Don't you just love it when...

[Brisbot]

Being in the zone is great!

 

I haven't had much time to create things lately, which is a real shame. I usually find that getting into the zone takes a while, maybe a false start or two of trying to make a track before I've exercised my brain enough to start making one that's actually good. Then once you're there, you haven't noticed, kind of like falling asleep.

 

Last week was a weird one for me. I tried sitting down and writing a song one evening, and it didn't work at all, everything was coming out bad. I thought about how jealous I was that my partner can just sit down and intuitively write great music, not even writing it, just playing it, making it up on the spot, letting it flow out of her, whereas I do it far too consciously and methodically (like everything else). So that was frustrating. But that night, I try to get to sleep, and this song pops into my head, whether I want it to or not. I guess I'd been composing in the back of my mind without realising it. So I try to transcribe it into my tablet but it's no use, revisions to the lyric are occurring to me already and I can't type them out fast enough on that screen. So I get up and go to my DAW, trying not to wake my partner. I then spend over an hour just transcribing the lead melody and bassline in my head, working out a basic chord progression, a second part, writing out lyrics that don't even make sense to me, but they feel right. I end up playing back this song that seems great to me, but so weird, because it really doesn't feel like I wrote it. I'm paranoid I accidentally subconsciously plagiarised it. Surely it's nothing more than a mashup of various songs I've forgotten. I know the flow always involves your subconscious, so you always get these feelings that it's not really your music, you're just channeling it, but it's so rare for a song to just plop out of me, almost fully formed. I don't understand the particulars of the lyric, but it's about suicide, something I haven't seriously thought about for well over a decade. It's such a dark song, and something that feels like I didn't write it, and feels like I couldn't have because I'm just not in that emotional state these days, and that's not how I write songs anyway. It's not even in a genre I write in. It's got a guitar solo. It just feels so weird. So that happened.

I hear you about all of this! Well except the random genre flowing out of you thing. I sometimes feel like a melody I've thought up is oddly familiar. Also feel you on your going to bed and suddenly coming up with an awesome tracks formed in your head. I deliberately try not to think up music when I know I won't be around a computer for a few hours. It's annyoing AF when I'm at work and a good idea pops into my head :(

 

 

 

 

There's a few things you can try. Let yourself write some bad music as a warmup before writing good music. Or steal various ideas from lots of different other songs as a starting point, before getting into the flow and using those as a springboard for something more original. Or try to compose when you're not at a computer or in the studio, just while having a shower or about to drift off to sleep, a quiet moment when you're not doing anything and you physically can't jot down your first idea, you have to refine it first.

Hmm. I do the first thing. If I haven't been able to write anything for a day or two, I'll just spend a few hours writing something crappy. Usually I don't break out of it that day, and end up with a weak track :)

 

I hear you on the 'stealing ideas' thing. I sometimes steal a little part of a rhythm from a track I really like (never a melody), and from that comes new rhythms. Sometimes all you need to get started is to start I suppose!

 

One more thing I should mention for anyone interested. The best thing for me to do when I'm not in a creative mood (and maybe other peeps), is to try out new FX chains, order my samples, mix tracks I'm working on as opposed to come up with new parts, etc. There are plenty of other things you can be doing besides adding to the track. I honestly kind of work around a lack of zen state this way, and there's plenty of time for it.

 

If I'm in my zen state, then it's probably a little waste of time to put a lot of work into these many 'secondary' tasks

 

I've noticed that when I'm not in my zen state, I'm usually not in a good mood, or in a neutral mood. I've gotten better at recognizing what kind of mood i'm in and how that affects my music.

 

[Brisbot]

 

 

I go into a flow state almost every time I make music.

 

I'm not sure how I'd make music otherwise.

 

 

Daps

 

Well, there's a difference between flow and concentration. There's a kind of venn diagram thing going on with them. I can be concentrated, but not particularly creative at that moment in time.

 

 

 

When making music im usually in a trance like state,almost like dreaming.But most of the time there is an extreme tension going on at the same time.Basically its like feverish possession.Getting everything right,getting all the ideas that flow in there in the right place.And my computer is shitty and ive been making these 70 to 100 tracks project and it cant take it ,so it become frustrating as i have to render tracks and stuff.

