I Wrote 52 Songs in One Year, Here's What Happened...

[@mountaine]

Well done to both of you! I've started on a similar journey in 2025 - the goal isn't necessarily to complete a song, but at least be so productive that I can publish something listenable/okay'ish every day. There are good reasons to assume that I won't be able to keep it up all year (or even throughout January), but I'm already seeing many of the benefits that you describe. I also think it reveals many of my own mistakes and bad habits in front of the keyboard: - lack of a basic plan/strategy when I start - not committing to a format/arrangement idea in the (apparently) subconscious belief that I will invent something inherently new and original *every time* I open a blank project - noodling endlessly on pointless details on tracks and templates that are going nowhere - over-complicating things - taking weeks or months off due to false pride over finishing a song, hoping in vain that *surely* it will pass 100 views on Soundcloud once April comes around But now I'm forced to soldier on, and if an idea doesn't work... well, then I have to identify the problem as quickly as possible and move on! No time to dwell on past mistakes, new ideas are waiting! A side-effect is that I also feel a close kinship with anyone who does/has done a similar thing, so I enjoyed nodding to your video - thanks! Sorry for going on for a bit!

[@matttinklermusic]

That's awesome, thank you for sharing your experiences so far! 😁 I can absolutely relate to so many of those things that you said. Thank you so much for watching and I'm glad the video was engaging and interesting for you! ☺️

[@classfront]

I decided to do this myself this year and this was lovely to watch and encourage me

[@matttinklermusic]

Amazing! Good luck with it and I hope it's fruitful for you! :D

[@starhavven]

5:25 THIS! great video!

[@matttinklermusic]

Thanks for watching! I'm glad this resonated with you. :)

[@nicoincertezza5763]

thanks for this insights. great vid!

[@matttinklermusic]

You're very welcome! Thanks for watching. :)

[@Spectoral_on_SPOTIFY]

After all these years, I wanna hear your sound!!!

[@matttinklermusic]

It's on its way! :D

[@BoringKBM]

I'd be interested in seeing this as a recurring series. Basically a post-mortem after the year-end or after a long project! Cheers and happy New Year!

[@matttinklermusic]

I'm so glad to hear that! I'm planning on doing these more motivational videos every few weeks or so, so it's great to hear you're interested in these kinds of videos. :) Happy New Year!

[@DreøZki]

I had only known about you in this teaching role so I checked out your weekly beats and damn your music is sick!! That's really good given you'd do these in a week!

[@matttinklermusic]

Thanks so much! I'm really glad you like the music, that means the world! :D

[@WillRoan]

Yeah great video. Super motivating!

[@matttinklermusic]

Thank you! I'm glad that it was motivating for you. :D

[@MartijnFEH]

Nice to hear man....Keep up the good work..🙏🙏

[@matttinklermusic]

Thanks so much! :)

[@Cross_Contam]

I did something similar a few years ago. I hadn't been gigging in a few years and had always been working on someone else's project as a bassist. I wanted to work on my own stuff but only had a phone and my guitars. So I just used bandlab mobile and made 50 plus tracks I released on there that year in an album called Excercises In Futility. I tried to make myself uncomfortable doing different genres and trying not to use any packs, programming the midi and it really helped with my creativity. Since then I got a better studio setup and have been working in Reaper but have tried ableton on a friend's computer I just didn't get the work flow. Great video I can't agree more with the importance of having good templates to save time and increase productivity.

[@matttinklermusic]

Thanks for sharing your experience! It's such a good thing to do to challenge your creativity. I use Reaper a lot for when I want to do more technical audio editing stuff (generally editing podcasts for others), but I use Ableton Live for all my main music-making. It's all personal preference and both are equally great! :D

[@Cross_Contam]

Podcasts would work well in Reaper since it accepts video. It's fun to play with editing video on there because you can automate the video plugins for cool custom fx and transitions. It's just clunky doing top down video editing with multiple clips. I think ableton's midi editor might be a bit easier to get into... reaper's is hard to get used to using. They both get the job done though.

[@ricardojmestre]

Great video! I will do the challenge in 2026

[@matttinklermusic]

Thanks! I definitely recommend giving it a go on 2026. 😁

[@ArnaudVandyck]

Very inspiring! I’d like to do a song in a month, 12/year! 🎉

[@matttinklermusic]

Join in the challenges! 🥳

[@CopenhagenCollabo]

Hi Matt Where’s the book about Denmark 🇩🇰…?😅 Copenhagen supports

[@jordandeiss]

Yes 👍 I'm up for 1 or 2 tracks per month

[@matttinklermusic]

Amazing! I'm looking forward to running these challenges. :D

[@jamestucker7654]

I’m on the pace of a song a week and would love the community. I’d love to be a part of this. My artist name and music is on another channel. Great video. Inspiring.

[@matttinklermusic]

Community definitely make a challenge like this so much easier, I look forward to seeing you in this one! Thanks for watching and I'm glad it was inspiring. :)

[@epiphoney]

No course does any good unless you take action.

[@matttinklermusic]

100% agree!!

[@SidAlienTV]

they are "songs" and "SONGS".

[@gainesdominique]

John Cage 4:33

[@matttinklermusic]

Admittedly, some of what I wrote were not songs as they didn't have lyrics, but that's a technicality. 😅