lays down the harmonies and melody fragments.

I then start to fill in things piece by piece as I see it fit, choosing sounds as I go.
A fundamental understanding of harmonies and melodies is a useful thing here, but even more useful is a good ear. The best music comes about when I just let things flow, and for that it's crucial to do your homework: Knowing your instruments, practicing them, and understanding how they work together sonically.

This is such a big topic that it's hard to talk about it in detail without having any context.
So the question is, where are you losing the most time?

4. Mixing, the Overestimated Devourer of Time

This one's where I personally lose the most time - while I'm actually still in the process of composing and arranging to boot!
I have to tell myself these two things over and over again:

The Fix in the Mix is a lie.

…and...

Tracks that are well arranged are easy to mix.

Most sounds that we use in-the-box are either pretty much good-to-go or simply the wrong choice.
As a consequence, I'm trying to reduce my use of EQing, compression, spacing etc. to a bare minimum while in the process of conception instead of fumbling on one sound for hours while forgetting where the song was supposed to be headed anyway.
I cut away basses that rumble, or surgically remove nasty resonances, or put a bit of reverb here and there - but apart from that, I'll try to put the focus on composition and doing the mix down (including limiting) at a later stage.

5. Knowing when something is done

I still don't really know how to tackle this problem, but at least it's a thing worth thinking about - and pulling our heads out of our asses while we're at it.
Does the piece really need another complicated synth line that'll just distract from the gaming experience each time the loop reaches it?
Does the piece need to be three minutes long if the average gamer will spend a maximum of ten seconds on the "Game Over" screen it's for?
Have I ever done a matter-of-factly one-to-one comparison with a similar track while I've been working on this for weeks and aren't I really just afraid my track will really really suck?

...Often our own pride, standoffishness and almost dogmatic habits hinder us from growing as artists and producers.

6. Knowing your speed

As a last little notice, actually knowing how much time it takes for you to complete something is worth a lot.

Granted, this takes some experience - but if you start observing how much time you spent at certain steps in your process, you'll learn a lot from it.

Accordingly, always make enough time on your schedule for jobs and give clients a realistic estimation. Composing shouldn't feel like a rushed job, though deadlines can be very healthy for a creative process. Try to set up deadlines for yourself, even for projects that are pretty open-ended - and observe how you tackle the challenge.

---

I guess one could write a whole book just about speed in composing…

Anyhoo: Hope I could help, and best of luck!

Cheers,
Moritz

[medieval]

Moritz pretty much said it all.

For me it takes anywhere between 1 and 6 months to even start, and if I finish it, it'll take me less than a week. But I'm not a professional

[Daniel Pellicer]

Anyhoo: Hope I could help, and best of luck!

Thanks Moritz, this was very helpful.

What I'm doing lately and it works quite good is that I sit to play the piano trying to give to the music the mood the next track should have. Then I play with it maybe for a few days until I have a couple of nice ideas. After that I try to make a standalone version of the track only with piano, in a way that I have the whole structure of the track. Then I record it in the DAW and I start the substitution of the different parts of the piano with the appropriated instruments. I add also some orchestration to give strength and/or help with the right mood and then mixing etc

[mscottweber]

In addition to all of the wonderful things Moritz brought to the table...

Speed compising takes a lot of practice to get good at. 

Try creating fake deadlines for yourself.  Pretend that you just got signed on to provide music for a game, 5 tracks or so, and you have to have them done in 3 weeks.  Then once those 3 weeks are up, move on to something else.  The music may sound a little rough around the edges, but thats ok!  If you repeat this same process a few times, paying attention to all of the workflow and creativity tips that you've been given here, I'm sure your finished product will get better and better every time!

[SanctusAudio]

Thank you guys so much for the insight! Daniel asking that question actually was very helpful. I work massive overtime at my Job and come to think of it, thats probably why It takes so long for me to write. wish I could figure out a way to transition into doing this as a career!

[Audiosprite]

Another thing I think to do with speed is to be impressionistic. Been mulling on this for a while. Like, take a listen to an Adventure Time soundtrack; it def sounds like it was done extremely quickly. Half-improvised even. And one way I think the composers save time is by not filling in the entire arrangement all the time; like not filling an entire coloring book with crayon, only putting enough there to give a roundabout impression of the colors and where they fit within the lines.

It gives it this awesome style and it fills the purpose of incidental music perfectly. It helps that they can play loose with tonality too. Basichis and co treat tonality the way early-mid Stravinsky did - horizontally. So if your client needs something really 'inside' then you might not be able to try this.

Also this is probably a method more applicable to linear media than to a game soundtrack admittedly. I want to spend some time working on this though! And maybe it appeals to you too.

[groovyone]

On a recent project I find I am playing a lot more and improvising within a set of rules - ie stick to the same key, become familiar with movement between the chords and such. I designed the music this way with such resrictions to allow me to focus on content by improvisation. I then refine those, I can write a 1-2minute piece in 8-9hrs this way. Most of the time is spent learning how to play it.

Learn how to analyse music and pick out it's stylistic-idiosyncracies. You can achieve a lot with a stylistic template and then work new material into it.

I recently borrowed ideas - orchestration / style from an old song I worked on and adapted it to a new title - new song and all but direction and template was provided by past efforts. That kind of thinking helps save a lot of time.

Take an existing song and try to recreate it, but then start improvising around it. Once you have improvisation working then start pushing the song in different directions structurally.

Concentrate on refining one area of your song at a time.

Don't be afraid to discard a song that is giving you problems and start again. Sometimes more time is wasted beating a dead song than letting a new song breath new inspiration and motivation.

In your own time focus on working with a style / genre and listen to only that style, immerse yourself in it, ideas come faster because you familiarize yourself with the medium in which you will make your own piece. The better you get and the more experience writing in a singular genre for a while will help broaden your repetoir which will also give you the tools to write faster.

