what to do when inspiration dwindles?

[Jay Pace]

All of the above is sound advice.

Also - would recommend being quick as you can with ideas.

Just get them down as quickly as possible and move on. The longer you hear the same loop, the more nothingy it sounds and eventually its just noise

I've abandoned plenty of tracks because I've spent ages noodling about with the same patterns and loops, getting more and more distracted with fiddling with a filter or an envelope - and eventually you have no idea what you are working on anymore.

Try and split your time between being creative (coming up with new things) and constructive (sequencing, mixdowns, mastering) etc and take lots of breaks so that you come back with fresh ideas and a more objective perspective.

If you try doing everything at once you burn out.
Give yourself different tasks which require different skills and mindsets and you will exercise different parts of your brain.


I quite like using randomisers for inspiration. Sometimes you can hear patterns in randomised stuff, and you can pull them out. Its like your brain latches on to what the pattern should be doing, then its just a matter of altering it and "correcting" it. Its can be a great way of coming up with ideas.
Best of luck mate

[Tyrisia]

all very good advice, thanks guys, and actually just realizing the fact that I need to change the way I was lookin at things was a big help in itself, after posting, I spent half the night constructing a great loop out of the ashes of pure chod, sod's law I know.

Maybe I just hit a dry spot, but I tried some stuff I hadn't tried in ages, and got a whole new direction. It's like I've been dismissing the ways of workin I used to have when I first started as amaturish, without realising that I can now take those old ideas and ways, and add far more to them than I could ever have done previously.

I'm more charged up to get this pa sorted than I have been in a while, so just shows, it's good to talk:)

[audioinjection]

i usually take breaks when that happens, watch some tv, get some beer, then try to get back at it. sometimes i can do days without any inspiration, which sucks sometimes :S

[stjohn]

try organise some samples.. ie: freestyle with some synth and break it up into individual samples to work on...

or make some nice loops, concentrating on each sound intricately....
than when you come back... the palette is there ready to go!!

[rounser]

Does your sequencer have a randomise function? Try hitting that a few times, see if it comes up with something that gives you a lead.

Half of the battle is getting over the "blank canvas" bit for me; once you've got something filling the void, there's something to build upon.

[Jay Pace]

I remember being taught a technique a year or two ago, which apparently was popular with autechre

Open up all your channels with a sound (drum, cymbal, other) and enter notes for every beat of the bar. Mute everything.

Then randomly just click unmute, and randomly pan etc.

Basically - its just another "randomise stuff" tip.
But you can have lots of happy accidents that way.

[rounser]

Basically - its just another "randomise stuff" tip.
But you can have lots of happy accidents that way.

Yup. I like to think of it as "subtractive sequencing". Often it's a lot easier to sculpt and modify a bunch of looped random noise-makery than it is to build up a sequence from nothing. Also, it teaches you what sort of thing the patch or sample is capable of, which may be more or less than you envisioned.

[mattdubois]

But you can have lots of happy accidents that way.

I am a huge fan of happy accidents! and love when the happy accident ends up spawning a whole new direction and eventually a solid new addition to your portfolio

when inspiration dwindles for me I like to get completely away from producing and be creative in another medium but in a very relaxed and non-demanding way...I usually find this via my day job as a cook/chef as culinary arts is a passion but one not as intense as music....I used to find it with poetry and prose but words/language got to be too confusing and imprecise for expression as music/sound became my medium of choice....

reading a favorite poem or quote or personal mission statement or watching a certain movie/scene from a movie or hearing a song from a genre I never work in are usually dependable ways to get little spurts of determination and inspiration going....like tonight I heard that track by Eminem that was used in "8 Mile" where he talks about there only being one chance to make it and you have to take advantage and fully live the moment and the music, and it made me want to get to work on my music as soon as I could (I was at work).....

or lately, I just watch cartoons and drink beer till inspiration knocks again...

[ERROR404]

I like to work on 4-5 projects at once and only spend an hour or so at a time on each one... your ears are always fresh, and ideas flow more creatively between and across tracks etc...