finding your edge

[Katelyn]

This is something that has been bothering me for a bit.

Some time ago I was stuck with a song, but then one day I set to working on it to blow off some steam after being really pissed at someone and it was as if I breakthrough and everything came naturally and effortlessly.

Then after a couple of days I lost proper focus on the work and it didn't turn out how I wanted it to and I'm back about to where I was a week or two ago just to figure out how to make it sound awesome again.

It is all in my head? Or is it something else? I'm now at the point that I want to lay this track down and try again later but I've been working on this idea since the summer with most of the work in the last 2 months.

I feel kind of frustrated. If I could just figure out what it was that had me going in the right direction before, I might be able to cultivate that. I did show a couple of demos to some people and ask for opinions, maybe that is where I went wrong... I know generally to not listen to people about certain things they say, particularly when it's about a part of it that is intentional. But at the same time I think I kind of wanted this track to be too much at once and aimed to achieve something beyond my current skill level.

[chaosWyrM]

this is all my personal opinion and experience...i make no claims of what is the "right" way to work...only you can know that.

with that said...i often start tracks that dont pan out, or for one reason or another go off in a direction i didnt intend/dont really like. when i say often...i mean like a lot, happens all the time. what i typically do in those situations is just step away from it. ill stop working on it with the intention of coming back to it at a later date.

i call it "putting it in the bank" (stupid i know). i never completely give up on anything. so maybe in a few months ill come back to it with fresh ears and a clear mind. the idea is to kind of forget what i was "trying" to do and to see if i can make it work with whats is there...not what i want to be there.

ive come back to banked tracks a year or more later and finished them in a few days...simply because i wasnt trying to force it anymore and i heard something in it i missed the first (or second or third) time around. right now i have about 20-30 such tracks...just waiting for me to rediscover them.

right now i have a track sitting at like 95% finished...its been at 95% for almost a year. i really love that 95%, but theres just this one section that isnt working. ive gone back to it 4 or 5 times now and i dont like anything i do to it. so...ill just keep coming back to it every 4 or 6 months. i know eventually ill figure it out.

a second benefit to this is i have all these tracks already started if i run into a period of not being very creative. anytime i hit a block...i can just go through all these tracks that already have a starting point, that already have a core idea, and see if they can get the juices flowing again.

its a pretty good system for me, and i dont know...maybe everyone works like this and all these things im saying are obvious to everyone else.

so...i guess what im saying is...maybe dont force it. if you feel like you want to put it down for a while and come back...maybe thats exactly what you should do. theres no rush, itll be there when you come back.

[trimph1]

I have quite a few that go so far then poof.

Don't force it. Sometimes it takes a bit of time away from the project to see another approach come out

And welcome to KvR!!!!

[jancivil]

where I went wrong... I know generally to not listen to people about certain things they say, particularly when it's about a part of it that is intentional. But at the same time I think I kind of wanted this track to be too much at once and aimed to achieve something beyond my current skill level.

I think you know yourself kind of well. I would say relax a little, it's somewhat a matter of experience to gain a really honed approach and a high rate of success meeting your initial enthusiasm or focus for a piece. Some of it *is* in our head and we come to it on another day in a different space psychologically and even physiologically, different ears and a different subjectivity quotient...

[RunBeerRun]

I find if I don't finish a song in a single day, to get it to work another day, it has to be from a fresh feeling. I don't think you can re-visit the old feeling at all.

That doesn't seem natural, it's like time travel?

[Katelyn]

I have quite a few that go so far then poof.

Don't force it. Sometimes it takes a bit of time away from the project to see another approach come out

And welcome to KvR!!!!

Ya, I worked on it a little bit since, I was trying to do something with another track then I thought of something and went back to it, I think I found out what was wrong with it and it was that fundamental difference in the core elements throwing it all off.

I realized that I do not have enough knowledge or understanding of the one genre I was trying to take an element from.

Do you ever feel like even if you try to work on something else, it just keeps pulling you back?

Also thank you on the welcome

I find if I don't finish a song in a single day, to get it to work another day, it has to be from a fresh feeling. I don't think you can re-visit the old feeling at all.

That doesn't seem natural, it's like time travel?

I was wondering this also... how does one finish a song in a single day? I mean, I can see it as possible but I mean, make a good song in a few hours that isn't just cookie cutter?

[Doug1978]

...
Some time ago I was stuck with a song, but then one day I set to working on it to blow off some steam after being really pissed at someone and it was as if I breakthrough and everything came naturally and effortlessly.

