i used to draw a stave roughly on a scrap of paper and pencil some of the basic notes of a tune but i dont do that anymore. most of the tunes i ended up writing with those melodies are on the backburner and all of them i have no desire to continue.

i try not to think about getting a block too much. if i do get song writers block i spend a few weeks just doing synth tests, creating new instruments and generally brushing up my production (not focusing on writing whole songs). the funny thing is every time i think im making progress i figure out something that im not doing right and its like someone set the finish line another 10 meters back.

most of the compositions ive got that im most happy with are the ones that ive come up with pretty much spontaneously or as a reaction to a feeling or something i saw or heard.

i tend to analogise writing music to water colour painting. if you ever do water colours you'll know you have to work quickly and once you've laid out some colour you dont want to keep painting over it. if you overwork a watercolour it becomes muddy and flat. you may even ruin the surface of the paper by constantly going over the same area. good watercolours have vibrant colours and washes that are done quickly and confidently (though to get this confident takes many many failed watercolours and lots of time and patience).

same thing if you write a riff and keep changing some of the notes around, fiddling with EQ settings, fiddling with backing tracks, swapping effects around, the whole mix starts to sound a bit flat and tired and muddy. just like in watercolour i have overfiddled with too many of my compositions that it just loses that energy. those ones dont survive the two week test. i have over 60 unfinished pieces where i just lost momentum. instead of overworking those compositions i felt it was more productive to take a step back and try something different from scratch (often ill brush up on my breaks by doing a dnb tune or work on my ensembles by writing some orchestral pieces entirely using strings and pads). always from a completely new file and just build up everything from the ground up again. also it helps to get out and club once in a while, or do something that makes you realise why you started listening to the music in the first place. thats always a good source of spontaneity and energy.

Last edited by Derivative on Oct-01-2004 at 04:45

Take a break and listento other tracks for inspiration.

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Originally posted by Zombie0915 So when one hears a tune in their head that they really wanna remember, what should they write down to remember it? Are you guys walking around with notebooks full of hand-drawn sheet music? What would you do to remember the details of the waveform you thought of? Are you all so familiar with the terms and things that you can write down the specs of whatever sound you think of in yer head so that you can produce it later?

I saw somewhere, I think in eq magazine, that there is now a sequencer for a pocket PC. That'd be much better than writing your ideas down or recording yourself 're-enacting' your idea, if you will. Here's a link I found on Yahoo really quickly, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/May...es/pocketpc.asp

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Originally posted by CynepMeH I've been away from my gear for 2 months now.... I was actually thinking if I made a track, I'd call it "Two months off" but that seems to be taken by Underworld . Don't sweat it - we are all prone to it. Even the guy from Prodigy (Liam Howlett) said that he was blocked up for more than 2 years! Imagine being a top recording artist and not being able to come up with worthy stuff. Sometimes you get to the point where you begin to scrutinize yourself - and hence enter a so-called "downward spiral" (oops... another name taken by a certain Trent Reznor's production) . Don't sweat it... It's like surfing - sometimes waves are shit, sometimes they are too much and sometimes you catch the perfect wave. Since music is a wave, you just have to wait for your right peak. Is that a good analogy? Main thing - keep having fun, don't stress it. It too, shall pass

Great analogy, man, I used to surf 5 years ago...it's exactly like writer's block.

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Originally posted by Timothy Take a break and listento other tracks for inspiration.

...or listen to other genres of music.

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"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."

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Originally posted by DjDefected I saw somewhere, I think in eq magazine, that there is now a sequencer for a pocket PC. That'd be much better than writing your ideas down or recording yourself 're-enacting' your idea, if you will. Here's a link I found on Yahoo really quickly, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/May...es/pocketpc.asp

if it only was FL

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BA-DUM-TSS

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ALFI - BOHICA - DJ MIX (Stream+Dropbox)