Time from opening a new project file to smash hit release..

[amanise]

I wonder if this has been asked before... How long do your projects take out of your life - in ,say, hours?

I expect most of us (pro or hobbyist) have a system by now. One of the best bits of advice I read was - do it however you want but always have a system.

...and all projects are probably different. But the studios must have a way of budgeting for chargeable hours, and torturing everybody with time sheets and all that. How do they set those? Are those years all behind us? Do any of us hobbyists even think about the time element?

I guess at the moment I'm consistently getting about 7 projects done a year, but not to strict quality control rules, as I'm in the hobbyist sector (much as I'd like to be in the pro division). I'd probably be sacked, and I have yet to convert this to hours each, and I don't work on them as I would if I was employed by someone else. Come on pros - switch over to 'general admin' time code for a second and reveal all

[MarkOne]

My last album (Evolution) grew out of a project in 2021 where I challenged myself to go from blank project to write, record, mx and master, and get out as a live release on all the platforms every month for the year. It was hard work, but somehow having a deadline like that really concentrated the mind. I am really proud of the projects and I think I grew a lot as a songwriter, player and engineer in that year.

My Renegade Sky Pirates project started properly in 2015 and one track still isn't recorded and only one has reached final mix. I lost the bass player and guitarist after they both moved away post pandemic. I'm starting to resurrect the project now.

The title track of my first album which I released in 2011 was written in 1977!

So I guess the answer is...

It depends

[amanise]

...blank project to write, record, mx and master, and get out as a live release on all the platforms every month for the year. ...

That sounds familiar - although I save all my tracks up and treat myself to a CDBaby release every Christmas. One a month is a good target for me, yet still I only seem to end up with 7. Thankfully I never get hit by the loss of any other musicians - and the absence of arguments (except for with myself) is amazing. I may split myself up and reform over musical differences just for the hell of it some time.

[Drew Stephenson]

Hmmm. Strictly non-professional here so it's always being worked around that irritating interference that is called life. If I recall rightly, the previous album took around about 12 months but a couple of tracks were already about 90% there. The current one will take longer because I have a lot of contributors on this one so there's much more back and forward.
I have no idea about actual hours involved, I will try and track that on the next track. The thing is, I write as I mix as I produce as I write so my timing is likely to be very different to someone who's just mixing.
I think the old adage that 'a mix is never finished, you just run out of time' is probably true for me. Especially since I'm still learning all the time. If I went back to stuff I did a year ago I'd probably be making changes to it now.