I make music when im in extreme anxiety states usually.So its like a release from that also.

 

I get a tension similar to sex in a way to.Building a track is like until its finished is like wanting to reach orgasm.You are like in this tense state of mind looking for release.

Sometimes i feel like the music want to get out of me like a child of of its mother.So its like giving birth to.With all its pain and emotions.

Interesting. How much time do you like to spend with your tracks? I'm going to guess you're the kind of guy who finished a track pretty quickly. Also, what do you mean by 70 to 100 tracks project?

 

that's a difference between you and me, if I'm having extreme anxiety, there's no way I can make music as i would think about the anxiety and what's causing it, vs concentrating/flowing.

[delet...]

Flow, haha sexual.

 

/carry on carry onners, never mind my carry on in the vein of Carry On.

[Brisbot]

Sounds like an 80s song title

[Braintree]

 

 

 

I go into a flow state almost every time I make music.

 

I'm not sure how I'd make music otherwise.

 

 

Daps

 

Well, there's a difference between flow and concentration. There's a kind of venn diagram thing going on with them. I can be concentrated, but not particularly creative at that moment in time.

 

 

 

When making music im usually in a trance like state,almost like dreaming.But most of the time there is an extreme tension going on at the same time.Basically its like feverish possession.Getting everything right,getting all the ideas that flow in there in the right place.And my computer is shitty and ive been making these 70 to 100 tracks project and it cant take it ,so it become frustrating as i have to render tracks and stuff.

I make music when im in extreme anxiety states usually.So its like a release from that also.

 

I get a tension similar to sex in a way to.Building a track is like until its finished is like wanting to reach orgasm.You are like in this tense state of mind looking for release.

Sometimes i feel like the music want to get out of me like a child of of its mother.So its like giving birth to.With all its pain and emotions.

Interesting. How much time do you like to spend with your tracks? I'm going to guess you're the kind of guy who finished a track pretty quickly. Also, what do you mean by 70 to 100 tracks project?

 

that's a difference between you and me, if I'm having extreme anxiety, there's no way I can make music as i would think about the anxiety and what's causing it, vs concentrating/flowing.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

 

It makes sense to me that people in ancient Greece would attribute their works to a Muse and not themselves. Once you're in a flow state, you don't really feel like it's you doing the activity, but something else has possessed you. At least that's what it feels like to me.

[ZoeB]

 

I hear you on the 'stealing ideas' thing. I sometimes steal a little part of a rhythm from a track I really like (never a melody), and from that comes new rhythms. Sometimes all you need to get started is to start I suppose!

 

Exactly. For example, the last track I wrote before the one that came seemingly from nowhere, was heavily inspired by Sam's Car inasmuch as I loved the idea of a chord progression that was AB..AB..ABCDAB.. So I did that, only presumably with different chords and clearly with different instruments, and the vibe that came out was less mellow and more eerie for some reason, so it ended up going in this totally different direction because of that.

 

 

One more thing I should mention for anyone interested. The best thing for me to do when I'm not in a creative mood (and maybe other peeps), is to try out new FX chains, order my samples, mix tracks I'm working on as opposed to come up with new parts, etc. There are plenty of other things you can be doing besides adding to the track. I honestly kind of work around a lack of zen state this way, and there's plenty of time for it.

 

If I'm in my zen state, then it's probably a little waste of time to put a lot of work into these many 'secondary' tasks

Funnily enough, I was re-skim-reading an old Jack Joseph Puig interview (the lamp collector who happens to also be a producer, hehe...) and he talked about much the same thing:

 

 

"The first thing that happens when a track comes in for mixing is that my assistant preps it," says Puig. "Even with the best, we get Pro Tools Sessions that are massively disorganised. So my assistant cleans things up and organises everything, puts all the components that belong together next to each other, assigning tracks and channels in places that are familiar to me. It’s just easier for me to know that fader 32 will always be the vocal and 33 will always be the bass drum. On the desk the drums come up centre, because in using multiple microphones they’re very phase sensitive and stereo orientated. Next to them are the vocals, because they are the most important thing. Knowing the placements allows me to instinctively grab the faders. It’s something I learned from Glyn Johns, and it’s for the same reason that I’m very precise with the nomenclature in Pro Tools Sessions. I do name plug–ins and tracks and other things as precisely as possible. I need to be in an artistic place."

