What is my problem?

On 2008-04-25 17:56:29, Djones wrote:
I need help, some real advice on my issue.
My issue is that I just can't make a track.
It's been years now, and I still find myself fidling around with plugins and synths and making small parts of music, before moving on and starting all over again.

I have this problem from a very early age already.
When I used to be a little kid, I used to draw, but also back then, I couldn't finish 1 drawing.
I would grab like 20 sheets of paper, and start over 20 times.
And usually I couldn't think of anything to draw!

It's like whenever things get complicated, I tend to give up and do not want to put any effort in learning and understanding the parts which I haven't developed yet.
It also seems as if I'm blocking my own mind from being creative.

Also with music, I've played piano since I was 8 or 9, but I remember also that back then I couldn't focus on the difficult parts, although I quite managed to play some serious classical music.

But now I'm just getting too frustrated about it.

It probably is some psychological thing in my head, why I can't do what I want to do.

I can be very creative in my head, visualizing music in my mind, but converting it into something within Cubase is just a whole different story for me.

In the beginning of this week I came to conclude under the influence of cannabis, while working on a track, that I was actually trying very hard not to think of the part of music, I was working on.
There was something in the back of my head which just makes me want to get this and that overwith to move on to the rest of the track.

Also, I'm finding it really hard to accept something which I have created, to sound good.
It's like I cannot accept it in my head if my music sounds different than anything that hasn't been made by other people yet.
Although I perfectly understand that what makes a great artist is the fact that he or she made something which wasn't there already.

But still, I can't get over this point.

It's just an enormous vicious circle I'm in, and I can't get out!

Are there some books maybe which could lead me into the right direction?

On 2008-04-26 11:49, fiin records wrote:

Maybe, you need to accept yourself and your unperfection. You need to understand, that nothing is perfect (or everything).

many spliffs in the morning

many spliffs in the morning

On 2008-04-27 04:05, DrUiWeIrD wrote:

Quote:

many spliffs in the morning

= bent

On 2008-04-26 05:57, Speakafreaka wrote:
Hey man, I had exactly the same problem.

I needed to work on structure.

So instead of using out and out inspiration (which is great, but will run out at some point, before the end of a track), you need to be more analytic of what you need to write next, and how you are using your time when you are working.

What are you doing when you are making progress? And what are you doing when yo stop with a tune?

Are these the same thing? (I'd bet not).

A big part of it is speed too. The more you practice with those plugins, the faster and faster you get with them, and the more and more the actual problem becomes apparent!

As I said, I was in exactly the same boat, up until about a month ago, since when I've finished two tracks, and have another three which just need topping and tailing, projects I've gone back to and been more focussed on doing what needs to be done, rather then tweaking to the nth degree.

Your desire to get a 'perfect' sound is also a major stumbling block, and again, one I get. By the time you are satisfied with a sound, you're getting sick of it. By the time you've written a section of the tune, you are sick of the whole thing. don't confuse writing a tune with mixing it. Work as fast as you can at getting your ideas down, with just a bit of low cut and delay and verb, so it sounds acceptable. Then go back and make it sound good, only when each section of the track is approaching completion, when your attention to detail brain can go to town!

There is a tipping point for me, when I know I can get a section finished. A lot of the problems I had were going from one section into another, and obviously the new section sounded unfinished compared to the old one, which meant I got very frustrated. So, it is important to get jammed in one section, or to force myself into the new section, and make myself come up with content, which, once I've passed the tipping point, I automatically make good.

You need to turn your mixing brain down, and learn about song writing skills.

I remember when I figured this out as my problem. I'm a classical musician, originally, and I know probably more then I ever wanted to about music theory. I didn't think I needed to know anymore about song structure, I thought I had a full understanding of trace structure, and in one sense, I did. I was really bad at applying it though!

And about the tweaking. It'll never sound perfect until you can hear it in context with the rest of the track. It always needs tweaking again. Don't waste your energy tweaking in incredible detail as you go.

You can't make a great sounding mix, until you have a great sounding song!

Maybe you think you have a problem with inspiration. You don't. I'll bet you have 50 upwards first sections of songs on your hardrive, all with good and unique ideas. Your mixing brain is rinsing your creative brain though, and all those good ideas are getting sucked away through tweaking it into the ground.

Hope this helps.