Hardest part of the process

[Evert]

Something I've noticed while working on my last few tracks is how much time I spend, or rather lose, on the arrangement.
I'm having a hard time making things flow naturally, building tension and generally keeping things interesting for 6 mins.
Even when a track is "finished", I always feel like there's something that I could change to the arrangement.

I don't struggle that much when I'm working on the other parts of a track (i.e. sound design, mixing,...).
For instance, in the sound design stage I can get to a certain vibe quite easily.
Not saying I'm an expert, though

So yeah, the arrangement is definitely the biggest hurdle for me.
I'm curious to know which part of the whole process is the hardest for you.

[0dd]

For me the hardest part is actually stopping to micro adjust eq, fx etc on the loop instead of starting to record the arrangement. Once I actually notice I've spent 2-3 hours on nothing and do record, the rest comes pretty easily. I have like 50 projects and 3-4 "finished" tracks, so it's easy to see it's quite a problem. I'm just now starting to push through the fiddling stage in the last month. Still nothing finished though.
Ps. Actually recording something into arrangement instead of drawing it in seems to help me tons. I'm still new to my controller so my live take isn't nearly a propper arrangement, but I usualy get atleast one nice part in so then it's much easier to build around it.

[jackpf]

Usually I find getting on paulstretch/max granulator/mutable instruments clouds and just recording some weird atmospheres (often resampling parts from the track) and using them to gel the track together and build atmospheres really helps.

I suppose it depends on what kinda music you're making, but atmosphere and glitchiness never goes amiss to keep things exciting

[Constructs]

Finishing the arrangement of a track to where I don't feel it's too repetitive is the hardest for me. All of the songs I have finished, I mapped everything to midi controllers and recorded a live take.

Jackpf's advice to use paulstretch and atmospheres is good, it's fun to play the track to the builds of your atmosphere.

[terryfalafel]

1 - sitting down and getting started. Feels like other aspects of life are in the way most of the time...

2 - taking a decent loop and arranging it. This used to be number 1, but getting s hardware sequencer and jamming arrangements directly to audio helped with this.

[Lost to the Void]

The only real difficulty I have is before I even start. It's the internal argument as to whether I have a valid idea to work on or not.

[Prophän]

As a live user I always struggle with committing to my loop and going into arrangement. however all my arrangements are recorded live with a controller or even with mouse and shortcuts( if i'm too lazy to plug it in) then tweaked later, which I find helps a lot to convey energy and gives the track some nice imperfections.

I also struggle with being satisfied with my synth patterns I can delete and redo a synth pattern 20 times before comitting to it.

[Belka]

I struggle with the 2nd Synth most of the time, or a new Element without sounding too cheesy and new, something to fill the monotony in the track, mostly somewhere between ~2 and 4 mins. A lot of erase, try & error, reloads~

[timc3]

Currently struggling to stop messing around fiddling with things and commit to what I have chosen..

What I find helps with the arrangement is to draw it out on paper or with markers in the DAW. Sometimes using reference tracks that progress in a way I like for ideas on arrangement helps (I never end up exactly following them).

[Sorglos]

Melodic ideas for the techno I want to make and finding the time to actually produce.

[Planar]

I have 2 parts I struggle with. The first is getting the initial loop sounding good enough that I can imagine a whole track emerging from it. This seems to be a process of throwing shit at a wall and occasionally some of it sticking

The second is after the arrangement is sketched out and then having to go over and over it again adding small edits and fx that most people probably won't notice. I find that a real war of attrition with myself and means I often drop a nearly finished track for a few months before I can get that last 10% of it finished.

[Plyphon]

The sound design for the main sound/mechanic/hook/whatever is what gets me.

Then the finishing touches I tend to gloss over. The stuff that pros do really well.

[LV426]

Something I've noticed while working on my last few tracks is how much time I spend, or rather lose, on the arrangement.
I'm having a hard time making things flow naturally, building tension and generally keeping things interesting for 6 mins.

Same here buddy. I think it boils down to practice and experience, I rarely ever work on finishing a track as I find the start of the process the part that holds my attention the most. Something I need to work on for sure as a lot of literature out there says finishing tracks even if you're not sure on the idea helps you learn how to actually finish a track! Mileage may vary of course

[juodas]

To make myself to go and produce, sometimes i found my self really lazy, probably i'ts because of my gerd, and obesity which i'm trying to avoid, also finishing the track is the most difficult thing for me, even if i think it's sounds good i'm always think that something is missing, and something doesn't sound right

[Mono-xID]

Hardest part for me is to nail the reverb rumble and a defined low end in general.

I really love the hypnotic and minimalistic techno from Steve Bicknell and that's the style I prefer to produce myself. To create an interesting loop which can run for 7 minutes is not that easy. I mean, a lot of Bicknell's tracks doesn't even contain hi hats.

[Squill]

Starting an idea is probably that will lead into a song is the hardest part. That's a whole other story in general, having the right kind of energy at the moment along with having inspiration

[Rickskii]

Hardest part for me is to nail the reverb rumble and a defined low end in general.

I really love the hypnotic and minimalistic techno from Steve Bicknell and that's the style I prefer to produce myself. To create an interesting loop which can run for 7 minutes is not that easy. I mean, a lot of Bicknell's tracks doesn't even contain hi hats.

Wow, thanks for the Steve Bicknell heads up!!

[Prophän]

Hardest part for me is to nail the reverb rumble and a defined low end in general.

I really love the hypnotic and minimalistic techno from Steve Bicknell and that's the style I prefer to produce myself. To create an interesting loop which can run for 7 minutes is not that easy. I mean, a lot of Bicknell's tracks doesn't even contain hi hats.

Steve bicknell is my fucking idol and I also have the same struggles with reverb rumble.
I also find it hard to nail sequences that can run long enough without getting boring and with the correct modulation.

[Oktagon]

Seeing the bigger picture of a track rather than getting lost in the details.

Figuring out when a new part sounds good because it's new vs when it's actually good.

[timc3]

Figuring whether a new part sounds good - I usually walk away from the track for a day or so. Sometimes it needs a month and then I finally work out it's garbage