When You Lack Inspiration...

A

arkay

New member
...what do you do?

I'm at that phase now.

I just can't produce anything that excites me. It just seems like I'm making music coz I feel I have to.

I used to have that excitment, that buzz when making music, now it almost feels like a chore. So I'm trying to get out of old habits and learning about stuff that didn't interest me before, still related to music.

My question is, what are you approaches on making music?

Do you start on a beat and get that as solid as possible, then add bass and chop up a sample and make it fit the beat?

Do you start with a sample then add a beat on top?

I know both the above work but with me I always start with a sample.

Basically I'm trying to find new ways to compose and get out of this rut.

I don't think I've worded my dillemna correctly.

Please help
 
are you trying to sale beats or are you really making an effort to explore music and explore different possibilies?? Music can be a chore when you allow money to be your sole motivation and you turn yourself into a factory instead of an artist and a student of that art. You must remain a student in this art to stay inspired. Life should be your inspiration for music.
 
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Ayo thats deep. Honestly, sometimes cats get uninspired. Just stay away from the studio and music, live life a bit. Dont try making a beat for like 2 weeks. Then u'll c. Inspiration will be running at you
 
Listen to inspiring music, or go learn a new instrument, go to some live shows, listen to shomething you do not normally listen too...read up on gear and its uses, read a few manuals do something either really exciting or really boring...lol if its boring you'll wnat to make something exciting!
 
I'm trying to get into synths hardcore. I want to learn Reaktor but the steep learning curve is putting me off, but also challenging me!

I'm laying off making beats for a while.

It's hard not to fall into the trap where making music depresses you coz you're focussing too much on it, particularly as you're getting older and you want to make a living out of this and you think time is, well, running out.
 
I see two problems here:

1) You are trying to make money out of it. It's pretty well known that music that makes tons of money (for the most part) is extremely formulaic. You find the winning formula and then you pound it out until the cashcow falls over dead. You are complaining that you are stuck in a rut, which implies a formula and your formula is not currently making money, and even if it was you'd still probably not have that 'buzz' for producing. I am sorry for this.

2) You answered your own question about approach without realizing it. Sit down and craft a beat, then add the bassline. Tomorrow, write a lovely melody with a new patch you made and fill in around it. The next day, slug it out with Reaktor to make some odd farting glitch noise and make that the centerpoint of a new track.
 
Try working WITHOUT a flipped sample instead. there's actually more musical possibility when you don't limit yourself to somebody else's tune structure.
 
I try to think of the most crazy sound/effect i can think of, and then build a track around it.

For example, i was bored on my keyboard and then i decided to turn an EP sound into a lo-fi wah-wah with a 16th note arpeggio that made some WEIRD ass sound i have never heard, but it was hot and inspired me to draft a beat around it.

if you always start with a sample, your limiting yourself so much.

Or, try sampling something EXTREMELY famous or recent(ie. sample some hendrix or sample some 90's R&B)
 
there you go, learn to program a synth. Buy a good book on it. When you come back you'll have the skills to construct a new bass or lead that will carry your next track.
 
I find sometimes when working with music it's best just to let things flow. If you're working on a song and run out of ideas, but the song is still unfinished, leave it for a bit. Come back to it in a few minutes, or a few hours or the next day...whenever the ideas start flowing again. In the meantime, do something else. Work on creating synth patches, edit some samples or create new melodies or rhythms that could be the backbone of a new song or edited into the one you're working on now.

Or you could also focus on something non-music related. Read a book or go outside, hang out with a friend or take a drive somewhere. Get your mind away from music for a bit, then come back completely fresh. If you feel like you're forcing your music, get away from it completely for a bit and come back to it later.
 
Whenever I get like that to where I cant fully compose a beat n get on "producer's block" I tend to sample. And if I can't sample I compose. N if neither of those work I just don't even touch FL (or whatever you would use) n I listen to music except when I'm listenin to songs I listen mainly to the beat n then I normally hear somethin n be like "thats a really innovative to make that bassline play like that or drums to sound like that" n i go back to FL n use that as an idea to make somethin innovative n personal.

N if all else fails I just sit down.... fire up the 360 n play Call of Duty... or Mass Effect :monkey:
 
I listen to alot of stuff, i go out and really see wats poppin in da club or wateva....listen to previous beats....and i set down and just play keys alot...idk..you just gotta find a way to get inspired, i dont really believe in "blocks" or wateva, i do believe that there could be a lack in inspiration tho, but it could be recovered. I think that you just gotta find your way of gettin inspired
 
If you feel like making music, but nothing inspires you, try this lil trick i used to do:

open winamp or whatver you use and load 200-300 commercial tracks on the playlist, put it at random. Plug some headphones and turn up the volume to medium, leave the cans far away from you and read some books, or stuff on the internet, do whatever.

Make sure its loud but low enough so that you can't recognize the song being played.
You are gonna hear sounds and parts of melodies that sounds ill but you won't actually recognize the song, so your brain will try to match the melodies to something using your imagination and it might trigger some inspiration.

works for me!
 
i get like that sometimes so i do alot of what was stated above but im kind of in a rut right now so i decided im not making a beat for a week which probably wont last but when i know im not gonna make a beat something usually inspires me to get back in the lab just wait for some inspiration dont force music its not a chore its a lifestyle blaze some gonja hit up the 360 and dont think about music until it just comes to you. im trying to learn to play the keyboard anybody have any tips or good dvd's (lessons)to watch
 
Don't make cookie cutter beats. by this i mean don't approach it the same way everytime. When you do this, you make the whole process seem boring and weak to you self and others.

That's the reason when 9th wonder came out i thought it was so hot, and now?... im glad little brother moved on to some beats that SWING. Make that sample fit to your drums,DON'T make your drums fit the sample, feel me?

And keep sampling. just start incoporating more with it. Limitations to one person can be a world of oppertunity to another. Peace...
 
i was having trouble with inspiration and then i downloaded some new VST instruments. The good ones with good sounds always inspire me a little bit. It could work for you too.
 
when i need inspiration i just smoke a blunt jeje and start throwin down some crazy sh*t
 
Forbidden_Silence said:
I find sometimes when working with music it's best just to let things flow. If you're working on a song and run out of ideas, but the song is still unfinished, leave it for a bit. Come back to it in a few minutes, or a few hours or the next day...whenever the ideas start flowing again. In the meantime, do something else. Work on creating synth patches, edit some samples or create new melodies or rhythms that could be the backbone of a new song or edited into the one you're working on now.

Or you could also focus on something non-music related. Read a book or go outside, hang out with a friend or take a drive somewhere. Get your mind away from music for a bit, then come back completely fresh. If you feel like you're forcing your music, get away from it completely for a bit and come back to it later.
Click to expand...

I agree with silence on this one. just leave it for a bit, don't push it so hard. music is something you can't force, otherwise it definately will suck. leave it for a while, and come back later
 
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