Creative Block.

[billz270]

So i have this HUGE problem. I have with me, a lot of incomplete projects. I mean there are a lot of tunes and little arrangements here and there. But now i have a folder full of incomplete projects. I mean i open one, like whats in it. But don't know where to take it from there. I seem to be having some sort of creative block. I mean i read a lot of stuff and try stuff. Trial and error is also very common. But once i'm done for the day and save the project to work on it later.. I end up getting stuck there. I have songs with random effects and effect racks that i don't know what to do with now.
Music means a lot to me, and at this point i'm beginning to wonder whether this is the thing for me or no. I'm have a lot of ideas running in my head. But i don't have any direction to take them in. Its getting kind of demotivating now.
Does anybody ever reach this point ?






www.soundcloud.com/staybeyondrecords

[kvr]

all i have are incomplete projects.
but as long i having fun making them its oke.
and if music means allot to you.keep making incomplete projects.
it will work out.
i was on a point to sell my license.by thinking i was not cut out for this.
glad i ditn't .

grtz, ken

srry for my bad english.

[david.barker]

Yeah I get that too, you are not alone!

What I do,is have a folder on my desktop for all the unfinished bits etc

Use a white board,to jot ideas down,take notes.

Have regular breaks,even if its a month,then you come back,and hopefully refreshed

If you try and do too much,then this creative block gets worse,then you are on then back to square one.

[simmerdown]

Does anybody ever reach this point ?

safe to say i think, everyone reaches that point at one time or another, if thats any consolation.... the most prolific artist you can think of in history has struggled with creative block

question is what to do next, two choices: stop...or keep going

stopping for a while has it's benefits, sometimes distance brings clarity....you will still be thinking about it anyway, so the mental work is still going on...if you find you are not thinking about it, then it is not your thing, find another creative outlet, NOTHING wrong with that unless you are just stuck on the Idea of making music, not the actual making

to keep going, sounds like arrangement might be your weakness, you got all these sounds and bits but don't know how they go together? are you working in Session view, but really want full tracks? maybe several of your projects are actually one track waiting to be brought together. maybe you need a clean slate, put all the past in storage and start up using everything you have learned so far. try a different workflow, like bouncing from session to arrange with a controller or key commands to launch. or lay out 4 mins of drums in Arrange view, and just start filling in the blanks,or try a new genre, or COLLAB with someone (best way imo to get the juices flowing)

1 million ways to do it, but it cant be stressful, gotta be enjoying it, not Fun necessarily, but enjoyable, or else its just forced

[ikeaboy]

1 million ways to do it, but it cant be stressful, gotta be enjoying it, not Fun necessarily, but enjoyable, or else its just forced

I'm don't know simmer, this could easily be interpreted as a "I can only do it when I'm in the right zone" which IMHO as excuses go is the biggest culprit for stuff not getting finished (personal experience). What I can recommend is forget about the big picture when your struggling. Look for one improvement you can make, do it. Now Repeat. Chew your dinner one bite at a time.

[bosonHavoc]

That is the life of an artist

one reason why artists do not finish projects.
is the fear that it will not be a good finished project,
this could even be subconsciousness.
so understand that it doesn't matter, just finish it and move on.
good or bad, it doesn't matter. you will get better and better finishing tracks.

Studying song composition helps too.
now i know that people say they do not want to follow a formula (i'm guilty as hell)
but most if not all music in a club that makes me want to dance is follow some sort of structure.
study that.. create a structure template based from awesome songs that you love.

study composition. knowing the guide lines makes it easier to break them.

some thing else that works for me is don't focus to hard on the mix until final mix phase.
it can kill your creative moments. Organization too, I am big on organization and that is some thing
i save for when I am not inspired.. when i am inspired i just go with the flow.


The thing that seems to work best for me is working with other people,
I have played in bands most my life. I am Bass player. I love rhythm.
My singer has been a song writer most of here life. she loves melody.
we make a great song writing team.
She takes Rhythm beds that would otherwise fill up an ideas folder and makes amazing things with them.
I put the back bone into her ideas...
its freaking Awesome. (now if I can just finish final mix of our new album lol!! )

I also have a few other projects in the birthing stages too.. I'm very excited.

