energy for late night music writing

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:56 am

I could probably change the title to early evening music writing.

Hi. I'm 34-years-old. I get up for work about 5-5:30 in the morning. I generally skip breakfast and have 1 or 2 cups of coffee at work. I sometimes skip lunch. When I do eat it's usually whatever is quick and convenient. I drink maybe once a week on weekends but in that 1 night make up for the other 6 I didn't drink. I smoke. That's the basic back story.

Why should you care? Don't be an asshole. I know a lot of you burn the candle at both ends between a day job and writing music. Lately I've been finding myself too sluggish to do just about anything I don't have to. So I thought I would ask some of you for some of your more exotic (and legal) quick energy boosters. If you told me to eat 3 grapes on a ritz cracker sprinkled with crushed green tea leaves I would try it.

I'm going to go take a nap now and hopefully when I check back there might be some suggestions.

jb61264 · Post by **jb61264** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:01 am

Red Bull and Mountain Dew 50/50 should do the trick

Dominik · Post by **Dominik** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:03 am

I know a lot of you burn the candle at both ends between a day job and writing music. Lately

stop your job if you don't like it-
don't listen to POP bitches.
you are free.
it's a lot of work

D K · Post by **D K** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:15 am

how about this idea-
don't skip lunch....instead, eat while taking that time to do some work in ableton...
even if it's 1/2 hour-45 min.
sketch out some beats or ideas, or do some tweaks to a mix.
no reason in the world to deny yourself a break...they don't own you.
this should (hopefully) get you hopped up to work further on music when you get home...
you shouldn't feel so depleted because you gave yourself some fuel to burn during the day.....
i bet your productivity at work might even go up too.
and there's really no drastic changes involved...

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:24 am

I would work less and eat more.
I work 3 days a week and always have breakfats and lunch.
The benefits is I have 2 days set aside to do music or whatever

pixelbox · Post by **pixelbox** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:24 am

beats me wrote:I could probably change the title to early evening music writing.

Hi. I'm 34-years-old. I get up for work about 5-5:30 in the morning. I generally skip breakfast and have 1 or 2 cups of coffee at work. I sometimes skip lunch. When I do eat it's usually whatever is quick and convenient. I drink maybe once a week on weekends but in that 1 night make up for the other 6 I didn't drink. I smoke. That's the basic back story.

Why should you care? Don't be an asshole. I know a lot of you burn the candle at both ends between a day job and writing music. Lately I've been finding myself too sluggish to do just about anything I don't have to. So I thought I would ask some of you for some of your more exotic (and legal) quick energy boosters. If you told me to eat 3 grapes on a ritz cracker sprinkled with crushed green tea leaves I would try it.

I'm going to go take a nap now and hopefully when I check back there might be some suggestions.

I know exactly how you feel. I've been thinking of solutions myself lately, and here are a few things I am going to try...

1) Make time to exercise. Yeah, I know, seems counter-productive to take up even more time when you are trying to free up time. However, if you get yourself into shape, you'll have more energy and a clearer mind to be able to sit down and focus on your music instead of fighting off the "fuzzies" during that time.

2) Put yourself on a realistic schedule. Creating music for only 3 hours a week is a hell of a lot better than ZERO hours a week. Tell your wife and kids that whatever-day nights from 6:30 - 9:30 (or whatever) is for you, and then give them their time another day during the week. Also, I think putting yourself into this type of situation at first may be tough...you'll probably sit down at your workstation and go, "Hmm...ok, now what do I do." But if you (I) keep at it, I think eventually you will train your mind to be creative during that time.

3) When you have those "a-ha" moments while driving in rush hour traffic, have something that you can document the idea with, like a micro-cassette recorder or whatever.

Anyway, that's my theory. I'll let you know if it works out!

aisling · Post by **aisling** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:27 am

eat every 2 hours something with protien (carbs make you sluggish, although you want them to be 60% of your caloric intake) it does'nt have to always be an animal protien if that not your thing. Resistence training will give you an adrenaline burst as well.

Now the deal killer,

reasearch shows that the most effective use of caffine is after having been awake for at least 6 hours.....meaning 2-4 pm, a few cups of Joe will jack you. But the strain on the adrenal glands with the am coffee things minimizes the ability to respond to caffinee in the manner we want.

Sadly by am I have usually had at least 2 cups my self!

Khazul · Post by **Khazul** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:29 am

Thats allways the killer - its why I gave up DJing years ago - day job paid rather alot more and the two werent at all compatible.

There no avoiding it - you cant burn the candle at both ends and get away with it forever - something is going to give - probably your job because you eventually become a grumpy waste of space - too tired to function.

Short term fixes whether legal or otherwise are just a loan - you have to pay them back later in sleep/food etc.

Sleep well, eat well, do some excercise etc and get out have some fun etc...

An hour in the right mood can be way more productive than several hours in a borderline zombie state...

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:43 am

Make time to work out - and start eating breakfast

you'll have energy to burn

mohler · Post by **mohler** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:37 am

I work on a combo of a few of those suggestions...

I get up and 4.30am almost every day and Always have breakfast and lunch. I eat tons of fruit and have nuts and dried fruit for snacks. I could not survive if I didn't eat well.

I tend to get off work at 2-3, head home for a shower and a snooze (20-30mins) then mon, tue, friday hang with my wife and Wed/thurs and all day Saturday head to the studio to do for at least 4-5 Hours (Sunday off for hanging with family and friends, old skool I know but I need it to recharge). I've found that trying to be creative all the time just doesn't work for me and I end up being really unproductive and it really wreaks your head after a while possibly leading to creative block.

Also don't forget to drink water, even if you don't live in a hot country. Most people are chronically dehydrated and it really slows you down. I drink at least 3 liters a day.

Apples (I'm not talking Macs) are you friend, they are better at keeping you awake than coffee!!!!

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:42 am

I'm 36 in two weeks, have a wife and child, and I burn the candle on both ends. I have no energy drink that is a magic cure-all. I know that once a week or so, I crash pretty hard. If i need to keep going, I do an old Broadway trick...I take a nap on the floor with my legs elevated on a chair, so that my knees are basically at a right angle. 15-30 minutes will trick my body into thinking I just slept 4 hours...something about all the blood rushing to the head...Then I just keep going. Once every other week, I as my wife and son for 12 hours of sleep. Sometimes they are nice and allow it. I then keep going again.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:43 am

also, apples give me gas

Anubis · Post by **Anubis** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:57 am

Well down here that's easy. Just go down to any of the Cuban curbside bakeries and get yerself a little "cafecito"... sweet motion lotion. Sharpens mental acuity too ...but it can be addictive especially if coupled with the recommended guyava and cheese pastries

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:00 am

beats me wrote:I smoke.

that cant help the energy levels

but I agree, skipping meals is not wise

but it's what you eat too

listen to me, I'm fatter than I've ever been, but that's down to beer, my own personal demon

timothyallan · Post by **timothyallan** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:52 am

Mostly all really good points.

Skipping meals is bad, where do you think energy comes from?

Sleep enough, you will be more 3x more productive when you're not a total wipeout. So you get 3 zombie hours done in one hour.

Hit the gym twice a week, you'll notice a energy difference during the week.

Lunchtime breaks are awesome. I have my laptop and every day I get one hour of Ableton in at lunch. Some of my best tracks got started at work on lunch using shitty earbuds.

Stop erasing stuff. Don't spend 3 hours on a bassline and then erase it and start something else. Guess what, you'll end up slapping a weird bandpass filter on it later on and it will turn into a great lead sound. Not really related to staying up late, but more time management

energy for late night music writing

energy for late night music writing

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