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Complete loss of creativity

It's been over two months since I've even touched my sequencer. Sure, I've always started stuff that I never ended up finishing, but now I can't even begin a project. My pool of ideas is completely blank. I can't even compose a basic 4 bar melody.. and for some reason all my synths sound like crap. Did I just lose it?

Im just coming off a 3-4 month break myself. Everytime I would go to touch my stuff, i didnt get much or just didnt feel like doing it. Just give it time. One day you'll want to start up again. At least thats how it works for me.

i'm the same..i end up working a track..and then when i get to the breakdown..i sorta give up lol. oh and im limited by this shitty ass 2.5 ghz celeron =(

Yeah, happens all the time... mostly because stress/general tiredness from work and whatnot. The absolute worst thing you could possibly do is forcing yourself to produce something.

If it doesn't work out, just give it a rest. Do other stuff, don't sweat it. It'll come to you sooner or later.

I heavily reccomend heading out to the music store, buy a new record, and get inspiration, it always works mate

Then again, I do get creative breaks from time to time, but once you get started again you usually end up with a great track

I just started back up again after a lil over a yr sucks but i think what got to me was reading soo many thread, tutorials and all that bs instead of just having fun with it like when i started it made me become to picky about everything.

Re: Complete loss of creativity

quote:

Originally posted by Aquarian It's been over two months since I've even touched my sequencer. Sure, I've always started stuff that I never ended up finishing, but now I can't even begin a project. My pool of ideas is completely blank. I can't even compose a basic 4 bar melody.. and for some reason all my synths sound like crap. Did I just lose it?

No not really. Its just your ears telling you whats wrong with your old mixes. It looks bad but its really a good thing, since now you have raised the bar - its time to junk all the old stuff and try a different approach. I get mental blocks every couple of weeks and if I were honest about it, most of my productions are shite except for the odd few that turned out ok. In a couple of weeks time, I will think those are shite too and will start redesigning some of the better ones that last the two week test. The crap ones I just abandon.

In my humble opinion its good to have several projects on the go at once. Im still working on a breaks track from november of last year. The first time round I liked it for about two weeks, then I played it in the middle of a playlist consisting of Hybrid, Lost Tribe and Fluke tunes. Well, that spoilt the party because they all made my tune sound wrong.

I abandoned it for a few months then kind of 'remixed' it over the course of a few days. Then kind of abandoned it again until 3 weeks ago. Did a few overhauls on some of the instruments and reseated a couple of elements in the mix when I had fresh ears. Theres still stuff wrong with it but everytime I put it on the backburner and work on something else, then come back to it, I make improvements. So far its probably my best track and I have spent about 10 days total on it. Just that its been spread out over the course of about 6 months.

Try doing the same. I have like 4 tracks on the go at once and a bajillion sound design tests. It helps if you are listening to alot of tunes and also getting ideas from stuff outside of music and production, just to keep a fresh perspective on things.

If I find myself staring blankly at a screen and all I can write are stupid cheese trance riffs, I just load up a sound design project and start working on that instead. As long as you are always working on something you will be improving in some way.

The worst thing you can do is to effectively take 3 months off doing any sort of production and just totally mong out. You will come back with fresh ears alright (which is a good thing) but at the same time you could have made so much progress in that time, but will more than likely have spent it doing something that is a complete waste of time, like playing Oblivion or something...

Re: Re: Complete loss of creativity

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative The worst thing you can do is to effectively take 3 months off doing any sort of production and just totally mong out. You will come back with fresh ears alright (which is a good thing) but at the same time you could have made so much progress in that time, but will more than likely have spent it doing something that is a complete waste of time, like playing Oblivion or something...

Is that really such a bad thing? I took a couple of months of just playing games, watching movies.. making music can be very taxing, and it's like doing a diet, of you just do the diet you get tired of it, but if you do small rewards like getting some candy one day, then you can do the diet longer..

Same thing with music I think. Too much of it and you'll get tired doing it.

Eh depends. I love producing so its not an issue for me.

However, it is important to get ideas and experiences outside of music production. If all you do is produce music and study other people's music you will never bring anything other than iterations to your work. Which is probably a bad thing. Its a good thing to go travelling, go clubbing, have some time off and try out new things.

But take months off to play videogames?! hell no! Take days off here and there? Sure thing. If you want to make some kind of career out of it, I think it pays off to not pull too many 'sick days' or even 'sick months' as the case may be.

Take too much time off and you get slack. At least, I definitely get slack if I take too much time off. I look at the number of releases Hybrid have put out since 1999 and all the gigs they have done and it really does look like they havent stopped working on tunes for the past 7 years. To be really good at something, I think you need to be slightly obsessed about it like that. At least, I would definitely like to get my music up to standard where it is comparible to Hybrids. Long way off but keep your head down. Work hard. Play hard. But dont play too hard. If you want it badly enough you will get there sooner or later. At least I would bloody well hope so.

try something else

ihave mental writers block too at times ,what i do is take breaks
cause the more you force anything the worse it sounds

i recommend trying a different genre ,or a tune you have not programmed in a while then youll get the feel for the other genre you were stuck with.


i only make one genre at time so if im stuck on that track i take a break but i always go back and finish that track first ,if i go to a new track the one im working on will never get done.

but in your case i think trying a new genre may help like trip hop,break beats,chillout ,pscy etc

Well, i had i break from my production from allmost a year , and i had produced alot, but i almost stopped listening to records, cus my ears and my music senses got numb i the end, and i just got tierd of it.

