Electronic Music 411 - Track Length, finishing

04/13/08 + dkarma

Is there such thing as a track that is too short? Obviously < 30 sec doesn't apply here, but I've been working on about 12-15 different songs lately and they all seem to be 2.5-4 min. Sure I can extend it by looping for as long as I want, but the meat and potatoes of the track and all the good stuff seems to be taking a very short time to get to (and be done with). I don''t really get sick of them and try to end them fast, but I feel like if i "drag" them out the listener would miss the subtleties etc.

What do your tracks average in length?
Ever had a track that you couldn't finish?
How about a track that finished too early and you felt wasn't done but didn't know what to add?

04/13/08 + electrodan

Don't drag it out to make it longer, don't cut it out to make it shorter.
It is what it is.

are you making it for industry or for yourself and us?

4:00 (average) is really a great amount of time for so many types of modern music.

Recent blogs: Spanish House, Dear ricemutt,, Great Guitarists

04/13/08 + electrodan

there are songs that do things that are so good that I wish would go on and on and on... because those changes or sounds or relationships are so good. You as an artist have to decide when its a complete composition, taking everything into mind like audience, purpose, genre, theme, etc.

ask these folks here, there are handfull of people who will truly help you hone it thru iterations.

Recent blogs: Spanish House, Dear ricemutt,, Great Guitarists

04/13/08 + airliner

personally, i'd rather hear a short song and wish it was longer, than hear a long song and wish it was shorter. leave them wanting more.

Recent blogs: A Show & Some Buttons, MiniAir: Work and Play, Maybe I'm Crazy

04/13/08 + j_chot

too short is better than too long.
unless of course you're a dj......

Recent blogs: it's go time!!!, J-chot life update, my new music blog.

04/14/08 + jkn

too short is better for most types of music. on the other hand, I lean more towards ambient and average 8 minutes give or take (many clocking in around 15).

Recent blogs: two years later + AtmoWorks, A few pointless bits about me...

04/14/08 + bla

512 beats (thats what im aiming for anyway)
techno tracks are longer than i thought- long intros- much repetition- but if its mixed by a dj then you wont hear it all
so- ambient= long, dance= long, anything in between= short

Recent blogs: bla live at bitjam at the rigger feb 08, alesis hr16, yamaha qx3

04/14/08 + yghartsyrt

inbetween long and long???

bla you confuse me with your made up post-modern music theory stuff…

now i know, why your stuff is so great, you find the tiny spots between things that are the same.
you are a wizard in selfsimilarity. you fractal-funk-fellow

Recent blogs: Free music devalueating music itself?, Crystal Castles Copyright Infringement (?), kiki and bubu and the shift

04/14/08 + mlbot

em411 said: "your song is too short. If you don't have anything useful to write, don't write it"

We all hate that sentiment, don't we? Safe to say there is no mimimum size.

in my opinion, the main problem with short.

Recent blogs: Dumb Machine LP - Maces of Disruption, Puppy, Best Synths For Not Making Music

04/14/08 + sweettrip

dkarma said: "
How about a track that finished too early and you felt wasn't done but didn't know what to add?"

i have a lot of tracks that are short and i wish i could add more, but i restrain myself for doing so out of fear of losing the original character or feel of the track. so i just let them be.

Recent blogs: Music you didn't at first, but eventually grew up on you..., your top electronic music records of the 90s..., Show off your tatts

04/14/08 + bla

ha ha- yghartsyrt- i meant between dance and ambient- you know like stuff thats got more than 0 beats and less than loads
no it doesnt make sense really- i know thats a wierd over simplification
i didnt put much thought to it

Recent blogs: bla live at bitjam at the rigger feb 08, alesis hr16, yamaha qx3

04/14/08 + Jenoki

i love ilkae's pistachio island. all the tracks are so short and cute. it works great as an album. but if you are wanting to make a track to be played in a club, a short track might not be the way to go.
personally, i don't like club music. so if your track is short, don't extend it by just looping or even layering things on that loop. that gets repetative. either leave it as it is, orrrrrr maybe transpose your meaty loop hook! key change ! lol... old trick but it can work.

but then it's that old thing i guess. when does an artist decide where the last stroke of the brush is?

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04/14/08 + Otterfan

lol @ mlbot

Good rule to see whether you should make it longer:

Case 1: You finish listening to your track and think "that ends to early".
Advice: Make it longer.

Case 2: You read your track listing and see that a track is only two minutes long. You think, "two minutes isn't long enough."
Advice: Don't make it longer.

Recent blogs: AOL Data Release

04/14/08 + nick

short is fine, think of all the tiny BOC tracks out there, they're brilliant.

04/14/08 + Roshi

If you were a true nerd, you'd have found the average track length by genre by writing some nerdo itunes script and have an empirical answer to this question.

Recent blogs: RIP Bebe Barron, Glenn Branca Wants You!, happy bday mlbot