feeling stuck compositionally

[TubularCorporation]

 

as far as ideas, i've like virtually always completed a track within the space of a day (oh god it's almost midnight if i don't finish my dope beat will turn into a werebeat). like i feel like my mind resets every time i wake up/can't possibly continue with the same idea after dream sequence

 

3) Drink retarded amounts of cum

 

I relate t this so much.  There's a kind of critical level of completion where if I get to it I can pick the track back up later and finish it with no trouble, but if I don't get there in one sitting it's usually a lost cause.  Sometimes if I have two days free in a row I can start something in the evening and then pick it up the next morning but usually if I don't have at least the basic structure and main tracks  pretty well locked on that first day of work it's a lost cause.

[TubularCorporation]

Just to add a somewhat obvious tactic to the great ones mentioned above: listen to good music. I find that, when I'm feeling totally uninspired, taking a walk with headphones and a solid playlist generally reverses that and makes me wanna run back to the studio. 

 

Yes, this.  I've been struggling with this lately, actually.  I had a pretty intensive production job that was completely uncreative but ate up about 30 hours/week (on top of my day job) for about a year, and since then I've been listening to a lot less music in general, I basically stopped for most of the year after that job and still don't listen to nearly as much as I used to.

 

On the flip side, I worked completely from home for quite a few years and I'd listen to maybe 8-10 LPs back to back almost every day that whole time (and when I wasn't working from home I'd be working at a record store, where we listened to LPs back to back 8-10 hours a day, too), and I was playing with other people in bands more than ever back then but I almost completely stopped writing stuff or doing anything solo because no matter what I did it felt redundant, because I'd already heard a dozen similar things that were better.  So for me, at least, it's possible to overlisten.

 

On a related note, now that I'm not playing in any bands for the first time since I was in middle school (which was longer ago that I should probably admit), it's a lot less fun to see other people play live because it just makes me want to run back to the practice space with some friends and write, but I don't have a practice space any more and when I play with friends these days it's just occasional casual stuff with no plans to play out or anything, so I don't really have any outlet and seeing live shows ends up being more frustrating than anything usually.

[xox]

i can't remember if i ever felt stucked for more than 10-20 seconds. it's all inside of me. just need to look into myself... it's there somewhere and we all have it in some sense imo

[The Sponge Wiggler]

when you say composition, what do you mean? like:

 

sections and the order they're in?

writing melodic stuff?

finding a starting point for a track?

 

mostly the first thing. specifically I was thinking of how to avoid fixating on a few short loops. TBH it's easy to make variety by just doing random stuff, but sometimes I get convinced that one short loop is great so I loop it over and over again but then when I listen later, it feels like a letdown.

[Ragnar]

 

use a different sequencing method

 

Even just moving your gear into another part of the room can make you approach things differently

 

 

do your modular jams in drag next time

 

 

 

i did at some point want to make some sort of script for jeskola buzz where it would pick a random pic for the machine view background (kind of consider that the 'desktop' so to speak?) and see if i end up making a different song (or ask myself in the parallel universe where i made the other track)

[The Sponge Wiggler]

 

 

use a different sequencing method

 

Even just moving your gear into another part of the room can make you approach things differently

 

 

do your modular jams in drag next time

 

 

 

What if I only have a laptop, should I still wear drag?

[acid1]

ha, I did do the repeat pattern over and over thing, not by choice exactly, but looping patterns in jeskola buzz and trying to get that vibe as if i was using a actual 303 or something, if my early stuff sounds like it locks into place ridiculously well that's why

 

as far as ideas, i've like virtually always completed a track within the space of a day (oh god it's almost midnight if i don't finish my dope beat will turn into a werebeat). like i feel like my mind resets every time i wake up/can't possibly continue with the same idea after dream sequence

 

3) Drink retarded amounts of cum

 

We are polar opposites, lol !

I'd spend about 3 months per song in Buzz.

[bendish]

The more desperate the better...the more stuck the better...push on through...keep going....

[TubularCorporation]

 

ha, I did do the repeat pattern over and over thing, not by choice exactly, but looping patterns in jeskola buzz and trying to get that vibe as if i was using a actual 303 or something, if my early stuff sounds like it locks into place ridiculously well that's why

 

as far as ideas, i've like virtually always completed a track within the space of a day (oh god it's almost midnight if i don't finish my dope beat will turn into a werebeat). like i feel like my mind resets every time i wake up/can't possibly continue with the same idea after dream sequence

 

3) Drink retarded amounts of cum

 

We are polar opposites, lol !

I'd spend about 3 months per song in Buzz.

 

 

 

I'l spend about 3 months fine tuning the mix, but writing and recording I try to get done as quickly as possible, and it's almost always better when I do. 

[dingformung]

 

when you say composition, what do you mean? like:

 

sections and the order they're in?

writing melodic stuff?

finding a starting point for a track?

 

mostly the first thing. specifically I was thinking of how to avoid fixating on a few short loops. TBH it's easy to make variety by just doing random stuff, but sometimes I get convinced that one short loop is great so I loop it over and over again but then when I listen later, it feels like a letdown.

 

 Start using weird structures, for example a time signature that's increasing with every beat, e.g. 4/4 + 5/4 + 6/4 + 7/4 + 8/4 + 9/4 + 10/4 + 11/4

that way you can keep your amazing loop but add a little bit with every repetition, also it makes it less accessible and thus more interesting rhythmically, at the end it will quite complex

 

or think of other weird stuff you can do with time signatures

[pizza]

3) Drink retarded amounts of cum

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

when you say composition, what do you mean? like:

 

sections and the order they're in?

writing melodic stuff?

finding a starting point for a track?

