Preface
A few years ago I wrote this article to help people who get stuck in creative ruts. As a teacher, "how do I move forward?" is one of the biggest questions I get asked. I initially made this as an eBook, but thought I would revise it and put it on Steemit to see how things go.
It's main focus is for Electronic Musicians, however most of the techniques can be applied to all styles of creativity.
I look forward to being part of the Steemit community and hope that this article can be of some help.
Introduction
Staying motivated to complete a track is an issue that all producers face at some time, whether you’re an experienced artist, bedroom producer, or just starting out. In this article, I have put together ten fun and bullshit free strategies that will have you busting out the tunes in no time.
The excitement that comes from creating your own blips and bleeps is a wonderful feeling. Sometimes so much so that moving on to creating something new, rather than finishing the old, often leads to a folder sitting on your computer full of unfinished projects which don’t have much in the way of progression (yeah, you know what I’m talking about!).
The methods and techniques I explore in this article always keep in mind the joys of being creative, and embracing that buzz. I believe any chore can be made into a fun game rather than forcing you to do something boring. It’s the same philosophy I use when I hire strippers to help me with my spring cleaning.
If you’re at the stage where you’re making good shit, and you know it’s good shit, chances are the feeling of absolute awesomeness that comes with it is going to make the idea of knuckling down sound very unattractive.
In the following 10 sections, I’ll show you my tried and tested ways of keeping the fire burning, helping you become more productive, motivated and educated.
1. Tension and Release
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... "not giving up when you get stuck on something or feel the track is not going anywhere anymore. If you’re having problems moving forward, or you’re having issues with something in particular, try working around the problem. Sometimes this will give you ideas and trigger the next stage of inspiration. Just keep working away and don’t give up on tracks you have already put so much time into. " - Grouch ( http://www.soundcloud.com/grouchnz )
Tension and Release is used throughout all musical styles, and is a vital tool to help emphasize the feeling of progression/ moving forward. This feeling is very important to maintain because without it, things get stale and boring very quickly.
Whether it’s on the big scale of the entire tune structure:
Intro > Drop > Breakdown > Drop > Outro
Or on the micro scale:
Kick > Hat > Kick > Hat
Using Tension and Release can dramatically open up new ways of listening to your ideas, ultimately making them interact with each other more fluently.
When I’m on a dance-floor rocking out to a tune I’ve never heard before, I like to watch the ways I am moving my body in relation to what I am hearing. One thing I notice a lot is when a good producer introduces a new idea or theme, it’s always announced ahead of time.
It sneaks in subtly before it fully hits, or there can be a little drum fill, or even the good old white noise ‘whoooooosh’ going up and up - but if a new idea is introduced by something else in the music, my body knows something is coming, and when it does, I’m ready. That makes me feel super cool and connected with what is happening.
I get played a lot of music from producers who are just starting out. Tension and Release often comes later after they have started mastering the sound design aspect of producing. As their tune moves forward, things just sort of get slopped down on the plate in front of you, like food being served in a school cafeteria.
Even though the substance they are giving to me is tasty, I’d get much more of a kick out of it if it was served to me like I was at a 5 star restaurant. This is a subconscious effect.
The whole point of writing music is to make people feel something as much as possible, so playing with the subconscious is a powerful tool if done correctly. No-one is going to get pissed off if they find out you tricked them because they have already made the decision to put down their guard and take what you are offering. They want you to fuck with them.
Let’s say I’m listening to a house track, and we’re only at the introduction with a kick, snare, high-hat and perhaps a little synth stab. It’s moving along, bar 30, bar 31, bar 32, bar 33, oh cool the bass is there. It’s not the best bass, it’s a bit weak sounding and they just have one note doing a simple pattern, but it’s there now.
Now take that same intro, but give it some character. At 16 bars start bringing in some quiet white noise slowly opening up on a low pass filter, start fading the kick drum away at 24 bars, throw a reverb on that synth stab and bring the decay time out slowly.
Now you have my attention. Somethings happening, somethings coming, and I’m excited! I’m so caught up with connecting/syncing with this tension that when it drops I don’t even start being critical of the weak bass, in fact it’s magically turned into a great bass! You just got me tense, and then released it.
If you’ve got something in front of you that has good ideas but doesn’t really sound too exciting because you’ve listened to it so many times, focus on the small details of creating tension and release (on the smaller scale). A few ways to do this are:
- Every four bars add an extra little snare or percussion hit, just a tiny one. ➡ Every eight or sixteen bars throw in a little fill, add a new sound, make it “stop” for two beats, then put a crash or white noise when the beat comes back.
- Load up a hundred percussion hits into a sampler and randomly throw a couple in at the end of a phrase.
- Take the bass or synth line on a small melodic journey for a few beats, different to what it’s been doing already.
