How to get out of a creative rut QUICKLY
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2023
- I recently had trouble getting started on a project, so I decided to livestream it on the internet... ua-cam.com/users/livercb42CwK... That made me think about something my once dad told me and how it relates to starting any creative venture.
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I submit that setting time limits to a production session can also inspire creativity. Not just “show up”, but “show up! You have one hour! go go go!”
A number of decades ago I was a broadcast radio announcer. It’s a specialty. When you do that for a living, there’s a red light in front of you that also switches off the control room speakers. So there’s this sudden arresting focus that occurs a few seconds before the previous thing ends. I don’t think I thought about it but it must cause a dopamine reaction. It’s performance. You’re about to step on stage. It’s your cue.
Whether somebody else makes that light turn on or you do, it means “be talking.”
These little glimpses inside the process from someone such as yourself are pivotal for me. Naturally I tend to think only I am affected by such indecision, frustration and struggle. I keep commenting about how generous you are with your thoughts and talents....and I'm not going to stop....not until you do. Thanks Jameson!
My problem is not to come up with ideas and interesting sounds, but turning those ideas into finished compositions or tracks. I find it really hard to make 'final' decisions in the arrangement. I tend to try the keep the track 'open ' as long as possible, which is really not good. I want more finished songs, it makes me sad seeing all the half finished Ableton files in the project folder. I guess I have to be hard on myself and make deadlines... I really need to 'finish' things!
I just finished moving all my older beats to one main machine to be completed later. This took about 4 years & in that time I had to force myself to not make new music. Most of the music was never recorded, so I took this time to do so & to delete many ideas. The 1 main limit I gave myself was that when sequencing these reference beats was that I couldn't come up with new parts, so I had to only use what was there. I could only change the or edit the patch. This was the most tedious shit I've ever done in my life, but it also taught me many compositional skills & how to "finish" a track. You may have to go thru that process. It feels like I grew-up artistically.
Something you can do if you don't feel like what you're making at the moment sounds good is stop trying to create something new, and try to recreated a song you love. I learn so much by reproducing songs that already exist, and it can inspire a whole new song in the process. I also like to switch modes from composition to sound design when I'm at a creative road block. Sometimes I'll go in with the intent to make a song, but I'll end up making a bunch of samples I can use later. As long as you're making SOMETHING you'll get back on track.
For me a chord progression is always the starting point. I pick major vs minor and style of chords based on mood and put down a backing track. This track rarely makes it in the final song… but gives me my canvas. I like having some constraints and rules… so this works for me… prob not for everyone.
Good idea!
as an illustrator, your advice helps me tremendously
Perhaps it isn’t emptiness that really characterises a “blank canvas”, instead it is the fact that it already teems with sum of all possibilities that we have ever seen/heard- infinite preconceptions, summing to white. Picasso’s famous quote that creativity and destruction are mutually affirming hints at the the process of risking the first/next mark in order to “destroy” the infinite and begin to draw a way forward: realising a process in order to find the One “idea”!
Simply...........thank you dearly!
Damn. Beautiful video. To be honest, the beginning felt like 100 videos I’ve seen before. But by the end… Anagnorisis.
When you went through all those melodic concepts, my first thought was: “ok, now I understand what those kids in math class felt like that didn’t understand and were getting really frustrated even though it made perfect sense to me.” As you went through those different variations, I was blindsided by your talent. I mean, I knew you were good at this, but… every one of those variations was good.
At this point, I was contrasting the moment when I very much identified with the concept of my melodies usually being “cliche or trite” compared to the skill you demonstrated. As soon as I was confronted with the great chasm between those two, began to reflect on that, and was feeling quite pitiful, you punched me in the face with “no one said it would be easy…” and I was out for the count.
I needed that. Thanks. Brilliant video.
Much appreciated! :)
And here I was thinking absinthe was the drink of the artist.
No but I think it was an old soft synth I used to use 🤔
I've taken up cycling, and there's a saying in that community which totally translates to any creative process: "it doesn't get easier, you just get faster."
