r/TechnoProduction • u/Neptune_8_TECHNO • 2d ago
What's your biggest time-wasting habit when producing techno? And have you found a way to break it?
Mine are overlistening to a 8 bar loop, or overtweaking a sound...
Sometimes I spend so much time trying to improve one small detail that I lose sight of the bigger picture.
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u/littlelostmusic 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’ve only dabbled in making techno. But for me it is always, always, always getting in the weeds with sound design when I should really just be thinking about arrangement. I think this is a universal struggle for anyone working in a DAW making music. If I have a cool idea, I often find myself realizing partway through that I’ve spent 30 mins tweaking a bass or something when what I really should have done is sketch out the idea more fully first, sound design can (and often should) come after. Whenever I spend several hours on something only to realize I’m still at 8 bars I find this tendency is the culprit. Lately I’ve tried to give myself more grace in that regard and trust the process a little more, like, yeah this isn’t exactly how I want it to sound or what I hear in my head but if I can get the drums and the overall arrangement sketched out with a 909 kit and some basic presets I can take it from there and spend time refining it properly. I actually find myself just defaulting to using basic stock drum kits in Ableton or loop samples for topline drums, a few simple bass presets I like, and piano for melody to do these initial sketches, I find it’s speeding me up quite a bit if I actually just tell myself, forget the sound details for now we’ll do it later when we have something to work with (and for melody I find if it sounds good on just piano first it’ll probably sound good when I swap it to something else later).
A lot of people seem to recommend separating sound design and arrangement sessions entirely so you have a “toolbox” to reach into when you’re trying to jot things down, I’ve been doing that a bit lately and I actually do find it useful, it’s sort of liberating to sit at the computer and say “today I’m making some instrument racks for basses” or “today I’m writing out the arrangement for this tune in my head in midi and drums and that’s it,” I find it sort of removes a lot of the decision paralysis you get when you don’t have any specific goal.
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u/TheBookoftheVoid 2d ago
There is no such thing as time wasted when creating. It's not a factory line, enjoy the process, work how you work.
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u/LowendLobotomy 2d ago
Finally, somebody else on the same wavelength as me with this. I’m always left scratching my head confused by all the people I see that are always talking about and obsessed with “productivity” and trying to find any way they can to speed up and streamline the process of creating. Personally, never understood it. I kind of get it if you’re at an extremely high professional level with an approaching deadline to meet but even then.. idk.
I love just sitting down and letting things flow. Letting things manifest naturally, whatever happens happens, no pressure, no expectations, just creating something from nothing in the current moment.
The idea of being overly concerned with how much time it’s taking to create, putting some kind of self imposed time-limit or meeting some kind of quota for how much music I can get done in a predetermined amount of time or as fast as possible has always seemed so counter intuitive and strange to me. How is it even enjoyable at that point?
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u/TheBookoftheVoid 2d ago
If you force it, it isn't creativity. I've been producing for a long time, releasing for a long time. There's just no need to rush, if you just want to factory produce generic stuff then sure, get your efficiency optimised. But proper creativity takes time, investment, experimentation and lots and lots and lots of "failure". Some experiments, some tracks, are just there to teach you. Not everything needs to be finished. Even with label deadlines. A good label will just give you time to make gold, rather than rush you to release trash. We are in a hyper capitalised world, keeping creativity as a sacred thing is important.
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u/w__i__l__l 2d ago
Wait til you have kids and can only produce in maximum of 90 minute sessions when everyone’s gone to bed. That’s where the ‘productivity’ stuff comes from for me, not out of some ‘meeting targets’ LinkedIn BS, just maximising the tiny amount of time I have to get creative ATM 🤷
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u/TheBookoftheVoid 2d ago
I'm far too old to be thinking about having kids now. I have cats and a wife and mastering studio, I don't get anywhere near the time to produce that I used to. I make music at night generally, once the missus is in bed in general.