Then after a couple of days I lost proper focus on the work and it didn't turn out how I wanted it to and I'm back about to where I was a week or two ago just to figure out how to make it sound awesome again...

I think this is the most rubbish post ever.
You're such a noob.
My gerbil could make better music than you.





ps, I'm just trying to piss you off in the hope that your breakthrough will come back again

There is already good advice in this thread, and I agree mostly with chaosWyrM's comments - though I'd say if you really want to get a song out, set yourself a deadline for the arrangement of about a day or two, then review it with a fresh head a few days later. Repeat this concurrently, or separately, for the mixing stage.
Most songs aren't perfect. But they can still be great if focus comes from time deadlines and clear review of mistakes and necessary additional elements.

[RunBeerRun]

how does one finish a song in a single day?

No reason to doubt it, most old classic songs on the radio were written quickly, recorded quickly on a low budget. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Songs

[nasenmann]

I find if I don't finish a song in a single day, to get it to work another day, it has to be from a fresh feeling. I don't think you can re-visit the old feeling at all.

that's an extreme stance on it, but there's some merit to that of course.

it's true that feelings shift all the time, but i find that when i'm really into something and pick it up again right the next day, there's sort of an afterglow of yesterday's feel i can pick up on.
it's like the muse allows a little leeway for mundane things like eat and sleep before she's bored and takes off.

some people are fine with working on a tune on and off over months. that's what i don't get.
for me it's simple: work on the thing like a maniac every day until it's finished. but apparently, that's far from universal.
granted, bit hard when you have a job or sum shit

[Pacific05]

so...i guess what im saying is...maybe dont force it. if you feel like you want to put it down for a while and come back...maybe thats exactly what you should do. theres no rush, itll be there when you come back.

+ 1000.

It's a matter of inspiration, it's like writing a poem or a novel. Maybe you have the right idea, but you're stuck in the middle with a phrase or a word. No forcing, no stress. And for what it concerns knowledge and skills, they will come, little by little. Everyone "put in the bank" a tune, sooner or later.

[Mister Natural]

katelyn - I've read of so many artists who claim to not know where the story's gonna go once it get's started. Most successful artists find that the story(song, painting, whatever) writes itself.
I had dinner once(I'll never forget) with Robert Mondavi & he said that in talking to so many brilliant winemakers ; all of them talked about the wine making itself, that the wise & best thing that the winemaker can do is - to get out of the way

all the best of luck with your music

[nasenmann]

katelyn - I've read of so many artists who claim to not know where the story's gonna go once it get's started. Most successful artists find that the story(song, painting, whatever) writes itself.
I had dinner once(I'll never forget) with Robert Mondavi & he said that in talking to so many brilliant winemakers ; all of them talked about the wine making itself, that the wise & best thing that the winemaker can do is - to get out of the way

all the best of luck with your music

yup - well said. and just what i'd expect from someone with that user name

it's hard to talk about of course. easy to get lost in cliches of fortune cookie wisdom, but creativity really is a huge f**king mystery. at peak moments, most artists must've felt in some way that it has to be larger than them. scientists or inventors or what have you too, for that matter.

happy accidents, strong moments of intuition, flow concept, blahblah. all that. or the muse, or, eeek, god.
lots of words and concepts around it, yet completely unknown. that's what makes it so worthwhile....when it actually happens, hehe.

[jancivil]

'lost proper focus on the thing' may be the best thing to happen. 'stay out of the way' is something to know about with some experience but you should be apprised of the capability of that idea...

a couple of things of mine which I really appreciate today were things that I failed on for weeks, blindly feeling my way in the dark with but a nebulous notion, a sound world that I felt was worth populating, and good sound design I believed in; but for some time I was well sick of the actual things I was putting to it, and thought of as nothing much happening; not quite depressed but in kind of a dulled aspect for a long time. But I stayed with it because I felt the basis was enough to warrant it.

- and were I to want to analyze technically, in terms of things I know, would be a terrific amt of work and in the end a waste of time, I'm mystified as to what I could possibly have done, in terms of 'music theory' or known technique to create what to me now is magic; new materials, 'new ground' broken...

I can stay inside a feel, though for a LONG time; almost dreamlike state until the things are fully revealed. The first recordings of some things, well, the next morning they don't so much work, but my subconscious or dreaming mind continues to work, sorting and morphing... in kind of a deranged state. That I would probably not be doing if I had a day job.