Losing the will

The Lounge
#62

Christ, I don’t think I’ve done anything productive, music-wise for at least two years.

It caused me no end of anxiety (still does from time to time) but a couple of years ago I started daily meditation. Nothing to do with my (lack of) music inspiration but just because I read a lot about consciousness and the mind. I learned to accept to be the person who I am in any give moment in time, thus to not give myself a hard time for not being that mythical “really productive and exciting musician” that I’d love to be but really only existed in my head. We’re not born musicians and there is nothing to say that we ever will be or should be. You find your stride, if you’re lucky, and some can run with it, others trip over or get bored or get distracted by other stuff. That’s being human.

4 Likes
#63

Yes this is a cool subject. Sometimes people get lost in the process, and the best option is to just take a break. It is always ok to take a break. I try to remember that I don’t have to do anything. People feel the need to constantly write, record, publish, promote, etc but it’s important to recognize when it’s time to chill, and then just close up shop and actually chill when the time is right. Don’t get mad at the instruments, don’t get mad at the world, just do something that will clear your mind. When I’m sitting in front of the gear again (usually for me within a day or two), I’ll try to start with non-specific things, like designing sounds or collecting samples. Or sometimes I’ll just fix things up, especially the things that I haven’t had time to address up to now. From there it usually leads to a real project, and I’m back in the saddle!

Anyway, hope that’s helpful to someone. It’s nice that people can talk thins openly in this forum.

2 Likes
#64

There’s nothing wrong with this. It happens. I’ve been at it for 20 years and there have been spans of months where I barely do anything besides a 5 second loop here or there. It’s just part of life. If music is not your livelihood, that makes you lucky to be able to not have to worry about it when sh*t like this happens. Take some time off. Hell, I’ve barely touched my studio in weeks, but it’s all good. It’ll come back eventually.

2 Likes
#65

haven’t abandoned the thread, I am in here reading everything everyone’s put, the thread blew up pretty quickly and I can’t respond to everyone now as much as I do want to. Big love to everyone who’s dropped their piece in. People who are doing well, I’m truly glad to hear it man. People who are in the same place, also glad to hear it’s normal. Was starting to get concerned I was just done with it. Don’t disagree with a single comment in here, lots of perspectives to think about. Consider this post me liking everyone’s comments :heart:

22 Likes
#66

I love this thread! I’m currently working my way out of a multi-year semi-retirement from making music and it has been a long and slow process of rediscovering who i am, why i love music, and my reasons for making it. Its nice to read other people’s perspectives.

Its ok, and even normal, to get frustrated and take breaks. Taking care of your mental health and well being is important.

8 Likes
#67

I remember reading an interview with Liam Howlett where he hit a real creative block before The Prodigy released Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. He’d built up an impressive studio, but wasn’t finding inspiration with the gear. He ended up producing it on Reason in bed with a laptop.

For me making music comes in bursts. I’ve done some tracks during lockdown, but have spent most of my time not touching my gear at all. I do find when I hit creative flows, that it’s best for me to make the most of them (including staying up until the next day) as I know they don’t always come along as often as I’d like. Leaving my gear always plugged in helps encourage me to do stuff (if I don’t have it set up, that’s just another barrier). Also if I set too many expectations when I start a session that can work negatively and lead to frustration (I find this especially the case with playing guitar if I’m not playing at what I feel is my baseline level). As loads of people in the thread have said, there’s no harm in taking a break. I think there’s also a lot of unnecessary pressure to be productive and creative during Corona - sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Good luck!

6 Likes
#68

Most probably because of the limitations of working in a simpler environment, we all know this truth about limitations breeding creativity if we are honest with ourselves, but it doesn’t sit well with our inner gearhead who likes to justify our accumulation of stuff.

I sometimes think of getting rid of everything except the OTmkII - I’d probably be 10 times more productive, but I like other gear too, I’m too much of a slunt :laughing:

7 Likes
#69

same. I often really try hard to make really dark sounding, not so melodic stuff, cause I like to listen to that kind of stuff a lot. I can force it in this direction, but if I let go and don’t force anything, my tracks get chilled and filled with melodies.

Anyway, if I really get tired of creating specific music, I usually switch style or genre completely.
IDM beats on one day, souly boom bap beats on the other. Keeps it always interesting.
And if everything sounds boring, I just learn some favorite song on guitar or piano. While doing this, I usually stumble upon something that gets inspiration back.