- Take a tiny chunk of the element you are going to introduce and put it in four bars before it is supposed to be there, but change those four bars so they are muffled, or quiet, or sneaking in. Let people get a tiny taste and wanting more.
- Create a new unique one (or whatever) bar loop that really compliments your new idea, and have it play only once before the new idea comes in! Think of someone announcing a speaker at a huge event, someone who’s job is only to make the next person look amazing.
You will be amazed at how spending just 10 minutes zipping through your track and adding these little tension builds will make it sound whole and complete. I really have to stress this.
Have a coffee, sit down and power them out as fast as you can. It will turn a track that wasn’t going anywhere into a new playground of excitement. When you hit that point of hearing your track like it is an actual whole composition, it will start writing itself.
Bonus Tip - Less is More
When using words like “fills” and “builds”, the first thing that usually jumps to mind is to add something. Add a drum roll, add a build up, these all work, however sometimes you can create the same effect, or an even more powerful effect, but subtracting.
A simple way to imagine this is to take just the drums out for a bar before the next phrase. Leave everything else - it still creates a feeling of anticipation. Even if you just took one kick out on the fourth beat of the bar, you’ll still get an element of tension.
One cool trick I like to do when I am a bit stuck of ideas to create these little builds, is to load in a LOT of stuff, put lots of snare hits, lots of sounds and crazy shit (again, all in the bar BEFORE the next phrase), then start subtracting until something starts to get sculpted.
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... "to keep the work moving. If you’re getting stuck with something, put it aside, you can always go back to it later. If you’re moving forward you'll keep the creative juices flowing, it will be a more enjoyable and fresher environment to work in, and you’re more likely to stumble across that 'hit'. Fresh ears - we find that the ‘first listen in the morning’ or ‘first session of the day’ is the closest you’re gonna get to hearing how the track really is. Anything after that and your ears and mind slowly get de-sensitized to the music. It’s very important to develop your own style, which will evolve over time, but take note that nothing is original. We are always getting ideas and inspiration from other sources, so don't be ashamed of this. It’s how the creative world works. All the 'big guys' have stolen that idea from something/someone else and re-hashed it into their own version and unique style. If they deny it they are telling you porkies! - Antix / Fiord ( http://www.antixfiord.com )
2. Model a Tune you Admire
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... "to experiment. If I find I get stuck on a tune I'll make a crazy sound or do a tutorial so I've got something fresh to work with and keep the track moving forward." - K+Lab ( https://soundcloud.com/klabnz )
One of the easiest ways to get a collection of ideas you have developed down in a nice format that you absolutely know will work, is to pick one of your favorite tracks, deconstruct it, and shape your ideas around this newly discovered formula.
You can do this in most Digital Audio Workstations quite easily. It’s usually a simple matter of:
- Creating a new audio track within your sequencer and dragging your chosen tune into it.
- Warp/mark/beat match it up correctly so that the tune plays along in the right BPM as to what you have your sequencer set to follow along as the tune plays and add little marker points when things happen.
It’s up to you how precise you want to be with this technique. You can just throw in when the breakdowns or drops happen, or you can label each little fill. When I do it, I note down:
- When new rhythmical ideas comes in; for example a new drum loop, or a change in the high-hat/snare drum sounds.
- When a little tension fill happens (usually with a small description, e.g. “Drum Roll” or “Reversed Cymbal”).
- When a new synthesized idea comes in.
- When an effect starts getting tweaked (e.g. “delay time starting to open up on short delay”).
- The Intro, Breakdowns, Buildups, Drops and Outros.
Now if you’re worried about copying, don’t stress, nobody is going to know. You’re taking the structure here, nothing else. If someone has the attention span to listen to your tune and say, “hey this has the same progression as this other tune”, then I wouldn’t really trust their criticism anyway (or leave them alone in my house).
3. Minimizing Audio Stagnation - Setting Yourself Limits
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... " keeping the process moving. When you start ant-fucking you can really lose the plot and the whole process grinds to a halt. Paint with broad strokes and make quick, dramatic alterations until you have the absolute best possible core for your tune. If you are relying on details and fancy editing to make the riffs and arrangement sound good, chances are it's actually rubbish and will cause problems later in the process." - ill.Gates ( http://www.illgates.com )
Minimizing audio stagnation means reducing the loss of personal appreciation for what you're currently doing by putting systems in place to ensure your brain doesn’t get worn out on ideas that are actually great.
When you are working on part of a tune, especially when you are learning (as you aren't fully as fast as you could be yet), there's usually a point where you go fuck yeah this sounds good. However, this quickly goes once you listen to it for another 20 minutes working on it. To put it simply, it’s audio fatigue and it’s a sneaky dangerous asshole.
