Does making music stress you out?

[xox]

Fak those 'anyone'! You are the only one you need to impress.

Imo

[Auditor]

Fak those 'anyone'! You are the only one you need to impress.

Imo

amen mang

[Lada Laika]

Anyone find that when you zone out for like an hour with a simple arpeggio or loop, tweaking knobs and making it sing and warble and stutter and make love to your fingers, and listen back to it, you realize that it sounds like crap that wouldn't impress anyone and thus not worthy of keeping?

 

...I actually love it when that happens. It's like time travel.

Me whenever I use an arpeggiator

[fxbip]

Arpeggiators will do that to you.

Arpeggiators are evil hahahaha

[fxbip]

The most stressful part is worrying about mixing to me.

 

And getting proper mastering and release.

 

And having million of unreleased that need mixing and mastering and release. hahaha

[Guest Chesney]

That whole arp thing is just fun though, you're basically practicing and learning stuff as you go. If you released that stuff you would be considered like these oldman synth nerds copying their idols... JK, they are living the dream ha, and we'll be the same if not already are.

 

Like I said, it's good practice and then you can push yourself over that to find something different for something worth releasing.

 

I love playing with synths and if I recorded everything I jammed I would have thousands of mediochre shite clogging up my hard drives, but I wouldn't change that time spent for anything.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Chesney

[peace 7]

 

making music is like treasure hunting. Just make a shitload and don't think about it

 

 

Yeah, the time to think about it is before you start working on it and after you're done and are sifting through the results.  While you're actually working there's no time to thing, you've got to just react. At least that's how it has always worked for me.

 

Or as an old jazz guy I took lessons fro years ago said put it, when you make music you have to bring more than you need (i.e. all of your ideas, skill and experience) and the real artistry is in what you DON'T use.  He was talking about improvisation with other people but so much of making electronic music is improvising against the real-time feedback from the machines you use and refining it incrementally that I think it's a relevant way of looking at it it here, too.

 

 

 

That's really good...

[marf]

well its patterns. little phrases that are catchy that repeat and you can add flourishes to it to expand the pitch range.  Thats melody writing at least.. Getting locked into your own fixed way of working is the challenge. thats why it is good not to think. 

[lyst]

You know, over the years I think ive cared less and less about my music being liked or appreciated.  But deep down in there, there's always that little thought, "is my music that horrible or something?", "what do you have to do suck off a blog owner to get a little bit of shine?", "hear so much shit out there, think my shits better, but really it must not be?"

 

The stress of it was pretty heavy the first few years I started (i'm probably around 8-10 years in now).  Really wanted people to like my shit.  Now i'm just like, eh fuckit.  I'm going to make music I love to make, that I personally love to hear, and if people dig it thats nice, if not, what the fuck does it even matter?

 

I remember reading a rather known Electronic producer say (no names), that he doesn't even listen to his own music, or rarely ever does.  I find something innately wrong with this.  Music should be from your soul, encapsulates you as a person.  Gives me immense pleasure to be able to sit outside with a beer and a smoke and enjoy my own shit for an hour or two.  Not just listen, but really enjoy it.  

[thawkins]

You know, over the years I think ive cared less and less about my music being liked or appreciated.  But deep down in there, there's always that little thought, "is my music that horrible or something?", "what do you have to do suck off a blog owner to get a little bit of shine?", "hear so much shit out there, think my shits better, but really it must not be?"

 

The stress of it was pretty heavy the first few years I started (i'm probably around 8-10 years in now).  Really wanted people to like my shit.  Now i'm just like, eh fuckit.  I'm going to make music I love to make, that I personally love to hear, and if people dig it thats nice, if not, what the fuck does it even matter?

 

I remember reading a rather known Electronic producer say (no names), that he doesn't even listen to his own music, or rarely ever does.  I find something innately wrong with this.  Music should be from your soul, encapsulates you as a person.  Gives me immense pleasure to be able to sit outside with a beer and a smoke and enjoy my own shit for an hour or two.  Not just listen, but really enjoy it.  

That's the main thing for me too. I think when you're at the point where you can listen to your own stuff and it'll sound good to you, then you're basically set. If someone else likes it as well, then that's just more cherries on the cake, but you've got the most important thing down already. :)

I guess you've got to be really lucky if you can think like this and actually also make a living from your music.

