how long are your tracks?

[Evil G]

if you think this is a stupid question and that the obvious answer is, "as long as they need to be," fair enough. i just wonder what people's experience has been in finding that out.

most of the records i used to play (nu breaks and acid techno) were 6 to 8 minutes long, so when i started writing my own stuff i aimed for that, but it seemed like the only way to stretch a track that long is to have an epic build/break in the middle and a rediculous intro and outro. but that didn't suite me. lately i've been more into banging out a single idea over 4-5 mins and leave it at that. am i lazy, or does techno just demand a different formula/style?

[dirty_bass]

I go anything from 5 mins to 7:30
Anything longer than that, and you affect the vinyl cut:(

[Dustin Zahn]

I hover around the 5 minute mark most of the time. It's a good compromise for DJs and vinyl cuts. Most DJs are pretty slow at beatmatching and can't mix a 3 or 4 minute track well, and if you have a 8min+ track it won't be as loud on vinyl. At the 5-6 minute mark you can get your message across quickly, the DJ can't complain about not having enough time, and the cut still sounds damn good.

[DJZeMig_L]

6m30s up to 7m 30s...

Z

[tekara]

not sure if anyone has mentioned this:

but another thing that may affect your how long your tracks should be is how fast your BPM is. Lets face it, if your tracks are 145-150BPM, then maybe making your tracks a bit shorter will compensate for the BPM since listening to a really fast track for a long period of time will become tedious on the ear.

Most of my tracks are about 135BPM and i try to make them nothing more than 6:00 minutes long. Given that the intro and outro can range anywhere between 1 minute each, 4 minutes for the chore loop i believe is good enough..

not sure, just my opinion though.

cheers :lol:

[heavy beats]

6-7 mins, just depends on the feelin

[Miromiric]

well i just wrote two 9 minute long pieces. the loudness gets affected not until the 10 minutes.

[dirty_bass]

well i just wrote two 9 minute long pieces. the loudness gets affected not until the 10 minutes.

the loudness and quality of cut DOES get affected.
The shorter the tune, the more spread out the grooves can be, and the deeper the grooves can be.
Simple.
Unless you don`t use any bass.
Also you get more time at 33, but 45 cuts better, because the wobbles in the groove are spaced out more, once again.
Although I have been told that certian frequencies cut better at 33 than at 45, but we don`t really need to get too deep into this.

[Kube 72]

i am doing about 5 - 6.30mins, but as mentioned above depends on BPM so watchout for that..

[Evil G]

lots of interesting replies. thanks guys.

on the topic of tempo, i actually find that i'm more likely to put a breakdown in a faster track than a slower one, so my faster tracks end up being longer.

[RichieV]

but another thing that may affect your how long your tracks should be is how fast your BPM is. Lets face it, if your tracks are 145-150BPM, then maybe making your tracks a bit shorter will compensate for the BPM since listening to a really fast track for a long period of time will become tedious on the ear.


not sure, just my opinion though.

cheers :lol:

I don't quite follow
The next song you mix after your " fast track " will still be just as fast. Why would going from a fast song to another fast song be any less tedious

[jonnyspeed]

Just do it in bars - makes it easier to mix.

16-32 in/out
4-8 break
32-64 main body

ends up being 6-7 minutes at 150bpm

[schlongfingers]

Just do it in bars - makes it easier to mix.

16-32 in/out
4-8 break
32-64 main body

ends up being 6-7 minutes at 150bpm

brrr that's shudderingly formulaic though!!

[Buttman]

16 cm (ca 7 inch).


Jonnyspeed you need to remember why you started making music in the first place.

[Buttman]

I hover around the 5 minute mark most of the time. It's a good compromise for DJs and vinyl cuts. Most DJs are pretty slow at beatmatching and can't mix a 3 or 4 minute track well,

Then maybe they should practice!

[professor]

no doubt! if a dj can't beatmatch within several seconds, then they should be at home practicing. my comment should not be applied to all forms of dance musis though. I'm just speaking about fairly straight dance music. some of the strangely broken stuff can be a little more tedious to match...and the slower the beats, the more difficult to get matched...IMHO.

[professor]

whoops, a bit off topic...

[detfella]

about 5miles long :lol:

seriously tho, ranges from 4.30-7.00mins

[MangaFish]

i find the lengh depends more on the ideas i'm trying to portray than the BPM etc.

or example, if i want to write an energetic tune then different sequences will punch in quicker than if i was writting an epic tune.

also some ideas (like a minimal groove) leaves you with less room for variation so the tune will natrually end sooner.

[DJZeMig_L]

Sorry but I do think there is some relationship between bpms and a songs lenths... if u have a slow song u need more time 2 develop without it sounding like everything was rushed in..

my 2 cents!

Z