4 Likes
#70

The whole gear and GAS thing is usually considered to be consumerism and a waste of time, and it is probably for the most part.
But I was thinking about it a lot lately and I have to say : on the one hand, it can be a lot of fun, the planning, the learning, the trying out… and on the other hand, I think I learned a lot of techniques, ways of working etc I didn’t know before and gathered a lot of inspiration by either using different gear or watching others using it (mainly on youtube).
But it can be tiresome and non productive alike :upside_down_face:

2 Likes
#71

I spend way too much time watching videos of things I would like to buy - that new Soma Pulsar 23 drum machine has blown my mind recently haha! It’s difficult to draw the line between GASing for the sake of it / getting stuff that will add to your creativity. I love that story re Liam, because it shows: 1) that even the most creative, experienced and successful find it difficult at times and 2) just switching things around / simplifying can really trigger productivity like you say. Might head off now to watch some videos on the OT :laughing:

1 Like
#72

you don’t have to achieve anything - i guess it’s your thing to do what you want and if others are busy or at last tell the world to do so then that’s there business.

lately i had my AR for three weeks on my desk and only powered it on for a few minutes, sometimes it run for over 14 hours without doing anything and it doesn’t matter to me because I’m restructuring some parts of my life which is far more important to me and it is and will be for ever a sideproject - a quite expensive one of course - but this doesn’t pay my bills - so what …

half a year without touching anything was also part of it, and when i grew older, other things became more important…

you do this for you and nobody else

1 Like
#73

Lots of thoughtful and fascinating insight here!

One self-indulgent exercise I often do whenever I’m feeling stagnant is to “remix” an old (completed) track of mine by breaking it down piece by piece and modifying as many variables as I can get away with: tempo, key, filtering, fx, etc. When the dust settles I’d say 95% of the time I’ll end up with an entirely new track that in virtually no way resembles what I started with.

3 Likes
#74

That feeling is brutal.
Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way” calls these periods “dry seasons”. They happen to everyone. Best antidote is:

  1. know that eventually, they DO end
  2. do the famous “morning pages” from The Artist’s Way
  3. go on the “artist dates” from the same book
  4. sell 50% of your gear
4 Likes
#75

Is selling gear really necessary? I mean… couldn‘t you adapt the artist‘s way also to the gear and rather put that gear aside until the „dry season“ is over?

2 Likes
#76

Hmmm. You’ve got me thinking. I guess some people may actually be able to rekindle their creative fire by really, truly hiding, storing, and putting away some of their gear. I’m not like that.

For me, honestly, I miss the days when I owned 1 polysynth, 1 bass synth, 1 effects unit, and a sampling drum machine. Those were my salad days because I HAD to get my own sound by being inventive on the limited gear. Now I have stuff hiding, but I know it’s there. That does a number on my creativity actually.

I’m currently selling a sh*t ton of stuff (see my ad in the for sale and trade sections) haha
I feel great because I’m living more in the “make stuff” space than the “thinking about all the cool stuff I could make with gear x, y, and z” space.

9 Likes
#77

There’s definitely no harm in self-imposed limitations - it’s one of the all time best pieces of advice. I just personally wouldn’t advise selling gear when in a funk/slump/whatever or when not thinking clearly. There’s a chance it’ll cost the person more to replace the gear if they realised they made a rash mistake while feeling shit but ended up needing that gear when creativity has returned to them :slightly_smiling_face:

#78

If you’re made of money, sure :stuck_out_tongue: . But the mental shift is worth paying “more” to reaquire anything, and a paid off CC is better than keeping what you’ve already acquired and still owing.

If i’m not “feeling” something, why force it?

1 Like
#79

Agreed. If you know you’re in a good mental state and you haven’t used piece of gear X in time, get rid. I was just warning against rash choices based on current probably temporary mood etc etc.

2 Likes
#80

When I’m not feeling it I just turn to other stuff, video games, model making, photography, comics, books, etc. Sometimes it’s best to create, and other times it’s best to consume. Just don’t sell your gear, because then you gotta buy it back and that’s a whole cycle of waiting/anxiety while it’s on the way and potential disappointment when it arrives, plus additional time, travel, and effort to return it and get your $$$ back. I’ve received “working” gear on eBay many times only to find that’s it’s actually broken, or only partially working, or has scratchy pots, etc. If you’ve got working equipment that you know, just keep it and wait for the inspiration to return. Sometimes it takes weeks for me!

It took me a long time to stop feeling guilty when I haven’t turned my gear on for a few days, but I’m much better now. A big thing that helped is taking a synth or drum machine to a place that isn’t the usual, change up the setting and lighting and mood. I’ve started taking a synth to bed with me pretty often and just laying on my back under the covers with the synth on my thighs where my arms reach the keys perfectly outstretched. With the lights off it’s a really relaxing way to play and TRULY listen. The SK-1, ELZ_1, and Poly-800 are really great little instruments for this purpose. Try it out!!!

5 Likes
#81

Switching up the area where you work can help get you thinking different for sure, this can help that creative spark. Just can’t take my Digitone or Machinedrum to bed anymore. My wife says the buttons are too clicky. Oh when will the Nanoloop hardware be finished?

2 Likes