[Auditor]

You know, over the years I think ive cared less and less about my music being liked or appreciated.  But deep down in there, there's always that little thought, "is my music that horrible or something?", "what do you have to do suck off a blog owner to get a little bit of shine?", "hear so much shit out there, think my shits better, but really it must not be?"

 

The stress of it was pretty heavy the first few years I started (i'm probably around 8-10 years in now).  Really wanted people to like my shit.  Now i'm just like, eh fuckit.  I'm going to make music I love to make, that I personally love to hear, and if people dig it thats nice, if not, what the fuck does it even matter?

 

I remember reading a rather known Electronic producer say (no names), that he doesn't even listen to his own music, or rarely ever does.  I find something innately wrong with this.  Music should be from your soul, encapsulates you as a person.  Gives me immense pleasure to be able to sit outside with a beer and a smoke and enjoy my own shit for an hour or two.  Not just listen, but really enjoy it.  

I can sort of understand that producer. I generally love the music I'm making while making it, and for a few days afterwords, then I absolutely hate it, then maybe after 6 months...I either like it again or wish I never gave it out or uploaded it. 

 

Weirdly, after many years, even the stuff  that I thought was absolute shit sounds good again. I love listening to the psych rock and punk I made way back in the day, but I practically disowned most of it for a long while. 

Edited May 23, 2017 by Auditor

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

making music is like treasure hunting. Just make a shitload and don't think about it

 

 

Yeah, the time to think about it is before you start working on it and after you're done and are sifting through the results.  While you're actually working there's no time to thing, you've got to just react. At least that's how it has always worked for me.

 

Or as an old jazz guy I took lessons fro years ago said put it, when you make music you have to bring more than you need (i.e. all of your ideas, skill and experience) and the real artistry is in what you DON'T use.  He was talking about improvisation with other people but so much of making electronic music is improvising against the real-time feedback from the machines you use and refining it incrementally that I think it's a relevant way of looking at it it here, too.

 

 

 

That's really good...

 

 

It's also good as a justifcation for spending money you can't really spare on gear you don't actually need too, unfortunately.  Literally bringing more than you need.

 

His other really good one was that you can think of creativity and technical ability as two different lines on a graph or thermometers or something (I forget the specific visual metaphor, but the point was that you think of them as two quantities) that both rise at different speeds depending on what you're focused on at the time.  If you're having a lot of ideas but struggle to actually realize them it means you should focus on developing technique, if you're playing (or producing or whatever) well but aren't that inspired by what you're playing you can forget about technique for a while and focus on writing and ideas.  When both are at about the same level, that's when you will do really good work and that's the zone you want to be in as much as possible.

 

It sounded a lot better the way he said it.

Edited May 23, 2017 by RSP

[TubularCorporation]

 

You know, over the years I think ive cared less and less about my music being liked or appreciated.  But deep down in there, there's always that little thought, "is my music that horrible or something?", "what do you have to do suck off a blog owner to get a little bit of shine?", "hear so much shit out there, think my shits better, but really it must not be?"

 

The stress of it was pretty heavy the first few years I started (i'm probably around 8-10 years in now).  Really wanted people to like my shit.  Now i'm just like, eh fuckit.  I'm going to make music I love to make, that I personally love to hear, and if people dig it thats nice, if not, what the fuck does it even matter?

 

I remember reading a rather known Electronic producer say (no names), that he doesn't even listen to his own music, or rarely ever does.  I find something innately wrong with this.  Music should be from your soul, encapsulates you as a person.  Gives me immense pleasure to be able to sit outside with a beer and a smoke and enjoy my own shit for an hour or two.  Not just listen, but really enjoy it.  

I can sort of understand that producer. I generally love the music I'm making while making it, and for a few days afterwords, then I absolutely hate it, then maybe after 6 months...I either like it again or wish I never gave it out or uploaded it. 

 

Weirdly, after many years, even the stuff  that I thought was absolute shit sounds good again. I love listening to the psych rock and punk I made way back in the day, but I practically disowned most of it for a long while. 

 

 

 

Same here, exactly. 

