Sometimes, "go watch a film", or "take a break", "have a walk" etc. might work, but you when you get that feeling that you really really want to make a track right now, but it's just not quite happening, it's incredibly frustrating. Sod doing something else, you want to produce!
I reckon the root of it stems from working within a certain framework all the time, trying to perfect that one thing, trying to achieve that sound you know you've got in your head, or that sound you heard that made you go
whilst staring at a computer screen clicking a mouse. Getting stuck into bad habits and such. Trying your best not to fire up ol' t'internet... However, there's plenty us modern producers have at hand that can aid us in sparking the creative, er, spark.
I propose a thread full of unusual techniques, samples and (preferably free (I'm looking at you Futures Untold))VST's that will aid the dry spells of creativity.
I'd better start then:
One way of getting an idea out of nothing is the tried and tested method of resampling.
Try and make as many different sounds as possible out of one sample. It will inevitably force you to use different techniques to make totally new and different sounds from the same sample. It's especially handy when you have, say, a nice 8 bar loop that you can't seem to expand on.
I find that doing little things like that instantly gives you something to build on.
If you're messing about trying to create a synth patch/tweak a preset, then record it. Fire up your synth (applies to both hardware and software), and record everything whilst you're making the patch. If your setup has good MIDI automation recording on the go then record the MIDI track. If not, set up an audio track to record the output of the synth. In Ableton, if you're using a soft synth, this is easy peasey squeezy cheesy peas.
Reverse everything you hear! Loads of stuff sounds awesome backwards
Pick a scale, and write in that key using this handy website: http://www.apassion4jazz.net/keys.html Amazing what learning a new scale whilst playing your new crazy synth patch can do...
I've spent the day recording some low-fi samples of various crap around the house too. Will post them here when I get 'round to arranging them nicely for samplepack purposes.
Also, a bit of airy advice to end with. Try writing a 'genreless' track. Just make something you know nobody else is going to hear.