But after about a year break, i had saved some money, and one day i went in to a music-store to check out some new synths and other gears, and it ended in that i bought my self a couple af new vst�s and a new sequencer.

And that was that, i was up and running again :P and now eight months after that i have 3 signed traks coming up(before i had non). So a break can be verry good for your creativity. I have come to the fact that you can not force that out fo your self.

/C

I totally agree with both substorm and Derivative on this subject. For myself, listening to more music and then taking a little break (few days) always rejuvenates my creativity. Also, during that "little break," reading up a little bit on areas that you trouble on really helps. I remember it took me forever to come up with a stupid 4-8 bar melody, but that for me was because I just didn't know much music theory. I was basing all my knowledge from band back in elementary to high school. I read a little bit and now I can actually create minor melodic/harmonic/natural melodies with ease. It's a lot easier once you actually KNOW what you're doing instead of just attempting something that you think sounds right. It pays off in the end especially when you know which notes fit well together so you can create those epic pad lines or really dirty sounding melodies that just get the people moving on the dance floor. My little tip is to just read a little bit more on what you don't know. Of course it's not going to hurt you, so why not do it? I've definitely had more inspiration to create more music now just because it's so much easier to create "nicer" sounding melodies and add more effects and automations to the tracks. Get creative...learn more!

i hate creative block

had that when i lost all my production samples and synths when my secondary hd fried itself

then i got back into it and everything sounds shit unless i take ages just tweaking the same sound over and over again

best thing u need in this situation is a good dose of trance, to get the feel of it again, freshen the mind up innit

either that or turn emo

haha turn emo...you're a funny guy.

if you're just producing for fun, taking long breaks is cool.

but if you want to succeed, grow as an artist, and make somthing very good, you have to struggle, and work hard. even if that means forcing yourself to work on a track. but really, if you want it that bad, these things won't be of concern to you.

ya, like i said, for the casual producer, whatever, break as much as you want....who gives a shit.

I actually wish I could produce now, but I'm waiting for the final pieces for my new studio to arrive, so all synths and gear is spread around the room..

Hopefully I'll get it all sorted this weekend. I'll grab a pic when I'm done

And finally, I managed to actually get a rare inspiration box (minifridge with redbull and vodka in it). I'm getting a rare and very cool Red Bull Minifridge that only some restaurants get. Woot

Right now I'm also trying to get a couple of cinema chairs as well into the studio.

Btw, thats also a huge mood killer. If your studio looks like shit, it aint gonna help the creative mood

I just got back from work and Ive got FL Studio running in the background right now

If there is one thing we can agree on, taking breaks is an absolute must. The length of the break is debateable but if you have a mental block you will get nowhere by staring at a screen when your mind is blatently on something else. You might as well not bother.

When I was in uni I used to produce for days non stop and wouldnt even sleep for a day or two if I felt I was on a roll.

The weird thing is, I get more done by taking breaks when I start to fumble for ideas. I am more productive now that I am working full time and put limits on my producing time. But try to get the most out of every single hour I put in. Get out of your seat and do something else for an hour and come back to producing when your mind is focused if you arent feeling it.

I think everyone here has at some point 'overcooked' their tunes - basically overtweaked a mix to death and killing whatever magic it had in the first place, trying to make it better. Ive done this so many times I have lost count. Its not worth beating yourself up over it and dont let those defeats get you down or stop you from producing. Even the greats like Liam Howlett have off days. He had a few off years. We all have mental blocks. Its par for the course. The important thing is that you tough it out and see what you can really create when you are on song and you are in the zone.

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative When I was in uni I used to produce for days non stop and wouldnt even sleep for a day or two if I felt I was on a roll.

Oh yeah, definately been there

I always tell myself "ok, I'm gonna work on this track for one hour, and then I don't listen to it until next morning." And I end up staying up all night.

You know I want to throw out my 2 cents as well. This is a really good thread in my opinion...a LOT of people go through this. Whether you're doing it as a serious producer or just for hobby (I'm more the serious producer who also does it as a hobby, ha!), it's important to know how to discipline yourself during the creative process. Here's a few things I do:

If it's a project with a deadline:

1.) I make an actual schedule. Knowing in the back of my mind I won't stick to the schedule (similar to saying you'll work for an hour, and stop), I make one anyway because it forces my creativity to become more coherent.

2.) I will have 2 or 3 reference tracks that I can A/B to, all of which usually have some element I am trying to mimick. Ultimately I end up using it as a startpoint, and then just A/Bing for sonic spectrum purposes.

3.) SLEEP. I just came off of producing a track where for about 2 weeks straight I would pull shifts working until 6am, sleep until 10am, get up and continue working on the track. I got the job done but in retrospec, I can definitely hear PLENTY I would do differently. Sleep is very important folks!

