I have a folder called “songs” with eleven half-finished tracks in it. This is the first one I actually finished, start to end, including the part where you have to stop tweaking the hi-hats and just call it done.

What actually got it over the line

Not better gear. Not more plugins. A deadline I made up and told exactly one person about, so I couldn’t quietly let it slide like the other eleven.

The arrangement is simple on purpose — verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, out. Every time I tried to get clever with the structure it turned into track twelve in the unfinished folder.

What’s next

Doing it again before I let myself add a twelfth unfinished one to the pile.