How much time should I spend on a cover song if the goal is to do a lot of them for YouTube?

So songwriters are all over the map with how long they work on a song especially per genre. E.g. Hip hop producers especially tend to be very prolific often putting out one or more songs a day. But say someone was interested in doing that whole metal covers of theme and popular songs thing on YouTube; in that case the song is already written for you and like a coloring book you just have to color it in w/ your own shade so it ideally shouldn't take as long as writing a song from scratch. I guess what I'm asking for a friend is, if someone wanted to do a bunch of metal etc covers of various songs for a YouTube channel and was willing to work hard and be as productive as possible while focusing on quality and frequency of content, what would be a realistic goal for the amount of time to be spend on each song? I'm talking from the point I've created a session to start the cover song to the point where it's ready for upload.. I'm thinking maybe 7-10 days? You know, something that requires a little hard work but is absolutely doable.. 7-10 days? It's about getting to be prolific, turning out quality content in relatively short order and getting better and better at that in the process. You know, TV and film composers pretty much do exactly that, they're able to turn out great music fast. What do you guys think and how long do you generally spend on writing a song, be it a cover or an original and be it you just writing at your leisure or you disciplining yourself to get things done by certain amount of time? This post ok or is this just for songs only?

I don't cover other peoples songs.  I've been tempted to but I don't believe in it.  Unless you're willing to get a license from the copyright owner you stand to risk thousands of $$$$$ if the wrong people hear it.  Copyright means something and I know a lot of people say that it's harmless because you're not selling or making money on it, but it could still land you in deep do do if you're caught.  I don't chance it and I don't think anybody else should either unless you can obtain a license (or you're covering a song written by somebody you know and they know you're covering them).  But, hey!  To each his own.  If you're willing to risk it, go for it.  Good luck!
 
John B

Wayfarer
I never do a cover verbatim. I always give the song a new arrangement. Otherwise, what would be the point? It's already been done. It's different if you're in a cover band that plays clubs. In that situation, you'll get more work by trying to perform a song as much like the record as possible. But I see no point in recording that myself.
 
I often make solo acoustic fingerpicking arrangements of old songs, and it takes a long time to come up with an arrangement that's worthwhile. I realize that's a whole different thing. I'm just throwing it out there. I might spend a month or more on composing a solo guitar instrumental whether it's original or a cover. I was faster at it when I was younger. You'll find it harder to get motivated in your creativity when you get older. (I'm 59.)
 
As far as writing original vocal tunes, I could knock one out every week or two. I'm fairly prolific with the music; it's the lyrics that take time because I want every word to be exactly the right word, but the backing music for a vocal tune is fairly simplistic compared to a solo fingerpicked tune.
 
I also tend to work on several new pieces at once. It's like reading books. I'm one of those people who has several books on his nightstand and read them all a little here and there as the mood strikes me.
 
Oh well, that probably wasn't much help, was it? 
 
Good luck,
Bill

Any input is good man thanks. Personally I'm overcoming being precious about every song (w/ exceptions) so as to get more done.

Mannynyagain
Somehow , I think this a troll post. If not, my apologies. How much time you spend upon an artistic endeavor is personal. In the end, the more time spent upon a given song seems to correlate to the quality of of end result ( in general).

Lol how exactly is a thread asking about how long one should spend on a song under a very specific scenario/set of goals a troll post? Like how do you even come to that conclusion? In any case I wasn't merely asking about songwriting in and of itself but rather w/ a specific intent/set of goals as laid out in the first post, but yeah.. re the thread, wrong crowd it looks like. Lol, troll post? Have you ever seen what real trolling looks like? Rock on.

Csnack,
 
I don't think there is an answer to your question.    The short answer would be when its' done.    I do a lot of covers, and specifically started doing them to hone my mixing and engineering skills.   My reasoning was that I know what these songs are supposed to sound like so had a target to shoot for in instrumentation, mixing, effects, etc.    My goal has been to create the best sounding production, that I am capable of, to become a better engineer, arranger, musician, etc...
 
Personally I have spent as little as a week or two on a song, but have also spent months on a single song.   It also depends on whether you are doing the song alone or collaborating with others.   In the latter case, you have other's schedules to deal with as well.    I do music as a hobby so do not feel an pressure to complete things on any sort of schedule so that may be different from your situation.    If you are doing convincing metal covers that a week or more per song would not be out of the ordinary.    Factors can play into that, if you are using any metal drum, bass or guitar loops, or using MIDI loops as a starting point, that could reduce the time needed.   If you are starting from scratch, and doing everything yourself then plan to spend more time on it.   As you do more projects, your timeline will become more streamlined and you could probably knock out a cover pretty quickly.   I wouldn't box yourself into a specific timeline, it will be done when its' done.  Hope this is helpful.
 
Regards

 
 
 
forty two