Has anybody taken a long break before

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Hey, the question i am asking, i produce music around 100 hours a week now, its my dream to be a DJ/ producer, i gave up everything i had be able to work on music everyday (car, very well paid job etc.) the problem is is my goals were a little too ambitious, i am now running out of money to live on and i seem to be lacking motivation from what i originally had

I was thinking to take like a 6 month break, where during this time i would only produce maybe 1-2 hours a night and on weekends (and work full time to get the money pot back up) what i fear is due to my inactivity i will begin to forget stuff, and i will come back not a very good producer when i finish my break..

I'm curious to know if anybody has taken any extended breaks and if so did you feel you went backwards or is it sort of like riding a bike - you don't lose it?

Thank you very much

Mike
Anybody can do anything if they set their mind to it

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I did an 18 month clean break awhile ago--no music composition or production at all. I was pretty well burnt out.

When I came back, I was completely revitalized.

Yes, I had forgot some stuff, but a lot of what I forgot was needless minutia that was just clouding the creative process.

Not sure it's best for everyone, but it worked for me.

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Well i have dropped music production for about 3 years cause i had army and after that i dont had much time...long time but i think i have more ideas now.Im starting again.Is not how much time u make a brake,maybe everyone need it maybe not i cant answer that but is just only your feelings and your inspirations to make music, when u dont have this feeling u just cant make anything right... if u are empty from it now make a brake and see the results,u will forgot some stuff but will remember it fast and that not make u bad producer,there is difference between a simple producer like anyone can be...and an musician producer...and the second one dont exist without feelings :)
Deep in your mind...there is a light...follow it!

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I've taken a number of breaks. Between playing bass and moving to 'computer only stuff' and then years later abandoning it all and then coming back, etc.,etc.

Each time I've returned with energy. Despite my lifelong love of music I find I'm not as strong as other musicians, but when I return I still find a stronger energy and fresh inspiration more often than not.
Breaks are a good thing no matter the hobby/passion. When they don't help fully revitalize you they certainly can help shift you into a different forced new perspective due to more mature view or simply changed taste which can/does change view and desire.

(I mean, heck, imagine the difference had I dropped out in the mid to late nineties and, full of early Sister Machine Gun, Mussolini Headkick and Final Cut and came back almost ten years later much mellowed by age and a love of Tangerine Dream's early and mid-80s soundtracks like Firestarter.... it would be a shift, eh? This would likely necessitate a turn in tech and approach in soft(s). It would be my responsibility to note which and how and why, but a difference there would indeed be...
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos

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I've taken a 12 years break... I've returned to my music with a new source of inspiration :)

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IMO, your music will improve considerably if you follow this plan, because you'll remove the financial stress and the sense of "needing" to produce results.

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You don't forget stuff, you just get out of practice, but it all comes back quite quickly with practice.

After I learned guitar I gave it up for about 5 years until someone stuck one in my hand in front of a group of people and asked me to play and I realized I should never have given it up. There are instruments I probably only play once every few weeks and it doesn't really make any difference to my ability to play them (I can still play them just as badly as I could before :hihi: ).

Playing a couple of hours a day is probably a lot more than most people here get to play. Sounds to me like you're getting burned out. No matter how much you love something if you do it every waking hour it gets to be a chore whether you like to admit it or not.

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2009 was my last grand productive period. Since then I've written and recorded things sporadically. Life tends to get in the way- marriage, family obligations, etc.. Long story short- I moved into a new space with *tons* of room, and now things are flowing again. Nothing was lost. Nothing was forgotten, and it's all better than before.

Hope that helps you.

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It's not the end of the world to take a break. Doing something as constantly as you described is a sure way toward burnout.

I'm trying to find myself again after an artificially generated burnout. I'm trying to restart in what's essentially a poverty lifestyle. I don't recommend that. If you run out of money, you won't be able to keep at it anyway, so take some time off. Don't avoid music making, just don't make it a chore and don't force it to be "all on, all the time." Make some money, interact with people, cook some good meals :-) Go back to it when it feels the creative impulse is driving you, rather than the career goals.
- dysamoria.com
my music @ SoundCloud

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Unless you're going for the Chopin Competition, it's actually a good move.
Beside giving you a clear perspective about what you are doing, it creates a great vacuum to be enjoyed on your way back.
MuLab-Reaper of course :D

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I took a number of years off, completely disconnected with the music scene and everything. I did suffer from it in some ways, but I am glad I took the time off, mainly because I am not as emotionally attached to certain styles as much as I used to be. It allows me to be a little more fluid, and I also learned life doesn't end when you stop making music.

If you get back to your core interests though and maybe explore it in new ways you might find that you break through this patch. I've done something very similar to you and felt burned out, but then started working with new styles and clipped some bad habits (like not actually sticking to schedules, being online too much, though I am still working on that) and found it helped me. I take more breaks in the week now to go out and chillout on my own.
Aiynzahev-sounds
Sound Designer - Soundsets for Pigments, Repro, Diva, Virus TI, Nord Lead 4, Serum, DUNE2, Spire, and others

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Thanks very much for the replies, very interesting to hear other peoples stories, yeah i have applied for a few jobs and so i don't think it will be a bad thing to take a short while off, especially judging by what you have all said,

And definately, no matter how much you love something sometimes you just do it too much and burn it out, i think i need a refreshment sort of break to bring back more of the fun in it

Thanks a lot!

Mike
Anybody can do anything if they set their mind to it

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Take a break but not for too long; the muses are not to be treated cavalierly. They dislike being ignored and, as loving and patient as they can be, will move on and, after too long, only reluctantly return when you once again prove your passion to be more than a trifling flirtation. Leave them too many times for too long and they become as lost lovers, interminably distant, changed beyond recognition, painfully difficult to reconcile; fleeting memories of what once was and could have been. You will become to them, and they to you, a haunting incomplete melody, abandoned, eventually forgotten, and left behind despite your good intentioned but ultimately empty promise of return.

On the other hand you could do what Charles Ives did and your muses need not feel abandoned.
"Let us wander through a great modern city with our ears more alert than our eyes..." Luigi Russolo, 1913

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My first break was 28 years. I returned completely re-invigorated. In truth I had not planned either the departure or the return.

My second break lasted 19 weeks and was enforced. I just had other stuff to do.

Each of these breaks was beneficial in different ways. After the first I was ready to make some music. After the second I had learnt to listen.

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