When you break it down, music production is an exercise in both creativity and productivity. Without a mindful approach to the latter, it’s easy to end up lost in meandering exploration. I’ve found it helpful to “outsource” the structure of my work to external, objective guidance and one of my favorites systems for this is the Pomodoro timer. This device puts the productivity clock directly into the Live set to assist with tracking and committing to the goals you set for your session.
Keep Focus
The idea behind this device is straightforward — start the timer as a commitment to a short sprint. “Whatever happens, I can and will make forward progress for 25 minutes.” That’s a specific, measurable, achievable goal, whether it’s to limit the time you’ll spend seeking a preset, programming a beat, or improvising different melodies.
At the end of the work period, take a break, no matter what you’re working on or where you’re at. It’s very easy to lose yourself in a marathon session, throwing yourself at the same problem over and over again. Take that moment to step away. Go on a walk, meditate, catch up on email, read an article. A short respite can be just what’s needed to return to the problem with clarity, fresh eyes and ears and ideas.
Pomodoro tracks your work time in the device or a cute small floating window.
A Little Nudge Toward a Disciplined Workflow
Are there any advantages to having the Pomodoro clock in your Live set versus any of the other great existing productivity apps? Not entirely, this is mostly a fun, experimental, and low-rent solution to getting started with Pomodoro’ing.
You’ll find a few minor-yet-useful features take advantage of Ableton integration, however. At the end of a work cycle, for instance, the transport will stop (so long as you aren’t recording) to encourage you to really, truly take a break for a bit. The system doesn’t work if you use the break to check “one more thing” or “just finish up”, so a little reminder that the work cycle is ended can be a great help.
Getting notified it's time to take a break is the small, regular push that stops you from getting "lost in the sauce".
Tomato Timer
The Pomodoro technique is well-loved by writers, designers, and all manner of productive, creative people. This article from Life Hack is a kind of Pomodoro 101 for the uninitiated — I suggest checking it out to learn more about the history of this idea, the concepts behind it, and how it can be useful to help you achieve your goals in and outside of music.
The Pomodoro technique was developed based on a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. Now that I have the Max for Live device, I no longer have any need for the physical object and can keep real tomatoes in the studio without exceeding my tomato quota!
I hope this device can help keep your Live sessions on track or, at the very least, push you to think more about how you might improve your focus. Send me an email at contact@patches.zone and let me know what other productivity utilities you’d be interested in seeing built into a device.