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u/Exciting_Claim267 2d ago
This. Producing is just that, its getting lost in the process, the actual finished work is the remains of the art itself. Don't rush the art, theres been so many times I've been working on a track and taken a detour that either A.) altered the song entirely from where it was or B.) sparked another idea for another track that I would save into a different project and finish later. After 25 years now of producing 20 of which have been professional I see making art and the creative process as kind of a que. Theres a que of ideas that need to come out, that want to be expressed, its getting the ideas through the que quickly and as efficiently as possible while still being respectful of the act of creating. Then having the discernment of what to do with it, when to do it and if that idea is actually for you to put into the world at all or not. I believe its a universal shared que that we all tap into, I've seen songs I've made many times come out in other similar forms through better suited people for those statements.
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u/ContributionPlane295 2d ago
Mine is finding the right hi hat samples and trying to get them to sound crisp (not clangy). I probably waste more time on this (and the 8 bar loop dilemma) than anything else.
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u/Forward-Razzmatazz33 2d ago
Maybe spend a long session on hats and get a few that you have just right and save them for the future.
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u/local_gremlin 2d ago
Any tips on non clangy hats? Right there with you - when im out dancing the hats make or break a track/groove for me big time
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u/FuzzyBrain00 2d ago
An eq that works on the transient and sustain can work well for this. If you cut out the clangy part from the sustain usually work for me to get a tighter sound.
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u/local_gremlin 2d ago
Ooh interesting - is that a 3rd party plugin or is that like multiband compressor in ableton?
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u/FuzzyBrain00 2d ago
No its not like the multiband compressor. Its just an eq that works as a transient designer so you boost or cut the transient in the specific frequency you want. Its a great tool to have.
The one i use is trangressor 3 by Boz and Oeksound Spiff but there are others by other companies such as eventide and theres one on plugin alliance but cant recall which brand
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
It happened to mee too, sometimes is still does... But lately i integrate racks.
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u/raistlin65 2d ago
What's your biggest time-wasting habit when producing techno?
Reddit. Definitely Reddit.
And have you found a way to break it?
Well, I'm here replying to you. So it's not going too well. 😂
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u/Financial-Koala6995 1d ago
A 55-comment thread about wasting less time is a particularly effective trap.
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u/aikighost 2d ago
Designing my drums from scratch, its blatantly unnecissary. :)
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u/Greatbigdog69 2d ago
Any good resources you'd recommend to learn how to do this? What do plugins/synth do you use?
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u/-Neem0- 2d ago
Definitely the drugs
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u/TwistedShut 2d ago
Honnestly after factory labor... if it wasnt for drug/alcohol use I don't believe I would have been able to maintain the routine I have right now. or how anyone would.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
Are you ok? Your comment don't fit here..
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u/weliveinavideogame 2d ago
Riight, techno... a genre known for it's sobriety.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
The question is not about if you consume drugs, alcohol etc, strict for techno production, anyway...
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u/weliveinavideogame 2d ago
Idk about you but being sober or not sure does affect my production…
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
Well we are not the same, i prefer to consume some alcohol. Drugs, for party with right people. 😅
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u/superanx 2d ago
While it's not a waste of time per se, i often can't settle on sounds and end up almost finishing a track, listening to it the next day or week, and completely changing it with new sounds or modified sounds. A month later i'm still working on it and it sounds nothing like how i started.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 21h ago
Exactly, at this point i' m right now, tweaking, still changing, but good news, i got something almost done, these days i will listen again, finish the master and ready to go.
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u/superanx 13h ago
I think my main problem is I’ve been DJing techno for like 30 years, so I’m extra hard on myself as my bar is so high. I’m only 3 years in, I’m thinking this is just a phase
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u/ElPoch0ninja 2d ago
The only advice I can give is to finish the tracks; don't get stuck on one. Organize their names properly, go back, listen to them in the future, and save the parts you find interesting.
