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What I like to do is get every thing sketched out roughly as soon as possible. I use ableton so as soon as I have the core bit done in session view (usually an 8 or 16 bar loop) I get everything laid out in the arrangement. Eg. Intro, first breakdown, drop 1, main breakdown, drop 2, outro. It's super basic, the intro and outro will just be the kick, snare, hats from the loop, the drops will just be copies of the loop and I'll just leave holes where the breakdowns are.
None of the lengths are locked in and everything usually changes a lot but just having the structure laid out with a clear start/middle end makes it much easier for me to work. If I'm stuck on a section I can easily jump to another part. It all just feels more manageable to just swap bits out than working start to finish looking at and empty screen. For me at least.
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The thing that helped me most with this was being more disciplined about getting enough sounds, variations, ideas and a basic structure down as quickly as possible. I used to get stuck tweaking small things and end up wasting time and never finishing anything.
Basically ignore 'mixing' tasks and make music more like recording a full band. -
Copy an arrangement of a track you like in a similar genre. Add locators in the DAW... Kick drops out, Kick comes back in, break, mini break, synths come in etc etc
Work quickly and commit to audio. This stops you from endless tinkering. Try not to swap out samples, choose something and stick with it. Be impartial to the sound and result. The more you finish, the better quality they will become. Quantity begets quality.
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timmah!
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@eskay
Anyone have any tips in how to actually finish a song? I seem to get halfway and then run out of steam. I have quite a few songs parked but every time I go back to them I draw a blank.