Do you get "stuck" often when producing?

[dalor]

Try the next-door-room-inspiration. Turn up your monitor speakers and walk to the room next door or even further away. Turn on the TV, open the window do whatever to get background noises mixed with the sound. Sit down, look out the window, watch TV - but concentrate on your sound, which is hard as all the other noises are distracting. I suddenly imagine and hear parts and melodies that aren't in the music but could swear are in there. My brain=weird!

[srv-musikmaker]

I have too many ideas ! Suppose I know what patch I'm gonna use on which synth,and I come up with 3-4 variations on a melody or a hook ! Difficult to choose one over the others when they're all A*-class ones ! Another thing that gets me slow sometimes are risers and build-ups ! I need to work them better and implement the snares better,and create more tension !

Sometimes u just need to trust a synth ! Trust it,don't think about other ones ! Take an init patch or something and tweak it to get ur sound (or if it has great factory patches use them).

[GratuiTous]

This video might help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuxE7pUnVu4

GratuiTous!

[keyman_sam]

I need to bookmark this thread.

Yes, I get stuck. How do I move on? I start adding random sounds. Or listen to my previous stuff. Or not do anything. Or play the piano.

[Burillo]

Try the next-door-room-inspiration. Turn up your monitor speakers and walk to the room next door or even further away. Turn on the TV, open the window do whatever to get background noises mixed with the sound. Sit down, look out the window, watch TV - but concentrate on your sound, which is hard as all the other noises are distracting. I suddenly imagine and hear parts and melodies that aren't in the music but could swear are in there. My brain=weird!

this is how i usually end up writing something in the first place!

[Nanakai]

Lots of good posts (and a video!). For my own blockage, I will take whatever melody I have that isn't working, and record myself playing it over and over and over. It eventually mutates, and in the process I get inspired for other parts of the project. Ableton session view tends to get quite full ^_^

[OzWozEre]

Try the next-door-room-inspiration. Turn up your monitor speakers and walk to the room next door or even further away. Turn on the TV, open the window do whatever to get background noises mixed with the sound. Sit down, look out the window, watch TV - but concentrate on your sound, which is hard as all the other noises are distracting. I suddenly imagine and hear parts and melodies that aren't in the music but could swear are in there. My brain=weird!

Holy Shit!

I thought I was the *only* one that did this

NOW THE CAT IS OUT THE BAG OHH NOO!

[DuX]

There's also a difference in approach to consider. Sometimes you just start without any clear idea in your mind, just "fiddling", but at other times you start with a clear idea in your head, and that one is much easier to do. I often find myself "jamming in my head", imagining how it should sound like, then try to recreate that. It helps.

[tropicalontour]

When you get stuck, just roll the dice. Try anything. It doesn't matter what. Ask somebody else to make the decision. Choose a sound at random and make it fit. Don't keep beating yourself up over it. Choose a patch that starts with the letter "J". I go and listen to other songs I like and see if I can find an answer in those. Usually, though, just going with anything somehow works. The sound grows on you and your audience never knew you had any different intention.

[Sendy]

I still think the most important thing about getting stuck is to realize that you might have to lose a section of the arrangement, often the last bit which is of course the bit you're trying to build on from but are stuck with. Even if you really want to keep the latest section, try removing it and putting something else there, saving with a new name so you can go back to the original plan if you get ideas for it. Sometimes the delete key is your friend even if you'd rather it wasn't.

[vurt]

yeah occassionally.
but then occassionally im a 24/7 powerhouse machine.

rough with the smooth and such...

[DuX]

One more little tip: get to really know your synths, and what they're capable of, or its presets. Often, you want the sound that's been running constantly in your head but you can't find it. There you go. If you know where to find it... it can make a world of difference, from not making that arrangement work, to making that arrangement work.

Bananarama! ;P

[Kai Lucero]

I am stuck right now as well and can't seem to find a suitable synth or melody for my track. I'm producing a techno track that sounds really nice. The bass and percussion sounds great and the kicks are as well. The problem is getting the right sound that goes with the percussion and bass. I want the melody to be fairly simple cause it's minimal techno. But still grooves. After I do that I can build other sounds easier. Putting in a different additive element before putting in the lead might help boost the process. Who knows.

[Scotty]

So true....I got hung up on a track and realized that I concentrating on the stain glass instead of the frame.The frame was where the best bits were waiting for me.

I still think the most important thing about getting stuck is to realize that you might have to lose a section of the arrangement, often the last bit which is of course the bit you're trying to build on from but are stuck with. Even if you really want to keep the latest section, try removing it and putting something else there, saving with a new name so you can go back to the original plan if you get ideas for it. Sometimes the delete key is your friend even if you'd rather it wasn't.

[deastman]

I'll never understand how and why people revive these seemingly random three year old topics...