Best advice someone gave me was to sell my stuff and get a Mac
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I read a comment once on here a long time ago to the effect that if what you’re working on isn’t really going smoothly, consider whether you are trying to push past your current level of ability too much, then simplify and make the track you’re capable of making today. I probably paraphrased it badly, but this was actually what inspired me to get started recording things.
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Thanks! Really enjoy this thread and the signal to noise, it’s one of the most active worth subscribing to 
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“Fuck it.”
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If you are trying to sound different, go way beyond what you think is different. Because what you initially think is different is guaranteed not to be that different. (Sound advice from Robin Finck of NIN.)
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Tracks are like dancefloor b-boy circles.
Each element of your song is like a b-boy.
The can’t all be dancing in the center at the same time.
Just let ONE dance in the circle at any given time.
Shane Berry
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You obviously never used a Korg KPR 77.
“Fuck em” my old man
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What about the synergy of 2 or 3 people (sounds) dancing together?
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I think the aspect of the visualization that clicks with me is that there can still be a circle or soul train ongoing, there’s still people dancing, but you’re keeping your… ears on one “unit” at a time, be it a solo dancer or the interplay of a duet.
There’s a little shimmy around you (unless you’re showboating or soloing) but try to keep focus and energy on one element at a time.
If they’re all shifting together without any segmentation or differentiation, it might come off as noise or harder to follow.
Which can be its own hypnotic and destabilizing effect, but that would be intentional, or more towards how you categorize the “dancer” being one set of instruments or a single instrument.
I mean ultimately you’re visualizing dancing and dancers with dance music, which should help you connect to a dance floor (or your living room!)
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Perhaps that’s when 2 or 3 of them do one of their little b-boy “routines” (which I always found rather funny with their we’re-aggressive-and-fiercely-competitive-but-totally-not-cause-we’re-all-just-dancing-after-all vibe)
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Did you ever tell your brother how much his negative comment effected you? Not that it matters now…
Oh yes, we’re very close and love each other.
Took me something like a decade to tell him without hard feeling though.
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Best songwriting advice I’ve read back in 2021: “The more music you finish, the easier finishing music will become.” You can apply this principle to many things, not only songwriting.
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I heard an even more explicit version of this that hit me hard: “Finishing is another skill you have to practice”
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Damn right, and it’s so obvious in hobbies other than making music.
Physically making objects can be so satisfying - even when they turn out a bit crap (especially if it’s a functional item that works despite being crappy).
But pushing through to completion can be hard when you know you’ve messed up at some point. When that happens though, the rest of the project becomes a playground - everything from there on is a chance to practice techniques, and you’ve already messed up so it doesn’t matter. I mean woodworking is an exercise in hiding or fixing mistakes, not avoiding them.
I struggle with this with music though, because what is finished?
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If it sounds good, keep it. You can always remix and remaster it later.
Second, have fun! Music is a tough field to make a living at and hard to make money. Most musicians even talented ones have a day job.
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Another nice thing- completing a task, even something that for best efforts turned out middling can sort of remind what your time is best spent on in the future. Sometimes I get an idea stuck in my head and I can free myself and move on to something I like better, costs less, takes less time, is a better outlet for me.
Less is more especially when loud on a soundsystem!
Less is more when it comes to gear, all the trailblazers wrote hits with a sampler and a 909, we don’t need “another” synth
Always fix and repair broken gear immediately, if you’re not using it sell it.
A bad finished track is worth way more than a hard drive full of unfinished loops.
Promote yourself, no one else will care as much as you do about your vision.
Ignore the haters, but accept critiques and advice. Ask trusted artists for feedback
Treat your studio room, get better monitors, bad ones are the reason your tracks aren’t working.
Say it again for the people in the back, finish tracks! Even if they suck you don’t have to release them, but you will learn more finishing than just hoarding loops, finish!!
Collaborate when possible with people more talented than you.
Enjoy playing your songs for people, it’s a great feeling seeing them dance to your beats!
Make decisions faster and finish tracks, you’ll get instant feedback on the dancefloor for what works and what doesn’t. Go back to the drawing board finish better tracks!
Keep learning
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