The Motivation/Creativity/Inspiration/Writers Block Thread™

[ljk32]

You're a legend man, I've tried it before unsuccessfully, but I think it does help, like getting the track laid out with Nexus presets. Or, I can make a few patches and do what you said. Would be awesome if I could do this as well as picturing how the track could progress. But anyway, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. So much respect for you...

[Maxxan]

Just keep at it, try my technique and if it feels awkward change what you don't like about it. Try to analyze your sessions afterward and see if you got sidetracked somewhere. You got the first part down so obviously you can write, it's just that your workflow is not good so you get distracted before you can finish. You gotta find what that is.

You've got your flow, you're starting on one section and it's all good. Then something happens and you can't get back to that mode. Try and find where that happens, at what point. Maybe you spent too long on EQ:ing a snare, messing with hats or whatever. Try again but next time skip that step, save it for last, unless it's like VITAL to the tune. Most likely it wont be.

I can never picture how my tracks progress. I never have ideas beforehand, I just go to work and then keep at it, change a lot of stuff up after. Just lay a section down so you can move on, then come back and change it or maybe replace it entirely, doesn't matter as long as it moved the track forward. Many of my tunes have 40-60 (some a lot more, 80 maybe) hours spent on a project. I've made some changes to my workflow since so now I work faster, and a lot of this is mastering and just polishing after the track is finished. But, see if your DAW can track this and see how long you've spent. Just as a reference.

[Njamimars]

Hey,

I've been producing for roughly 3 years now, I am not planning to stop because I have tons of ideas and urge to produce I got motivation for that, because I like to create music.

Anyway checking my older stuff I had alot more views and alot of more people digging my stuff than now, I even got noticed by a label. It all changed. Right now, I really feel I got improved. My mastering/mixdown is way better and I create alot of more genres besides dubstep. Yet it is like no one ever listens to my music.

I have 177 followers on my soundcloud, yet when I drop a track I get 30 plays. I am quite active I listen to all my followers updates and comment when I really dig it. Why people follow me if they do not even bother listening to my music?
Is my music gone downwards? Or should I really put more work into promoting y tunes e.g. Messaging outube
Promoters?

It is really hard to get motivated when no one knows who the fuck u are, right?

Has anyone got the same problem, got some tips?

Soz for spelling. Typing from phone

Thanks for the read!

[Maxxan]

Hey,

I've been producing for roughly 3 years now, I am not planning to stop because I have tons of ideas and urge to produce I got motivation for that, because I like to create music.

Anyway checking my older stuff I had alot more views and alot of more people digging my stuff than now, I even got noticed by a label. It all changed. Right now, I really feel I got improved. My mastering/mixdown is way better and I create alot of more genres besides dubstep. Yet it is like no one ever listens to my music.

I have 177 followers on my soundcloud, yet when I drop a track I get 30 plays. I am quite active I listen to all my followers updates and comment when I really dig it. Why people follow me if they do not even bother listening to my music?
Is my music gone downwards? Or should I really put more work into promoting y tunes e.g. Messaging outube
Promoters?

It is really hard to get motivated when no one knows who the fuck u are, right?

Has anyone got the same problem, got some tips?

Soz for spelling. Typing from phone

Thanks for the read!

177 followers and 30 plays sounds about right. Most people who follow you, most likely, just clicked follow to get your attention and have hundreds of people in their following list. So most followers aren't 'real' followers. A better indication of your tracks quality I guess is how many downloads, favorites and comments it has relative to the amount of plays. If 2000 people listened and not one liked it enough to download, well then it might be a shitty track. You can't really judge it by how many plays it has. Once you get to 500-1000 plays it can start spreading by itself if you're lucky, people posting on facebook, tumblr etc. This happens to many of my tracks by itself now but it doesn't draw too many plays or happen too frequently yet.

