the production thread
It took us a year, but Essentia Sound and I finally finished our 3rd album. Sent it for mastering, should be out in April or May. I love the feeling of finishing a project and hearing how it all fits together.
I’m about half way through another solo album too. Going to try to finish that up in the next couple of months, maybe have it out by fall if things go well.
I think I’ll have another album finished towards the end of this year, to be mastered and out for the middle of next. I’ll have a handful of single tracks out this year.
I put this together for the recent bicep remix comp - I only had a couple of weeks, so you can imagine how I feel about it (unfinished!). Also unmastered.
303abuser similar peaks and troughs. Definitely get tired of it at times. I work from home now most of the time which has helped enormously.
I try and work consistently on ‘music’ but not necessarily in finishing tracks.
There are times where I’m bouncing around maybe 10 projects or so and it’ll get to a point where I perhaps concentrate on one of those almost exclusively which will then get driven to a conclusion (until it’s tweaked again when mastering).
- Edited
…multiple albums, crikey, you lot are prolific!
I can’t conceive cranking out material at that speed, the last 18 months have been the most (ahem) productive period I’ve had, I reckon I’ve around 15-17 finished tracks/remixes, and maybe 5 or 6 that are almost at the stage where I’ll push them through to completion (plus the standard 20-30 loops/ideas that may or may not ever make it past that point!).
Even then though, I’ve never really thought about them in album terms, pretty much all have been made individually, track-by-track… the idea of a series of productions that compliment each other or are created specifically to sit side-by-side is kinda intimidating to me.
apyssjw I find the similarities and differences in creative processes really interesting. There are days you sit down and it just flows and other days it’s just not there. A few weeks off usually cures that for me.
I can’t bounce around multiple projects like that, maybe 2 at the most, otherwise I lose focus. I do like “finishing” a track, setting it aside for a couple of months until I don’t even remember what it sounds like, then edit with fresh ears. Sounds like you’re using a more complex version of that workflow.
Unbroken1 Sometimes it’s easier with the two of us than when I’m working solo. I can crank out a groove in an hour, send the stems off, two weeks later I get back 85% of a track, tweak it, mix it and we’re done. I don’t know how because we’ve never actually met in person or had any lengthy discussions about musical direction, but we just seem to have a shared vision. I feel like our tracks sound like both of us and at the same time, we’d never come up with the same result individually.
Unbroken1 Even then though, I’ve never really thought about them in album terms, pretty much all have been made individually, track-by-track… the idea of a series of productions that compliment each other or are created specifically to sit side-by-side is kinda intimidating to me.
Yeah I’m like that too, so I just try to ignore it. It’s the same thing as trying to write a perfect track, I just drive myself insane until I hate it. The last album we did together and my last solo album were both projects where I latched on to an aesthetic and that’s what glued them together. I think they’re both pretty cohesive, even though like you said, they were written track by track. The new one and my new solo albums are much more diverse (within a niche genre obviously).
That’s the fun in it, there aren’t any rules and it’s fun to explore different approaches. Plus it’s just making music, it’s not that important, ultimately.
Not sure if it’ll be a free upgrade, but apparently pigments 6 will be released soon, if not today.
303abuser I have about a dozen projects across the Digitakt-Syntakt-Digitone. I am in the process of transferring those to Ableton to do the arrangement and then pre-mastering as an album. Once mastered, not sure what to do with it. I might approach some labels. Or I am leaning towards just pressing a few dozen copies onto vinyl and releasing (non-digital) on my Bandcamp. Probably not soon though! I am aiming for later this year.
Henry Just checked and you’re right. I’m impressed they’re still giving these updates away at no cost.
That sounds solid, can’t wait to hear it. Curious to see how self-releasing vinyl does if you go that route. We went with Insectorama again because the exposure it decent and Markus is pretty easy to work with. Branching out seems like a headache without much additional benefit.
Yeah I really like Markus. It’s a great little label he’s running and he puts in a lots of effort. It’s probably not an Insectorama release though. If I go to vinyl only I will lose money for sure and I’ll probably end up with most of them sitting in a box. But just something I wanted to do for a while.
That’s fair. I think some of my new stuff is right on the edge of what he’ll want to put out on the label. We’ll see.
I get the labour of love idea, would be nice just to have the vinyl just for the collection.
Henry I’ll buy a copy!
The reality is if I put a track on bandcamp I get maybe ten listeners and I think 3 people have paid £1 for a copy of a track (across all of them).
I’d love to press some vinyl, but the copies would be for me. It’s absolutely bang in the midlife crisis box though - so expect it in the next few years 
apyssjw 3 people have paid £1 for a copy of a track (across all of them).
Can you sign mine?
Might make it worth more as a Ltd edition when we re-sell it to Wally, Hursty or Funky.
@bosstrabs is always in the market for NonFungibleTunes as well I hear?