 

 

The one thing that's been stressful these days is that for about 10-12 years I was always in one or two bands that played out a lot and practiced/wrote together at least once a week, so there was always a lot of immediate feedback from other musicians and nonmusicians about what I was doing.  Since I quit the last band I was in, I think three years ago now, and went back to concentrating on producing electronic stuff solo more seriously than I ever had before it's gotten pretty frustrating at times to just be doing everything by myself for myself, because it wasn't until the last year or so that I started to really get on the level where I was comfortable sharing much of it with other people (although who knows, I've got 4-6 hours of tracks that are firmly in the "practically disowned" phase right now but in another year or two I might love them and regret not just putting them all up and telling everyone I meet to listen to them this whole time) so I've been almost completely on my own as far as figuring out what's actually good and what isn't.  That's been pretty frustrating and alienating at times (and it doesn't help that almost all of my local music friends coincidentally moved away back in 2013 and so far I haven't really met many other people who I clicked with on that level - but a few of them are moving back this summer, so suddenly there are a bunch of vague plans for new projects and collaborations floating around again), even though it has also really forced me to trust my instincts in a different, more analytical way than you do when you're in a band.

[peace 7]

 

 

 

making music is like treasure hunting. Just make a shitload and don't think about it

 

 

Yeah, the time to think about it is before you start working on it and after you're done and are sifting through the results.  While you're actually working there's no time to thing, you've got to just react. At least that's how it has always worked for me.

 

Or as an old jazz guy I took lessons fro years ago said put it, when you make music you have to bring more than you need (i.e. all of your ideas, skill and experience) and the real artistry is in what you DON'T use.  He was talking about improvisation with other people but so much of making electronic music is improvising against the real-time feedback from the machines you use and refining it incrementally that I think it's a relevant way of looking at it it here, too.

 

 

 

That's really good...

 

 

It's also good as a justifcation for spending money you can't really spare on gear you don't actually need too, unfortunately.  Literally bringing more than you need.

 

His other really good one was that you can think of creativity and technical ability as two different lines on a graph or thermometers or something (I forget the specific visual metaphor, but the point was that you think of them as two quantities) that both rise at different speeds depending on what you're focused on at the time.  If you're having a lot of ideas but struggle to actually realize them it means you should focus on developing technique, if you're playing (or producing or whatever) well but aren't that inspired by what you're playing you can forget about technique for a while and focus on writing and ideas.  When both are at about the same level, that's when you will do really good work and that's the zone you want to be in as much as possible.

 

It sounded a lot better the way he said it.

 

 

 

Great stuff.  I feel like I want to put these on a poster or something, cuz they are very powerful reminders.  I've taken screenshots, but man... these are things that a lot of us have learnt over the years, but I still want to be reminded several times per day.  VERY IMPORTANT.

 

Totally related: In recent times I've realized that when practicing (training) guitar, I should listen to myself in 3rd person to best develop tight technique.  When improv'ing or "performing", let go of everything and connect/play with the heart.  If technical skill has been built up with the 3rd person tight technique, then all movements should automatically follow those routes and be tight.  "Let go" and "focus" are both needed, but at different times.

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

 

 

making music is like treasure hunting. Just make a shitload and don't think about it

 

 

Yeah, the time to think about it is before you start working on it and after you're done and are sifting through the results.  While you're actually working there's no time to thing, you've got to just react. At least that's how it has always worked for me.

 

Or as an old jazz guy I took lessons fro years ago said put it, when you make music you have to bring more than you need (i.e. all of your ideas, skill and experience) and the real artistry is in what you DON'T use.  He was talking about improvisation with other people but so much of making electronic music is improvising against the real-time feedback from the machines you use and refining it incrementally that I think it's a relevant way of looking at it it here, too.

 

 

 

That's really good...

 

 

It's also good as a justifcation for spending money you can't really spare on gear you don't actually need too, unfortunately.  Literally bringing more than you need.

 

His other really good one was that you can think of creativity and technical ability as two different lines on a graph or thermometers or something (I forget the specific visual metaphor, but the point was that you think of them as two quantities) that both rise at different speeds depending on what you're focused on at the time.  If you're having a lot of ideas but struggle to actually realize them it means you should focus on developing technique, if you're playing (or producing or whatever) well but aren't that inspired by what you're playing you can forget about technique for a while and focus on writing and ideas.  When both are at about the same level, that's when you will do really good work and that's the zone you want to be in as much as possible.