If you want to speed this up a bit, there are a couple different ways. Blogs are probably the best way, if you get lucky a big blog post can get you thousands of plays, and other bloggers will be more keen to post it when they see other people think it's a tune. Mail blogs with your style, write a bit about the track and post a soundcloud link or something. Most wont reply or post but some do. If you're small time, maybe don't go for the huge blogs first, aim for the ones with a couple hundred readers or so. Also, commenting and following people on soundcloud works. Dont comment shit like 'good tune listen to mine', try to leave genuine comments. A lot of kids will appreciate it and most likely listen to your tune in return. Following people is a little more controversial. I think it's okay, if I see someone follow me I know it's probably just an attempt to get attention, and if I don't want to listen I can choose to ignore it. Some people will think you're a whore or whatever but it doesn't bother me, and it does work. Gives you a lot of plays if you're consistent.

[Njamimars]

Hey Maxxan,

I really thank you for your reply. Yeah you are right, I shouldn't be worried about that. And I will look into your blog suggestions since all I did was youtube so far. Well actually my older productions have been on dubstrash, but unfortunatly the site is dead.

Maybe that is why I had a steady flow of listeners, I just tought about it.

again cheers for your advice, really helps me to get back on track !

Njamimars

[Ficticious]

Suggestions to try when you've got writers block <

Personally I haven't had a writers blocks as I have always finished my tunes every time. Personally I don't care if it ends up good or bad because I am still finding my sound and I always let myself know that if I want people to hear it that is up to me. However, I still get a fully progressed track in the end. In this case I'd like to explain a little of what I do to make sure I at least finish the track.

1. Having a consciousness about yourself. Realize that even if your track is not sounding great or the way you want it to originally this still is not a good excuse not to finish the track. A track can take many different directions at any point in time and may always be re-reformed later. Going back to older tracks once you have a direct sound and decent mix down process isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's good to critique yourself but don't over think to the point where you get so discouraged you stop.

2. Reward yourself , pat yourself on the back. Question yourself "What are my emotions right now? Where do I want this track to end up with the person that I'm trying to connect to (Audience wise or such).

3. Have a theme. A theme will pretty much allow you to finish a track because you will have a sense of direction.

4. Having a sense of direction < this refers to planning. Example : how many bars do I want my intro to be before a breakdown, how many bars should I have a crazy section. Have I reached this goal? Question yourself on this type of thing as it will help you focus for a better understanding of your track.

5. Opinions! most people are self conscious about showing their tracks to the public that they think are bad. That's okay, however. Don't be afraid to show it to close friends who give you pure honest opinions and critique, this will help you improve. You can also show it to the WIP thread privately given that you give actual feedback to people

6. Watch youtube videos, look for samples, look for anything that's really interesting and start building your track off of that when stuck, it will take you places. You can always go back and change it later.

7. If your tracks rotting away. Collab! collaborations can help progress it further, especially if you have a good intro but not a good breakdown, build up or drop. vice-versa.

8. Look for new sounds. A new sound patch will always inspire a new type of direction in the song. Make sure everything is glued together properly however.

9. Remind yourself of the artists that got you into music in the first place. For those who are loosing love because of the scene or their expectations, rethink about what made you start losing that love? Remember, you make music from your emotions in its purest form and most ideal. It's to be created not for money/fame/impressions/etc. Musics simply just created as an art form from your emotions. Dig into those emotions, especially when feeling them at any point in time.

10. If you're stuck because of technicalities. There's always questions you can simply ask on the forum here or go surfing within Google or other websites.


Hope this helps!

[NinjaEdit]

I think you should also keep yourself in good shape. Eat well and get regular exercise.

3. Have a theme.

I was going to say something like this. Recall some kind of phrase, like "minimal."

[Maxxan]

I think you should also keep yourself in good shape. Eat well and get regular exercise.

Oh my god this so much. My mind so much sharper when I get good sleep, eat well and don't do too much drugs. Exercise is really underestimated as well.

http://www.kratosguide.com/16-habits-yo ... every-day/

Somewhat related. I thought this was a great read. The whole keeping active thing really translates into production for me, keep myself from passing out on the bed in front of a shitty movie after work of whatever.

[sunny_b_uk]

put random LFOs/envelopes on everything

Best advice ever.

thanx this really works depending how its done, i'll do a video tutorial today on how i go about it since its easy and can be inspiring for sound design.

