# What time of day (or night) are you most productive?



## Symfoniq (Dec 12, 2017)

I'm curious what time of day (or night) other composers have found to work for them in terms of maximum productivity and creativity?

Are you a night owl, an early bird, or mostly a nine-to-fiver?

Do you fuel your marathon sessions with coffee/tea, or do you find a bit of fatigue helps you to leave your inhibitions behind?


----------



## VinRice (Dec 12, 2017)

8pm to 4am. Family asleep, no phone calls.


----------



## John Busby (Dec 12, 2017)

8am to 5pm while at work, day dreaming about composing
gets home in the studio = plays around for hours


----------



## Nmargiotta (Dec 12, 2017)

I work best in the morning, 6:30am - 12pm is prime time.


----------



## J-M (Dec 12, 2017)

I work best at evening and night...doesn't go well with my studies.


----------



## rvb (Dec 12, 2017)

Funny timing your post; I decided to try it the other way around this week, I normally always work from 6pm to 3am. But I am now starting up at 8am to 6pm. So far just been really tired getting used to it, haha.


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Dec 12, 2017)

When the director is emailing me saying "Where are the files? We need them ASAP!".


----------



## Symfoniq (Dec 12, 2017)

rvb said:


> Funny timing your post; I decided to try it the other way around this week, I normally always work from 6pm to 3am. But I am now starting up at 8am to 6pm. So far just been really tired getting used to it, haha.



One of the reasons I posed the question is because I'm considering trading my late nights for early mornings, though there are inherent tradeoffs for both. What motivated you to switch up your routine?


----------



## rvb (Dec 12, 2017)

Well mostly trying to sleep so close after being in the middle of a creative outburst was getting a bit annoying to me, I never went to sleep because I was tired, more or less because it simply got 'ridiculously late'. That was the biggest reason for me to switch. I still can not comment on the benefits at the moment, too tired haha.


----------



## CT (Dec 12, 2017)

I tend to work during the wee hours too, which I don't really love, but it's quieter, calmer, and it usually bothers me more to spend all day locked away from the rest of the world. Granted I'm only doing this on a small scale as of yet. When things get more serious, I think it'll be easier (and, more necessary) to view as a regular day to day job that takes up the typical ~8:00 to ~16:00 block.


----------



## Pier (Jan 10, 2018)

I've found that when no one is bothering me I usually have 2 different modes of operating.

I have the "wake up early" mode which gives me 4-5 productive hours between 8am-1pm. Then I eat and the afternoon is not so focused.

Or the "wake up late" mode when I wake up at 10-11am and my peak times are between 6pm-1am or so. Those days I can't really focus until it's late in the afternoon.


----------



## storyteller (Jan 10, 2018)

Pier Bover said:


> I've found that when no one is bothering me I usually have 2 different modes of operating.
> 
> I have the "wake up early" mode which gives me 4-5 productive hours between 8am-1pm. Then I eat and the afternoon is not so focused.
> 
> Or the "wake up late" mode when I wake up at 10-11am and my peak times are between 6pm-1am or so. Those days I can't really focus until it's late in the afternoon.


I, too, am equipped with a dual-mode setting.


----------



## conan (Jan 10, 2018)

I am most productive when I can work around the clock without interruption and sleep whenever I am too exhausted to continue.


----------