 

mostly the first thing. specifically I was thinking of how to avoid fixating on a few short loops. TBH it's easy to make variety by just doing random stuff, but sometimes I get convinced that one short loop is great so I loop it over and over again but then when I listen later, it feels like a letdown.

 

 Start using weird structures, for example a time signature that's increasing with every beat, e.g. 4/4 + 5/4 + 6/4 + 7/4 + 8/4 + 9/4 + 10/4 + 11/4

that way you can keep your amazing loop but add a little bit with every repetition, also it makes it less accessible and thus more interesting rhythmically, at the end it will quite complex

 

or think of other weird stuff you can do with time signatures

 

 

 

Yeah, Stravinsky did a lot of stuff like that and it's great.

 

 

 

Also, sometimes breaking out of a rut is as simple as turning on a long-ish delay with a fair amount of feedback and then tracking something live through it it gives you something to play off of but it's also always changing so you don't have time to overthink things..

[Brisbot]

i was wondering how people gain more of a sense of freedom with composition, not feeling like you're locked into one thing. i was thinking of transcribing songs i liked, but then i feel like i'd be butchering them. Now that i think of it, maybe I could transcribe songs I don't like, and then I could still learn a bit about composition, and I wouldn't feel like I'm doing something sacriligeous. :D

Make whatever you want. Try your best not to care about what's worked in the past, unless that's the kinda music you wanna make. 

 

If you want more influences, listen to stuff you don't normally listen to. Jump outa IDM, jam to some synthwave (Com Truise!) , nu-disco ( Todd Terje! ) , etc. etc. More influences = more diverse music! 

[dingformung]

 

 

 

when you say composition, what do you mean? like:

 

sections and the order they're in?

writing melodic stuff?

finding a starting point for a track?

 

mostly the first thing. specifically I was thinking of how to avoid fixating on a few short loops. TBH it's easy to make variety by just doing random stuff, but sometimes I get convinced that one short loop is great so I loop it over and over again but then when I listen later, it feels like a letdown.

 

 Start using weird structures, for example a time signature that's increasing with every beat, e.g. 4/4 + 5/4 + 6/4 + 7/4 + 8/4 + 9/4 + 10/4 + 11/4

that way you can keep your amazing loop but add a little bit with every repetition, also it makes it less accessible and thus more interesting rhythmically, at the end it will quite complex

 

or think of other weird stuff you can do with time signatures

 

 

 

Yeah, Stravinsky did a lot of stuff like that and it's great.

 

 

 

Also, sometimes breaking out of a rut is as simple as turning on a long-ish delay with a fair amount of feedback and then tracking something live through it it gives you something to play off of but it's also always changing so you don't have time to overthink things..

 

 Cool, have to check out more Stravinsky :)

 

One more idea. If you play an instrument and improvise and you make a mistake just loop that mistake until it feels integrated into the music, that way it's impossible to make mistakes

[Soloman Tump]

Some tips from issue 3 of Legowelt's cyberzine:-

 

 

KEYBOARD REVERSE
Are you lacking inspiration??? Reverse the keyboard! Sit behind your
synth, just turn it around so you are facing the backside. You will be
pleasently surprised how different you sound! Now you will make your melodies
with switched brain halves so to speak! You can do this switching brain
halves trick with a lot of other stuff too!

SAMPLE YOURSELF
Sample your own tracks, stuff you never going to use, sketches, even ur hits
and mangle them, pitch them up, down, filter it, modulate it etc. Make fresh
tracks with ur own sounds. Keep using the music as a fractal on and on.

RECORD SAMPLES ON CASSETTE
Get an old cassette recorder and just record some synths jamming on a tape.
Now record the cassette in your sampler and notice the fuzzy warm tape sound
especially when you throw a tiny amount of lowpass filter on it and add a
littlebit of high-EQ! Instant basic channel and wooly BOC style!

KORG VOLCA KEYS SUPER POLYPHONIC MIDI SEQUENCER
The Korg Volca Keys is a bit of a boring synthesizer...you probably throw
it in the corner after playing with it for 10 minutes...but WAIT! Did you
know the sequencer sends MIDI OUT!!!??? yes and a lot of other stuff too...
the problem is ofcourse there is no MIDI OUT port beacause they had to keep
the costs down. No PORT but quite enigmatic a fully working MIDI out circuit
is inside. So the only thing u gotta do is attach the MIDI connector.
The problem is where to put the MIDI out port, u can put it on the side or
hang it loose with a wire from the outside.

3.5" DD/HD Sampler FloppieDisc Crack
YOu got some old gear that uses 3.5" DD floppies? You might have a problem
because 3.5" DD Floppies are almost NOWHERE to be found these days. The only
ones you can still easily get are the HD types which don't run in DD
discdrives...it is said,but with a bit of ragtag improvisation they will!
Most 3.5" HD floppydiscs will work too, just get a piece of tape and stick it
over the (left) hole Now for some reason this doesn't work on all diskdrives,
but mostly it does.

Rice shaker
Add some natural groove to your music: Take one of those plastic yellow
Kindersurprise egg containers put in some rice and you got a shaker.
Record some loops and add over drums for extra "natural" spice.

PITCH ENVELOPE
You can make sounds much more interesting by adding a slight touch of pitch
envelope, only at the decay, so it begins with a little "hiccup". This will add
some tension to your melodies and give the listeners brain some more enjoyment.
It sort of sounds like portemento but then you can use it more polyphonic.
So a good envelope would be:
Attack 0ms Decay 50% Sustain 0 and release whatever. Add this envelope for about
8 - 10% to the synthesizer/sampler pitch envelope amount.

 

More tips can be found here, each issue of the zine has some