[Cryoshok]

I think just seeing that other people get stuck on this helps me feel better about it. I wish I was one of those producers who could just sit down every time and be productive/make something worthwhile.

The thing that has helped me a lot lately is just being on point with getting tracks done even if they aren't amazing. The last few weeks have been nothing but tracks I will never release but each one has been a learning experience in workflow/organization. Someone once told me that when you finish things your start your confidence grows and that you should create a track record of finishing things. Put yourself on a deadline. In that Ira Glass video he says the same thing: "do a large volume of work to bridge that gap between where you are and where you want to be." Just some things that have been floating around in my head as of late!

[glottis5]

try mowing the lawn while listening to music. seriously while landscaping in the summer and listening to tunes i get so many ideas for tracks. like you i only create small loops and then get stuck a lot. but mowing lawns helped me a bit lol.

Why would anyone do drugs when they could just mow a lawn?

[NinjaEdit]

I watched a doc on PlastikMan where he talks about doing an album a month for a year. They said it improved his creativity and discipline. Those albums were his most experimental according to the doc.

Anyway, having a high quanitity quota may be a good creative tool. I found that working at a album-per-month rate forced me out of my usual style and was a bit more experimental sounding.

[Ficticious]

I think just seeing that other people get stuck on this helps me feel better about it. I wish I was one of those producers who could just sit down every time and be productive/make something worthwhile.

The thing that has helped me a lot lately is just being on point with getting tracks done even if they aren't amazing. The last few weeks have been nothing but tracks I will never release but each one has been a learning experience in workflow/organization. Someone once told me that when you finish things your start your confidence grows and that you should create a track record of finishing things. Put yourself on a deadline. In that Ira Glass video he says the same thing: "do a large volume of work to bridge that gap between where you are and where you want to be." Just some things that have been floating around in my head as of late!

No producer can do that. They just finish the track fully even if it's repetitive, then go back to it and make changes/pick at it for a while over a week to a months time. Or let it sit in there forever

[NinjaEdit]

Yeah, Bob Dylan throws away nine songs for every one he keeps.

[Cryoshok]

I think just seeing that other people get stuck on this helps me feel better about it. I wish I was one of those producers who could just sit down every time and be productive/make something worthwhile.

The thing that has helped me a lot lately is just being on point with getting tracks done even if they aren't amazing. The last few weeks have been nothing but tracks I will never release but each one has been a learning experience in workflow/organization. Someone once told me that when you finish things your start your confidence grows and that you should create a track record of finishing things. Put yourself on a deadline. In that Ira Glass video he says the same thing: "do a large volume of work to bridge that gap between where you are and where you want to be." Just some things that have been floating around in my head as of late!

No producer can do that. They just finish the track fully even if it's repetitive, then go back to it and make changes/pick at it for a while over a week to a months time. Or let it sit in there forever

My work flow is more going from section to section vs doing the whole thing and then going back. My problem most of the time is that I never can set an endpoint to the work on a song unless I set a deadline for it...

[ehbes]

listen to jazz

[Elektronikz]

Ok, I'm just wondering... I've been producing various styles of electronic music for a little less than a year. I know I've gotten better than when I first started, but I feel as if I should be better than I am now.Take a listen at a few tunes by me, the tracks in this set are ordered Oldest→Newest Soundcloud I'm not very good at creating synths, I usually just make very basic synths, or use presets and edit them a bit. I don't know how to master my tunes, only very basically. Although I try my best to be original, most people say, "It doesn't sound right." or something along those lines. My main point being, am I average for how long I've been producing, or a bit above average, or a bit below, or what?
-Thanks

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

dont worry man
just keep evolving

big plus for the children sample too

[mthrfnk]

I've been producing for coming upto 1.75 years, and I'm still grabbing new samples, new techniques and making new stuff all the time. Honestly it's just about making tunes - the more you make, the more you learn.

Also if you're serious about producing, you should maybe start putting some money into it e.g. I found buying monitors really helped my mixes and overall quality of my tracks.

[Ghost of Muttley]

I looked up the who is the best at making stuff race in the Akashic records and it says you're coming 49,856,485th.

I didn't check how many people were in the race so I can't determine the average or where you are in relation to it.