How To

Finish
How To Finish
More Music, &
More
FAST!

Music,
24 Tips To Help You…

- Break Out Of The Loop

- Crush Writers Block

- & Put An End To Endless Tweaking

& FAST!
www.basskleph.com
GET STARTED

01. Just start something…

It doesn’t matter if it’s bad. Just get the ball rolling. Then start refining. Being too critical
from the onset will block you. Sketch some sounds and loops without deleting anything and
go from there. The first step to finishing a track is… starting it!

02. Stop Worrying About Sound Quality

Just write music for now. Melodies, chords, beats, etc. Sonics can be dealt with later. Easier
said than done, but trust me, this has a big impact. If you don’t like a sound, rather than
mixing or adjusting it, simply replace it.

03. Write Enough Parts & Ideas

Make sure you have enough parts written before you move forward. In this early stage of
composition, you should get all the possible ideas out of your head, and onto your DAW.
They won’t necessarily need to play all at the same time. Write a part, then mute it, then
write some more. This gives you options for later stages.

04. Make It Musically Dope

Make sure the basic sketch loop you are working on is musically as dope as possible
before deciding to move forward. It should be irresistibly infectious. Get this done now so
you don’t have to come back to it.

05. Make It Catchy

Make sure you have something catchy about the song. Either a vocal, a lead synth, a
catchy bass line, or catchy techno percussive rhythm, it will always need something. The
song will fall over and fail without this.

06. More Fast, Less Brain

Work quickly and don't over think things. While many parts of music production can be
quite technical, writing should be more of an emotional, creative, gut feeling. So
experiment, have fun and do not judge yourself along the way.

Look for anything you can do to keep things fast. Think “broad stokes”. Macro, not micro.
Details are for later.

e.g. Use sends and returns for effects. Slapping a reverb on every track can have
advantages in the mixdown stage but at this point it’s inefficient. Instead share a single
reverb and a single delay for everything for now.

www.basskleph.com
WRITTING INSPIRATION

07. Listen To Other Music

Listen to other music you like. Songs that you want to sound like. Songs that you wish you
had written. Don’t limit yourself to your iTunes or Spotify, try searching for new clubs music
on BeatPort too. You can pretend you are record shopping. Listen to charts from your
favorite artists. You will discover new songs, sounds and ideas that you haven’t heard
before. Now ask yourself.. What do you like about it? What are they doing different to you?

08. Go See The Pros Play Live

Make a list of your favorite artists/DJs. Look up their shows, buy tickets and go study what
they play. What were your favorite songs? What did you like about them? Which songs got
good crowd reactions and which didn’t. Why do you think that happened?

09. Write It Down

Whenever you have an idea for a song or part of a song, add it to a note in your phone (I get
these ideas at the club all the time). Then when you are back in the studio and don't know
what to write, just look at your list of song ideas and pick one.

10. Make A Monthly DJ Mix 

This forces you to identify your favorite songs from that month, and keeps you focused on
what inspires you. Once you have narrowed down your top 10-20 tracks that month, and
made your DJ mix, you should study what you love about them. Why did you choose them?
What are they doing?

Bonus: Share your mix online and start building your fanbase.

11. Collaborate
Get in the studio and write with another producer friend. You will push each other, and learn
from each other. In person is best, but even an online collaboration can help. This is also
great for cross promotion, fanbase building, and networking.

12. Record Everything

Try recording some "found sounds." Get your mic out and record some interesting sounds
from around the house/streets. Try manipulating these in your DAW. Also record any weird
happy accidents that come out of your computer. Essentially, If you hear something cool,
record it. Then try to use it in a song. Let inspiration strike. No idea should be too crazy, silly
or weird. It’s always ok to test them out.

www.basskleph.com
WRITERS BLOCK

13. Push Through It

This is what the pros do. It's their full-time job, so they have no choice. This might sound
daunting, but at least give it a try. Use some of the tips in this PDF to help you. See how
long you can last until you either get an idea or give up. The more you do this, the better
you get at it. It’s like exercising a muscle. The more you do it, the stronger it gets.

14. Limit Your Options

Our computers are so powerful these days that we can do anything. Too many choices will
stall you. Decide on a maximum amount of channels, plugins, synths and so on. e.g. You
might say, I will only use Ableton stock plugins + Serum, Fabfilter Pro L, and I can only use
20 channels total. You could even collect your own sonic pallet of samples that you will use.
Then limit yourself to writing with only those samples. Limiting your self to only one or two
synths is also a great idea. Then you will truly learn them on a deeper level.

15. Be Prepared
Inspiration can disappear as fast as it appears. When you’re inspired, the last thing you
want is to look for samples, connect hard drives, get your midi sync working, or tune your
synth. That’s why it’s important to have your DAW and workspace set up and ready to go.

Being able to easily start working also helps capture the creative momentum that’s so
important to finishing a song. We all know that feeling of getting in the zone and having the
music just pour out of us. Make sure you’re always set up and ready to capture that
moment.

