5 Quick Tips To Overcome "Producer's Block"

aclintjr

aclintjr

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Original post: 5 Quick Tips To Overcome Producer's Block

Whether you are a producer or a songwriter you have dealt with "writer's block" to some extent. You have deadlines to meet, songs to finish and beats to start but out comes.....nothing! This is the worst for creative people such as ourselves, so here are 5 quick tips to overcome producer's block:

1. Collaborate - working with different people brings different ideas and inspiration that can help get your creative juices flowing again.

2. Take A Break - just walk away from whatever you're working on and relax. Soaking in some new music while you relax helps as well.

3. Switch Up Your Work Flow - do something different in your creative process. Maybe start with drums instead of keys first or use different instruments that you wouldn't normally use.

4. Use Loops & Samples - find an interesting loop or sample that catches your ear and build around that.

5. Learn New Chord Progressions - hop on youtube and watch a few tutorials on chord progressions. This will help your keyboard skills as well as spark inspiration for a new track.

Now that you have a few options, go see what works for you and get back to work!
 
Personally I find that "taking a breath" is the most useful, at least for me. In my personal case, the psychological block occurs when I'm too much into the track that I'm doing, I mean that I'm so focused on it that everything I try (chords, percussion, whatever) is never "the good one". I just try to keep every new session as training, for example creating my sounds and my personal drum presets is very helpful, you never know what can happen when you design your sounds and it can suggest a new direction for a track. :)
 
Good tips for the mental struggle… :) For others, I've found:

Your brain is not always in tune with what "you want to do" (e.g. write a new killer track), but if you pay close attention to it, then you can be way more productive. I've learnt to identify more and more "how" to be productive in the studio.

If I'm struggling to get somewhere, and even getting frustrated, it means I'm doing the wrong thing with my studio time - my brain is out of sync with what I'm trying to do… Paying attention to what will be best for a given moment / mood means that I can:

just smash out little grooves / template ideas one after another (feeling creative in tune writing, but not committed);
Sit down in front of a synth and just create new synth patches in detail… whole new banks of sounds (feeling creative / exploratory, but not inspired);
Record new drum samples from my gear… thousands of them if need be… (feeling technical / not creative, but not committed);
Try some new production techniques for fun - a new chain on a kick drum; muck around making a clap sound crazy… (technical / creative, but not committed)
Do final mix downs on tracks (Technical / not creative… the "finish it" mood);
Expand out / focus on template tracks I've made (discussed above)… (Creative / committed);
Just start jamming out a new track from scratch (creative / committed / inspired)...

The above may not apply to you all; but this was the revolution for me that provides ongoing and seemingly endless productivity in the studio - I still have to remind myself sometimes - but it works well to "do what your mood wants you to"...

Whether hours, days or even months in the studio focussing on something other than "writing and finishing a track, it's only a matter of time until you're back in a zone where you're smashing out that next track you're proud of :)… I regularly spend "months" programming synths and sampling drum gadgets - trust me… if you squeeze every last bit of desire in doing that - until it gets painful - you bust out into song mode and you've got a whole bunch of new inspiring sounds to play with….! (Or at least - it works for me!)

I think it's because of this: Monotony is not inspiring; your brain craves change… So shake it up - for your own sake :)

Hopefully someone finds that useful………….
 
A good way I get rid of "writer's block" is to read. It can be anything you want to read like a book, magazine, blog, etc. I think it goes along with what Jbam said, "Monotony is not inspiring; your brain craves change". No matter what you read, I feel like you can learn something or get something out of it. So by reading, it is stimulating your brain and turning the gears up in your head. Personally, I like to read magazines. A couple of my favorites are Juxtapoz, Computer Music, and Popular Science.
 
Try not to force it, take your mind off of music and do something that gets your energy focused, then come back to the music.
 
Personally the best tip EVER is to stop making music and sometimes even listening to any music at all (this can go on for days sometimes) until I "crave" making music again..usually when the inspiration hits again I'm on fire :berzerk:
 
I just hit the vape or grab a 40 oz and producer's block IS NO MORE.

That's the source of producer's block: we overthink everything. And drugs like weed and alcohol dumb you down to a level where your mind isn't going so fast and you are content with simply taking baby steps, not worried about the outcome.

And we always know what the next baby step we need to take is, but we're too preoccupied with wanting to arrive at the destination. And now damnit!

Just take it one slow step at a time until inspiration does hit. It always hits if you just SHOW UP. And anything to get you to start working is the key.

Just don't take my route ;).
 
I also agree with jBam...a couple times I caught myself trying to make a pop beat and it just wasn't coming out right...so I just stopped and registered a bunch of tracks with SESAC. Lol And then started working on ambient tracks which came out a whole lot smoother. As long as I'm doing something that is furthering my music, I'm having a productive day in the studio.
 
What helps me sometimes is to try and completely turn off my thinking and just write or produce WHATEVER comes to my mind. Try to avoid concious decisions like "this sample might sound great if I do this and that" etc. and just act purely on instinct without taking a break. You probably don't get good results with it right away but I had some major breakthroughs after a while.
 
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