Musical Identity Problems

A

alexorigin

Guest
Hi guys, I'm not new to producing music (7-8 years), but I couldn't think of where else to post this, hopefully this is the right sub!

I've had a problem for a while now, I'm stuck. Basically I don't know what kind of music I want to make anymore.

It REALLY doesn't help that I've got broad tastes and a varied list of projects under my belt. I've done everything from live touring with metal bands to cult ambient releases, trance sets and loads of different kinds of electronica. I've played all kinds of gigs, worked and collaborated on many albums, some would say I'm lucky, I would say no, it's confusing!

I'm scattered in skills too; my main thing is bass, that's the area where I really shine, I've been described by peers as excellent. But I play guitar, keyboards, produce and dj aswell.

My main thing for the past few years has been focusing on trance & progressive house style productions.

I'm just not sure what I want to do. It's like I've got too many influences. People say "just make what you really like". But I don't know what THAT is anymore!

Just don't know what to do, any advice?

Maybe it's my age; I'm 24 now and I just don't know who I am or what I'm into in general. I grew up as a metal kid but got into dance, ambient and electronica in my late teens, just proper confused :(

I don't have a job because I get by with small work here and there, working full time as a musician is near-impossible, argh, I'm just frustrated as f***. I really want to find a specific career for myself too, that's just how I am, but it's like I've got no dreams anymore, you know?

Thanks!
 
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Be everything and don't decide.
Make an umbrella label/entity that releases your music and create an ARTIST for every genre. In other words, make a different name for yourself for every style you want to do.
Do it right now.

Then start to make whatever you want and slide it under that artist's catalog.

What will happen.

1) Fun will decide what gives you the most enjoyment as you will do it more often.
Just because you can do many things doesn't mean they all flow as easily or naturally.

2) Business will let you know what artist/genre is making the most strides.
Doesn't make sense to keep churning out music no one is interested in, when there's 1 thing you do that brings tons of attention and opportunitie$ (like you said tours).

3) Life will tell you who you can be everyday
Do you have to ACT (Dress, talk, behave) a certain way to represent a music style when another genre is simply YOUR STYLE all the time?
Are your friends (or the majority of them) into one thing and that forms a support group that encourages your musical pursuits?
Having a musical family or large group interested in one thing makes doing that one thing easier. You won't create in isolation.


AND I think there is probably something you are better at. I don't think you would be an equal genius at everything. Maybe there's one direction you are best at and that knowedge or understanding will sort this all out.
 
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That's an interesting idea actually, I've thought about doing that for a while, might take that into consideration, cheers.
 
alexorigin said:
That's an interesting idea actually, I've thought about doing that for a while, might take that into consideration, cheers.
Click to expand...

It's a wickedly awesome concept. You have a lot of experience and talent in your pocket. Now it is your time to start having fun with what you can do, and what is at your fingertips. The fact that you can produce a wide range of styles makes me even more-so believe that you can do an incredibly good job at being experimental. Start thinking outside the box. This is just another hump in the road of the many, many, many that I'd believe you've faced through your musical career.
 
Just sit in the studio for about an hour and mess around. I bet that whatever you end up doing natural over that period of time is what you enjoy doing the most. (It's probably what you're best at as well).

You don't have to force what you enjoy doing.
 
You see, I have many interests as well. What I did is to create three different aliases, each one dealing with a different genre (or genres): I make dnb and dubstep under the alias drvLock; dark ambient unde the alias Trônes de l'Obscurité and Industrial (EBM/Hellektro) under the alias Secondary Unit. So, whenever I feel I must make something different, I can rely on those different styles.
 
All the really interesting stuff, imo, tends to come from people who have a very broad palette of influences. It's not at all bad thing, even if finding your identity takes a little longer. Probably one of the biggest reasons why we have so many cookie-cutter producers these days is exactly that - they listen to that one genre, get inspired by it and then only manage to produce bland pastiches of what's already been done because they've got nothing else to draw from. Embrace your diversity :)
 
To me, it seems that you have insecurity problems (not identity problems)!

It seems that you believe that people won't like whatever you naturally make,
or that it will be too difficult to market what you really want to produce.

Any time you see very little traffic or money coming in, you'll subconsciously use this as evidence to support your limiting beliefs.

Perhaps what you need is a bit of skepticism in your belief system:
"Do people really only like cookie-cutter, formulaic music? Or, is it possible that people actually seek out variety by looking for producers who have a broad range of influences?"

Griffin Avid and Ddream provided some really helpful information in this thread as well (a "Like" to each of your posts!).



-Ki
Salem Beats (+Reviews)
gpWmqu
 
i produce a lot of dance based genres but i never stick to one thing in particular and just let ideas flow, if a trance track finishes up as a house track then so be it. sometimes i get a run of ideas and might bang out a few tunes before making something totally different afterwards.
 
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