OT - "The process"

How long does it take you? Soup to nuts?
 
For me, it's usually 3 to 6 weeks depending on the complexity of the song? Some parts are easy, some are harder and take longer. But 3 to 6 weeks is a good estimate (for me)
 
I'm starting one this weekend :-)
 
I stand in awe of people who can crank them out... I'm not that guy.

Can usually write a piece over a weekend, and then spend a month or so to get the mix right. Mixing is still pretty foreign to me. 
I'm in awe of guys that write for scores, 2 mins per day for up to 6 weeks. 
Music, where would we all be without it. 
Look forward to hearing you next piece. 
 

That is a really open ended issue.
 
Writing a song can be anywhere from 45 minutes (I think that's the quickest I've written one) to many weeks or never.... generally the writing process is a day or so in length for the first draft..... then it may be weeks to re-write the song several times to end up with what is considered to be the "final version".....
 
Recording..... another open ended issue. Is a recording ever truly finished? Some would argue "no", but I like to say there is a point where I'm not willing to put any more effort into the project, and that's when I call it finished.
 
The shortest new project to done for me was 4 hours give or take. However, most often, again, the recording and mixing process often takes several days to a few weeks depending on numerous factors. I can easily spend days on end obsessing over the minutia in the project.
 
That said, most of the projects I work on are "start to finish" probably in the range of about 2 to 3 weeks including the writing and recording. (Whether that is consecutive is another story)

I"ve pooped one out in a day, "but it hurts..." For me, it's more about loving the track, practicing it, comping it in, listening to it, having Mark beat me like a captive in the dungeon from Silence of the Lambs... (it puts the lotion on its skin!) SING IT AGAIN!! (He's a task master... "relentless.") I don't want the hose again? So I am compelled to comply...
 
I am preparing to track guitar (acoustic and then electric?) And since I don't really play anymore unless I'm tracking, I've lost my callouses :-( I've grown some decent ones back after a week or so of practice, so I'm feeling pretty manly about that (except when I have to put the lotion on the skin. That's always somewhat humiliating?) I hope to start tracking tomorrow :-) I love the process... But I hate the drums.

You can guess which one I'm working on :-) It's in my sig... I love the classic rock from the mid to late 60s/early 70s? I think it was the golden age of music. But we all have our own likes and dislikes? Nothing wrong with that, it's what makes the world go round...

Yes sir, creating the finished product? 1 to 2 Weeks, I respect you... But then I always have? I guess I just obsess over "the process?" 
 
For me, I have ADHD about it? I want to plan each track, then record each track, then in the end make them all play nice? I'm probably just not as good at it as folks who do it more quickly. Not saying that any method is superior. I wrote a song called "It is what it is..." (great song) The process? It's something we all have, and it's different for all of us. That's what makes it cool... We all do the same thing? But we all do it slightly differently? It's pretty cool... 
 
Especially the savants? People like Scotty? (no disrespect) most of us play? Some of us play some things very well. "Fewer are considered at the top of their game..." But the process fascinates me. How do we go from nothing to something? Where "something" is your finished product. It's magical...
 
It starts off as an idea? And ends up with something (hopefully) that people can say, "damn... I really enjoyed that!" It is like magic. I'm sorry, I wax on about this every so often. I'm just always in awe of it all. I think we should not lose sight of how incredible it all is.
 
What we do, "all of us?" It's amazing.. And it's magical. People go to factories, they work on assembly lines? People lay bricks... They weld? We "create?' We create something from nothing? And when we do a good job? People listen and say, "just damn! I really liked that!" And that is something from nothing more than an idea... And "THAT" is what I'm talking about, "right there..."
 
I get misty about it? It's not just what I do, and my process? But in general, "what you do?" And "the creative process?" To me it's a miracle, and we're all miracle workers...

wow!
 
i just wrapped up two songs, that i started recording 4 years ago!!
 

 
the biggest pain in the ass is >>>>TIME >>>>>>>> = 0.
 
for me, the way it usually works is,  i steal away an hour here, a couple there...
and on rare occassion, i might get an entire 4-5 hour session in...
so, when i do that, like i did this past friday and saturday, i focus on one element..
in this case, vocals.
 
i knocked out two songs, with a total of 22 tracks of leads and harmonies, in about 8 hrs total.
mixed, trimmed and tailed, etc....
 
 
so, back to the answer, it would be hard for me to ever come up with a realistic amount of time for a given song.
 
i HAVE done an entire song in a single day, tracking wise...
the "Bats Brew (melange de la chauve souris)" song, was tracked in a day, not counting the drum tracks, which i did not record.
 
i also used a shure sm57 for every track (sans drums) on that song, so it was the benchmark of simplicity for me.
 
song example link:
https://app.box.com/s/6bmrm4beelhjuftdwb9z
 
 

"I get misty about it? It's not just what I do, and my process? But in general, "what you do?" And "the creative process?" To me it's a miracle, and we're all miracle workers..."

I'm not sure if I get misty eyed about this subject, but I certainly agree with you about how fascinating that it all can be. I often will just sing something completely out of the blue, while trying out different chord patterns and wonder where the heck that just came from. Then I find myself scrambling for a pen or a recorder to get it down before I loose it.

I used to think, well if it is really that good, I won't forget it. After I forgot one to many of them, I decided I better start getting them written down somehow, somewhere.

it's been a while since I've done anything except live playing/singing.  I don't think I've recorded anything in about 2 years.  and I've been absent from this songs forum for about the same time.  I have missed some of the great music from some of you great artists here.
 
I do have a couple of things in the works now, tho!  hope to share with you soon.
 
the process for me is different each time.  it really depends on the song.  I have one song which took me a year and a half to finish from concept to recording/mixing and calling it done and I've had some songs which fell into place in a couple of weeks.
 
I'm sure if I were paid to write songs for a living, it would be...about the same...hopefully the duration of all of them would reduce since I could spend more time on them, but I'm sure there would still be some which took a long time and some which roll out easily.

A couple of evenings are the usual time to make a song - but in colabs it always take longer time - like four five weeks or so.