There’s also a type of second hand buzzkill. If you are working on say, some high-hats over your bass-line, the bass-line that you once enjoyed subconsciously gets stagnant and you'll probably end up going back to change it again, even though nothing was wrong with it.
If you did initially like how it sounded, try not changing it any more. Chances are other people will like it when they hear it for the first time also. They just didn't spend hours listening to a 4 bar loop at 2am on some rainy night.
Set yourself time limits. Use a countdown timer if you have to.
Don’t just move on when you start getting bored, move on when it’s sounding great. You can channel that excitement into something else, hopefully something that compliments what you’ve already just done.
The line of when to move on is up to you, but it's good to practice making it a little stricter than you would like. I know it sounds great, and you made it! Well done! But move on before Mr. Stagnant Demon catches on and sucks it dry.
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... " to keep making new sounds and variations! New musical ideas give you energy, inspiration and ideas. A trap I have often fallen into, is when I haven't got any ideas for where to go next, I listen to it over and over, hoping that an idea will come to me. This almost never works, as the loop just begins to sound stale and boring. It's important to keep creating new material, keep doing something! Even if you don't have a specific musical idea, just make a bunch of crazy rhythmic and/or harmonic noise and put it through effects/glitch/reverse/time-stretch etc - use extreme settings, let the machines produce ideas for you. Mute your drums for a while, you've probably heard them more than anything else - make a bunch of sounds with just a bass-line and a high-hat going. Think of all the different 'types' of sounds and try to represent as many of them as you can. Create contrast, for example, when you make a sound that's smooth and soft, make your next one rough and gnarly. It can be tempting to try and perfect each section of the track as you make it, but this can also lead to dead ends. I've found it works better to make each section just functionally good at first (i.e. to have a beginning, middle and end) then perfect it later once all sections of your track are laid out, and you have all the sounds you need. " - Hedflux ( https://steemit.com/music/@hedflux )
4. Minimizing Audio Stagnation - Keep Things Moving
In my opinion, the most (or one of the most) important factors for remaining focused and motivated when producing a track is ... " not getting pigeon holed into trying to get it "right". There’s only a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ if you've preconceived what the track your making is going to end up like. You should have an idea, but it's only that - an idea. Work with what’s working, the path of least resistance. Sometimes the most random changes will make the most profound sense. Get this method of work down you’ll find tracks pretty much write themselves. You just have to keep up with it. " - Organikismness ( https://soundcloud.com/organikismness )
Another good way to minimize audio stagnation, apart from training yourself to move on, is to use something in your software (e.g. Follow Actions in Ableton Live) to add an element of randomness. I find this works best with drums.
You can have a bunch of loops with variations that randomly play, or you can have a main loop that jumps to a little random fill every 4/ 8/ 16/ whatever bars, then back again. This keeps things moving a bit and lets me focus a lot more on a single element of a tune, rather than focus on how stagnant the other stuff is getting.
If you are unsure as to how you could program something like this to happen automatically in your DAW, try setting a time limit again, but instead of moving on when your time is up, change something unrelated to what you’re currently working on. If you’re focused on the sound of your bass-line, change the percussion.
Everything works and compliments each other in different ways, so by changing the drums you could get a different way of listening to the bass-line you're working on.
I made a video (Ableton Live) which covers one way to approach this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Debt54sbh3s
Finally, just never forget you’re the person who is going to listen to your music the most, so you’re the one who is most likely going to grow tired of it. If something sounded good at one stage, it will to other people when they hear it first. They will get the feeling you did when you first came up with it, so bite the bullet and deal with it how it is.
Bonus Tip - Altering Perception
The other way to keep excited is by putting yourself in a situation or mindset where the way you perceive sound is different than normal.
When you listen to music, the sound waves are pushing on your eardrum, your eardrum vibrates bones and little hairs in a particular way, and these hairs send electrical signals to your brain which you then associate with a whole range of interesting ideas, emotions and memories.
I have found in the past, that if you carefully scatter the way that this information is translated, you get a whole new perspective of observing it. Combine this with the opinion you formed when you were ‘normal’, and you have TWO ways of listening to what you’ve done.
Think of it like trying to focus on something in front of you with just one eye open. Sure you can see it, but you don’t get the depth until you open the other eye. Same thing, slightly different perspectives. That’s pretty cool.
Now I’m not saying go out and do something extreme, you can get this effect by simply listening to your tunes first thing in the morning, or after sex. It can be a very interesting experience listening to your creations with a “set of fresh ears”.
Anything to change the way you input information could potentially be used as a tool.
Finally, I would personally say don’t produce whilst high on drugs (just based on past failures, the audio plugins they make these days are so pretty and visually captivating I just end up getting lost buzzing out looking at the pretty colors). Use it as a tool to r