Treating abandoned projects as a personal sample library removes the stigma of unfinished work

Most producers accumulate folders of abandoned projects. Rather than treating these as failures, they can be reframed as a collection of raw material: custom loops, chord progressions, drum patterns, and sound design ideas that are unique and already partly developed. Starting a new track by extracting elements from a scraps folder is an alternative to the blank slate and often more productive than starting from zero. The reframe also reduces the guilt of abandonment: not finishing a track is acceptable because you are building inventory for the next one.

Examples

Before opening a new project, open the scraps folder. Find the most interesting 8-bar drum loop and the most interesting chord progression from separate abandoned tracks. Combine them as the seed of the new track.

Assessment

Audit your abandoned projects folder. Extract three distinct musical ideas worth preserving. Save them into a dedicated scraps library. Use one in the next track you start.