 

It sounded a lot better the way he said it.

 

 

 

  "Let go" and "focus" are both needed, but at different times.

 

 

I used to get in stupid arguments about this with the drummer in the last band I was in.  It was a kind of Space Ritual-y, one chord, improvised thing we'd started as a throwaway side project that ended up getting more and better shows than our real bands, so when everyone started taking it more seriously we'd run in to spots where people's different approaches to improvising would conflict sometimes, and that was frustrating but it also forced you to kind of step back and think objectivey about how you were approaching things so that you could communicate it to other people instead of just going for it.  He was big on "you have to always be thinking and planning your next move while you're playing" and would get kind of evangelical about it, and I ended up figuring out that for me it's important to NOT be thinking about it in the moment because thinking is too slow, for me it's about listening and reacting. If you're thinking then it's already too late - you do your thinking before hand, that's what practice is for. Obviously that's just what works for me, but actually thinking about it and figuring out in kind of analytical terms what was going on was really helpful, so I guess there's some real value in overanalyzing stuff sometimes after all.

 

 

 

these are things that a lot of us have learnt over the years, but I still want to be reminded several times per day.  VERY IMPORTANT.

 

Yeah, I don't think anything I've posted is a big profound new insight in and of itself, but I know it's always helpful to hear someone else say something I already figured out on my own, and more selfishly figuring out how to say it clearly to other people is realyl helpful too.

Edited May 24, 2017 by RSP

[perunamuusi]

None of this applies to me because I am brilliant and everything I make is effortless and incredible.

[TubularCorporation]

None of this applies to me because I am brilliant and everything I make is effortless and incredible.

 

I've got the"effortless" part down, it's the other one that I haven't figured out yet.

[peace 7]

I used to get in stupid arguments about this with the drummer in the last band I was in.  It was a kind of Space Ritual-y, one chord, improvised thing we'd started as a throwaway side project that ended up getting more and better shows than our real bands, so when everyone started taking it more seriously we'd run in to spots where people's different approaches to improvising would conflict sometimes, and that was frustrating but it also forced you to kind of step back and think objectivey about how you were approaching things so that you could communicate it to other people instead of just going for it.  He was big on "you have to always be thinking and planning your next move while you're playing" and would get kind of evangelical about it, and I ended up figuring out that for me it's important to NOT be thinking about it in the moment because thinking is too slow, for me it's about listening and reacting. If you're thinking then it's already too late - you do your thinking before hand, that's what practice is for. Obviously that's just what works for me, but actually thinking about it and figuring out in kind of analytical terms what was going on was really helpful, so I guess there's some real value in overanalyzing stuff sometimes after all.

 

Discussions where people are debating abstract concepts of mental inner-workings can be quite difficult!  It's like in meditation, where high levels of "focus" can be achieved by relaxing and taking in as much as possible, which allows one to react immediately- but the problem lies in concepts like "focusing", where there are traditional images of great mental fatigue.  So all these fucking crazy abstract concepts are crazy!  Like I agree with your point AND the drummer.  Drummer felt that the next-move was a conscious decision- you felt that the next-move was more subconscious.  Cuz when I'm improv'ing and "consciously feel out the next-move", it actually does go well, but I believe that there is maybe very little "conscious planning" involved (it just feels very conscious), so both of you really are correct, for me.

 

Overall, though, you pick up a guitar and rock it.

 

 

 

None of this applies to me because I am brilliant and everything I make is effortless and incredible.

 

I know this "is a joke", but if it's true, you should share your creations with as many people as possible.  Art that has been created from pure states of high consciousness, transfer pure states of high consciousness to others.

[perunamuusi]

 

I used to get in stupid arguments about this with the drummer in the last band I was in.  It was a kind of Space Ritual-y, one chord, improvised thing we'd started as a throwaway side project that ended up getting more and better shows than our real bands, so when everyone started taking it more seriously we'd run in to spots where people's different approaches to improvising would conflict sometimes, and that was frustrating but it also forced you to kind of step back and think objectivey about how you were approaching things so that you could communicate it to other people instead of just going for it.  He was big on "you have to always be thinking and planning your next move while you're playing" and would get kind of evangelical about it, and I ended up figuring out that for me it's important to NOT be thinking about it in the moment because thinking is too slow, for me it's about listening and reacting. If you're thinking then it's already too late - you do your thinking before hand, that's what practice is for. Obviously that's just what works for me, but actually thinking about it and figuring out in kind of analytical terms what was going on was really helpful, so I guess there's some real value in overanalyzing stuff sometimes after all.

