How do you know when you are finished with a piece?

[pedromax114]

Being an arrangement or a composition. Is there a list of criteria in your head that you check and once it's complete it's good enough? Or is it completely a thing of one's taste?

I suppose, in essence, my question is if this evaluation is always subjective or if there is an objective factor to the evaluation of the "percentage" in which a piece is finished.

I recently finished an orchestral idea, at first, I loved it, but after hearing it again I feel the ending is too abrupt or even, the piece could be longer. Of course, I'm using my taste to determine that, I just wonder if there's something more reliable and solid than just my taste.

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[jbuhler]

Being an arrangement or a composition. Is there a list of criteria in your head that you check and once it's complete it's good enough? Or is it completely a thing of one's taste?

I suppose, in essence, my question is if this evaluation is always subjective or if there is an objective factor to the evaluation of the "percentage" in which a piece is finished.

I recently finished an orchestral idea, at first, I loved it, but after hearing it again I feel the ending is too abrupt or even, the piece could be longer. Of course, I'm using my taste to determine that, I just wonder if there's something more reliable and solid than just my taste.

It's done when any changes make things different rather than better. (That can be subjective or objective depending on how clear your idea of what you are aiming at is.) Also when you no longer feel the drive to improve it. Or when you hit your deadline and it has to be delivered. Also check with friends, especially those you trust to be honest.

 

[Op. 67]

Listen to your piece a couple of days after you think you are done with it.
If you are happy with what you hear, you're done.

 

[jon wayne]

It's a lot like a bowel movement.....you just know!

 

[sinkd]

Art is never finished, it is abandoned (Leonardo daVinci)

 

[vibrationisreality]

80/20 rule.

 

[Delboy]

guess when u r bored of it ... or maybe when a new genre in music appears

I just wish I had that problem

 

[papah]

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
​

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey

 

[Henning]

When the client tells you so.

 

[AudioLoco]

Deadlines help

When no deadlines are present I give myself a deadline (usually a maximum x number of days on a given track)

There is always a note, a velocity curve, an effect, an experiment, a lucky mistake that may or can happen, one more part to try, one more instrument or to try it with.... it could be never ending for me at least...
So at one point one needs to abandon (like already mentioned here) and get to the next track

 

[AudioLoco]

Art is never finished, it is abandoned (Leonardo daVinci)

I thought it was a Zappa quot...

 

[Loïc D]

Deadline due date

 

[The Gost]

When I no longer like this piece.

 

[ScarletJerry]

It's the same answer as when you are finished purchasing new instruments...

 

[weeeeve]

Objectively- when the piece is due.
Subjectively- when I'm satisfied with it.

 

[Tracewidth]

Since I create music pricincipally for my own satisfaction my works are finished at the point that I've spent so long mixing them that they accost me, curse-heavy and intolerable, the next morning as I awaken.

 

[Xixion from X]

For me over the years I found a rule for myself that I can apply for different arts: sh*t in is sh*t out and based in that. If the basic idea or the start element is good you should be through the creation process relativly fast but if the song takes forever and you are not happy with it, its probably to a "bad" thing you composed at the beginning.
In other words. If the song takes too much time its a sign that something is wrong. (Of course there are exceptions)
If I realise that I need to long I stop adding new stuff, look back the the start elements and probably remove elements. This will bring me to the point where I can finish the song

 

[Dietz]

"A mix is never finished, it's just time running out."

(... attributed to George Massenburg)

 

[NekujaK]

If there's no external deadline, then potentially, you can always be adding or tweaking something indefinitely.

One way to manage this, is when you reach a point where the piece feels reasonably complete, mix it, master it, render it, and call it "Version 1".

Then, feel free to come back to it and tweak as much as you like, and when you feel it's ready again, render "Version 2". And so on...

In this way, you'll have listenable versions that represent significant milestones in the final development of the track. Any one of them could be deemed "finished", which will free you to start working on a new piece, knowing that you can always come back and continue tweaking a previous piece and render a new finished version.

After a few versions, you'll probably start losing interest in making more tweaks, and prefer working on your new track, which is perfectly fine, because you now have at least one finished version of your previous work!

 

[Uncle Peter]

When you no longer feel irritated by anything in the track