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Whats up guys?
So recently I've been having this problem. I get all motivated and stoked up to work on a song and start producing, but as soon as I sit down I just can't get anything out. I feel like everything I do suddenly feels cheesy or lame or amateurish and I can't figure it out. Its not that I don't know what I'm doing and its not amateurish in that its poor quality... Its just that... I just can't get that inspirational rush recently for some reason. All the chord progressions I come up with sound lame and I keep ending up accidentally imitating another song instead of creating something original or cool that is my own.

Was just wondering, what do you guys do when you're getting started to get those creative juices flowing? Maybe some will work for me and I can get out of this funk

stop working on chord progressions and make beats.
the chord progressions will follow
make the beats to create the inspiration

i dont know if it will work for you but. smoke weed. just a little bit.

when i don't smoke i have sooo many ideas flying around in my head when i sit down i am horrified, and change my mind every six minutes. take a puff or two, i can actually focus on sounds that i want >: D

i dont know if this is good advice but it works for me

Electric_Head wrote:stop working on chord progressions and make beats.
the chord progressions will follow
make the beats to create the inspiration

Are we talking just drum patterns here?

accordionfan wrote:i dont know if it will work for you but. smoke weed. just a little bit.

when i don't smoke i have sooo many ideas flying around in my head when i sit down i am horrified, and change my mind every six minutes. take a puff or two, i can actually focus on sounds that i want >: D

i dont know if this is good advice but it works for me

Ahh man unfortunately I can not smoke weed... puts me in this real shitty depressed mood for like days after whenever I do. I don't get it but I've given up hoping it will change

CE9958 wrote:

Electric_Head wrote:stop working on chord progressions and make beats.
the chord progressions will follow
make the beats to create the inspiration

Are we talking just drum patterns here?

Yep
Drums and maybe some sub.
Just to get you grooving and your head bobbing.
From there you`ll find it`ll flow better.

Music is all about vibing.
Get yourself vibing.

I find when I`, sitting there and the beat is bumping, the melodies are much easier to compose.
Kind of like when you`re listening to tunes and you start beat boxing or humming over it.
That shit flows instinctively.

Honestly, for me its random. I was watching an Owen Wilson movie the other night and it just pushed me to go start a track. Had no idea where I was going with it, or what I wanted from it. It was just something I felt. Sounds super queer, I know. But yeah, starting with some drums is a good idea. Just to get your head bobbin'. Also, I just wrote a simple bassline with a init patch, then loaded a reese I made a week before it and it sounded tight (after some sidechain comp. and effects). Just program some drums, write and intro, then program a bassline and load something out of your sound library and see what it sounds like. Could inspire you to finish that track.

I just recently heard an unreleased song by one of my favorite artists, and found inspiration from that.
It just happens man, be patient!

I was watching Bill Bailey the other night and seeing him do one of his skits with the whole live performance thing (think it was Daytime DnB Babylon) and it just triggered something in my head, so went next door and cranked something out...it's currently hovering at the 3min mark and I'll probably need another couple of hours to finish it off in terms of structure and bells & whistles.

EDIT - was hoping to find a video of this, but only thing Google is throwing up is the Mp3 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D195HVVD

Inspiration is whereever you get it tbh. Only couple of tips I can really give are;

• Keep a note pad with you at all times to write stuff down
• If you're feeling stuck, fire up the DAW and have a session of sound design. Make templates, dick around with crazy effects chains, do some patch design work, bounce out everything. This has the added benefit of not only triggering off some "oooo...that sounds good!" moments but also building up your sound library
• If you get really stuck, listen to a song you're loving at the moment and try to recreate it.

For this last point, I did this for a Shackleton tune a while ago on here;

wub wrote:Listen to a song you like, and make notes on it's arrangement on a pad of paper as you're listening to it. So for example this Shackleton tune I had the following notes;

Vinyl crackle in background
Bongo loop
Vocal sample
Synth/deep pads
Synth/Higher bleeps
2nd vocal sample
Piano hook
Drop into synth bleep, different pattern
synth pads build
bass drop, gradual with [can't read my handwriting here]
sub kick & stuttery snare
Bongos come back
vocal samples on heavy delay
Variation in bongos
Bass drops
Piano comes back
2nd vocal sample
Bongos in and out
Piano variation
Synth bleeps
Drop, roll out, strip out


Syntax is a bit off in some of them, and haven't used the 'correct' terms for some of the elements, but the main thing is that I associate my notes with what I was hearing as the tune progressed. Then fired up FL and tried to recreate what I'd heard, using the above as a template. Didn't sound anything like the original, but it was enough of an excerise to give myself a grounding in a few new methods, plus had a pre existing structure to base things on, even if the finished product was quite far removed from the original.

Try and replicate the structure to give you an idea of what changes make on the feel of the tune. When you're happy, do it with another tune. Repeat.

This technique not only makes you think about how existing tunes are put together and thus aids with understanding structure, it also frees you from creativity chasing as you already know (roughly) what you're going out to achieve. When I did the above example, it sounded nothing like the Shackleton tune I'd set out to recreate, but it was a fun little exercise and a couple of the percussion loops I'd developed for it I really liked the sound of, so they got bounced out and set aside for inclusion in a future project.

Kaiori's thread is also pretty fucking next level as far as inspiration goes - http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=176281 - though it's more beating you around the head with the stick of inspiration than suggesting you lie down and sample the grass growing hippy style bollocks.

You're the man wub, thanks for taking the time to write all that out. Helps a lot! <--- assuming this is a "saluting" yellow circle man.

Go for a long walk in the woods
Alternatively a bike ride through a city at night
Sit on your windowsill and smoke a cigarette and look at the city below you...never fails for me
Get on a bus or a train to a completely random destination
Hitch hike somewhere

Don't forget your notebook...guarantee you will be full to brim of inspiration after this

Good luck!

take some acid and listen to music that you've not really had much exposure to.

spent about 5 hours listening to classical, jazz and nutty breakcore the other week. certainly intruduced me to some fresh perspectives

Get coffee. And more coffee. Keep moving. And writing new parts and layers. Go back and forth from listening to inspiring material to creating. Do not stop. If you lay down a part that sucks , save it and create a new song. Repeat.drink more coffee.

coffee for sure! and zoots!

Just have fun... the more you practice a.k.a. write garbage tracks. The better you will get at using your DAW and tools to actually write good tracks.

accordionfan wrote:i dont know if it will work for you but. smoke weed. just a little bit.

when i don't smoke i have sooo many ideas flying around in my head when i sit down i am horrified, and change my mind every six minutes. take a puff or two, i can actually focus on sounds that i want >: D

i dont know if this is good advice but it works for me

Ahaha, I was wondering how long before someone would bring up ole Maryjane, I have to say, I agree though. I'm so impractical when sober but when otherwise, I just make great synths without meaning too

Listen to this guy:

Soundcloud

Nature

Ive learned to realise that inspiration is just something people made up for on days and off days...


Even when I was an art student, some days things would work and other it wouldn't.. I would try all these techniques to get myself in the mindframe and I couldn't.


Just keep trying till it works.

legend4ry wrote:Ive learned to realise that inspiration is just something people made up for on days and off days...


Even when I was an art student, some days things would work and other it wouldn't.. I would try all these techniques to get myself in the mindframe and I couldn't.


Just keep trying till it works.

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