Ideas to Songs: The Importance of Finishing Tracks

Elevate your music by finishing tracks! Concluding songs separates real producers from dabblers, even if they’re not perfect.

We have all been there – we have a great loop going, but no idea where to take it. We play it a few times and, of course, we tire of it. Or perhaps we have a great chorus, complete with compelling lyrics, but the verses just won’t come out. What often happens in both these situations? 

We shelf it. 

Perhaps we intend to come back to it later, but how often do we? After all, it’s so much more exciting and fun to start fresh – with a blank canvas. But then what? Another loop to get bored with and shelf? Another chorus to nowhere? This article is basically a long-winded way of saying this:

FINISH THE SONG!

A bad song is still a complete song. Worst case scenario, you botch the rest of the song or track and you have a mediocre song that doesn’t make it onto the album you’re working on.

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz writes an unimaginable number of songs. How many become Feel Good Inc? How many make it onto the next record? Most of them don’t. A handful of them may come out on a B-sides album, but many of them don’t see the light of day. Even some great collaborations don’t even make it out of the vault.

The point is that any song you complete is still a complete song. And the more often you complete your songs, the more of a habit it becomes to complete your songs. And completing songs is the difference between a real producer and an amateur dabbler.

Is a Song Ever Really Finished?

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” So the short answer is no.

There will always be tweaks that could be made, passages that could be altered, lyrics that could be changed. Part of the practice of completing songs and tracks is to have the instinct to know when changes actually need to be made and when you’re just spinning your wheels. 

When the time comes, having the courage to pronounce a song complete will save you hours of going in circles. This goes for each stage of the creation process. Writing, recording, arranging, mixing, mastering… each phase could continue infinitely if you don’t decide enough! So don’t be afraid to declare completion and move on to the next phase – or the next song. 

Try As You Might, You Won’t Hit 100%

Completing tracks is a goal to always strive for, and something you should definitely get into the habit of doing, but the truth is you won’t finish every idea you have. While finishing tracks is important, it is also important to know when you are hitting a wall. 

Maybe your piece isn’t quite fit for completion. It could be due to a number of reasons, not the least of which is a lack of inspiration. However, that doesn’t mean it should sit shelved, taking up hard drive space, for all eternity. In these cases, it’s helpful to decide whether you want to:

• Save the project and (actually) return to it later
• Salvage the good bits for use in a future project
• Abandon and delete the idea altogether

Once you make your decision, stick by it. Don’t second guess yourself. Even if you deleted a good idea, it doesn’t really matter. You will have more good ideas. Move on and continue your creative process!

However – and this is important – don’t use this thought as an excuse to abandon too many ideas!

Completing Tracks is Practice

Making a loop is easy. Making a track is hard. Same goes for writing a traditional song. Pieces are easy. Piecing the pieces together can be difficult. Think of completing your songs as practice. You need to practice following through with your music. The more you practice this, the better you will become at it and the easier the complete works will flow out of you. 

So don’t be afraid to extend your loop and add something to the next segment. Don’t be afraid to pen a verse or two. Even if they are not perfect in your mind, they still are. And who knows – maybe it’ll grow on you. 

-AudioMunk

Looking for more content to help you with finishing tracks? Check out my two-part post on moving from LOOP to TRACK below:
From Loop to Track: Part 1 – The Loop
From Loop to Track: Part 2 – Structuring and Arranging