“How does one compose a piece of electronic music?” is of course too big of a question for here, but tangentially I’d love to know when the piece you’re working on “feels done”?
To put it another way, when do you just stop tweaking parameters?
(There’s no right answer to this post).
I’ve been a musician most of my life but only got into the music production stuff as a hobby this summer, and now I’ll have some good after hour jam sessions and wonder “do I save this? Do I come back to this? Is this a done thing?”
I think the play offers such interesting paths to music building, I often don’t know where I am in the journey. Do I decide I’m done wondering when it just “feels right?
That’s the thing, music is never really done just abandoned. I get to where I am happy after hundreds of hours. Then I wait a month and go back to it because I can always make it better. I could keep doing that forever if I wanted to be really selfish and never release music.
This is an interesting thought. It’s funny too. I’m a writing professor by trade (and I’ve made electronic music for decades) but what @shawnjwshackelford said is exactly what I tell my writing students. We could revise our written work until the cows come home, and though it’s not always a linear journey, the writing product would generally get better and better over time. But time is actually the problem (in a school situation anyway): We eventually run out of it. We don’t have forever. So our only ultimate option is to abandon the work and move on. I’ve had academic articles published (that, once published, are basically set in stone), and I’ve gone back and cringed at this error or that phrase I should have changed. But nope. It’s done. Time to move forward. It’s a counterintuitive act when dealing with our own creations (that we very well might be deeply in love with). But we gotta let 'em fly!
This is the hardest part of music production. I am a digital horder and it hinders me from releasing music because I have 100s of songs that are anywhere from 50-90% done, then when I’m in a space where I’m like “I want to finish some of this music instead of making something new” I just listen to old tracks for hours!
apparently Picasso or someone it was, spoke about when a painting is completed it’s ruined. the life sucked out of it. and it’s about knowing when to leave it, so it retains its energy, before you ruin it
I’m a painter by trade n I live by this. with paintings I leave em as soon as I feel they’re just about complete as a composition. another thing I keep an eye out for is when I’m not 100% sure what should come next. or whether what I do next will definitely improve it or not. that’s another indicator you’re close, imo.
I fink it can be applied to music too. makes sense like.
I feel like I pour so much time, literally my life (for no good reason) into what I make anymore that when I feel finished, and can move on, it’s a relief almost. Like closing a chapter on a therapy session.
I feel like it’s a bit more of an addiction now. Everytime I make something new, it’s my new favorite. I’m addicted to that feeling right there. Thanks for the very healthy addiction, Polyend
Edit: so much so that I will only stop when I get so old that I physically can’t, or dementia sets in – even then the music may still be lit, fam