 

When you're not busy being creative, you can always get busy being your own assistant. :)

[ZoeB]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

 

It makes sense to me that people in ancient Greece would attribute their works to a Muse and not themselves. Once you're in a flow state, you don't really feel like it's you doing the activity, but something else has possessed you. At least that's what it feels like to me.

 

Yeah, it's not your conscious, it's your subconscious. It doesn't feel like you, even though it is.

[Brisbot]

 

 

When you're not busy being creative, you can always get busy being your own assistant. :)

Usually being my own assistant is the very last thing I do when I'm not in a zen state, so I'm still massively disorganized :)

I've only recently started putting effort into organizing myself, including my projects. It's weird, the bad habit of not really naming anything when the ideas are flowing through me allows me to initially work faster, but then it becomes annoying when I have a million things in my project. Sometimes I get a nagging voice in the back of my head when I'm considering opening a track I know is super disorganized, saying "Hey buddy why don't you start a new track? Come on man it'll be eeeeasier and you won't have to do so much scrolling. I know how much you hate scrolling, so just don't do it."

 

 

Yeah, it's not your conscious, it's your subconscious. It doesn't feel like you, even though it is.

I totally agree with both of you. So much so that I sometimes look back at stuff I haven't listened to in a while as if someone else did it. If a track is a year old, then it wasn't me who did it, it was a different version of me and "my muse" a year ago.

[ZoeB]

I totally agree with both of you. So much so that I sometimes look back at stuff I haven't listened to in a while as if someone else did it. If a track is a year old, then it wasn't me who did it, it was a different version of me and "my muse" a year ago.

 

Oh, totally. When you write something quickly enough, and then enough time passes, you can forget the process of writing it, or even that you did write it at all. I dug through my archives a few months or so ago, trying to find a particular track, and couldn't find it, but found another track I loved that I'd had no memory of even listening to before, let alone writing. Then a day or two later I tried to find that track again and couldn't.

[Brisbot]

 

I totally agree with both of you. So much so that I sometimes look back at stuff I haven't listened to in a while as if someone else did it. If a track is a year old, then it wasn't me who did it, it was a different version of me and "my muse" a year ago.

 

Oh, totally. When you write something quickly enough, and then enough time passes, you can forget the process of writing it, or even that you did write it at all. I dug through my archives a few months or so ago, trying to find a particular track, and couldn't find it, but found another track I loved that I'd had no memory of even listening to before, let alone writing. Then a day or two later I tried to find that track again and couldn't.

 

That's sweet! I haven't actually come across a track I've forgotten about yet. Even if I made it in an hour, I'll remember that I made it. Remembering the process of making it is a different story though :)

 

I haven't been at it long enough though for a track I made to feel totally foreign to me. There hasn't been one where I said "Wow, I made this? This doesn't even resemble me musically"

 

A lot of artists seem to experience this. They'll say stuff they did in the early 2000s or the 90's don't feel like themselves. Has this happened to you yet? If it has, how far back do you have to go?

[fxbip]

 

 

 

I go into a flow state almost every time I make music.

 

I'm not sure how I'd make music otherwise.

 

 

Daps

 

Well, there's a difference between flow and concentration. There's a kind of venn diagram thing going on with them. I can be concentrated, but not particularly creative at that moment in time.

 

 

 

When making music im usually in a trance like state,almost like dreaming.But most of the time there is an extreme tension going on at the same time.Basically its like feverish possession.Getting everything right,getting all the ideas that flow in there in the right place.And my computer is shitty and ive been making these 70 to 100 tracks project and it cant take it ,so it become frustrating as i have to render tracks and stuff.

I make music when im in extreme anxiety states usually.So its like a release from that also.

 

I get a tension similar to sex in a way to.Building a track is like until its finished is like wanting to reach orgasm.You are like in this tense state of mind looking for release.

Sometimes i feel like the music want to get out of me like a child of of its mother.So its like giving birth to.With all its pain and emotions.