I have writers block, lets find a UA-cam vid to confirm my bias. Found it, thanks! ;)
Something I've been leaning into more and more is not putting as much pressure on the initial idea. Especially if it's a motif or melody. I used to think that I had to get the perfect melody before working on a composition. However, I've realized that a great composition is much more about how you develop the melody/motif over time and less about the idea itself. The motif from Beethoven's 5th is not all that special on its own. But the way he develops it over the course of the piece is what makes it such a masterpiece.
Hmmm not agreeing totally if you like music which is focused on simplicity. Then every element has to be legit good.
When I see that whole question/answer thing, it just makes me think of Ace Ventura. “Excuse me! I’d like to ass you a few questions!”
I just don’t like DAWs. But I’m not exactly some DAWless jam nerd, either, and I definitely don’t like grooveboxes or other DAW substitutes like Elektron boxes. So I mostly just play with drum machines hooked up to DJ mixers.
You keep explaining things I cannot explain
Recommend just setting yourself some limitations buy a cheapo Casio add a delay and reverb pedal and see what you can make out of it. 👍
I’m trying to simplify like in the days where I just had a 4track tape deck and a handful of pedals.
One track actually broke but it actually turned it into a simply oscillator that would change in odd ways as I tweaked the EQ and levels!
“Do something even if it’s wrong”
Great advice - why wait? I went ahead and bought a Polybrute with zero regard to personal finances. I figure the way the world is going all the major financial centers will probably be blown up soon anyway and if not I still have my synthesizers to enjoy for awhile.
@@afoltz1982 - It’s great fun and intense! The mod matrix is deep…. 👍
Although I found that livestream very difficult to watch because of the discomfort you put yourself through, I found lots to like in the product you readily described as horrible as well as those things which were greeted with less distain.
Extending your analogue of the gym, the days when you feel least like going will be the day you benefit most.
The merging of electronic music with compelling and developed composition has been a goal of mine lately. It's not that it's never been done, it's that I've never done it (yet). Haha. I really enjoyed this.
Thanks!
Dude, beautiful vid and especially the examples with you playing are very insightful. This kind of melody building is exactly what I'm working on and have neglected for years. Its funny- when I first started writing music, the daily effort came naturally and I also focused on building melodies then. As time progressed, I picked up a lot of bad habits related to common electronic production approaches, and I also became much less satisfied with my writing, which made it increasingly harder to want to sit down and write.
Sounds like Dad is wise! It's easy to let decision paralysis lead to inaction, especially when you've got unlimited sounds at your fingertips. Can confirm becoming proficient with instruments and using improv to mine ideas is wonderful solution 🎶 Laying down a few riffs and jamming over yourself is great fun haha
It vaguely reminds me of "Ghosts", by NIN. ❤
I liked you before, but after seeing you use Opsix, I like you even more. That synth is brutally powerful.
I'm still fine-tuning my method, but for now I use template drums for the given genre I am going for, write melodies/bass, then go back and replace and retool the drums
You have laid out some great examples in this video! 🎹
just what I needed! Thank you for this!
Nice, relevant video! For me, I often start with a rhythmic basis, to set an overall vibe. The song skeleton usually starts outside a studio, on a quiet walk in a park, near a stream, or in a forest, getting a hum and pulse going, then flesh it out back in the studio with an instrument or two. Sitting in front of a blank DAW session @can@ certainly be daunting!😊
Great video! I appreciate the practical theory of this - that is, while it remains theoretical concepts, they're immediately applicable to process, so they are both useful and flexible.
Thanks!
great call making a commentary vid using the livestream as a jumping off point. it's as if you're taking your own advice or somethin'. ;-)
love the dad quote.
the gym analogy
works well. ;-)
He’s a pretty smart guy :)
my guy, you are actually hilarious. subbed for sure.
Great videos. You always inspire me to do better, even if it isn't music.
I mean...who doesn't want a Hurdy Gurdy?
💯
One thing that's missing from UA-cam are videos about the pure raw essence of music. Your videos are exactly that! Great stuff!!👍
Ah! The Honest Confessions of an Artist who dared to Make a channel recording his debates and Trials in the musical arena. - Perhaps it never really gets easier because your standards improve or merely change; blimey, it must've been hard for Beethoven at the end to even contrive something - perhaps why, some of the last pieces were so elegantly simple.
