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I haven't had much time for music recently, mostly because of exams and work, but I've been feeling so unmusically cluttered recently that I think this might be a good chance to get my head together and then come back later with a fresh perspective on things.

So any of you guys taken long/short breaks from producing/music and how did this effect you when you came back to it? Is it even a good idea to take break in the first place?

Always good to take a break from anything you love.

i didn't make music for about a year and then i was still terrible at it.

Breaks are good, definitely. Just don't get too carried away, cause you might get to a point where you can't be bothered to sit down properly and make some music. It's an awful habit!

Jason

before i started making dubstep, i hadn't produced in probably almost a year. i've progressed quickly and surely in the time i've been making the stuff, and i've been inspired the whole time. it might help you to take a break.

im on a long break at the moment, until i finish college in about 5 - 6 weeks, got lots of work to do.

in the mean time im listening to lots of new music, getting ideas for tunes, deciding what direction i wanna go in once i get back on it.

I say I take breaks but in reality I just go through periods where I take a step back and let the pressure off of myself. I can't really go a week with out making beats but I won't sit there and give myself deadlines and say this needs to get done etc. I just think if you force it a lot of times it comes out as a fail for me anyway. Some people work better under pressure. Sometimes even I do too but other times it just gets to be too much. If it gets to be more like work than fun then it is pointless.

op: you should take a permanent break from sytrus while you're at it.

Recessive Trait wrote:op: you should take a permanent break from sytrus while you're at it.

and use massive like all the cool kids?

If the only reason you don't use Massive is to be a rebel then you might be missing out. It ain't about trying to make Datsik ripoffs at all it is imo the most intuitive synth out there.

^^ totally agree about massive. i was against using it for a minute thinking i wanted to go for a different type of sound but that was stupid. people make tearout bass with reason just as well as with massive, albino, or whatever the fuck you want to use.... but i digress

abZ wrote: Some people work better under pressure..

ME!!

now to get back on topic...i have taken breaks in the past because i had a desktop and anytime i wasnt at home or on vacation or whatever i was forced to break. recently i was away 2 weeks looking for an apartment in NYC and it killed me not working on tunes. well that computer died ( ) and i got a lappy. suffice it to say i take it everywhere and work on music every day since ive gotten it. i cant take a break or i would have to find something to do, like read a book

jsills wrote:suffice it to say i take it everywhere and work on music every day since ive gotten it.

That is me now, I don't do a lot of roaming at the mo, but I work A LOT more on the laptop than on my real production rig.

I feel guilty if i don't work on music regularily, sometimes every day.

I take breaks, but not very long ones. I believe firmly in working on *something* towards my music every day, even if it isn't working on a big tune or something. If my mind needs a bit of a rest, I will take a day just to screw around with some sound design... or dig for samples, or make simple breaks or something. A lot of time I don't use the results from those days, but I still learn something regardless.

The only time I might take a complete break (and usually that means I won't even listen to music either) is after I finish a bunch of projects in a row, and am just musically exhausted. I'll take a break for maybe a day or two.

If I have a lot of other stuff to do then music takes a back seat - I find it is good, because when I get back to producing I am absolutely itching to work on things that I had perhaps got a bit bored of previously

I've been at it for years, continuously... but I used to be real serious about that. Now i don't have time to sit on a track for a week so I just rinse them out real quick: usually put it down in a couple of hours and spend two more mixing it the next day, that's it.
Since i stopped taking it that seriously and putting in way too much effort, my music has improved a lot.. well, to me anyway, I never was good at clean, pristine tracks in the first place.

So it's a bit like taking a break. And it works for me

meer wrote:I feel guilty if i don't work on music regularily, sometimes every day.

this and i turn into an asshole if i haven't done any in a while

withdrawal symptoms ugh

abZ wrote:If the only reason you don't use Massive is to be a rebel then you might be missing out. It ain't about trying to make Datsik ripoffs at all it is imo the most intuitive synth out there.

jsills wrote:^^ totally agree about massive. i was against using it for a minute thinking i wanted to go for a different type of sound but that was stupid. people make tearout bass with reason just as well as with massive, albino, or whatever the fuck you want to use.... but i digress

Just to clear things up I don't use massive because I don't like it half as much as I like my other synths like Sytrus and Blue.

I can't see this break being a long one, probably up until I finish college in summer. Thanks for the advice guys

breaks are win, took a break over the summer because my computer got fucked for a month or so and wrote some of the greatest music of my life (on paper, was just sketching ideas down for when i got back on the computer) came back fresh with tons of stuff to get down, still haven't got all the ideas from that summer finished. There were just too many.

meer wrote:I feel guilty if i don't work on music regularily, sometimes every day.

This. I can't just veg out on the sofa or I feel like I am wasting time and I could be doing something more productive. Saying that I usually come up with the best stuff when i only open my DAW every four days or so, work for a night then come back when i get the itch to make beats again. In an addictive stage at the moment where its fucking up my sleep pattern, brain goes to mush and you wonder why you do it to yourself :/