If it's just as a hobby:

1.) Pretend that it's actually on a deadline. That can be tough, but the greatest thing about a deadline is that it often forces you to make decisions whereas if you had all the time in the world, you could stew about all the options. That's a tough thing to do to be honest, so it's very important with me.

2.) Listen to something entirely new. Don't pigeonhole a specific genre. For instance, right now, I have gone on a BT splurg where I listen to LOTS of BT. I'm pulling myself out and guess what I found myself listening to? A Kelly Clarkson track, some oldskool Eagles, Zeppelin, and LOADS of classical music.

3.) Play your principle instrument. I am a pianist, and firing up my yamaha P-90, throwing it into some great reverb or effects...then just playing, improvising. I garauntee you will get ideas that way. I often times get melodic ideas when I'm soloing over a jazz chart, oddly enough.

So, that's just my 2 cents. I'm on a "break" period as we speak since I am relocating for a new job, and therefor most of my attention is focused on all the things that have to be done in the next 2 weeks. YIKES!


This is a good thread, keep it going folks. It's inspiring me as we speak to do a new track for fun.

Ironically enough, after I started this thread I started working on something.

That's awesome man! Good luck with it. Keep us posted on your progress on the new track too! I'm the kinda guy who likes to hear things in progress and then hear the final product as well. :-D

quote:

Originally posted by Arudius 1.) Pretend that it's actually on a deadline. That can be tough, but the greatest thing about a deadline is that it often forces you to make decisions whereas if you had all the time in the world, you could stew about all the options. That's a tough thing to do to be honest, so it's very important with me.

I find I go off on so many tangents sometimes when working on an idea I just have to kick myself to leave parts of the track that I think arnt quite right and move on so the track actually "gets" somewhere - when it does its like a breath of fresh air and I go back to the previous part of the track I left.

As for ideas they either just come to me whatever im doing or inspired by a track im listening to, sometimes thought ill come up with what I think is an original peice then realise its actually a trance track I've heard lol.

great thread
i'm an old man, so i have been through years of this
i will change genres, instruments, etc
i remember the day i sold my hardware synths in 95-96 because "trance was dead" (like a fucking cat it is . . . )
i did the grunge thing which seemed so important then. . . and the d&b thing, the jazz thing. . . it all goes around.

long and short of it is it doesn't really matter ultimately. just make music and be happy. fame or getting signed doesn't matter. i can tell you of artists so hot people used to drool, and no one knows their name now. even einstein fades before the feynman's and the string theory gurus. no one even cares when president carter speaks now. only thing that matters is love and life. all else is illusion if you live long enough.

I've been producing as a hobby well over a decade now.. Brake is alvays good and needed, And don't do it 24/7. Soon you will realize it.. No matter how good you are at it, You got to balance your life. You live only once and belive me I seen some people get into it too hardcore over the years. You are young only once. And if you just do one thing, you'll miss on all the other things in life, and you end up regretting things. I read once that in this time, out of 1000 bedroom producers, only 1 will have their music released, and 1 if lucky will hit big to make a living out of that. It was a general info regarding all types of music, not just electronic. And the ratio suposely gets larger, with anyone with a computer being able to make music thease days. I don't question that since it's quite accesible with the technology now. A lot of people quit and move on, comsumed by their regular work and life. And some people do it as a hobby all their life. I know I am in that cattegory (hobby for life), and if i release something decent that's a bonus. I am married, have a doughter, work, have a studio as one of my many hobbies, and do dieferent things in life. Music is a quite big thing, but I just can't imagine if I was making tunes 24/7, I would of missed the best times of my life.

ps, I have a friend, not gonna disclose his name, he's pretty known in the electronic music scene, makes a living out of it. He does it 24/7, and what a poor sole, locked up for the last 10 years in his studio, avay like a rat. Missed some of his fun years already at 35+ years old... He's my best example, still single, almost zero social life, some interaction with people, mostly record label and me hehe, I visit him once a month.... if he's not too busy with a new track. No time to do anything, at list in his own words. The list goes on. You can imagine... It's like a being a workoholic, you just work and don't do anything alse...

Same here

Same here

I used to doubt myself alot... I still do a little and I ask myself, "am I losing it" and what was said before is true, it's just that you're getting better. Right now I'm having alot of trouble mixing stuff together, but that's because "my ears are telling me what's wrong" and I have to tweak the snynths more and Eq it better, and there's only one mix I still consider really good from my old ones, and it's not that old. It's kinda hard for me to stop making music though cause I need to get a life. I just sit in fron of my monitor and get ideas, and ideas, and ideas; even on the crapper I get ideas, but sometimes the don't work out to well, or some I start with a peice of shit when I put it together for the first time, and then the next day I decid to implement that idea and remake it and it sounds really good. I try to stay away from my sequener for atleast three or four days, (or less cause the addiction is like an addiction of heroin, I need it psychologically and mentally... only thing is it doesn't kill me... or does it???) but don't doubt yourself (wow... I should really apply that to myself), remember, trance wasn't developed in a day.

Xylence

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