Inspiration...

For the last couple of weeks i've had little to no inspiration at all for making music. It's really frustrating & stuff...

So, what do you do when you're in a situation like this ?

I personally post questions like that in the music-making subforums, myself...

Oh, I sincerely apologize

I'm pretty new here you see :)

This is going to sound super narcissistic, but it works.

When I lack inspiration, I fantasize about having written some awesome tracks, and then playing them to other people in various contexts. I then listen to the music that I'm pretending to have already written, and then try to copy it.

just do something different for a while. I always get tired of things, if I've been doing tracks in the same vein for a few weeks. Like, if I've been making ambient tracks for the last 14 days and it's starting to bore me, I take a break from music for a few days, and then return to make some drum and bass tracks or something.

but maybe that's just me being a complete idiot who's unable to focus on a single thing for very long. i don't know. it works though.

Are you down? It's hard to be creative when you're down. I'm sure some would disagree but. Negative feelings can work as inspiration later though, looking back on them in a detached way, once you're feeling better.

i'm truly pissed off right now

I've decided to destroy all my work by putting effects on it

that's inspiration. destroy everything and rework it

break free of any bonds you have mentally with what you're trying to do

just fuck shit up

not easy to force

If I'm being honest, I'm probably not one to give advice on the subject since I'm so often the one pissing and moaning about this same thing.

But I also think the answer is: just do it anyway. Ignore that you're in a rut and just go at it. If you have a choice, err on the side of using methods that are error-prone and sloppy and at which you are liable to make mistakes and stumble onto (happy) accidents. In other words, open up an opportunity to be surprised at what you're doing.

I intentionally did this with my turntables & mixer, SK-1, and miniKP, just having a sloppy, 45-minute sampling jam. I was pretty happy with the results - if I was less lazy I could edit them down into a track. At the very least, it was refreshing.to remind myself that there's still a lot to explore with such simple tools.

I agree with that ^

I'm constantly frustrated but I still work on something musical every day. Not everything is going to be great.

I can name about 5 pieces by Philip Glass that I listen to or have ever heard, think about how much he's written.

Just make stuff.

Personally I just miss the days when it all felt very new and weird, I didn't think about it at all. I feel like now I'm constantly trying to live up to old stuff I made.

I don't know what it is I expect to happen. I can say "I really like Harry Partch" ... but I've only listened to one of his pieces.

I think I'm doing quite well, I'm way too critical on my own stuff.

Part of my problem is I honestly can't tell if what I'm working on is good, I'm almost 100% convinced that it's all horrrrrrible shit.

And then someone tells me they like it, genuinely. Now I know why that's so disheartening... I recognize it in other musicians. If you don't give them 100% insane praise they feel let down and start to hate their work. It's a bitch.

Musical quality isn't quite as objective as one might think.

Another thing is sending stuff to labels trying to get heard, and being ignored. That's also pretty annoying.

This whole situation right now is ridiculous in terms of getting noticed. Nobody seems to care.

Confidence goes a long way. Why do you feel your work is so shitty? If you feel that way while you're making it, it's gonna be pretty hard to create anything good. Put yourself in a good place before you get to work, and you'll probably end up liking what you made later on. And yes it is obviously frustrating and hard as fuck to try and get your work noticed by anyone but I think you gotta just keep at it and keep putting yourself out there.

  On 6/12/2012 at 7:12 AM, The Pod said:

Confidence goes a long way. Why do you feel your work is so shitty? If you feel that way while you're making it, it's gonna be pretty hard to create anything good. Put yourself in a good place before you get to work, and you'll probably end up liking what you made later on. And yes it is obviously frustrating and hard as fuck to try and get your work noticed by anyone but I think you gotta just keep at it and keep putting yourself out there.

Thanks. Right after I made those posts I started listening to my stuff and I realized, "yo, what the fuck is wrong with me?" It's basic confidence. Just because "I" made it doesn't mean it's less good than stuff other people make. It's kind of fucked up to think that way. I need to get over it, the only way to TRULY know where I stand is to get out of the house and play it for people, play live. That's the only way to actually make critical and aesthetic progress, otherwise you're stuck in an echo chamber.