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u/ElPoch0ninja 2d ago
For example, in one track I like how I designed a bassline, but I don't like the rest. I delete the rest, save the project as bassline 001, and leave an audio loop of the sound in the folder.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 21h ago
Used to do it some tome ago, now i save everything in a bus, called "junk", then i exportveverything in a new project, and if i need something i salvage from the "junk" bus, sometimes works, sometimes don't.
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u/ElPoch0ninja 2d ago
With this method you won't get stuck and you'll eventually create a very useful library
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u/Satawakeatnight 2d ago
Spending so long on anything I change it due to boredom. I've recently started getting something I like and quickly leaving it for another day. It's helping me get through a tonne of half arsed tracks I can delete
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u/FunnyOldCreature 20h ago
Tweaking the kick for me, it’s a terrible habit as it keeps messing with the track
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 19h ago
Then try to force youraelf to choose a kick and build around it.
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u/FunnyOldCreature 18h ago
Oh believe me I do, by and large I make it and stick with it, it’s usually fatigue that makes me slip into it. Been a good 20 years now so it’s fairly embedded despite the efforts to avoid it. Trouble is, the temptation grows halfway during production, proper pita cos I see it coming and all
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u/fuckmylife193 2d ago
Has to be the kick, followed by overlistening a 8 bar loop.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
You mean finding the right kick or? For me sometimes is a little tricky to make a good fit with the bass, but most of the times i get along with it. But yeaj, the 8 bar loop, remains a problem, a confort zone, a baaad habit!
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u/fuckmylife193 2d ago
Finding the right kick yes and also creating the right kick, be it from scratch, layers, fx etc...
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
Oh i don't bother too much to layer, a good kick from the start on a proper rack and from there.. when i get what i feel is right for what i want to transmit, the bass line is next. But lately i start with a 909 kick.
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u/OnlyAtBaali 2d ago
Using PunchBox2 really streamlined kicks for me - I just spend an hour or so every now and then, craft a few kicks and save them in the preset banks.
Then whenever I’m working on a song, I just pick from the kicks I made and adjust accordingly. Bonus tip is to have Hypnus Calculus and time in decays and envelope lengths to the track’s BPM.
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u/UMPHMusic 2d ago edited 2d ago
Same with making any electronic music... Lost in the loop. The only solution for me is to:
Spend a few hours on jamming ideas max.
Leave it alone for 24 hours.
Come back and clean it up for an hour.
Arrange and sound design for an hour using presets for drums, kicks, bass, mids, vox etc.
Leave it alone for an hour.
Test and balance on a few success sources Mixdown and listen to it out the house.
Make one last round of tweaks.
Done!
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u/Internal_Display_313 2d ago
A couple of non-reversed points:
- be ruthless with cutting: weak channel, low in the mix, adding nothing? Delete. Boring bar sequebnce? Make it 8 instead of 16 (or go for 12s and 24s for fun).
- give a sound about 10 mins before either changing the sample or synth to move forward (ie. the base audio). Don't start adding FX here instead. Add FX when the sound is great in the track.
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u/TheBookoftheVoid 2d ago
With a genre as sound design based as techno, sometimes the FX are literally the point.
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u/Internal_Display_313 2d ago
Fair. I should have been clear, creative FX as sound design isn't what I mean, it's trying to make something right by adding FX
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u/KraalEcho 2d ago
Tweaking percussive elements.
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
Also the rythm and how they play in tandem with the rest of the drums etc, or only the sound?
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u/Famous-Tone1659 2d ago
The kick, always the kick
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u/Neptune_8_TECHNO 2d ago
You try to use a kick to be in the scale/key with the track? Or is something else that bothers you?
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u/Internal_Display_313 2d ago
It's kind of a reverse habit: push record as soon as it feels even slightly right and play what you're doing as you are jamming away creating. It's surprising how often the results sound excellent. A track in 30 mins, rough and raw, with some signal processing needed, at least, but completed, is about as anti-time-wasting as you can get.
Plus you can trim, edit, re-listen obsessively, splice, stemify, get hyper-critical of the snares, sample, obsess over on element being 1dB out, redo the kick over the weekend, etc. and still waste as much time as you like.