making music when you don't have time/have kids and when you get time youre not inspired...

[Guest Chesney]

 

oh crap this is someone from watmm?

 

haha, how did you find that? That is my youngest when I was trying to master my album.

[TubularCorporation]

 

What really works best, and what I've been missing since I got back to purely electronic music, is collaboration.  Not online, actual real-time, face to face playing with other people.  Because with a good collaborator, what takes me 2-3 full, morning-to-night days of work alone is usually done in maybe an hour.

I've tried this many times and I can't. It's either I tell the other party how to do everything or I lose interest. And I'm too passive to tell them to program the rim shots "this way, not that way!" every damn time, so I'm done working with others. Unless I've always worked with people who I just don't jive with.

 

 

I can't do it with electronic music either, but in bands, with the right group of people (where everyone is on the same level and contributes equally to the writing process, which I've been pretty lucky about over all) it's about the most liberating thing there is. Just sit down and start playing until you have a finished piece of music.  As long as everyone's on the same  page musically it practically writes itself.

 

With the wrong group it's miserable.  I completely quit playing in bands a couple years ago because I've been living in a new city and I haven't been able to find anyone that I could work with like that (I'd been spoiled by having a long, LONG run of really productive collaborations, although usually we weren't organized enough to go beyond playing a lot of regional shows around New York and Boston and a few times in Philly or Baltimore, and hardly recorded at all) so now I just don't have the patience to be in a band that needs a leader.  I think a lot of that has to do with getting older, too, when you're in your teens and early 20s everyone's still kind of learning but by the time you hit 30 you (and everyone else) have a lot more ideas about what you want, so it gets more about control than exploration and if it's about control I'd usually rather just do it all myself.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

 

One of the most underrated advantages to being in a band is your drummer will probably have a van so you never need to worry about getting your gear to and from shows.  Also more people looking for shows means you play out a lot more but with a lot less effort.  I definitely miss that.I played a few hundred shows between 2005 and 2010, some of them pretty big, and I think I personally set up maybe 3, most of them just happened because you had 5 or 6 people who all had a bunch of friends who were all involved with music and who all had friends who were involved in music so as soon as you played a few good shows, people would just find you.  It's a hell of a lot more work when you're just one person. I've played a handful of solo shows over the past few years but they always feel like more of a chore than a pleasure.

[modey]

Hardware helps for me. You can just grab one or two things at a time - whatever you're in the mood for. Cheap, limited stuff like volcas, POs, and stompboxes are great for this because they challenge you and keep you focused but aren't intimidating, they're easy to wrap your head around.

This, for sure! Also being portable means that you can knock out some ideas very quickly on the train, on lunch break etc.. I think this is why I got along so well with nanoloop—having my gameboy micro with me all the time meant I had the opportunity to learn it very quickly.

[TubularCorporation]

Yeah, LSDJ is great for that too.

[BCM]

i go through periods of absolute unproductivity...going through one now actually, just don't have any time, let alone inspiration to do anything...i've learned that these periods always pass eventually though and i've just got to be patient and not try to force things. also i find switching up production methods can help - i've got a lovely hardware setup but sometimes it's not immediate enough and frankly a bit daunting...when i feel like this i'll often make tracks with a laptop + couple of softsynths and restrict myself...find that alone can be quite inspiring.

[spunktronics]

general conclusion is you just have to do it!

 

Had a bit of a move round of my home "studio" yesterday so hopefully that'll make me a bit more productive.

I think I've got over the fact i have to do everything on headphones.

 

I like to have all my gear setup now in a lovely ergonomic way too so i can jam out the hardware or sample records/tapes but have a separate editing/mixing area with my computer on with just monitor keyboard mouse..

 

feels good, 

[Shockerbrown]

i go through periods of absolute unproductivity...going through one now actually, just don't have any time, let alone inspiration to do anything...i've learned that these periods always pass eventually though and i've just got to be patient and not try to force things. also i find switching up production methods can help - i've got a lovely hardware setup but sometimes it's not immediate enough and frankly a bit daunting...when i feel like this i'll often make tracks with a laptop + couple of softsynths and restrict myself...find that alone can be quite inspiring.

 

 

I feel you. Those unproductive episodes are just horrible. Every single time. Even though i know they're just temporary, i'm always scared my creative-self has left me for good and before you even know it is standing on your doorstep again asking "wanna jam?"

[Real Human Bean]

I don't understand why you want to make music if you're not inspired to do so?

Just do something else that you feel like doing.

[BCM]

 

i go through periods of absolute unproductivity...going through one now actually, just don't have any time, let alone inspiration to do anything...i've learned that these periods always pass eventually though and i've just got to be patient and not try to force things. also i find switching up production methods can help - i've got a lovely hardware setup but sometimes it's not immediate enough and frankly a bit daunting...when i feel like this i'll often make tracks with a laptop + couple of softsynths and restrict myself...find that alone can be quite inspiring.

 

I feel you. Those unproductive episodes are just horrible. Every single time. Even though i know they're just temporary, i'm always scared my creative-self has left me for good and before you even know it is standing on your doorstep again asking "wanna jam?"

totally...welcome back btw!

