The Creative Process?

[robinbanks]

hey guys, maybe Im getting cabin fever having nothing to do but scrutinize my own music all day, but I feel like maybe the beats in my new songs sound too canned - theyre mostly mixed and chopped up samples and beats from downloaded pre-made loop packages - cause Im having real trouble with making convincing beats from scratch - I know its not that I have no rhythm or anything, its just the sound quality of them - I feel like Ill need to learn all this audio engineering stuff and get really technical on my tracks, and Im worried that that will impede my creative process - I already know alot about production and effects and everything, but see - when Im in the middle of brainstorming a beat, I know what sound I want, but I cant sit down for half an hour crafting it cause then Ill lose that 'creative burst' - and on the other hand, often Ill get everything down roughly, but then have no idea how to get the most out of it from a fine tuned production perspective to make it all sound like a coherent peice of music rather than a few rough ideas thrown together...

Im sure plenty of others have this problem as part and parcel of a musical pursuit thats 50/50 art vs science, but how do you all deal with it? is it common for the big fellas with signed deals and budgets to use canned material like so many of us bedroom producers do? I always try and get inspiration by watching interviews with all sorts of artists, and it seems like theyve always got either heaps of money to just wander down to the nearest engineering studio at the drop of a hat, or theyve got a whole lot of expensive gear to just muck around on - I dont really have either of those options yet as Im just using fruityloops and my own experience - should I just blow all my savings on a few hours at a studio to polish up my tunes? how will I know if its worth it? aaargh


For references sake, here are my latest tracks that Im having trouble perfecting:http://soundcloud.com/r-banks


Let me know if any of you are having the same kind of issues and what strategies and techniques you use to overcome these hurdles, it would be great to share perspectives...

Cheers

Robin-Banks

[bars_marr]

50/50 art vs science

my advice is don't think of it this way. Production is the creative application of science, they are not in opposition. There are simple things you can build into your process from the start that will give your beats more fatness, character and individuality- analyse the frequency character of your sounds and layer them for instance. There are a bajillion threads on this here lol.

Music is ultimately just organised vibrating air- it's tangible, physical, subject to scientific laws. Painters, sculptors and so on don't regard learning the properties of their medium as a distraction from the creative process, neither should you. If you're really worried about an idea fading, sketch it out as midi, save it, then have a good think about what physical effect you want that sound to have (this is what it all comes down, esp in dance music) and sculpt the timbres accordingly.

As I mentioned your question has been covered pretty extensively. Do a search. For a proper explanation of what I just outlined I suggest you start with the epic gain structure thread on this page.

[Attila]

I think the key is to find a way to be creative and find inspiration at any time, so it's not just in those "bursts" that you can work effectively.

[robinbanks]

Yeah, I guess Ive just hit another fairly steep level of the learning curve - its always hard wrapping your head round new concepts and then trying to apply it successfully in your music, but I guess I can be happy that at the end of it my music will (hopefully) sound alot better - then Ill be ready to hit the next learning curve and do it all again! lol

[Randomic]

Man, I had a creative block for months relative to dubstep. Then again i was only producing dubstep.
Then, some time ago, I met a friend who produced dark psy/prog dark professionaly, and started learning stuff with him. Then I started producing darkpsy until i had creative blocks for that as well. Stress started killing me, so i went back to dubstep and found out that darkpsy had inspired me to make amazing sounds i had never thought of.

Therefore, my tip is, change genres for a while. Profit.

[Randomic]

Man, I had a creative block for months relative to dubstep. Then again i was only producing dubstep.
Then, some time ago, I met a friend who produced dark psy/prog dark professionaly, and started learning stuff with him. Then I started producing darkpsy until i had creative blocks for that as well. Stress started killing me, so i went back to dubstep and found out that darkpsy had inspired me to make amazing sounds i had never thought of.

Therefore, my tip is, change genres for a while. Profit.

Then then then, then then. Then then, then than. Then!

[e-motion]

darkpsy? haha, I started as a morning/night full on psy producer (although I stopped 5 years ago). we're mates (although in totally opposite sides of the spectrum).