Deepest level of uninspiration

[BURN-ADDiCT]

Hi,
I'm going through a phase of my life where I am very, very much uninspired.

I used to be able to open a DAW and play around with old sounds and projects even on my worst days, but lately I've not been able to enjoy my old projects or anything music related (even just listening on Spotify) for that matter.
I even tried reading up on ways to find inspiration (starting with the Making Music book from Ableton) but nothing seems to work.

This is making me think that either I'm at a deeper level of the producer's block, or that throughout the years, I have never had a producer's block (but just had an hour or two's worth of laziness per day).

So yeah, I wanna confirm, has anyone else felt like there's a bigger version of the producer's block? Anyone else been so uninspired, you can't even milk inspiration from listening to music? Am I making any sense?? Anyone???

[miyaru]

Been there, done it......

If I go through a phase like that, I don't enjoy music either. Nor can I enjoy to play any sort of instrument or DAW. I sit in my music room staring for hours doing nothing........

Just wait, it will go away, and slowly you start enjoying music again - maybe lately you had to much of music and life and you have to recover first!

Hold your head up, take a walk in the park or beach or so, and try not to force yourself into music. As I said before: it will come back again - the joy of music!!!!

Good luck, strenght and wishdom!!!!

[BURN-ADDiCT]

Been there, done it......
....
Hold your head up, take a walk in the park or beach or so, and try not to force yourself into music. As I said before: it will come back again - the joy of music!!!!

Thank you very much!..
it's very frustrating that I don't even enjoy my favourite songs... but it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one that goes through this. Thank you.

[Tarekith]

Happens to me all the time. Just focus on other parts of your life, that way when the muse does come back you're not bogged down with non music stuff too.

[BURN-ADDiCT]

Happens to me all the time. Just focus on other parts of your life, that way when the muse does come back you're not bogged down with non music stuff too.

I'm getting a little relieved now because I thought I was the first person to go through this and that maybe it means I'll never be able to produce again in my life. It's very hard to find reassurance where I am (both mentally and geographically).
Thank you.

[Tarekith]

Pretty much every artist everywhere goes through it at some point, you're definitely not alone.

[jestermgee]

Don't reckon you could find an artist in any field, ever, that hasn't doubted themselves or wondered if that's all they have in them. Probably different if you rely on it as a primary income, I suspect the added stress of having to earn bread and do gigs/tours plus come up with new material and get along with all your band mates and managers etc. would be quite taxing after a few years.

The monotony of life can dull your creativity and the disposable time you have to "get creative" is limited. Could be that you have work, kids, family that now take up much of your time (certainly does for me), you may not catch up with friends and share the latest news about bands and songs you like, less festivals and concerts you find yourself interested in attending, less new music that picks up your interest, less new things that you find interesting in general. The spare time you do have is when you just want to relax and doesn't feel like enough time to really invest in anything creative. It's thoughts that would be echoed by probably everyone that reads this thread.

What I ended up doing a few years back when I went through a period of being a bit bored of things was to take up field recording which I found a great way to get away on my own and just explore things and learn more about raw sound. I also did some amature photography at the same time and loved it as an excuse to go poking around the industrial areas of my city, walking the beaches, hunting for simple little interesting sounds and places and I started building a decent sized catalog of sounds which I also stored images and map positions of the locations to create a kind of "sound map". Was a neat project to work on which I am still actively working on now.

Another page I took from recommendations on this subject years ago where "couldn't be fu$#@d making music" and instead, spend some time organising things, clearing out old samples and plugins, making templates, tagging files etc. Stuff that you can pick up for 20 minutes here and there and do while watching some youtube or when you have limited time. Sometimes just doing some housekeeping can help you regain some inspiration especially when you start poking through sounds and stuff.

As echoed above, it's probably just a sign that you need a bit of a break. Maybe try and listen to some new music, find some new artists to enjoy or just read a good book instead. Head on down to a small gig at a pub or something every now and then, I always find that's inspiring even if you aren't really into the music that much.

[Tone Deft]

shave your balls.

that's what we used to post around here. do something different, distract yourself. tear down all your gear and set it up all over again. if you can, buy yourself some new piece of gear. if it makes you happy, this hobby of ours can fall under 'self care' when it comes to buying gear, as long as you'll actually use it.

ever make a regenerative ambient set in Live? google it. it's a fun way to sit and have fun with Live for no reason at all.

I just got out of that rut. now I'm desperate to find a chord progression that hasn't been used and is meaningful. until then I'm just recording lots of bullshit thinking that if I do 1 thing 100 times one thing compelling will come out of it. I have about a dozen now, still nothing I'd turn into a song.

I also find new drum loops inspiring.
https://www.howtoprogramdrums.com/the-b ... -internet/

[Tarekith]

Chord progressions are so old school anyway.

I regularly have long periods where I go months without being able to write anything. I WANT to work on music and I try all the time, but it just isn't happening and feels like a chore. These days I'm used to it and more confident in knowing it will come back, so I don't stress too much.

Get the house super clean, exercise more, do a bunch on my to do list, make sure finances are in order, etc. I do all the boring life crap when this happens to me, get that out of the way as much as possible. That when I do suddenly get inspired and want to spend two months just focusing on music in my spare time, I don't have all the other life issues getting in the way.

Some people have good luck just continually pushing through the down times until they get back into the flow of things. That always backfired on me and I felt I was just wasting my time. I see that advice a lot, and while I think everyone should try it to see if it works for them, don't stress if you just need a good solid chunk of time away from music making too.