Ableton Forum

I've been working on a track for a while now.. its got a lot of elements. it sounds quite progressive, but now I'm stuck. I have no clue where to take it, and feel like I'm not good with this electronic music bit. I've got a few other projects as well. And they are all pretty much in the same place. This question is to anybody who knows his/her stuff.. What do you usually do when u feel there is no progression happening?

Somebody reply.. any suggestion will do !

I just keep starting new projects. On several occasions, I've casually started a new project and realised "Hey! That project I was stuck on a couple of months back has the perfect sound/progression/beats/theme for this new one!"

Your next favourite self-made track is X attempts away, so you simply need to start X new projects. Most attempts will be crap or nonsense, but that's true even for artists whose music you admire.

Make something you normally wouldn't make. Give yourself constraints. Try to deliberately make crap music. Practice music theory. Start daydreaming when you're in Live, and make film music for the sceneries in your mind.

Some tracks simply don't work for no apparent reason, so it's best not to be too attached. I have lots of 16 bar projects that would make fantastic full-length tracks. It's sad to let them go, but you can always get inspiration from them or sample them later!

put it in the bank for later
do something else
have fun
try this:
https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/making- ... trategies/
available cheap download on apple ibooks
maybe elsewhere....

dave

I'll go contrary to the others.

Just go and finish the tune you have halfway there. If you get stuck and move onto another project, you'll never get to the point where you finish something.

Even if it sucks, finish it. You can always come back and change it later. And even if it sucks, you'll get the experience of knowing how not to proceed in your next projects.

If you want to get better at finishing tunes, you need to actually finish tunes I'd shelve it for a few days, give yourself a little break, then dive back in and try and wrap it up as best you can.

A bold approach that bears results for me.

1. Save project with the stuck track.
2. In the open file, throw away the stuck track. (The track you're trying to fix all the time. If in doubt, pick one.) No worries, you have a saved copy. Take a deep breath and do another track take from scratch, with some very different idea.
3. If it came out good, "Save As" the Live Project with a new, higher number in the title and continue from there. If not, repeat Step 2.

If you couldn't come up with any better alternative for the track, after many tries... well, you still have the stuck version.

Splice me

If I'm stuck at that stage I listen to a commercial track I like that's similar to my track and copy it's structure/arrangement. At least then I have a full arrangement to work off and maybe the commercial track will give me ideas about other parts to add.

Steve Glen wrote:Splice me

Good man.

Get somebody else to get 'hands on' on your project. This is how musicians 'jam.' That's general idea, but I'd like to have a crack at it.

billz270 wrote:I've been working on a track for a while now.. its got a lot of elements. it sounds quite progressive, but now I'm stuck. I have no clue where to take it, and feel like I'm not good with this electronic music bit.

That's a possibility to consider. The question is, does that bother you?! What does that even mean in your context? Do you feel others will not like it, or do you not like it yourself? Do you feel like you need/want to solve this, or are you more meh on it, but pressure yourself because it's that thing you started and you don't just give up?

Why are you making electronic music in the first place? Do you like it? Why?! What about it?

Always know, there is no one out there waiting for your tracks. Electronic music itself if filled with soooooooo many "tracks" that no one needs, that are forgotten forever once they leave the ear drums of the one time listeners.
There is no inherent value in you finishing your tracks.

The only reason to finish those tracks and to continue making electronic music (or any music really) is because you care.

So, do you?!