You can get as much work done in 1 hour of intentioned, focused activity as you'll get in 10 hours of working while checking facebook/twitter/text messages/youtube tutorials/webforums or otherwise distracting yourself while working. Humans cannot multitask, the concept is a myth. We simply divide our attention between two tasks, which lowers our efficacy at both. So it's not even a matter of focusing on results over time or time over results, but focusing on the task at hand that is important. Unplug your internet every time you want to produce or use some sort of blocking program like AntiSocial or Focus - do whatever you can to prevent yourself from succumbing to temptation and WORK!

That being said, you probably shouldn't shoot for a specific timeframe of production unless you're working on a restricted schedule, because you'll never know how long any one particular production session will take and it's easier to be productive when you're not just wandering aimlessly through your DAW. Personally, I work with what I call "Fix Sheets" - A written list of everything that I think needs to be added, removed, changed, or fixed in my current project file.

I start my production session by listening to the song from start to finish, and writing down little notes based on how I think the song should be fixed. "Add shakers to second half of drop", "change lead synth melody to jump around less", "move white noise lower in mix", etc. I don't make any changes until I get to the end - and I either work in the order they were found or in order of what I feel is most important to least important. If I find something else I need to fix while I'm working, I add it to the list instead of changing my focus and allowing any distractions in. Every time I finish everything I've written down, I go back to the beginning and repeat the process until I just can't think of anything else that day, which means I'm probably at mental capacity and are hitting those diminishing returns you're talking about. If I'm not at mental capacity, and I've already done due diligence in referencing the track against what's commercially available, I can take that as a sign to just consider the song done and move on.

This can be 3 hours, 6 hours, or 12 hours, depending upon how much I identify, how close. I do try to stymie things by using the Pomodoro technique to let my brain decompress, but what I've found is the more comfortable I get with making music, the longer I can go in each individual session. So comfort in your own skills might play a part!

I know i've said this before to you, but, i almost always start with my drums first. and then buildup from there.

Getting sounds i think that would fit while generating musical ideas along the way. The sound is kind of like, picking the strings for your bass or guitar. Or the type of piano you want to play for a given melody.

I try to section things off until i am satisfied with my sounds, and then move on to writing music, arranging, then mixing.

I've gotten pretty stream line about my sound creation process, but i try to spend most of my time writing, arranging, and mixing. That's where most of your problems will come through when making music it seems like.


Also, about your sleep thing Lydian, quincy jones once said that the best time for him to be creative was in between sleep and being awake. People have made jokes about him sleeping, when he was just in that transition state thinking.

Something to consider as you listen along the way.

Quote from: Marrow Machines on March 27, 2016, 04:53:37 pm

Also, about your sleep thing Lydian, quincy jones once said that the best time for him to be creative was in between sleep and being awake. People have made jokes about him sleeping, when he was just in that transition state thinking.

Something to consider as you listen along the way.

Interesting because now that you mention it I recall some famous person with a similar habit. I can't remember who it was but basically after working hard to solve a problem they would nap on it by holding some sort of coin attached to a string. When they fell asleep the the coin was meant to fall from the string and wake them up. Somehow this resulted in this specific persons answers or ideas coming to them. Bugs me that I can't remember who it was.

I don't know whether it has to do with the state of mind I'm in while I'm sleeping but for some reason it's much easier to focus when I'm in that relaxed state.

Yea it's a trance in some ways.

You gotta figure out how to activate it at certain times, and not only when you're about to go to sleep.

Quote from: Lydian on March 28, 2016, 05:20:18 am

Quote from: Marrow Machines on March 27, 2016, 04:53:37 pm

Also, about your sleep thing Lydian, quincy jones once said that the best time for him to be creative was in between sleep and being awake. People have made jokes about him sleeping, when he was just in that transition state thinking.

Something to consider as you listen along the way.

Interesting because now that you mention it I recall some famous person with a similar habit. I can't remember who it was but basically after working hard to solve a problem they would nap on it by holding some sort of coin attached to a string. When they fell asleep the the coin was meant to fall from the string and wake them up. Somehow this resulted in this specific persons answers or ideas coming to them. Bugs me that I can't remember who it was.

I don't know whether it has to do with the state of mind I'm in while I'm sleeping but for some reason it's much easier to focus when I'm in that relaxed state.

Yea it's a trance in some ways.

You gotta figure out how to activate it at certain times, and not only when you're about to go to sleep.

It's called flow state by some people, and I am a believer in it. Sometimes I get to working on a track, and it just starts to come together and before I know it, I've been working on it for 5+ hours.