Speed is a Skill: Why You Never Finish Music
Friction Kills Creativity.
You have a hard drive full of unfinished projects. You open them, listen for 10 seconds, get overwhelmed by the mess, and close them.
The problem isn't your talent. The problem is your Workflow.
In Bass Music, Speed = Quality. The longer you spend working on a technical problem (like routing a sidechain or finding a kick drum), the more you lose the "vibe" of the track.
Producers like Skrillex and Subtronics are successful because they remove friction. They can get an idea from their brain to the speakers in 60 seconds. Here is how they do it.
Hack #1: The "Mise-en-place" Template
Chefs don't start cooking by looking for their knife. Their station is already set up. You need to do the same.
Never start a project from a blank screen. You should have a Default Template that loads every time you open your DAW.
Your Template should include:
- Sidechain Trigger: Already routed to a Ghost Kick channel.
- Busses/Groups: Drums, Bass, FX, and Vocals already grouped with Limiters/Clippers on them.
- Color Coding: If your Drums are always Red and your Bass is always Blue, your brain doesn't have to think about navigation.
- The "Start" Marker: Set your loop bracket to 16 bars. Don't start at bar 1; start at bar 17 so you have room for an intro later.
Hack #2: Separate "Chef" and "Cook" Mode
The biggest trap producers fall into is trying to do Sound Design and Arrangement at the same time.
If you are trying to write a melody, but you stop to tweak a Serum wavetable for 45 minutes, you have lost the song.
The Fix: Separate your sessions.
- Session A (Sound Design): Don't write music. Just make noises. Twist knobs, resample growls, process snares. Save them all into a folder called "2024 Basses."
- Session B (Writing): When you want to write a song, do not open a synth. Drag in the audio files you made in Session A. You will write the track 10x faster because you are just arranging blocks, not designing them.
Hack #3: The "Commit to Audio" Rule
MIDI is the enemy of finishing.
As long as a track is MIDI, your brain thinks: "I can change this later." You will tweak the velocity, the envelope, and the cutoff forever.
The Fix: Freeze and Flatten.
Once a sound is 80% good, turn it into Audio. This does two things:
- It saves CPU: No more system crashes.
- It forces commitment: You can't tweak the synth anymore. You have to move on to the next part of the song. This psychological shift is how you finish records.
FAQ
1. What if I commit to audio and want to change it later?
Answer: Save a version of the project called "Project_Name_PRE_BOUNCE." But honestly? You rarely need to go back. Committing forces you to make it work or delete it. Both are better than tweaking it for 3 hours.
2. How do I organize my sample library?
Answer: Don't use the default folders. Create a "Favorites" folder. Spend one Sunday going through your 50GB of samples and drag the best 100 Kicks, Snares, and FX into that folder. Never browse the 50GB folder again.
3. How do I stop getting "Loop Fatigue"?
Answer: Stop listening to the loop. If you are working on the drums, mute the bass. If you are working on the bass, mute the drums. Only listen to them together when you are checking the mix. This keeps your ears fresh.
Conclusion
Your goal as a producer is to reduce the time between "Idea" and "Speaker." The Default Template, the Audio Commitment, and the Separation of Sessions are the tools that remove the friction.
If you want to start with a pro workflow immediately, download our Project Templates. They come pre-routed, color-coded, and ready for speed.
Speed = Output.