A Wellspring Of Inspiration

[Blankman8503]

I've read a lot of these posts on this and other forums before, so as jestermgee suggested a little trolling the forums can lead you to a lot of information. Terekith's guide is good and I have read it previously. I have seen a lot of people in different threads and my own traditional musician friends suggest changing locations, environments in order to spark creativity. A lot easier for a guitar player than me with a full hardware with laptop setup. But I've found that if changing up the arrangement of your studio can spark more creativity. If there's a piece of gear you want to learn more on or utilize more, move it in front of you. This just happened with me and my Korg Radias-R. When I bought the Radias I did not reorganize my studio to implement it, but just placed it somewhere it fit, which happened to be off to the side of me and required me to slide in my chair to really engage. I recently reorganized, elevated my second monitor, and placed the Radias under the monitor, right in front of me. I now am much more engaged in sound creation on the Radias and it pulled me out of a rut.

[jestermgee]

I've read a lot of these posts on this and other forums before, so as jestermgee suggested a little trolling the forums can lead you to a lot of information. Terekith's guide is good and I have read it previously. I have seen a lot of people in different threads and my own traditional musician friends suggest changing locations, environments in order to spark creativity. A lot easier for a guitar player than me with a full hardware with laptop setup. But I've found that if changing up the arrangement of your studio can spark more creativity. If there's a piece of gear you want to learn more on or utilize more, move it in front of you. This just happened with me and my Korg Radias-R. When I bought the Radias I did not reorganize my studio to implement it, but just placed it somewhere it fit, which happened to be off to the side of me and required me to slide in my chair to really engage. I recently reorganized, elevated my second monitor, and placed the Radias under the monitor, right in front of me. I now am much more engaged in sound creation on the Radias and it pulled me out of a rut.

I'd have to agree with this too... Just changing the layout or cleaning up a bit can do wonders. I annually pull apart my studio and clean out dust and re-sit cables and plugs to keep problems away. If I shift things round it makes me want to play a bit more on different gear.

[Machinesworking]

Main inspirational tool for me is a critical ear. The ability to make quick judgments during the writing process instead of getting lost in the details and choices you have available. Don't be afraid to be ruthless about what you keep or throw away in a song. Don't be afraid to write an entire song and toss it away. Conversely don't be too hyper critical of your own music, don't compare it to your favorite artist and feel like they do things X amount better than you in every way. Any sensible artist IMO without serious narcissistic issues will only be 90% satisfied with their own work, otherwise you would create the "perfect" record and be done.

[condra]

Remember what it was like to mess with a Casio keyboard when you were a kid?
Do that.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
Fear causes inertia.
Don't be conservative, fearful, and boring.
Express your aggressive side, your sexual side, your arrogant side.

Make music for yourself.

Don't get bogged down in gear, presets, sound design, folders, workflow, samples, etc

Set goals and deadlines, give yourself rewards.

When you're not feeling productive, get copious fresh air, stay off the internet.
When you are feeling really productive, fuel that shit with sugar, salt, and caffine, but take a break when you're worn out.

Finish what you start.
Getting up early > staying up late.
Stay single.