is it me or is this a common producers problem?

[boandkhilla]

i would like some opinions of other people producing music.

I've been dj-ing for 10 years and producing music for about 1.5 year (just as a hobby, but eager to get better). All of this using reason & cubase.

Every time i start a song i start with the basic beat, claps, hh, oh. Then is start working on a bassline and so on... just untill i come to a point where i'm searching for a patch/sample which i import but doesn't fit well with the track. Because i like the sound i often get distracted by it and start to imagine what i could do with that sound in another track. Usually i can't find the right sound for the actual track i'm working and end up with lots of finished short tracks that have a good beat, bassline, variating rhythm and melody but it always needs more ? At least that's how i feel about my tracks if they get finished.

To give you an example: i have rendered (finished temporarly, lack of inspiration?) about 10 tracks and have like 55 unfinished.

What's wrong with me ? Or is anybody else suffering from such problems ? smile.gif

[Brian]

based on my own experience and those i've talked to it seems very common

i think what it comes down to is: no matter how much computers can help with creating music, songwriting isn't easy

[O'love]

exactly, very common thing..... it's called "lack of inspiration" ..... some people i know first have an idea in their heads, and try to reproduce it in the studio....this is imho the best way to go as you have very specific aims...

i am not such a person, unfortunately, i just start playing around, and sometimes something comes out of it, but more often i get stuck somewhere and never finish the loop into a track...

i think it's a good idea to take an interesting loop or sample to build your idea around, and then delete the loop/sample when you have a clear idea where you want to go....

or: just pick a simple sound (like a piano or fender rhodes, or pick up a guitar if you can play it) and start working out a basic songstructure, chord-sequence, harmonies etc.... this way the technology is not important and you can focus on the important, and difficult, part: the song itself..

Olaf

[msom]

Finishing tracks is a difficult task, because if it takes a while to complete chances are you'll eventually lose interest. It's much to easier to find a cool sound and make an interesting loop then to take the times and make an actual song. However theirs a great reward and knowledge gained from creating a whole piece of music. What i do is just not let myself move onto something else until the track is finished. Sometimes though you gotta trash stuff and move on if its just not any good.

[martino]

Collaborating with someone else at that point might help bring some fresh ideas.

[the crackhouse]

I had a MPC 2000, 4 years ago, and i sold because i encountered this lack of inspiration on each track i tried to create.

Now some months ago i tried reason with a keyboard with controlers.

I followed the tutorial, then the user manual. I kept the mini-looped-tracks i did during this period, and now I'm singing some ideas (bass, beats, voices, lyrics, technical ideas...) on a mini tape recorder.
When i'll have finished the 30 minutes of the tape, i'll try to do something.

I encountered the same problem when doing my re-edit for the DHP contest. You have great ideas, but while you focus on working to the first one, you forget the other ideas, and the same tack your hear like 10 hours in loop mode to go where you wanna go is strongly boring.

So now, my ideas are on tape, time will tell on which one were really good, which one will fit together well, which one are house, which one are more techy, will it be a EP or LP...

When you have to write a book, you just don't write some words here and word there, it'll get you nowhere. You put a plan, a synopsis, and then you work chapter after chapter, and if one thing change the whole book, you don't continue the chapters, you come back to the plan/synopsis. Music should be the same.

I will not work a song if i didnt pull on paper nots of "how will be the intro/outro/breaks/voice coming in, etc...

[K. Otembo]

I agree with all of the above and would suggest yet another way to approach it when the muse is hard to find. In short, we all know that music is it's own unique and powerful form of communication, but it is communication no less. So ask yourself, what am I trying to say? Who am I trying to say it to? Whether with words and music or music alone, this approach has always help give me a vision and a goal when developing my music from the kick right through to any vocal ad libs.

[dcook]

i'm exactly the same i have plenty of audio "sketches" as i would call them...what i've been doing recently is to establish my 8-10 looped patterns and then i'll record them back live by controlling the main mixing board via my midi controller...

[DEEPDOWNINSIDE]

Dont feel bad I have been there and back my friend.
What you need to do is:
1. Have an Idea 1st and then write it down or record it on a tape recorder. (EX: BJORK, many Rappers)

2. GET BACK TO BASICS, use an acoustic piano to bang out tunes or grab an accoustic or simply write lyrics or a poem and imgaine a beat behind it. Some of the most amazing house tracks are actualy electronic inturpretations of accoustic written music. (MAW, Everything But The Girl, Baby Face, Sade)

3. RECORD PROGRAM RECORD EXPERIMENT some of the best tracks were experiments done in the demo phase dont be affraid if the track sucks at first dont be affraid to keep it RTD(rough tough and dirty) some of the best electronic producers care less about production and more about the groove. Got feedback,clicks,skips, distortion, odd vocals. It makes your track unique. (EX: Basement Jaxx, Dr. Dre, Parliment, N.E.R.D.)

4. GET INSPIRED go to a club and listen to a good house Deejay ( your fave will do) that allways pumps me up!

5. FINALY MOST IMPORTANT! CHOOSE A TRACK AND FINISH IT!!!!! ANY YOU LIKE OF YOUR OWN UNFINISHED PRODUCTIONS, FROM START TO MIXDOWN BUT BEFORE YOU START SET A DEADLINE FOR YOURSELF (EX: "Brandy 2step garage remix needs to be done by next friday and I need to get KIM in here to play bass for me...")

Because when th lables come a knockin' asking you to produce more tracks ,they most likely are going to give you a deadline so they can make thier release date.
Finish early looks good to them and helps build your confidence! REMEMBER keep it funky and real yo!
Let your friends review your tacks here and we wil let you know to either BUMP IT or DUMP IT!

Later Yall!