Should I quit making music?

M

McLovin1

New member
Let me start by saying i have been producing for 4 and a half years, The first 2 on and off but not really seriously and the last 2 i really got into it. I fell like ive just been stuck in the same place not improving for around a year. Honestly i feel more stressed when i'm making music than having fun. Unless i'm making a good track, if i'm making something i think is pretty decent i will be having fun instead of being stressed. I just feel like everything i make is so mediocre, i can make good tracks but it takes like 5 tracks for me to make to get 1 good one. I feel like ive spent to much time with this to quit. I go on to fl, 20 minutes later i realize nothing sounds good and i ragequit. I think part of the problem might be i dont have any real knowledge of music production, except for youtube tutorials but i rarely find anything on youtube useful. I guess im looking for some advice or if anyone else ever had this problem, or maybe i should just take a break for awhile.
 
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The problem is mindset that the creation/study/performance of music should be recreational and affirming to our ego.
There are aspects of music I find enjoyable-usually the stuff I already know and/or stuff that doesn't challenge me. Then there are aspects of music I do not get any immediate or significant enjoyment from-these tend to be the things most beneficial to your craft.
If I want to have fun, I do something else.
At this stage in your development (4 years-basically a beginner, still), you need to stop worrying about having "fun", and start embracing some frustration and stress so you can grow and advance as a producer.
 
it may be tough love but this ^^^^ is what it is all about the fun comes when you don't have to think about it not before
 
I depence where you want to take it I guess. If you were making music just to have fun, then there is no point of doing it if its boring. If you want to go far (famous, make money etc.) then keep on fighting. There are parts that I love to make, and some are just boring. I have making the build up for example. It is completely normal to hate your stuff after a while I think, I mean you keep playing it again, and again to make it sound good but it gets boring if you know what I mean. Maybe try to ask people what parts of your songs sound good and bad, and after you can improve on those parts, so they are done more easy. Then you might not be bored. I just started with this so this might not be that helpful, but I am trying to help...
 
Whats crazy is i still go through this everyday, and I have been producing for about 8 years. It happens to pretty much all of us, in the beginning stages you were making beats left and right and they all sounded like bangers; now you find yourself constantly trying to do better than your last beat. I actually haven't made a beat for a few weeks because I got so frustrated last time that I was ready to break my keyboard, but I'm positive that when I go back to it this week that it will all come back to me. My advice to you is take a few days rest and don't force it, usually when you come back to it your not overthinking and things go a lot smoother. Good luck and I wish you the best.
 
I've been plugging away for nigh on 30 years now (first sequencer was a cx5m music computer!) and to be honest it depends on what you want to get out of it. In the early days I wanted to be in Depeche mode then the early nineties it was industrial which changed into house and techno. Point is that I'm still going but it's more of a hobby now, which I occasionally love but can be mighty frustrating when you draw blanks. There is ALWAYS something you can learn or some way you can grow. Now I make music for FUN and those little bursts of inspiration can make it all worth while. Also now there's the opportunity to share your music with people all over the world, THAT is frigging cool. If you aren't feeling it you can't force it!
 
Maybe you should take a break and gain a different perspective on how it works. I think you have a distorted perception on how this works. I read a Lex Luger interview once where he said something like for ever 250-300 beats he makes he gets 1 "Hard in da Paint" or "BMF". Quit if you can't accept this or you genuinely lack the patience and can't do anything about it.
 
bandcoach said:
it may be tough love but this ^^^^ is what it is all about the fun comes when you don't have to think about it not before
Click to expand...

This^^. as someone who's only been doing this 1.5 years(since I even knew what a daw looked like, completely green) I can relate to the mindset as a beginner. Ive said it a million times already to questions like this, you can agree or disagree but its the process I'm going through right now and If I had to do it all over again id do it the exact same way - DO AS MUCH BORING RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL/SOFTWARE TRAINING AS YOU CAN BEFORE STARTING HANDS ON WORK(with some obvious hands on work done from time to time to become familiar with things, but education is priority number 1 FIRST, NOT trial and error).. It makes your hands on progress extremely motivating and fast in comparison and you won't be frustrated sitting there at your daw not knowing what to do. In fact I have the opposite problem, I have so many techniques in my arsenal now that I havent even tried yet, that I'm forgetting lots of them as I work. I had to make a little cheat sheet I taped to my computer desk listing little reminders of things ive learnt.. If you start thinking to yourself that everything you see on youtube or groove3 is a review, THEN your ready to get into HEAVY(about 6-8 hrs a day for me now that Im done my foundation of information)hands on training imo. Then your hands on training will be that much more fun/ productive/ and youll wanna keep going. Progress is blowing me away right now, it itself is enough to give me enough confidence to keep going. Everything I'm saying is based on what I'm going through right now. This may not be the fastest way to learn, but for me its the most motivating and productive way to learn without picking up stupid mixing habits along the way.
 
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I didnt read it all, but dont quit. We all been there. It will get better, but just start really listening to music. Not in the form of beatmaking but just enjoying the sounds. Sooner than later you will get the itch. So stick with it, seriously
 
Don't give up man, just create goals and stick to them. Try to find help personally from other artists.
 
this happens to me too.. sometimes i open FL studio i try to put some sounds togeather and then i realize that its crap and i stop making music for some time.. but now i understand that making music is something that doesnt comes in 30 minutes, it takes hours or days to make good music or get some idea for creating it, sometimes we are just missing inspiration, we dont have ideas for melody, etc.. we need to wait some time to get some great ideas again, so dont stop making music just because u dont know what to do atm.. sometimes you just need to relax, dont make music and chill, then it will come itself.. <3 peace
 
Don't Quit ! Try Shifting yourself from the software learning to understand the hardware, It will connect with you the music and u will get more knowledge about what u were doing in the softwares. Then you can learn and apply the same concepts in the software, probably u can try different software emulations of the vintage hardwares, and u can listen if thats the quality u were looking for in your music, so that it doesn't sound mediocre as u said.
Hope that will help you. :)
>> KEEP PRODUCING
 
Teoria simplifies some of music theory but i get where you're coming from and understand all too well how annoying it gets lol.
Learning sheet music is actually a huuuuge shortcut cuz of musescore and the mouse while drumpads is a huge shortcut instead of the mouse too.

Piano however, it's a shortcut for simple stuff but I don't have it in me to go beyond the basics, spoiled by musescore lol.
Pecking at notes on a keyboard then mousing them into it, I'm gonna have to settle.
 
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