Ableton Forum

Hey,

I finally got my setup finished early this year, when my monitors arrived.

I made music for quite some time, then took a break.

I moved back home with my setup in May and made/played a lot of music.

Now I haven't been producing for around 3 weeks, and haven't been playing guitar for around 2 weeks.

In fact - I have barely listened to any music in this time either. I just felt music'd out maybe.

I play guitar almost every day usually, and do at least something on Ableton most days.

Does anyone else do this?

I just haven't felt like it - reading and exercise feel more compelling recently. It feels like perhaps I'm recharging my batteries? The couple of times I picked up my guitar my fingers are slow - but I feel less tied into creative patterns.

yeh, i do alot of things intensly. i found the balance when i would only do one thing at a time.

Balance sounds like a logical argument.

I think in general, I've spent a lot of time up until recently playing computer games, watching movies, using my PC - which are very 'stimulating' activies. I mean that in a bad way - as in they clutter your mind.

Coupled with my garage conversion room, which can get pretty hot - I guess I just assocated music with being sweaty, sticky, stressed and over stimulated. Not that this isn't good ocassionally.

I think cutting myself off from my electronics, spending a lot more time running and in the gym - and in particular, reading lots is good. Like I'm purifying and cleaning my mind.

Then going back into music fresh and focused, in nice small stages at first will be good. And discipline myself from staying up too late to do it.

I get breaks forced on me all the time. I've given up worrying about it. Summertime is pretty bad for this as it seems that every weekend is 4 days long and involves huge drives to parties far far away. One day I'll be too old or too dead for this so I'm glad to have it now.

Come the winter and the British rain my musical output resumes.
A break can be a good thing too, when I listen back to a load of half finished stuff from before the break I can hear it with fresh ears and can usually then take it somewhere. It's like collaborating with myself.

I just follow my muse. That could mean using an entire 10 day vacation glued to my DAW not wanting to leave the house to see the sun, or it could mean not making a track for 6 months.

Where ever she goes, I do my best to follow her. Working a regular job 9 hours a day and worrying about the global recession definitely gets in the way most of the time, but I never stop following my muse, no matter what obstacles may come.

Sounds like you're on the right track to me.

Yeap, i always take time out from the production side of things, be it a weekend here and there or a couple weeks, focus on other things, even reading up on things and gives me inspiration to get back in studio and put the new things to work, them kinda things always seem to work

Hidden Driveways wrote:

I just follow my muse. That could mean using an entire 10 day vacation glued to my DAW not wanting to leave the house to see the sun, or it could mean not making a track for 6 months.

regarding my own stuff +1

work (music related), though, is done whenever it has to be done...

i only took once a 2 year break from DJ-ing... got tired of it, until i got very itchy again...

Sure, I had a 7 year break from 95-02 while I had a kid and waited for technology to grow up.

Pretty much echoing what everyone else here has said, I take a lot of breaks when I'm out of ideas or just burned out. I used to stress about it when I was younger, but now I know that the muse will come back so I just focus on other things during those times.

I'm just coming off a period where I felt burnt out. The music just sounded the same to me. However, out of nowhere, the inspiration is back and I must follow it, knowing it will not be there all the time.

ive just begun getting into production with ableton and NI maschine and i havent bothered to do anything on the dj side (i use serato) for nearly a monh now. it feels weird, i havent even really bothered to browse beatport or any other sites for new music. my roommate keeps sending me tracks he thinks i should download and i just dont feel like bothering with any of it, i just want to learn more production wise, lol. just feels weird to not touch my technics everyday like i used to. i guess at some point i'll find a balance. i know that i definitely want to produce some of my own tracks to spin in sets, but im also really getting into the idea of playing live. let me stop rambling

i don't get burnt out for more than a day or two

if i spend too long away from music it will be harder to get back into it.

At 40 years old (almost) and 25 years of musical involvement, I have taken many breaks (one was for over a year). At the end of the day, I am a musician, so the muse, intention, inspiration and creativity, always finds a way to manifest. Yeah it gets frustrating when I return initially and am "rusty," but the neurology is there and just like exercise, it quickly returns.

Its easy to spend hours and days working on tunes and mixing. Self imposed breaks are essential for me.
Helps when I get back to the tracks, to hear them with fresh ears, and come up with ideas that might not have popped up otherwise.
Sometimes my pc imposes breaks on my work: thats not so inspiring or enjoyable to deal with!

2 years and counting, due to mind numbing.