This is an issue that all musician's share and has been getting some attention around here lately so I figured I'd rig up a thread.A technique that I've found worked well for advancing tracks is to go into your projects folder and sort it by date modified. Then open up the track that's gone the longest without any attention. Listen to it through once and try to come up with one thing to add or change. It could be adding a whole new instrument or section, making a variation on a part or just "Oh shit why do I have those hats up so high?" Once you've made your change go back to your projects folder, go to the next track and do the same thing.
I find you lose objectivity after working on a project for a long time. By constantly cycling through your tracks you're hearing things for the first time in a while, and because you're not spending too long on each track you don't get bored writer's block. It's also helpful for mixing; With every listen through, your ears get more accustomed to hearing the track a certain way and it becomes harder for you to spot imperfections in the mix. Cycling through your tracks one after another (with reference tracks in between) helps you compare them to one another, and ideas from one project may flow over into another. Also by starting with the oldest modified songs, you're keeping your ideas from falling out of sight and becoming yet another file you scroll past on your hard drive.
Another trick for coming up with ideas is to try to hum, beatbox or vocalize the track in some way while you go make a sandwich or something. Even just tapping your hands or moving your body in some way to the rhythm in your head. You'll often find yourself humming new lines or coming up with new rhythms and it's a good way to get into the track more and focus on its essence. The part that someone would whistle or hum is going to be the focus of the song. If there's nothing you can vocalize, bang on a soup can to, dance or otherwise groove to, then there's something missing. By focusing your attention on some other minute task and letting your brain jam out to the track in your head, your subconscious can take over and fill in the blanks that were blocked out for your conscious mind.
Who knows, you might come up with a primo bassline while havin a wank
Anybody else have any ideas for generating new ideas and getting past writers' block? (g'wan now's ya time to drop a ham vst reference)
