How often do you make beats and how long does it take you?

[Dusty B]

I'm getting back into it after a 10 year hiatus. Over the past couple weeks, I've been spending a few hours in my office after the kids are sleeping, and then wrapping up mixing and fine-tuning the next day in between the work day.

Right now I'm at like ~0.5-1 beat/day and probably ~6 hours total from start to finish for one. I'm probably at like a ~20% save rate, i.e. if after 30-45 minutes I'm just not able to get anything going with a sample, I save and close and start with something else. I feel like I'm spending a lot of time right now and not being very efficient, but I'm also spending more time just getting used to new plugins, finding sounds, tinkering, watching reference vids, etc. as I get back into it.

For those who have been operating for a bit and are in a groove, I was curious what does your schedule and cadence looks like?

 

[Fade]

I'm getting back into it after a 10 year hiatus. Over the past couple weeks, I've been spending a few hours in my office after the kids are sleeping, and then wrapping up mixing and fine-tuning the next day in between the work day.

Right now I'm at like ~0.5-1 beat/day and probably ~6 hours total from start to finish for one. I'm probably at like a ~20% save rate, i.e. if after 30-45 minutes I'm just not able to get anything going with a sample, I save and close and start with something else. I feel like I'm spending a lot of time right now and not being very efficient, but I'm also spending more time just getting used to new plugins, finding sounds, tinkering, watching reference vids, etc. as I get back into it.

For those who have been operating for a bit and are in a groove, I was curious what does your schedule and cadence looks like?

Lately I've been busy with other stuff so I hear what you're saying. What I do then is I just try to make beats, that's it. I don't worry about doing any mixing just yet, I save that for another time. But that's just me. I try to get into a groove of just working on something, so at least I'm doing it, rather than trying to complete everything from A to Z which of course can be tiring after a while.

 

[Dusty B]

Lately I've been busy with other stuff so I hear what you're saying. What I do then is I just try to make beats, that's it. I don't worry about doing any mixing just yet, I save that for another time. But that's just me. I try to get into a groove of just working on something, so at least I'm doing it, rather than trying to complete everything from A to Z which of course can be tiring after a while.

That makes sense. I'm still in the honeymoon phase of relearning and playing with my new controller and headphones.

 

[Fade]

That makes sense. I'm still in the honeymoon phase of relearning and playing with my new controller and headphones.

What controller are you using?

 

[Dusty B]

What controller are you using?

Akai MPK Mini.

It's cool so far. Keys feel kinda cheap and they are smaller than I realized. But a few pads, keys and knobs is all I use right now.

 

[OGBama]

Which @Dusty B version of the MPK? The MK3 keys are far better.

 

[2GooD Productions]

It really depends on the day, one day I will spend 15 hours straight on one track, or I could knock something together that comes together really quickly and its done quickly, then I can go weeks and just cant get anything to work. It comes with being creative I suppose, you just need to be in the zone. When in the zone Im like a beat making machine, when Im not Im just not.

 

[Dusty B]

Which @Dusty B version of the MPK? The MK3 keys are far better.

That's the one I have actually. When I ordered, the white one was actually $20 cheaper from a 3rd party, so for $70 I really can't complain since it has everything I need.

I may have to also get a standalone keyboard to practice with though too.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I may have to also get a standalone keyboard to practice with though too.

Yeah man, I will recommend that too, 2 octaves just doesnt cut it IMO if you want to just have a little jam and practice your playing. I have a 61 key controller and I think 61 keys while not full size has 5 octaves to play with without having to use some octave shift to be able to move up and down them freely. My Korg Micro has been in its box since forever because I cant deal with just 2 octaves.

 

[Memento Beats]

I'm getting back into it after a 10 year hiatus. Over the past couple weeks, I've been spending a few hours in my office after the kids are sleeping, and then wrapping up mixing and fine-tuning the next day in between the work day.

Right now I'm at like ~0.5-1 beat/day and probably ~6 hours total from start to finish for one. I'm probably at like a ~20% save rate, i.e. if after 30-45 minutes I'm just not able to get anything going with a sample, I save and close and start with something else. I feel like I'm spending a lot of time right now and not being very efficient, but I'm also spending more time just getting used to new plugins, finding sounds, tinkering, watching reference vids, etc. as I get back into it.

For those who have been operating for a bit and are in a groove, I was curious what does your schedule and cadence looks like?

