Bored by my own music...

[fgauer]

I actually find this to be a very relevant topic, after doing computer/DAW based music for years, and years, and years. Also not working in the industry, doing it as a hobby so to speak.

I haven't necessarily run into the problem of being bored with my music per se. Also along these lines I don't think the people who actually listen to my music are bored with it either. Bear in mind I don't have really a lot of people who listen to it besides family and maybe a friend or two. I just don't think people have the time to really listen.

But I have run into the issue of realizing that my music, something I spend hours and hours and hours working on, is really not going to 'take me anywhere' in life. It's not going to bring in an income. It's not really going to benefit anyone in my family in any great or way or anything...

...so I struggle with why I do it in the first place...why bother?

If it wasn't for the fact that I personally enjoy it so much. For instance last night I just nailed a musical idea. It was so personally satisfying for me that I listened to the track about 5-6 times before I went to bed. Each time the track fed me back the emotional response that I was looking for. It was really fun for me.

Is this overindulgence? Is this kind of a sickness or madness? Knowing full well that very few, and possibly no one that I know will ever take the time to listen and really enjoy what has taken me a month of iteration to accomplish...

Is it just that music, and the creation of it holds so much sway over an individual that they will knock their head against a wall, for their entire life, to create it - just for the sake of creating it?

I don't know...

[deaneager]

bored shitless. Now I know how the rest of you must have felt all this time...

I just can't think of anything new to write, I just keep making the same track over and over.

I keep thinking I'll take a break, but I miss playing around with synths and drum machines too much, even if it results in no decent output

Do you produce Progressive House? If so, don't worry; everyone realises that Progressive House is boring sooner or later.

[Kriminal]

I just can't think of anything new to write, I just keep making the same track over and over.

so i guess it must sound pretty good by now then?

[CypherOne]

I just can't think of anything new to write, I just keep making the same track over and over.

so i guess it must sound pretty good by now then?

funnily enough, no...

[Kriminal]

I just can't think of anything new to write, I just keep making the same track over and over.

so i guess it must sound pretty good by now then?

funnily enough, no...

dont worry, ive been using the same track for years now too

[CypherOne]

maybe I should start making synths then...

[Jazzyspoon]

Is it just that music, and the creation of it holds so much sway over an individual that they will knock their head against a wall, for their entire life, to create it - just for the sake of creating it?

That should be your sig, fgauer. Well said.

[CypherOne]

You sound bored of your medium, not your art, imo.

I'd say I'm bored of my own inability/limitations really. A familiar whinge I'm sure, but I just don't seem to get any better or learn anything, just make the occasional happy accident of a half decent track...

[xoxos]

...so I struggle with why I do it in the first place...why bother?

your reasons for beginning may no longer be pertinent. for people my age, i don't think we anticipated that by the time we refined our output that there would be this much music available for free.

(1) craft is self-refinement.. which is good.. we have build ourselves into something that is more ourselves

(2) SHARE your music. it may be swamped. perhaps with fate, the right audience will lsiten and trigger some ideas. we are moving into a future where DIVERSITY of ideas, form, is what is gonig to make our evolution.


o.p. - post some 'target' examples, talk to people, find out why you're not getting your target tones. i've been doing music for >2 decades (like you?) there are some things i haven't explored that deeply at all.


one trick i use.. make a new cd as quickly/noncommitally as possible. 2 hours a track tops, chuck in a fill or two per song and let the beat loop. if you use algorithmic plugs, chuck them in, throw some elements on top, by the end of the w/e you have some new "you" to listen to. does wonders for the ego and lets you listen to yourself in a new light.

[Stairsteps]

I have been playing music for 17+ and never once got bored with what i do. all i can say is stop being a follower and be a leader make music from your heart and you should be ok. your like 1 in a zillion ppl who have different ideas and different lifestyles out here and your bored huh? well im not bored with my music is all I can really honestly tell you. I really cant give advise for this since im never bored with music making. however the way most tracks sound on the radio these days it seems like everyone is bored with music cause it all sounds very simular. back to my other point i did make. make music from your heart i mean you have to FEEL it man.

Oh and dont make music trying to get signed or a major deal cause either you have it in your heart to be great or your a copycat one or the other. BE ORIGINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and that will cure your boredom

[cron]

I also think half of my problem is not being able to find the sounds I want. I'm definitely no synth programmer, my mind doesn't seem to work that way, but of all the synths I've tried, with all the fantastic patches compiled by people with real talent, I can never really find what I want.

BTW, I now own less synths than I have had in the last 5 years, just 4 in fact, Albino, Predator, Imposcar and Atmosphere - that's plenty enough to make good music...

The above kind of links in with my suggestion...

Completely changing the way that I made music worked wonders for me. I used to be an 'everything in real time guy'. I decided to try the opposite way of working (everything recorded audio, to the point where I was making tracks without MIDI at all) and found that it suited me far better. Having the entire track in front of me as a barrage of audio and mixer envelope clips on a grid made me stop obsessing over sounds in isolation and think much more about where to place sounds and how to mix them.

Individual sounds, which under my previous regimen I may have considered '70% there', seemed perfect almost every time. Having to constantly render each take to audio before testing it on the grid no doubt helped . I also just felt happier having every element as a block of audio. The elements felt more controllable to me due to their being concrete (especially when semi-random plugs were invlolved).

Before I tried the 'purely audio' method above I'd thought it must be the most laborious working method ever. That is until I tried it and found myself finishing tracks in days. Try mixing up your own working methods, trying new things, and you might click with something in the same way that I did.

[Ricoo]

Nice music Cypher

[Acrobat]

That's caused by globalization, since culture is spreaded worldwide and you are forced to challange with anyone anytime, I think there's no cure, actually, just do what I'm doing: accept the fact, join it wherever possible (share your stuff as other people already told you) with a big big smile and sign a big deal with "I Don't give a f**k" Record Label, it's accepting new artists ATM...

[emdot_ambient]

I also think half of my problem is not being able to find the sounds I want...

I try not to look for a sound. I start with a sound I like and then try to find a song for it. The rest just falls in place.

But if you're tired of your songs, then try collaborating. An injection of someone else's ideas is often surprising and stimulating.

[xoxos]

Having the entire track in front of me as a barrage of audio and mixer envelope clips on a grid made me stop obsessing over sounds in isolation and think much more about where to place sounds and how to mix them.

repeating it for emphasis.