Interesting. How much time do you like to spend with your tracks? I'm going to guess you're the kind of guy who finished a track pretty quickly. Also, what do you mean by 70 to 100 tracks project?

 

that's a difference between you and me, if I'm having extreme anxiety, there's no way I can make music as i would think about the anxiety and what's causing it, vs concentrating/flowing.

 

About the time i spend on tracks,yeah i almost always finish tracks in one go if possible,if i dont its basically because if sleep deprived and/or very hungry and i really have to sleep/eat but if i can avoid it i will.If i dont do that sometimes i just gave up on tracks or it break the mood of the track.So i spend between 5 and 16 hours depending on the complexity of the track.

 

By 70 to 100 tracks project i mean a project/track with 70/100 different instruments/FX drums,synths etc. It get very heavy on my shitty computer and basically i have to imagine the structure of the track then render to wav,then fixing everything without hearing it...fucking pain in the ass.... but still i get around.

 

About anxiety,yeah well i use music making as a kind of therapy.

[fxbip]

Braintree, on 12 Dec 2015 - 11:34 PM, said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

 

It makes sense to me that people in ancient Greece would attribute their works to a Muse and not themselves. Once you're in a flow state, you don't really feel like it's you doing the activity, but something else has possessed you. At least that's what it feels like to me.

 

This.Exactly.The greeks were right in my opinion.

[ZoeB]

A lot of artists seem to experience this. They'll say stuff they did in the early 2000s or the 90's don't feel like themselves. Has this happened to you yet? If it has, how far back do you have to go?

 

I generally don't notice things I wrote in earlier "periods" of mine, when I used a different tracker or DAW, so I think a few years is sufficient. It's hard to say for sure, I forget the timing of each period too... It probably depends on how forgetful you are, how prolific you are, and other factors too, I'd imagine. If writing music was my day job, and I wrote on average a track every day or two, it'd probably only take me a few months to forget even a fully performed and mastered track. :)

 

I think everyone has this though.

[delet...]

I live outside of time so am not having this problem.

[Polytrix]

This entire thread is brilliant. Revealing and honest accounts of music making. Thank you all.

 

I have experienced very similar things to what's been described here and only since doing this for the past year or two have I really lost myself in the process and there is a definite zen like nature to how it works. I find it seriously strange sometimes when you come back to the samples you've made a few nights before and think, ''what the hell is going on here. I made that?''. For me it's very visual, I start to see little spooky characters having hidden conversations with each other and the sound is the dialogue exchange..the thing that get's me the most is that when you really hit upon something, it feels like you are unlocking a box to an incomplete film script which is simply awaiting an obliging author. It's the wonderment of those moments that brings me back..I just wish I could commit better to it all.

[sweepstakes]

For me it's very visual, I start to see little spooky characters having hidden conversations with each other and the sound is the dialogue exchange..the thing that get's me the most is that when you really hit upon something, it feels like you are unlocking a box to an incomplete film script which is simply awaiting an obliging author.

Great description! I have been getting this lately for the first time in a very long time, just using LGPT on PSP while I'm on vacation away from my gear. Such a cool feeling.

[fxbip]

 

For me it's very visual, I start to see little spooky characters having hidden conversations with each other and the sound is the dialogue exchange..the thing that get's me the most is that when you really hit upon something, it feels like you are unlocking a box to an incomplete film script which is simply awaiting an obliging author.

Great description! I have been getting this lately for the first time in a very long time, just using LGPT on PSP while I'm on vacation away from my gear. Such a cool feeling.

 

haha yeah spooky music gnomes from another dimension,living in music boxes!

[frankbooth]

Easy to get into the flow when you're young. If you have wife and child and an all-encompassing day job good luck getting any writing done. Must be free to make flow happen. Or maybe this is just an excuse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fxbip]

Easy to get into the flow when you're young. If you have wife and child and an all-encompassing day job good luck getting any writing done. Must be free to make flow happen. Or maybe this is just an excuse.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Johann Sebastian Bach had wife and 20 kids(yeah some of them died while still being vey young or kids but still).Just keep an hour a day late evening for music maybe when everyone is sleeping?