Members OAFCORE Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 How long does it take you to write a song?! I've heard of people whipping out a song in a couple hours. Personally I don't know how they can do it! When I write songs by myself it can take me WEEKS of tooling around for hours a day, and when my band writes as a whole it can take MONTHS (we have one song that took over a year to compose, granted it is 8 minutes long). I know there are a lot of factors here, but I'm talkin' on average how long..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 Gee... I wouldn't even know how to start figuring out my average... Sometimes it's really a matter of a few minutes, 10, maybe 15. Some of my best songs came that way; in fact, a lot did. Others take longer. What I find is that when the process is driven by fresh inspiration, it tends to be quick. But when inspiration gives out -- as it sometimes does in a spot or two in a given song -- getting my fore brain involved seems to be more of a work-it-through/deliberative process... there's a lot of trial and error and tinkering and that can take a long time. Recording and arranging often takes me quite a while. But there, again, sometimes the faster the better, in some ways. (And then there are the songs that go together on disk rather quickly, only to hang up at the crucial vocal stage... I have a number of ways of singing any given song -- none of which I'm entirely comfortable with or good at. And the process of finding a vocal I can live with -- or settle for -- can take quite some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members griffstar Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 It can take me anywhere from a matter of minutes to years to finish a song. Hell, I still have music that is finished and waiting for the right lyrics from 4-5 years ago! But I guess the average would be a week or two from composing to completion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 The idea could be kicking around in the back of my mind for years, but once I'm ready to write it takes about 40 hours: 10 hours - chords, melody, lyrics20 hours - arrangement, part composition, performance10 hours - production, mastering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 1-3 hours from notation to the final recording (if I sing it). If I use a different singer, it will take a week. Wasn't it Hank Williams that stated "a song shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to write"? Of course his songs were rather simple. Merry Christmas, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bodyguard2112 Posted December 24, 2008 Members Share Posted December 24, 2008 Well, let's first define what a song is! The basic melody plus some words... alone, is enough for me to call it a "song start". I have hundreds of these. They are almost all named and generally contain enough material to copyright it. Most of them come from moments of inspiration, some from dreams, and some... have even been "forced" out. This much of a song can be done in a few minutes. It is enough to be a "song". But then we want to make a better product. Add a bridge? Find the right (not necessarily the most obvious) chord progression. Choose the flavor, what kind of beat. Flavor it with musical hooks, such as keyboard or lead guitar or other hooks and effects. How should it end? Add in intro? These things make FINISHING a song take anywhere from a day to years. Does the time investment automatically mean a better song? Sometimes. On our myspace page we have two contrasting examples... the song "I Believe" was written on the fly in a few minutes and then recorded in a kitchen in an hour with 69 dollar software and a 15 dollar mic. The song "Apophis" was recorded in a studio with a very good drummer, using higher end equipment, and took numerous sessions and a lot of mix/master time. The quality difference is evident, but yet, to our surprise, anywhere we have posted the songs side by side, the presumed "lesser" work, "I Believe", has always garnered more hits and more favorable comments. And with our band name and genre I would have expected the audiences to be more at home with a "pseudo-psychedelic" classic rock style song than with what is basically a home recorded rock/pop ballad. But the muses may know best! So I ask, how long do we WANT a songwriting process to take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gtrldy Posted December 25, 2008 Members Share Posted December 25, 2008 I've written some songs in a day or two. But these were centered around ideas that were 'festering' to get out. So the ideas were already formed. But for songs that I start with just a wiff of an inpspiration, say a just a cool idea for a title can take me years. These I find I need to gain ideas from experiences from my own life or literature to finish. But to REWRITE, well that's when I try to make a good song a great song. That takes time when I do it by myself. I need to gain objectivity to rewrite. So I usually put my songs in this pile away for a few days. I find it's after a few days I can catch something I missed, or come at it from a fresh angle or mood. But I must say the best stuff I've written is the stuff that comes as the main germ of an idea, with usually a first verse and a chorus. I can get that done in a night or two. But again, the polishing is what takes time. I can unearth a jem, when I find one, fairly quickly. It's the cutting and polishing that takes time. Ciao, www.myspace.com/brborough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OAFCORE Posted December 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 25, 2008 So I ask, how long do we WANT a songwriting process to take? well I would say as long as it takes to get what you want accomplished. I definitly dont write simple tunes....odd time, complex structure, etc...which I would say definitly affects the length of the process..... So here's the next evolution of the question.... Do you think the amount of time it takes you to write a song correlates to your writing skills? or as your skills as a musician in general? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KennethNishimot Posted December 25, 2008 Members Share Posted December 25, 2008 I've been working with audio trackers lately, really been streamlining the crap out of my songwriting process, and on a good day where the inspirational "song seed" is there, I can pull out a reasonable track in about three hours. Written, recorded, and in the bag. That said, I normally come back and mess with stuff later, but that's how long it takes to put up a solid foundation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ALyricman Posted December 26, 2008 Members Share Posted December 26, 2008 Few minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 To get a song, that is, melody, lyrics, and chords, it takes about an hour or two. Getting a good recording could take years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LeonardScaper Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 To get a song, that is, melody, lyrics, and chords, it takes about an hour or two. Getting a good recording could take years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveyMars Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Was someone almost proud of taking 3 minutes to write a song? I agree with the "song starts" idea. I get dozens of ideas and put something on paper but I throw them in a box and flip through when I want to go further. My process is that I think I have these small windows of time where I can just pull words and stories from "the ether" or wherever it comes from but that window shuts down way before anything is finished. Kind of like the seeds are free but then I have to bust my ass tending the trees until they're ready to pick. I don't think I've written anything in less than a couple of hours (I mean done - verses, chorus, bridges, key) I have some I've been adding a line or word to for years. I've known painters who worked like this so maybe there's a connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aliensexist112 Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 it really depends. If you get the idea instantly and *whooop* the song can be written in minutes.But if you sit and be like ... "Now I am going to write a song"its obvious that it will take a lot of time and efford. So better write a song when you want to - that way the song will be good/ and will come from your heart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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