As others already mentioned: it depends. In my case if you gave me a challenge and asked me to make beats for 8 hours straight I would be probably able to make like 4 or 5 beats from start to finish but I'm more than certain I wouldn't be happy with their quality. I play with sounds almost on a daily basis and I'm able to make a lot of generic beats but that's not my goal and this is not what I strive for. I have to feel what I make somehow and I must like what I hear.

I remember in 2020 I challenged myself to upload 2 beats per week to my YouTube channel and additionally I participated in battles here on Illmuzik on a regular basis so that gave me like 3 beats per week. But to be honest with you in the long run it was quite a burnout for me so nowadays my goal is to release ideally 1 remix per week. However, you have to take the fact that music is still just my hobby/passion into consideration. I don't make any money off of it so I learned over the years to take it easy. In general I don't want to and I don't have to put any pressure on myself as it's just my side task. If I want to do something else, for example play a video game, meet with someone or if I have something else going on in my life at the moment, I just do it.

I wouldn't say that productivity in music is the result of "creativity" because for years I learned to follow these words by Igor Stravinsky:

"Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning."

Basically, an artist shouldn't wait for the inspiration to come, but just do their thing and create something. Waiting for that magical, mythical inspiration or "zone" or whatever you wanna call it that will spark your creativity is nothing more than another word for procrastination to me. Stephen King follows the same approach but he puts it in a slightly different words:

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

But at the same time it's the approach that should be followed by professionals mainly if not only. People who live off of making music. If I was making money off music I would probably be making beats for 12 hours everyday and release beats everyday or every 2 days. I'm not saying it's a healthy thing to force yourself to create everyday, but on the professional level it's rather a necessity.

As I mentioned earlier, music is still just hobby for me so the first thing I strive for is having fun from making music. I don't have to be so strict for myself as I'm not a pro and I'm not bound by some contract or something. Or maybe in other words: I learned how to not be strict for myself.

 

[Dusty B]

As others already mentioned: it depends. In my case if you gave me a challenge and asked me to make beats for 8 hours straight I would be probably able to make like 4 or 5 beats from start to finish but I'm more than certain I wouldn't be happy with their quality. I play with sounds almost on a daily basis and I'm able to make a lot of generic beats but that's not my goal and this is not what I strive for. I have to feel what I make somehow and I must like what I hear.

I remember in 2020 I challenged myself to upload 2 beats per week to my YouTube channel and additionally I participated in battles here on Illmuzik on a regular basis so that gave me like 3 beats per week. But to be honest with you in the long run it was quite a burnout for me so nowadays my goal is to release ideally 1 remix per week. However, you have to take the fact that music is still just my hobby/passion into consideration. I don't make any money off of it so I learned over the years to take it easy. In general I don't want to and I don't have to put any pressure on myself as it's just my side task. If I want to do something else, for example play a video game, meet with someone or if I have something else going on in my life at the moment, I just do it.

I wouldn't say that productivity in music is the result of "creativity" because for years I learned to follow these words by Igor Stravinsky:

"Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning."

Basically, an artist shouldn't wait for the inspiration to come, but just do their thing and create something. Waiting for that magical, mythical inspiration or "zone" or whatever you wanna call it that will spark your creativity is nothing more than another word for procrastination to me. Stephen King follows the same approach but he puts it in a slightly different words:

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

But at the same time it's the approach that should be followed by professionals mainly if not only. People who live off of making music. If I was making money off music I would probably be making beats for 12 hours everyday and release beats everyday or every 2 days. I'm not saying it's a healthy thing to force yourself to create everyday, but on the professional level it's rather a necessity.

As I mentioned earlier, music is still just hobby for me so the first thing I strive for is having fun from making music. I don't have to be so strict for myself as I'm not a pro and I'm not bound by some contract or something. Or maybe in other words: I learned how to not be strict for myself.

Excellent post, thank you. Great quotes!

 

[Iron Keys]

Right now I'm at like ~0.5-1 beat/day and probably ~6 hours total from start to finish for one

I'm probably like 0.5 beats per week or per 2 weeks.

Similar to 2G said. If im in the zone then a track will bang out quick time maybe in a couple hours.

Also can take longer.

My actual process... if I had time for my actual process it goes more like this...

Work on a beat; may take quite a few hours finding all the sounds and trying to make something

This beat will likely be "okay" but probably not hitting how I want

I'll then start a new beat using all the same sounds, this will usually come together really quick and work well. Maybe 2 hours. Then the mixing can be minimal.

I've won battles here using this process with people praising the quality of the mixing - sometimes I've barely done any mixing at all.

Sound selection and arrangement is probably one of the most important parts in this regard.