Stuck What Should I Do Next

[AfroThunder]

Im working on a track and i just dont know what i should add to it... Everything i try to add just doesnt seem to work with it...Idk what yall think?

[kebeats]

This is an issue I see with alot of so-called producers. Lol & it's a major part of why I don't collab, at least over the internet. You have an external criteria & an internal criteria. You're external criteria is say when you first start making beats & you let some friends, or someone on here, listen & tell you what they think. Once you get that outta the way you gotta stick to your internal criteria. Trust me. Example, say you make a beat & you love it. You feel so passionate about this one beat & you think it's the best beat you've ever made. You're sure of it! You let someone else hear it & obviously they don't feel that same energy you do. Say you showed another producer. I guarantee if they don't tell you it's dope, they're going to tell you every single thing that's'wrong with it' or that they would have done personally. As far as you not knowing what to add, that's another problem right there. I find the longer you work on a beat, the more you fuk it up. You're either just trying to do something, or you just don't know what you're doing. Music is about feeling, it's about how you felt at that time. I suggest you take a break from it, at least 15 mins, so you can 'chunk back up' to where you look at the beat overall. Instead of being so tuned into this or that. You don't want to search every last VST you have trying to find a sound that 'works' during the creative process. That's the last thing you want to do, but see that's the first thing I do. Before I even make a beat. I have all my sounds ready, or easy accesible, & most are even processed already. There's an endless flow of brilliant musical ideas inside of your head. You just have to tap into it & pay attention. The more you do, the better you will become at it. I know this is alota information, so it'll take a second to sink in, but trust me it took me awhile to find these things out. Obviously there's always more you can do, just like there is to learn. Btw, I didn't even listen to the beat, but I've experienced this problem myself. I'm sure we all have. Remember that a beat is just a beat until an artist records a song over it. So you have to leave room for the artist. If they're a singer, you have to leave room for them to sing their own melodies, etc. Mixing is a major part of it as well, & I find you'll feel 100x better about your beat when it's mixed well. So mix as you go along. There's even more then that. Since I know alota music theory & can play the keyboard, I'm already aware of numerous things I can do. I have uh good ear as well, I wouldn't say perfect pitch, but my sh!t is pretty damn good. Along with that & knowing your software/equipment you should have no problem laying down tracks when that flood of inspiration leaks & you're hearing all of these musical ideas in your head. So let em out. But wait... There's even more. Lol how do you feel when you're making a beat? Obviously you want to feel good. Make sure you eat. Make sure you're comfortable. I have to be clean, not too hot/cold, etc. Everyone's different. I also take alota B vitamins before I go in, because those are the main ones that rly effect your creativity. I'm going to leave it at that, but don't think that's all man! You want to do everything in your power to make the beatmaking process as easy for you as possible. I see alota ppl stress it, if you do many of the things I said you'll be relieving stress. & if you feel good, you'll be feeling even better! I guarantee it.



---------- Post added at 04:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:33 AM ----------

If you RLY wanna know what I think though, I think you needa do a few things with the beat you posted (just listened) ....

1. Raise the volume of the Rhodes, or whatever it was, I couldn't even hear it compared to the drums on these laptop speakers. You need to fill up the beat, it sounds like a drum loop.
2. Sequence your loop. No one wants to hear a loop, no matter how bangin it is. I take that back to an extent, but you catch my drift. It's easy to bore your listener that way. If anything at least have an intro.
3. This goes along with the last one, but break it down. Build it up. Keep it progressing.
4. The drums aren't as stale as I've heard, so that's good. We get tired of hearing beats completely 1/16 quantized. Make sure your melodies, chords, & other sounds are the same way. Not only rhythmically, but melodically as well. This is the point where music theory will come in. Let alone being able to replay samples, etc.

I know you got ears & a brain (ideas & opinions) bruh, so use em!

[bandcoach]

So it sounds ok, but it needs to move beyond the current four chords or you will find it difficult to move forward. Some things hit me, but not sure what you want to hear on this one...

maybe change your first minor chord to it's relative major and vice versa, quick, painless change-up for the break/bridge/chorus/verse/whatever

[kebeats]

So it sounds ok, but it needs to move beyond the current four chords or you will find it difficult to move forward. Some things hit me, but not sure what you want to hear on this one...

maybe change your first minor chord to it's relative major and vice versa, quick, painless change-up for the break/bridge/chorus/verse/whatever

Thanks for that tip. You got any resources you recommend like that for composing? I guess I'll start going over a few I've seen awhile back now.

[moosebeats]

This is a good start. there's a lot of things in the lower register, don't forget about those high octaves. I can hear a nice clean square synth doing something melodic. Keep it simple and reinforce your break there after the 3 (second clap).

http://soundcloud.com/moosebeats-1/there-is-no-try-mix