KVR Audio

chickenhide · Post by **chickenhide** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:41 am

Hi all,

I will try my best to make this not seem like an obnoxious cry for help, and I know this topic comes up time and time again.. I have not been able to finish a track for the better part of a year, simply because I am too harsh on myself. I can start a track, and almost finish it, and then wake up one day and realize it's shit and trash it. I know, objectively, my music is not bad. I have been producing since I was 12, have had records released on labels, have a fairly expensive studio setup, and I'm also quite educated in sound design and music theory. So without boasting, I feel that I can safely say my work can be enjoyed by most dance-music enthusiasts.

I don't know what to do. Part of it is a creative block. I recently have bought some books to further educate myself as well, and I've been reading articles / documentation religiously. I have tracks that I've made years ago that I still enjoy today and sometimes even think to myself, "Wow, I remember how passionate I was about this track." I can't say the same about anything I've started within the past year. Maybe I'm trying too hard, but I have taken weeks off where I avoid anything related to music, just to come back and feel the same frustration. I often find myself thinking "This is a complex / unique track, but it's annoying me at this point and I don't think it is something I could find myself enjoying if I had stumbled across it online."

What do you guys think? Would re-arranging my DAW help? Maybe buying more plugins? Change the order in which I do things? I don't know. I'm very lost and unmotivated. Taking breaks didn't help. I think I may be taking music too seriously and it has ruined the fun in it for me. I apologize for sounding so neurotic. It's 5am and I'm quite delirious. Maybe this is something that belongs on a psych forum and not KVR, haha.

I greatly appreciate any input in advance.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:48 am

Collaboration with someone may be your best way forward. A second opinion you can trust is worth a lot.

The other option is to move outside your chosen genre and do things that aren't dance oriented as it's possible you're trying things that really don't suit what you have been doing and your unconscious mind knows it.

Also, obligatory Ira Glass video: https://vimeo.com/85040589

The beginner aspect of it is not on-target, but I think it applies to creative plateaus just as well.

kelvyn · Post by **kelvyn** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 11:53 am

Very good advice there from Gamma and I would just like to underline how positive it can be to share creative endevour with like or even non like minded people.
I've been going through a similar situation... too critical and aware of how tall the mountain is and what I needed to satisfy my own criteria. I'd actually fall asleep over the keyboard.
What helped me was choosing a different mode of composing. In my case I decided to get off the keyboard and use other instruments. I also decided to just let what ever came out happen without bothering wether it was good or not. I gave myself a month to just experiment and when I felt it wasn't fun, just stopped and had a break. I didn't spend hours listening to what I had done that day, just started on something else. It was extremely helpful. I found the idea challenging and it released me from self imposed pressure and stress, and most importantly I had a lot of fun working out how to get to a certain point creatively with tools I didn't really know that well - slide guitar for instance.
I'm not too sure that buying more stuff is going to help - been there too and it didn't.
Good luck

PurpleCatfishBettie · Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:12 pm

maybe a little bit of new gear might help.... like a keyboard, or a kaossilator, or guitar, or bass, or drum(s). these days, you can get a pretty good guitars for under $100.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:19 pm

I think anyone creative who works alone goes through this. When I was in a band I was just swept along so there wasn't really any time to overanalyse what I was doing. It was working and that was good.

I was reading some thoughts from someone who wrote a blog/webcomic and they said that one of the best decisions they made was to know when a post was "good enough" to put out there. To not spend days slaving over something until they ended up hating it. Just put it out there, close the chapter and move on to the next one.

Here's one piece of advice I've given myself (but true to self I haven't actually taken it yet). If you haven't done it, enter one of the one synth challenges here. It will help you focus on completing a track and you may find it's fun to try something different without any of the pressures that you may be putting on yourself from your past success. It's definitely a lot harder to keep going than to start out as you tend to keep raising the bar as time goes on. In the early days you're happy just to be able to make the music you like.

Collaborations are also a great way to get work finished. It could be another musician or maybe not. Maybe someone who makes animations that will require you to make the music fit, instead of the other way around.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:43 pm

Right now I'm trying to make a different, better version of my track which has already been accepted by a label and released at beatport (and even already pirated and spread over the net). I don't like some of the synth lines and the snare sounds like shit to my ears - I'm sure I can do it better.

Good to know that I'm not alone facing this kind of problems.