Have a DAW template ready with some of your favorite drums, synths, and samples. This
way you can write a sketch really quick. You can also go through your sample library/
splice.com and pick out some favorite samples. Tag them/add these to a favorites folder.
Now you should have a creativity generating palette of samples ready to go.

16. Change Things Up

If you always start a song with drums, then try starting with chords. If you always use
synths, then try samples. If you always write melodic, try something more percussive, etc

17. Take A Break

If you have tried everything else and have been working a lot then you might just need a
break. Get outside, go for a walk. Maybe listen to your song on the walk with different
headphones, or walk with no music at all. Be inspired by life, non-musical art, architecture,
your city, and everything else that is around you everyday.

www.basskleph.com
WRITERS BLOCK (continued)

18. Try a new genre

Even if it’s just for fun, it will be a refreshing break. You don’t have to make a new alias, or
do any shows. Just write something for the fun of it. If your full time gig is writing Electro
House, then try writing some chill out, or ambient music. Working in different genres will
help you get past boredom and trigger new ideas for your main genre.

19. Surprise Yourself

Try some random samples/loops over the top of your sketch. Loopcloud is great for this as
it syncs with your project tempo and key. You can also render your song to audio and have
a DJ mix with it. Listen to how it layers with other songs. When you hear to two songs
playing in sync, you might find you like some of the parts coming from the other song. This
might give you ideas about what you could add to your song.

20. Seek Outside Feedback

When you’re working in isolation, it’s hard to get perspective. It’s too easy to question
yourself. That’s why it’s so helpful to get feedback from someone with a trusted set of ears.

Stop obsessing over the details of your own tracks. Someone else will be able to give you a
better picture of how things fit together. Getting feedback will improve your mixdowns too.

Working with a professional producer is another great way to get quality feedback on your
songs from someone who knows what they’re talking about and can help you improve what
needs improving. 

You can get professional feedback each week from Bass Kleph and Travis Emmons our
Inner Circle Feedback Friday sessions. Read more about The Inner Circle here.

www.basskleph.com
FINISH FASTER

21. Set Bite-Sized Goals

It’s easy to get excited about a big goal, like releasing an EP. But the path to big goals like
that can feel overwhelming.

Instead, start with and focus on one track. And then create a goal roadmap of every part
you need to mark that song as complete. For example, instead of just deciding you’re going
to work on your track on Tuesday, set concrete goals like “Finish intro drums and bass on
Tuesday morning before noon.”

Leaving your session too open will leave you stuck and prevent you from ever finishing
tracks.

Here’s an example of some weekly goals:

• Monday: Fun improvised jam to find a sonic palette

• Wednesday: Lock down one track from the jam

• Friday: Edit and Finish that Track

• Sunday: Mix, Master, Listen Back and Edit

22. Set Accountable Deadlines

As you get closer to finishing, you need something that holds you accountable for hitting
your goals. A forcing function. One of the best ways to do this is to tell your friends, family,
and fans about an upcoming release with a date. Get them excited and invested in your
release, and give yourself the added motivation of knowing you’ll let someone down if you
don’t hit that deadline.

We’ve seen artists carry on working on their album forever when they don’t have any
deadlines, and others release music faster than they ever have after announcing release
dates they felt obliged to.

23. Make A Commitment

It sounds simple, but once you know you’ve got a great song in the works, you need to
make the commitment to see if over the finish line. That commitment might mean releasing
it on SoundCloud, submitting it to a label, but whatever it is, that moment of clicking
‘submit’ needs to feel like a reality with a hard deadline that you’re committing to reaching.
Making it in this industry means making your music a priority, combined with persistence
and dedication.

24. Reward Yourself

If you’re going to work hard and stay motivated to finish your track, you’ve got to reward
yourself. Plan an event when you hit certain milestones. Release songs or song samples on
social media to get some positive reinforcement. Treat yourself to a professional mix or
master, or schedule a live show. Do whatever you know gives you a boost of motivation
when it comes to your music.

www.basskleph.com
 WANT MORE?

PROLIFIC MUSIC PRODUCTION

How To Finish Great Songs Fast...Without Sacrificing Quality!
Finishing a lot of GOOD songs, and doing it fast, can be one of the hardest things in music
production. None of the other techniques and stages mean anything unless you can finish
fast, often ...and with good results. That's exactly why I created this course.

"PMP is the most effective 101 production tutorial I have ever watched. I learned so much
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almost 4 songs now that sound really good and that are going out for labels (fingers
crossed)." - Beat Effect

This Video Course Will Teach You How To...

• manage perfectionism and KNOW when your song is done, without sacrificing quality.

• turn a one bar loop into a full song in MINUTES!

• CRUSH writers block! Know exactly what is missing, and what to do about it. 

• maintain infectious interest over time, without adding more parts.

• build MASSIVE tension and huge drops without hours and days of work.

• become a song finishing machine and finish songs like never before

Plus there is Question Time! I recorded this live in an online master class, and took over
an hour of questions which I then went on to answer. Complete with demonstrated
techniques in Ableton Live.

Read More About Prolific Music Production NOW

www.basskleph.com