[simmerdown]

tying to the Inspriration Myth thread,true true ikeaboy...

ok, strike that, forget about fun, just get to work

i tend to get stuck at the 97% mark...ive got 5 or 6 of those right now

[kvr]

i hope the audio to midi function in live 9 wil help me understand other tracks better.so i can learn them.
and recreate full songs.
i am struggling with the arrangement since the beginnig.my songs sound empty.

grtz,
http://soundcloud.com/vallant/vallant-stars-in-7even

[bosonHavoc]

1 million ways to do it, but it cant be stressful, gotta be enjoying it, not Fun necessarily, but enjoyable, or else its just forced

I'm don't know simmer, this could easily be interpreted as a "I can only do it when I'm in the right zone" which IMHO as excuses go is the biggest culprit for stuff not getting finished (personal experience). What I can recommend is forget about the big picture when your struggling. Look for one improvement you can make, do it. Now Repeat. Chew your dinner one bite at a time.

that is very sound advice.

I have a 5 minute a day theory.
if you do something for 5 minutes a day.
no matter what, you have to do it for at least 5 minutes.
you will be a bad ass in 6 months to a year.

because your doing something you love, if you commit to doing it for 5 minutes it is easy to fit that in.
and it gets what ewer it is into your hands (guitar, painting, ableton,....)
allot of times you may find your self spending 1-10 or more hours on it.
no zone needed.. you just start working and then get into the zone.

you can warm by making a few patches, programming some drum patterns, or listen through that massive ideas folder.
then you blood will flow and music will be made

[simmerdown]

the Inspiration Myth thread, (if you have 1/2 hour to kill, lol)

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=185420

KVR, i wouldnt count on audio/midi to help you, or hold your breath for 9...look closely at the waveform as it plays
an excercise for 'empty' tracks...fill the arrangement solidly from end to end of each track, it will look like a solid wall of all sounds at once, then chip away, delete all that isn't essential, or fit the arrangement, add fill changes and season to taste

[kvr]

the Inspiration Myth thread, (if you have 1/2 hour to kill, lol)

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=185420

KVR, i wouldnt count on audio/midi to help you, or hold your breath for 9...look closely at the waveform as it plays
an excercise for 'empty' tracks...fill the arrangement solidly from end to end of each track, it will look like a solid wall of all sounds at once, then chip away, delete all that isn't essential, or fit the arrangement, add fill changes and season to taste

ok thanks.i wil try that.

[Angstrom]

A couple of thoughts:

Develop a good work practice. Don't rely on making mad sounds and funky loops to magically coalesce into a timeless classic song. Give yourself a framework, or skeleton to work to. That might be a remix with a deadline, or it might be matching your song to a section of film, or it might be copying the arrangement of " dock of the bay", or it might be a new personal role that "a song, once started, must be finished within 14 days, or be utterly deleted". Just messing around is not how a song is made.An arrangement is a framework.


An arrangement takes the listener on a journey through the musical ideas. An arrangement is a story, with characters introduced, surprises and twists, tension and release, and themes revisited. Plot your arrangement like a story or film. Introduce the main character, give him a problem, ramp up the tension, make everything change, then let your hero overcome it all and return home transformed. (copyright Joseph Campbell )

Work with someone else. Become a "band". You will be forced to drop any self indulgences and commit to time frames, unfinished projects will magically finish, you will be forced to defend your ideas and thereby discover what you really value and why you value it . Just putting the amen break through a beat repeat phaser combo will no longer be defensible. Or it will become " good enough". Either way it will be resolved.

[bosonHavoc]

thanks for starting this thread billz270.
this is good stuff, I'm doing a workflow workshop in like 3 hours.
definitely going to tell everyone about this thread.

keep it all flowing

[simmerdown]

workflow workshop

...could you set up a webcam pls?!

jk, (sorta)...thats great

[bosonHavoc]

workflow workshop

...could you set up a webcam pls?!

jk, (sorta)...thats great

that is something i have been meaning to do for the user groups for a while..
it will happen, maybe not today.. but i will try and film it camera shows up