Musicians: How Do You Know When Your Song is Finished?

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March 10, 2011{ 11 Comments }

iStock 000010782345XSmall 300x261 Musicians: How Do You Know When Your Song is Finished?Too Many Options?

This article by Ewan Pearson brings up an interesting question about the creative process. How do you end your work? What is an ending? Do you always know when you’ve arrived at the ending? Or do you have to force yourself to let go? Are you ever finished?

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

Countless creative people over the centuries have reiterated the sentiment above.

And abandoning a work of art (i.e. completing and releasing an album, novel, film, etc.)  is getting harder and harder to do nowadays. We’re no longer limited in the same ways we might have been even 10 years ago, limited to our own intrinsic human skills, limitations of resources, technology, etc.

Tools are available now that put a whole world of possibilities at your fingertips. 50 years ago, if you wanted an orchestra to play on your folk song, you’d have to convince a label to pay a huge group of players union-wages to get together, practice the arrangement (which would also cost money), and finally, to record. Expensive! Time-intensive! Logistically complex!

Today, you can use a very realistic orchestra sample that comes in a box (or not even in a box, sometimes it just comes from the ether-world of internet magic.)

You have almost unlimited options.

Amazing, of course. And potentially maddening. How do you creative musicians stay sane? How do you know what kitchen sinks to throw into your song and what kitchen sinks to leave out? Which mix is the right one? Which effects?

The ability to endlessly tinker with every sonic aspect of your music can also lead to endless indecision. How do you combat that?

Tell me, please! I’m going crazy over here.

-Chris R. at CD Baby

Sell your music on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Rhapsody, Spotify, and more!

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  • http://soundcloud.com/the-all-important Matt

    When i’m sufficiently satisfied with the way a particular song sounds and feels i know it’s done. When i listen to the track all the way through and i don’t feel that anything could be changed to make it better, i’m done.

  • Michael Toti

    I teach graphic design and students have the same type of issues. There are too many effects that can be added to a design and the decision is does it add to the design. In most cases all of those options don’t help.
    If it is a bad design or song adding more stuff doesn’t improve it. I would say trust your heart or what you hear in your head. We have songs that start out with lots of room and then you add another guitar track or vocal track and then something else. By the time you finish, it is now cluttered, the simple song that had room to breathe is now filled with stuff that is just window dressing.

  • http://listn.to/canthang steve

    keep it simple stupid

  • http://www.jimpellinger.com Jim Pellinger

    I just finished a song called “Hemingway Said”. It’s got one verse, one chorus, no bridge, and it’s about 2 minutes long. It’s finished because I’ve said all I want to say in the song. My first instinct was to try to come up with another verse or two, perhaps a bridge, etc. But I thought “why?” Everything that needs to be there is there, and anything else I tried to add to the song diluted what was already there. So I stopped. So I guess the song tells me when it’s done.

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  • http://www.steeltropics.com/ Tom

    You just know. Cliche’ but its true forme

  • Linda

    I’ve always had the experience that the song knows when it is done.

    Like it takes on a life of its own.

  • http://www.drewgilman.com Drew Gilman

    I know when my songs are done when I feel I have conveyed my musical intent. No piece of music is perfect so at some point you have to say, “this is something I am proud to show” and then shift your creative talents to something fresh. I heard a quote once: which would you rather have, one $1,000,000 song, or one million $1 songs. I think to a world where art is only appreciated at face value, we artists, try too hard to impress other artists. But in the end, other artists, are our competition. This is the music industry, not the YMCA.

  • http://www.ThistleCottageRecordings.com Lori Hartbarger

    For me, after much time spent on a song, there comes the time when I know that I’ve done all I can do with the song. Taking your time is important too, don’t try to finish completely recording your songs too quickly, refrain from listening to them for a time, then go back with fresh ears and critically listen again. It’s a mix of one’s own subjective feelings on the music combined with some critical analysis!

  • http://chunter.info chunter

    If you mean “how do I know when it’s time to release,” I set a deadline and if the song is good enough when time is up I release it. If not, it hits the bin or must be “rediscovered” later.

    The answer to the question “When is your song finished?” is “Never,” and always will be. It doesn’t matter if your song is playing on the radio every five minutes around the world, you always have the right to alter it and release a new version, so if you come up with a good idea to try on an old song, just try it; it either works well (and you release it) or it doesn’t (and you don’t.)

  • Dave

    The song tells you when it’s finished if you let go of pretense and listen closely.