GarretGraves Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 no im not talking about a particular DAW or anything like that. I really mean focus. Have you guys ever had a problem focusing on a track? or even had "writer's block"? I keep having this issue. I'll start on a song and get about up 1:26 done. Then i won't know what comes next. A week later I'll finally add another minute to it or so and then stop yet again. Anyone else get this problem a lot? if so, how do you go about dealing with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sou Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I just keep working on it (: (I have this problem a lot too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 A great IRC troll who goes by distance once told me "if you make music on the same computer you browse the internet with, kill yourself" Basically, find less stuff to distract you and eventually you'll just have nothing else to do but write music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarretGraves Posted December 29, 2008 Author Share Posted December 29, 2008 you guys use seperate machines? wish i could afford that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 you guys use seperate machines? wish i could afford that. Try unplugging the internet cable, so you can focus in your music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannthr Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Deadlines. If you don't have deadlines, impose them yourself, if you do, well, then get going, your client is waiting. Don't be ambiguous about your track--you have to have goals. You say to yourself: Write a 2 minute and 30 second looping main title track by 9pm Tuesday evening--or you lose. If you want to get real serious and you can't because you don't have a client, say to yourself: Write a 2 and a half minute looping main title by 9pm Tuesday evening--or you will have to give $500 to a homeless man on Wednesday. I never have a problem getting shit done when money is on the line, I may not be inspired, but I'll be damned if i don't get it done. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. Start acting like you have some clients and you will get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I personally only get writer's block when doing music that isn't for a particular purpose. Try to focus on what the music is for and what feel you want to go for. If you don't have any deadline for the music, take a break, just stop for a week or two to let the musical energy build up. There have been times where I have told myself I will not touch my keyboard for a week, and just let the musical ideas develop in my head till they all come bursting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Competitions are good for the deadlines, get it done for the deadline or you miss out, they don't wait up for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I second the deadline options with the addendum that you make them realistic. I'm a poster boy for what can happen if you don't make realistic deadlines for your first projects. Dannthr knows exactly what I'm talking about. Start small and easy and work your way up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 you guys use seperate machines? wish i could afford that. not as expensive as you think, nowadays. browse the net with a netbook laptop (like an eee pc), or a cheap box that you threw together. can do it for 300$ or less nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 not as expensive as you think, nowadays. browse the net with a netbook laptop (like an eee pc), or a cheap box that you threw together. can do it for 300$ or less nowadays. I was gonna say something like this. I have a dedicated music computer that is souped up, and then my old piece of crap machine for browsing the net. It's nice not having any distractions when working on music. I guess if you play a lot of newer computer games a piece of crap machine might not cut it for you though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 the necesities for a modern gaming computer aren't the same as a music box, though. you can build a solid music computer for not much money, thanks to AMD and a cheap graphics card. of course, this is coming from me, who spent way too much on components for both of my desktops anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Now your problems are solved. Use KeyBored while browsing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarretGraves Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Now your problems are solved.Use KeyBored while browsing. LOL IM SCARED TO DOWNLOAD THAT. i can read music and all. but to have nothing but music nots on my screen will hurt my brain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doni Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 hey guys I'm new here, so I wanted to chime in a bit... anyways for me writers block doesn't happen that often because if something isn't working I immediately drop it and start something else. Making music, writing something, whatever it is, it doesn't make any sense to bang your head against the wall. One thing that really helps if I find myself in a particularly bad drought is to disengage myself completely from anything creative. I usually will pick up a new game and roll through it or actually remove my butt from the computer chair and exercise religiously (for a week and then go back to sittin on my butt) the point is if you're not coming up with anything, thinking about why won't help, you've got to live your life and take the inspiration as it comes, if that makes any sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulinEther Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 In response to KeyNote, there are no notes at all... they just make sounds when you type the different letters. Wow this is an interesting experience. Nothing sounds nice when you type at like 100 WPM though :/ And I myself am trying to overcome a case of said block. But it's more about a complete and general boredom. Deadlines may help. Or this program's incessant dissonance will inevitably force me to make something that sounds pleasant. Or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarretGraves Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Thanks for the reply guys. Yeah I've been coming back to the track im on. going between it and GTA4. I've actually managed to get it up to 4:33 and have an idea on how to end it. (Its not a remix by the way). I've been on this track for over a month and a half now. I normally don't take this long to get a single song done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lie Mf B Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 To me, there often seems to be two "schools" on this matter: Leave it until inspiration is back, or "an artist doesn't wait for inspiration". I'm more of the latter. I try to treat my music as work, and when I get to work on it, I just do it. I'm usually not quite as focused in the beginning, but after a little while I get into the "work flow" and time flies. I take a pause to eat and I eat at an unhealthy speed because I can't wait to get back to where I left off. Finally I lay off at 2 a.m. or something. But yeah, sometimes I get stuck, I'm out of ideas. I sometimes force things out of me when I know it's a waste of time. It's a good idea to work on several projects or songs in parallel. You get stuck in one, switch to another. You usually have an idea that works somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgx Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 not as expensive as you think, nowadays. browse the net with a netbook laptop (like an eee pc), or a cheap box that you threw together. can do it for 300$ or less nowadays. Partition your harddrive, install Windows on the new partition. Don't install net drivers and anything that doesn't help you make music. Boot into this partition when you want to rawk. It makes your DAW quite more CPU efficient and stable as well, not having all kinds of junk on it. I did this for a while, but it turned out for me to be very hard to actually restart and boot into the music partition. For me, its difficult to get started on a task, but once I'm going I'm good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarretGraves Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Momentum seems key. I just worked on this track today. got about 4:30 and realized i didnt like my guitars rhythm distortion. (its a rock track) i re-recorded the rhythm with another distorted setting and realized i didnt like that one either. This is killing my progress. Either im too picky (which I believe there is no such thing in this line of work) or i gotta go through all of my Gearbox setings and sounds until im satisfied with it. And for those of you who own a Gearbox should know, there's TONS of head/cab combinations to choose from. Im running souly on caffine and i got the jitters. i could crash at any momen- *crash* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceracryst Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I haven't submitted a remix for 6 years. I'm trying something new, but I got stuck- it's kind of frustrating. Sometimes the ideas come endlessly and I can write furious, but other times I'm just sitting there blankly. I can't say there's any skill involved when I'm at the whim of my random mind. =/ Let me echo your cry for help. =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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