By the way, you must have been a very different kid than mine. If I told my youngest to do something even if it’s wrong, his face would contort into that grinch cartoon evil grin, he’d clasp his hands like Mr. Burns, and say, “even if it’s WRONG, you say…?”
Computers don't make music, instruments do. Your dad was right, just start by making a noisy mess 😊
Are you the same guy who wrote "Monuments" it's one of the greatest pieces of music I've ever heard.
That’s me :) and thank you!
@@JamesonNathanJones No thank you, it's been my go to track for a long long time now when I need to relax.
Just watched BoBeats so new subscriber. Excited to hear more of your thoughts on composing and arranging. Definitely not afraid to hear about it in terms of music theory (eg, key modulation, chord scales, borrowed chords). Thanks!!!
Welcome, and more to come on those topics for sure! Here's a playlist of the videos touching on those things I've made so far if you're interested :) ua-cam.com/play/PL0hyQ0aWQivVMnRyfvCukwiMK8t0ua3tC.html
@@JamesonNathanJones Love it! So much great content. Tysm!
Reverse an entire track you like. Change the key. Find a cool section and convert that to midi. Change around instruments. Bingo! Might be the beginning of a big mess or your next masterpiece.
@@afoltz1982 yeah, sometimes that's all it takes. Problem I have with when 'that' happens, when a certain change is made that changes 'everything' is "do I go with this?". That can mean dumping lyrics, key riffs that worked so well etc. Remember that key scene in the Tom Hanks films That Thing You Do where the band were told to try speeding it up and it worked, it became a hit. I think most songs start off slow in the beginning of the writing phase.
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Changing the key/tuning can also really trigger off different feels.
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Another is atmospherics; slow something down to granular level, add reverb and play.
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I love that recording of U2 running trying to get Mysterious Ways together in Hansa Studios, and halfway through Edge starts to play the chord sequence that would become One. And knew to latch on to it!
Great stuff here! I'm just finishing a project where I tried to keep away from the progressive layering techniques that a lot of modern EM is based on and go back to my roots and compose in a more traditional style. It only partially worked as I'm not as good as I thought I was at developing themes (I didn't pay attention in that bit of class) but I learned so much for next time!
Everything we do is practice for the next thing. Takes a lot of the pressure off of whatever we're currently working on too :)
sometimes i get the feeling that watching videos about "writers block" or such actually creates writers block. never thought about wb until i heard about it for the first time. how about creating something every day and when it sucks just try to forget about it and move on.
Damn I gotta try dr pepper with cream soda now 🤤
Highly recommended. The only beverage I will risk spilling on my synths 😅
Are you completely done with Bitwig? I haven’t renewed my license since the whole fiasco happened. But I just really also dislike Ableton’s UI… I’ve been eyeing up Studio One? 👀 how are you liking Live overall?
I’ve actually never tried Bitwig. Maybe confusing me with Venus Theory? I started with Cubase and switched (mostly) to Live a few years ago. Coming from a more traditional daw like Cubase, I really like the UI, but I haven’t had a chance to compare it to Bitwig.
@@JamesonNathanJones ohhhh okay, fair enough! I follow lots of bitwig users and definitely mistook you for a former bitwig guy! Whoopsie
(It’s a pretty cool piece of software tbh. I’m surprised you haven’t jumped in there yet, being such a synth/modular connoisseur! It’s basically modulation/synthesis heaven.)
All the best 😅, I love your vids, keep up the great work haha
You want to transmit the nature of Inspiration.
That' s foolish....
Inspiration is discovered by working through problems, not waiting around for it to strike. So yes, it is actionable.
@@JamesonNathanJones
You can be inspired in any circumstances, but Inspiration does not depend on circumstances.
You can sit and wait for a thousand years or work the hell out of you...
doesn't matter...
It comes from a place we are not in control of.
And that's the beauty of it!
You think, you can bring it out by doing what you do?
Maybe it works for a time for you but not for everybody.
And sometime it will not work for you but for someone else.
So why we always come back to that kind of a topic?
Because we want to get control of it, but we can't...
There are things, that can be teached and there are things, that can't.
So I prefer to learn, what can be learned, and to reject all the fairytales about how to become inspired...
Really difficult lesson and I've already known the truth of it for looooong time. You just have to force yourself.
Knowing hasn't made it easier unfortunately.