Cycles of Music Inspiration, Creativity

[alphacat]

Over the years I've noticed that my musical creativity tends to work in cycles: I'm usually either in a headspace to make music, to listen to a lot of music, or to focus on other non-musical interests.

Before I realized this cycle it used to freak me out when I didn't feel like making tunes or working on sound in general (that old fear... "what if it's gone?") - but now I embrace it, since they all feed into each other. When I'm in listening mode I'm just taking subconscious notes for when the production starts rolling again, and when in non-musical-pursuits mode it's a period that acts like a palate cleanser so I come back to it all with fresh ears & inspiration.

But these cycles aren't totally predictable, and lately I've been in an unusually long non-musical phase (about a month, give or take.) I'm not worried that it's gone, but am wondering if there's anything that might nudge things along again - radical perspective shifts have always worked in the past but for some reason nothing's presenting itself as such right now.

?

[Eridu]

YOu`re thinking too much about it. If you think that you are in cycle then you will be in a cycle, whatever it may be. Don`t pressure yourself into making music.

[Triphosphate]

I get these cycles too, worst one lasted 6 months. The way I avoid getting too deeply into a slump nowadays is to spend my downtime sound designing... I avoid spending my downtime doing things like playing video games, or watching television, and instead force myself to work on something sound related.

Most of the time I just end up making patches, drum loops, or new drums via layering, sometimes I spend the time organizing my sample library, but occasionally I'll make a new sound, or listen to some sample whilst organizing and immediately become re inspired.

Edit: Oh! revisiting old tracks and redoing mixdown on them, or doing a VIP. Also, I've taken recently to asking some of my friends who produce for stems just to practice mixdowns on, I found there's nothing more enlightening than mixing down someone else's creative work.

[nowaysj]

YOu`re thinking too much about it. If you think that you are in cycle then you will be in a cycle, whatever it may be. Don`t pressure yourself into making music.

Becoming aware of the cycles doesn't create or perpetuate the cycles. Recognizing that it yearly gets cold and snows doesn't make it cold and snow... maybe it does.

Ride the cycle bro. Whatever it is that is causing you to not be interested in producing is valuable, respect it. Really though.

If I do feel like producing, but it is not happening when I sit down at the computer, its the hardware bro! SP404sx and a synth... was microkorg, now ipad animoog. Within a few minutes, it's like, fuck, I've got to record this...


Respect the pause though.

[alphacat]

YOu`re thinking too much about it. If you think that you are in cycle then you will be in a cycle, whatever it may be. Don`t pressure yourself into making music.

Becoming aware of the cycles doesn't create or perpetuate the cycles. Recognizing that it yearly gets cold and snows doesn't make it cold and snow... maybe it does.

Ride the cycle bro. Whatever it is that is causing you to not be interested in producing is valuable, respect it. Really though.

If I do feel like producing, but it is not happening when I sit down at the computer, its the hardware bro! SP404sx and a synth... was microkorg, now ipad animoog. Within a few minutes, it's like, fuck, I've got to record this...


Respect the pause though.

Dude, you've always been solid in our past discussions, and this is just the crowning cap on your gracious sensei-bilities. Thanks for giving this some context for me.

no'mo.

I want to want to record again, but am going to listen to the lesson of the pause/silence/empty space here. Feel like I'm at a weird crossroads musically, in that over the last 3 years feel like I've learned & achieved more than the previous 20 years I've been making music in general, and like there's something really good around the corner just waiting for me to make it, but the commitment has to be there in terms of time & focus in order to realize it and both of those things are not commodities in surplus for me right now.

But - ain't gettin' any younger either, and have taken my sweet time to get to this point. It's gonna be weird being a 40 year old producer, I'll be honest. Honestly though that doesn't matter so much to me though. It's just about the music and how much it's done for me, and loving the process as much or more than the results. Also meeting inspirational people - people doing it, doing it well, and pulling it all off even if they're not making dough from it, just getting to put out releases and even travel a little - that happened to me this weekend and set off this whole antsy-in-de-pantsy episode. All things in good time.

Can't wait for it all to line up again.





EDIT: Also, big up for the recommendation to do sound design as well as jam on hardware. I had a lot of fun spanking Animoog this morning on my commute and realized I'd kinda forgotten the joy of noise for noise's sake instead of being goal-oriented towards songs all the time.

[alphacat]

Seem to be in a weird space that I haven't really been in before lately: I don't feel particularly strongly about anything any which way lately (listening, making, or other creative stuff.) I'm also not reading any books.

Yet - still feel compelled to make little things - loops, one-off sounds, little grabs of dialog to use later. None of it feels like it "wants" to go anywhere though.

Feeling like a lonely buoy. Any and all ennui-shattering tips appreciated.

[SunkLo]

Put em in the bank. Make a collage EP out of em down the road when you're in macro mode vs micro mode.

[nowaysj]

Feeling like a lonely buoy. Any and all ennui-shattering tips appreciated.

Maybe all the good juices have been squeezed out of your brain?

Perhaps you need to do a little irl collaboration with someone who is totally musically incompetent, but oh so serious?

[fragments]

Not to sluff you off, but I agree this seems like over-thinking. I'm sure people have these kinds of cycles. Make music when you are feeling, otherwise don't. I also have multiple creative outlets with varying degrees of success. Which ever I'm feeling the vibes on at the moment gets my attention. The only time I push through blocks or whatever is if there is a deadline or if I've just been fiddling around too long and need to get something "done".

[ChadDub]

The human body/mind operates in cycles just as the earth does. You have your hot summers and then you have your cold winters. When a winter comes and you don't feel like making any music, embrace it, and know that another summer will come soon. Trying to go against the tide will result in a burn out which will make you have to sit out even LONGER. I learned about this a few months ago and it has really helped me accept that some times you just don't want to make music/lift weights/build cars/read books.

This guy talks about it in some of his videos, and he's the one that introduced me to this concept.

[alphacat]

Feeling like a lonely buoy. Any and all ennui-shattering tips appreciated.

Maybe all the good juices have been squeezed out of your brain?

Perhaps you need to do a little irl collaboration with someone who is totally musically incompetent, but oh so serious?

The juices are... there but under a lot of less than ideal pressures lately. Gr'up stuff. It's like making wine (or whine, lol) - good grapes, but bad weather + bad storage + temp flux = frustrating vintage.

And yes: used to have a collaborative pardner back in the day and good things came from it, but he was even less ambitious than me in terms of wanting to do releases and shows (and brother, high ambition has never been my strong suit.) Eventually I just started doing it all on my own.

I am super eager to hook up with Mr. Incompetent But Serious.