That said, it's less about the spoken opinions than just playing it for people, and sensing the reaction. I was being way too hard on myself. I listen to something like Flying Lotus or Autechre and it just sounds better than my own things. Like, they can use the same exact synthesizers I use and it sounds good because it has their name on it. It's officially "good." I don't know what that is. I try to make stripped down stuff and I feel like I have to hide it behind more layers to obscure the "nakedness" of the sounds. I need to get over that eventually.

Confidence truly is necessary, if I can't believe that I'm making something good then it's going to come out not good, that's very true. There is something inherent to that confidence where you build it into the fabric of the sound.

  On 6/11/2012 at 11:59 PM, Root5 said:

This is going to sound super narcissistic, but it works.

 

When I lack inspiration, I fantasize about having written some awesome tracks, and then playing them to other people in various contexts. I then listen to the music that I'm pretending to have already written, and then try to copy it.

Hi Tom !

A couple of week with little inspiration is no big deal... while a couple of years is. I've been through that.

Just try not to get obsessed with that and keep on making music without thinking too much at the final result. Just have fun jamming.

Also, whenever you feel you're not inspired enough, work on another track's mix down or any thing that don't require much inspiration but work and discipline. You'll feel less frustrated.

Just do something else. Ditch music making for a while. Eventually you will go back to it, if it's what really moves you deep inside.

Get freaky with yourself, and make music that's different. The less your music sounds like your inspiration / favorite acts , the less intimidating that amazing Aphex Twin song is.

IMHO

TAEK DRUGZ

I find that movies and photos/drawings inspire me. Yeah, I know it sounds very hippie-ish but it works for me. Auditory and visual material are two sides of the same thing. A have a couple of friends who are concept artists and they listen to music while working, so why wouldn't it work the other way around?

no. totes. any good art is good inspiration.

I'm in the middle of just over a month of no inspiration.

I still open live and make little shitty things that aren't worth saving, experiment with new things, etc

It's ok, it will pass.

Don't worry about it

  On 6/12/2012 at 6:07 AM, vamos scorcho said:

Personally I just miss the days when it all felt very new and weird, I didn't think about it at all. I feel like now I'm constantly trying to live up to old stuff I made.

yes! i loved that feeling of just being excited that i somehow got all of the buttons and knobs to make noise.

pretend you're a kid, where you don't give a fuck about what someone will think if they listen to it. have fun with the whole process. I love children's artwork because it is such shit but they are so excited about making it that it changes your perspective as the "viewer/listener"

when I get in some rut I usually just start learning something new or deeper about the tools I use. Logic tutorials, or read some synthesis books, or stuff like that. Then you're using the creative down time to bump up your technical game.

Bumping because this was the first thread that seemed vaguely related to my random self-observations

I find I'll go through stretches where I'll be in "audio mode" or "visual mode", where I seem to have a ton of ideas for self expression in that one regard but not in the other.

Like, when I was doing on my most recent album earlier this year I wasn't really feeling it so much. Felt kinda like work. But I was pretty much shitting out pictures. And now I've gone back into audio mode & I'm cranking out tracks that really fit my vision seemingly without effort, but at the same time my drawing output has slowed to maybe one or two things a week

I think it might be because I usually express direct ideas through visual imagery, & that requires some degree of contemplation & planning. It feels like it came from my own head. Whereas the music I'm happiest with tends to be the stuff where I try to think as little as possible & feel my way through. It's not so much creating something as waiting for a transmission from an outside force, some fully-formed creature buried in the airwaves that you dig up as best you can.

I dunno if other people who do visual & audio experience this as well. Maybe if I wrote songs with lyrics, & drew strictly abstract pictures instead of little narratives, the two sources would be flipped around?

when I'm in a situation like that, I just go with the flow. It always comes back around. I pickup my acoustic daily and try to learn songs that get stuck in my head, even cheese pop songs(most recent is boys2men). Or hop on the drums and work up a sweat. Take a long drive with your camera at hand. Lay in the grass all evening. Also, hanging out with creative friends can usually be inspirational. Hope you find your comfort zone.

art. but mostly photos/ images i'd say