What really helps it to leave an almost finished track for some weeks - then you return to it with fresh ears and hear what already sounds good and what should be improved or redone.

woggle · Post by **woggle** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:21 pm

making music is a process without an endpoint. When you make a track or piece and you identify a weakness then you have learned something. that's not a weakness that is a strength that allows you to continue improving. It can be daunting for sure, realising how much improvement is possible and how much effort is required.
As far as the negative emotion that goes along with noticing there is still a lot of improvement possible - that is very common, i certainly get that along with most artists I have met. But it is just an emotion that comes then goes. Don't worry about it too much. You could just as easily be happy that you have seen opportunities for improving your music. Feeling like the work is shit will probably never go away but by realising that is just a negative emotion associated with seeing opportunities for improvement you can reduce the intensity of that feeling and the amount of time you suffer from it.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:42 pm

I'm definitely in favor of experimenting to break out of a creative rut.

Try shooting a video and then score your music to the video... Now throw away the video and keep the music.

Make a song in an unrelated style. How about polka? Try combining two unrelated styles.

Deliberately make the worst sounding song you possibly can. Pick the worst, most annoying and obnoxious sounds, melodies, and chord progressions.

Collaborate.

Oblique Strategies
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies

Making Music
https://makingmusic.ableton.com/

OzoneJunkie · Post by **OzoneJunkie** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 2:16 pm

There's a book by Steven Pressfield, called "Turning Pro". Part of the theory within talks about sitting down and doing the work, and not waiting for the muse to appear. That's not a direct parallel with what you're experiencing, but I still recommend the book.

Learn to detach your ego from the things that you do. It's something worth actually practicing. If one pays attention to one's thoughts, how often are those thoughts attempts at re-enforcing one's thoughts, beliefs, decisions? Detachment from these things allows one to progress. When one has true inner confidence, the re-enforcement isn't needed, and decisions, thoughts, and so on flow easily. And part of the source of self-confidence is knowing that the work that one puts in will progress one's art, coupled with the ability to self-evaluate without judging, in order to refine the process.

I use a few things: MVP, and ART. Meditate, Visualize, Plan. And Analyze, Refine, Train. These are cycles meant to help one improve and progress.

Another book I can recommend is "Mind Hacking" by Sir John Hargra, which helps one understand that we are not our thoughts, and goes into exercises to help one see that, observe their thoughts, and change them.

I wish you relief and forward progress.

chickenhide · Post by **chickenhide** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:32 am

You guys are the best. This is all really great advice that I can take to heart. I'm just gonna try to switch things up...maybe make new project templates and stop trying to limit myself to one genre for a little while. Thanks x10000

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:45 am

Take it from the ex gas whore, buying new gear is only a good idea if you can visualize using it on a fairly regular basis.

If it's just a new cool toy it will become pas-se quickly and we'll see you on the marketplace soon

Aleatoriac · Post by **Aleatoriac** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:16 am

Make music nude.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:48 am

chickenhide wrote:I will try my best to make this not seem like an obnoxious cry for help, and I know this topic comes up time and time again.. I have not been able to finish a track for the better part of a year, simply because I am too harsh on myself...

Mike Monday has a blog about helping people move forward with their music:

http://mikemonday.com/

I have tracks that I've made years ago that I still enjoy today and sometimes even think to myself, "Wow, I remember how passionate I was about this track." I can't say the same about anything I've started within the past year.

When I was in college, someone told me that successful soundtrack composers complete (as in deliver a finished product) 3 minutes of music per day. I wanted to be a composer back then so I made that a goal for myself and did successfully create 3 minutes of music every day for several years. Realistically, the chances that you'll be passionate about everything you do are pretty low when you're working that way and I'll go so far as to say I was only really passionate about 1/3 of what I'd done.

Maybe I'm trying too hard, but I have taken weeks off where I avoid anything related to music, just to come back and feel the same frustration.

This is a downward spiral. Don't do this. "Fake it till you make it" is the best way I've found to get out slumps, just do the things that successful producers do and eventually you'll find yourself back on track.

Would re-arranging my DAW help?

I like starting tracks in iMaschine and then importing them into Maschine to finish.

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:02 am

Changing your workflow can be huge, as Uncle E hinted at. Do you have a smartphone or tablet? Find an inexpensive, fully featured music app like nano studio and see where that could take you. Or go out and do some field recording and let that serve as a basis of a track, either sonically or for inspiration. Or watch a movie and try to base a track around its major thematic elements. Try making a track with an arbitrary challenge; you can free your mind from needing it to sound professional, you just have to make a viable track with, let's say, only sine waves as source sounds and the rest up to FX. Or whatever.

All these things can help you remember the fun of making music, which can ignite you with fresh, "real" ideas that you'll be motivated to finish.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:18 am

Make different types of music?

Crippling self-criticism.