[alyxjones]

The going rate expected in film composition is about 2 minutes of music per day, if that helps

[Jasmine]

The going rate expected in film composition is about 2 minutes of music per day, if that helps

Two minutes, as in, they expect two minutes of music a day?

This is a great thread, mainly because it shows an area of freelancing where I am deeply flawed.
I tend to be a slow writer. Though that could partly be inflicted due to being a school teacher, even during the summer, I have noticed my lack of speed to writing music.

I think what makes things gratifying is knowing that I don't have to "rush", at least with my current projects. Though recently I've had to start mapping out routes since I know the scope of the soundtrack, I fear how much passion will be lost if I start cramming music, or forcing things out of me.

Does anyone else worry about that?

If I start a piece and it doesn't sit well with me, I'll scrap it. I'd rather use more time to put out something I'm proud of than regurgitate something simply because I have to make a deadline.

I tried it before - Creating music on a very tight schedule, and, despite liking the music, I wasn't at all keen on the quality. Not to mention pieces being scrapped because they weren't what the developer wanted, despite the extremely tight time-frame. I totally understand why Sanctus is concerned about this; It's a huge concern of mine as well.

I've seen composers boast about their extremely quick-turn around rate. Like, they can churn out a piece of music in two days.

Can many of you do that?

Whatever I end up writing would be garbage. I need time to create a concept, time to accept it (which will determine if I even plan on finishing it), time to map it out, time to take a break from it (which could be more my problem as someone slowly developing their mixing chops), and time to polish.

Dude, the quickest I could pop out a tune would be two weeks, and that's if I was solely focused on it, and didn't have anything else going on, which is never.

Also, when I write, I tend to start/develop multiple tunes, and finish them up as I go...

May have to try Scott's idea.

I guess for me, it's finding a happy medium, where writing doesn't feel like a super chore, but allows me sufficient time to create something good.

What would you guys consider to be too long of a time frame to create a piece?

I know you thought about backing out from writing music for media a while ago, Sanctus, I'm happy to know you are taking steps to get back in there!

[SanctusAudio]

The going rate expected in film composition is about 2 minutes of music per day, if that helps

Two minutes, as in, they expect two minutes of music a day?

This is a great thread, mainly because it shows an area of freelancing where I am deeply flawed.
I tend to be a slow writer. Though that could partly be inflicted due to being a school teacher, even during the summer, I have noticed my lack of speed to writing music.

I think what makes things gratifying is knowing that I don't have to "rush", at least with my current projects. Though recently I've had to start mapping out routes since I know the scope of the soundtrack, I fear how much passion will be lost if I start cramming music, or forcing things out of me.

Does anyone else worry about that?

If I start a piece and it doesn't sit well with me, I'll scrap it. I'd rather use more time to put out something I'm proud of than regurgitate something simply because I have to make a deadline.

I tried it before - Creating music on a very tight schedule, and, despite liking the music, I wasn't at all keen on the quality. Not to mention pieces being scrapped because they weren't what the developer wanted, despite the extremely tight time-frame. I totally understand why Sanctus is concerned about this; It's a huge concern of mine as well.

I've seen composers boast about their extremely quick-turn around rate. Like, they can churn out a piece of music in two days.

Can many of you do that?

Whatever I end up writing would be garbage. I need time to create a concept, time to accept it (which will determine if I even plan on finishing it), time to map it out, time to take a break from it (which could be more my problem as someone slowly developing their mixing chops), and time to polish.

Dude, the quickest I could pop out a tune would be two weeks, and that's if I was solely focused on it, and didn't have anything else going on, which is never.

Also, when I write, I tend to start/develop multiple tunes, and finish them up as I go...

May have to try Scott's idea.

I guess for me, it's finding a happy medium, where writing doesn't feel like a super chore, but allows me sufficient time to create something good.

What would you guys consider to be too long of a time frame to create a piece?

I know you thought about backing out from writing music for media a while ago, Sanctus, I'm happy to know you are taking steps to get back in there!

Thanks M4   I'm not really going to quit commercial music all together but for now I am working on an album. Its really Odd, through doing projects this last year, I have sort of separated two types of composing, Personal and commercial. On commercial composing, I always feel under pressure. On personal composing, I do not. Also, I have been wanting to perfect my mixing capabilities with regard to metal music and vsts, so I figured I would work on a total prog metal album. I intend on eventually jumping back on the commercial band wagon after that is done. I want to throw my album up on bandcamp and see how it does. The song I linked up on the start of the thread "Terror and seniority" is going to be one of the songs on the album. btw, your comments on it on sound cloud were much appreciated. I can't tell you how great it feels to have positive feedback like that!

[PythonBlue]

When I feel up for making music at the time, I can sometimes finish the actual composition in only a few hours; most of any additional time is usually spent mixing and mastering. It gives me some relief when it comes to motivation upon reading this thread, though: here I was thinking the composers who have more quality melodies take the same amount of time as I did, if even. Now that I know they usually take significantly longer while working on it, I feel more motivated, and hopefully, this will result in better compositions from me as well.

[SanctusAudio]

When I feel up for making music at the time, I can sometimes finish the actual composition in only a few hours; most of any additional time is usually spent mixing and mastering. It gives me some relief when it comes to motivation upon reading this thread, though: here I was thinking the composers who have more quality melodies take the same amount of time as I did, if even. Now that I know they usually take significantly longer while working on it, I feel more motivated, and hopefully, this will result in better compositions from me as well.

I'm glad this thread encouraged you    I know as far as I'm concerned, I am sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place. I work 50-60 hours a week, so by the time I get home, I am exhausted. I am going on fmla soon so I'm going to try to time my self to see how many hours it would take to finish an actual composition.