 

Discussions where people are debating abstract concepts of mental inner-workings can be quite difficult!  It's like in meditation, where high levels of "focus" can be achieved by relaxing and taking in as much as possible, which allows one to react immediately- but the problem lies in concepts like "focusing", where there are traditional images of great mental fatigue.  So all these fucking crazy abstract concepts are crazy!  Like I agree with your point AND the drummer.  Drummer felt that the next-move was a conscious decision- you felt that the next-move was more subconscious.  Cuz when I'm improv'ing and "consciously feel out the next-move", it actually does go well, but I believe that there is maybe very little "conscious planning" involved (it just feels very conscious), so both of you really are correct, for me.

 

Overall, though, you pick up a guitar and rock it.

 

 

 

None of this applies to me because I am brilliant and everything I make is effortless and incredible.

 

I know this "is a joke", but if it's true, you should share your creations with as many people as possible.  Art that has been created from pure states of high consciousness, transfer pure states of high consciousness to others.

 

 

 

Most peoples 3rd ears are not ready for my eschatological sonic messages

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

I used to get in stupid arguments about this with the drummer in the last band I was in.  It was a kind of Space Ritual-y, one chord, improvised thing we'd started as a throwaway side project that ended up getting more and better shows than our real bands, so when everyone started taking it more seriously we'd run in to spots where people's different approaches to improvising would conflict sometimes, and that was frustrating but it also forced you to kind of step back and think objectivey about how you were approaching things so that you could communicate it to other people instead of just going for it.  He was big on "you have to always be thinking and planning your next move while you're playing" and would get kind of evangelical about it, and I ended up figuring out that for me it's important to NOT be thinking about it in the moment because thinking is too slow, for me it's about listening and reacting. If you're thinking then it's already too late - you do your thinking before hand, that's what practice is for. Obviously that's just what works for me, but actually thinking about it and figuring out in kind of analytical terms what was going on was really helpful, so I guess there's some real value in overanalyzing stuff sometimes after all.

 

Discussions where people are debating abstract concepts of mental inner-workings can be quite difficult!  It's like in meditation, where high levels of "focus" can be achieved by relaxing and taking in as much as possible, which allows one to react immediately- but the problem lies in concepts like "focusing", where there are traditional images of great mental fatigue.  So all these fucking crazy abstract concepts are crazy!  Like I agree with your point AND the drummer.  Drummer felt that the next-move was a conscious decision- you felt that the next-move was more subconscious.  Cuz when I'm improv'ing and "consciously feel out the next-move", it actually does go well, but I believe that there is maybe very little "conscious planning" involved (it just feels very conscious), so both of you really are correct, for me.

 

Overall, though, you pick up a guitar and rock it.

 

 

 

None of this applies to me because I am brilliant and everything I make is effortless and incredible.

 

I know this "is a joke", but if it's true, you should share your creations with as many people as possible.  Art that has been created from pure states of high consciousness, transfer pure states of high consciousness to others.

 

 

 

Most peoples 3rd ears are not ready for my eschatological sonic messages

 

 

Scatalogical sonic messages?

[Juice Patrol]

It stresses me out when I do shit thats wasting time not working on music.

[Zephyr_Nova]

I was just going to say - "not making music stresses me out." 

Pretty much any time I start feeling really shitty, I realize I'm not actively working on a project I care about.  Life quickly spirals into absurdity when I'm not doing something creative.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Zephyr_Nova

[Cryptowen]

I was just going to say - "not making music stresses me out."

same

making music only stresses me out when i'm overthinking it & trying to make something other than whatever's actually coming through

[thawkins]

It stresses me out when I do shit thats wasting time not working on music.

 

Same. I get serious withdrawals after 1-2 weeks of last playing an instrument. I get irate, depressed, my mind automatically starts to seek a way out of "the prison".

Edited January 24, 2018 by thawkins

[GetSquirrely]

it's the opposite for me, I make tracks when I'm feeling overly stressed, it's a great anxiety neutralizer