 

as a few people have said, it's not really lack of inspiration, more just simply can't be bothered when you're tired out from work/kids. i could, and do still try and get things done but when i'm not in the mood i just end up staring at the screen and trancing out to a randomised 2 bar bass riff for 3 hours.

[Shockerbrown]

Sure. I'm gonna do something else when the inspiration isn't there. To me making music is just the best feeling there is. 

[Shockerbrown]

I don't understand why you want to make music if you're not inspired to do so?

Just do something else that you feel like doing.

 

 

Sure. I'm gonna do something else when the inspiration isn't there. To me making music is just the best feeling there is 

 

 

 

 

 

i go through periods of absolute unproductivity...going through one now actually, just don't have any time, let alone inspiration to do anything...i've learned that these periods always pass eventually though and i've just got to be patient and not try to force things. also i find switching up production methods can help - i've got a lovely hardware setup but sometimes it's not immediate enough and frankly a bit daunting...when i feel like this i'll often make tracks with a laptop + couple of softsynths and restrict myself...find that alone can be quite inspiring.

I feel you. Those unproductive episodes are just horrible. Every single time. Even though i know they're just temporary, i'm always scared my creative-self has left me for good and before you even know it is standing on your doorstep again asking "wanna jam?"

totally...welcome back btw!

as a few people have said, it's not really lack of inspiration, more just simply can't be bothered when you're tired out from work/kids. i could, and do still try and get things done but when i'm not in the mood i just end up staring at the screen and trancing out to a randomised 2 bar bass riff for 3 hours.

 

 

Thx dude! Lol i remember you like yesterday!

 

Yeah just being tired is also a good one. If you can listen to a bass riff for like 3 hours then it is a good riff lol.

[Guest Chesney]

I hate it when you make a riff and you play it for a good 15 mins and feel it's worth turning shit on and record it then in the 2 mins it takes you to do that, either you forget the exact way you played it or you decide it sounds wank.

[spunktronics]

I hate it when you make a riff and you play it for a good 15 mins and feel it's worth turning shit on and record it then in the 2 mins it takes you to do that, either you forget the exact way you played it or you decide it sounds wank.

If i'm jamming i just have the tape machine recording constantly, play it good then rewind and bounce to comp

[Lada Laika]

I hate it when you make a riff and you play it for a good 15 mins and feel it's worth turning shit on and record it then in the 2 mins it takes you to do that, either you forget the exact way you played it or you decide it sounds wank.

The "sounds good while I'm playing it" morphing into "sounds like butt soup during playback" is the most frustrating and confusing thing in the world.

[QBLA]

I have a 10 year old boy and a 7 year old boy. They are old enough now for me to do my own thing now. But I usually produce in spurts and sometimes let them listen in. I've been teaching them how to mix and the 10 year old has shown interest in producing himself. Most of my creative time at home is spent on my label though. Luckily for me, my work lets me run Bonding Tapes from work.

 

Here's my son's track he made using loops and a sample from a watmm project. 

 

and here's a mix he did.

[BCM]

 

I hate it when you make a riff and you play it for a good 15 mins and feel it's worth turning shit on and record it then in the 2 mins it takes you to do that, either you forget the exact way you played it or you decide it sounds wank.

The "sounds good while I'm playing it" morphing into "sounds like butt soup during playback" is the most frustrating and confusing thing in the world.

 

 

 

so annoying!

Here's my son's track he made using loops and a sample from a watmm project. 

 

 

awesome :)

[Brisbot]

 

 

I hate it when you make a riff and you play it for a good 15 mins and feel it's worth turning shit on and record it then in the 2 mins it takes you to do that, either you forget the exact way you played it or you decide it sounds wank.

this x2. Horrible feeling. Though whenever I'm doing it, 90% of the time it turns out not to be as good as I thought when initially playing it (on the piano)

[bendish]

Music has an infantilising effect in my view. If its all u wanna do then everything else just melts away. I'm fine with that to a degree but often look at peers and think wow music keeps me in child state.

 

I agree with the whole just do it view. It's the only way. I have a workaholic other half which helps. Sit down and push push push through the shit and stuff u don't like and don't delete it. Keep going until its awesome. The self hatred is part of it.

[sweepstakes]

I don't understand why you want to make music if you're not inspired to do so?

 

Just do something else that you feel like doing.

I don't think it's good to just not do it. I'm guilty of giving into the laze quite often myself but I'm happier when I just push through and Make Something. Even if it's short. Even if it's fucking terrible - sometimes sarcastic creativity and self-parody is incredibly liberating. Just give yourself the finger and commit that wank to tape.  Often what seems terrible and embarrassing one day sounds fresh and ballsy the next.  

 

Now what I do think is terrible is sharing stuff before it's good and ready. The social aspect and the expectations and stuff really fuck things up.

[modey]

Often what seems terrible and embarrassing one day sounds fresh and ballsy the next.  

lol true, I reckon this is how some recently popular electronic micro-genres have started