KVR Audio

reflekshun · Post by **reflekshun** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:22 am

Ok, so i've been thinking about the essence of writers block, inspiration and all that lately. There's somethin I'd love to know. How do you all think about inspiration - do you always wait for it to take over you, then pour it out into a song? Or do you sometimes sit down at your computer for a 'session' and fish out your inspiration? Do you find one way works better than the other?

I've just been writing alot less this year than I used to back in 2001-2003, so i'm considering the latter use of inspiration. The answers to my questions might be helpful, and if anything - interesting for us all to read!

Thanks anyone!

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:35 am

sometimes if you wait too long for it, a block can stop you in your tracks and you might lose interest in making music. sometimes i find i have to use a bit of force.

If you find yourself writing little or none i recommend doing other things/forms of art you love. Inspiration can pop its pretty head anywhere.

soulkraka · Post by **soulkraka** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:40 am

I almost never feel inspired while sitting in front of a comp. So I bought a pocket pc that I carry everywhere with me to record ideas, melodies.....

...I must look like a total jackass

rokkon · Post by **rokkon** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:45 am

strangely, using computers on a daily basis seems to kill all my crerativity. when i'm at a place for one or two weeks where i don't have access to a compuzter at all i suddenly get a boost of ideas and general creativity.

soulkraka · Post by **soulkraka** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:48 am

yep....I'll be struggling with a track and then the moment I leave I'll get like 5 ideas for it...LOL

androidlove · Post by **androidlove** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:49 am

i just sit down and start playin. i record what i like. i mold it from there. i get inspiration for subject matter from the real world, but the lyrics don't really flow until i'm lookin at notepad. computer use has upped my creativity

gravehill · Post by **gravehill** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:25 pm

In a certain sense inspiration works like sex. If you feel inspired to start with, all the better. If not, just start doing what you do and the inspiration will come, too (no pun intended, you sickos!).

haydxn · Post by **haydxn** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:33 pm

i think there are no rules. sometimes i'll get an idea *baM* in the street while i'm walking, and it's handy if i've got my MD recorder to hand so i can hum/beatbox it down to scratch. sometimes i'll be sat at my computer and work thru a song methodically, logically and artistically and get towards completion. a lot of the time the best things come from just zipping something into the computer without thinking, or doing something wrong but being pleased with the results.

ideas come from doing stuff, and ideas come from not doing stuff. i think the best thing to do is just not expect one particular way to be best, although you should always work to your strengths.

i find i get lots of great ideas after having done half an hour or so of recording a load of unrelated junk into my MD recorder. hitting stuff rhythmically, even if there's no intended groove behind it, can bring out ideas when you plonk it into the computer. everyone knows that programmed drums and rhythms can sound really artificial, but if you plonk in a short sample of something with any kind of rhythm you've made in the real world (regardless of tempo or structure), you can often find new grooves to craft, and short bits of it will sit really well with what you've done. i tend to plonk short 3 or 4 hit sections down and move/chop them til they sound like a groove, and then build from that. you can get a really organic feel that way.

but yeah, just do stuff, and make music!

Paulie Phonick · Post by **Paulie Phonick** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:11 pm

The most inspiration killing device is an mp3 player. Mine has died recently and ever since that happened, I'm having one idea after another while biking to work

For me, trying too hard to be constructive kills inspiration. When I used to start my sessions with a sequencer to really compose something, I normally failed to create anything. Now I normally start with eXT, pluging modules together, testing new freebies, having fun - and the moment when I have to open the sequencer, because I come up with something that is worth writing down, comes really soon.

But one of the strongest sources of inspiration for me are movies. After a good movie I normally experience a huge flow of creativity (which I tend to waste playing semi classical piano tunes

).

ChamomileShark · Post by **ChamomileShark** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:21 pm

This is an area that interests me intensely. Apart from doing my own music I'm a qualified life coach and run a specialist group for coaches working with "artists". I've been doing stuff since the early 80s. I used to find I would write in the autumn, lots of ideas, refine them in the winter and then re-record in spring and then do a release. I started to slow down and weeks of dry hell would go by. I tries a couple of techniques, investigate just sound, work on something old, do a cover. Often if I started on this I would end up doing something different, but at least it would be something. I suspect part of the problem in the old days was that I had extremely limited equipment, for 5 yrs one small monosynth and a 4 track..that was it. Now I find it easier and since 2003 I have yet to be visited by the dry fairy. Not having to create 40 mins packages helps, but releasing as stuff becomes ready.
On techniques, there are Brian Eno's "Obscure Strategies" (have I remebered that correctly??) a set of cards you can buy that he used in recording the album by the same name. The other important thing is that it's hard just to keep being you own muse, to borrow a greek term. You have to refill the well. Julia Cameron (wrote the Artist's Way) calls this going on the artist's date..maybe you go to a museum, or to a junk yard, whatever floats your boat..remembering that environments, visual art can stimulate.
As an aside I've been thinking of setting up a website about this subject, the idea is to help people with artistic creativity on a no fee basis, links to other resources. Does anyone reading this think that's a good idea (I don't mean to hijack the thread but if people do think it is I'll start a new thread when I'm a bit clearer on the idea and have a bit of time to actually do it!)

haydxn · Post by **haydxn** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:29 pm

oblique strategies

gravehill · Post by **gravehill** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:40 am

ChamomileShark wrote:As an aside I've been thinking of setting up a website about this subject, the idea is to help people with artistic creativity on a no fee basis, links to other resources. Does anyone reading this think that's a good idea (I don't mean to hijack the thread but if people do think it is I'll start a new thread when I'm a bit clearer on the idea and have a bit of time to actually do it!)

I think it's a good idea. At least I'm in the habit of bookmarking inspiring pages that I go through when I have nothing better to do.

Oblique strategies work, too. I actually tailored a bit expanded and personalized version of it for my own use.

How to use Inspiration 101