Loopitis

[Chael]

So it seems after a productive few months of riding the inspirational highway and finishing tracks I have hit a bout of loopitis. I have a few tracks in the early stage at the moment with solid ideas but this past week I have sat down and done several arrangements of the parts and different versions of them but it just doesn't seem to be clicking with me at the moment. I was wondering what do you guys do to get out of this phase that seems to rear its ugly head every now and then?

[daviedavedave]

Annoying when this happens! These are clichéd answers, but here goes anyway:

1. Exercise.. fires my brain up and gives me ideas anyway.
2. Start a project that you never expect to turn into a track.. purely to mess around with effects and sound design.
3. Forget about producing altogether, go and mix other people's tracks, download random podcasts you've never looked at. Even just ignore music altogether if you feel really burnt out...

I find this sometimes happens if I put too much pressure on myself to finish something quickly. Stepping away from that usually helps!

[Chael]

Thanks for the input Dave. Sometimes you need someone to say whats at the back of your mind to drill it home. Maybe stepping away for a period will help, I find when I'm working on point it just seems to flow, I suppose im trying to force some creativity which I think is something that becomes counter productive in itself. I must admit I have put some pressure on myself, I have recently signed a few tracks and remixes and have had an opportunity offered to submit some music to a label with artists on the roster I have a lot of respect for. I guess my own expectations of myself is probably what is the root cause of my frustration. I have a young family so when I do have the time to sit down and make music I try to make the most of it and capitalise on that time. Its just hard to not open up ableton and start tinkering whenever I boot up the laptop.

[djHaegen]

Are you using Ableton's session or arrangement view? Sometimes i find that working with the session view leads me to create clips that loop well, but do not lead well. Meaning that they sound good played back indefinitely, but they do not lead to a new section of the track well because they were not written with this in mind. So then when i get to arrangement, the track ends up sounding like a series of isolated pieces, rather than a flow from beginning to end. Sometimes i can tweak my way out of this, but it feels like it takes more work.

When this starts to happen a lot, i switch to working in the Arrangement and ignore the session view's clips entirely, which can lead to having the progression of the track foremost in mind while writing, and can break me out of that looper funk.

[BiggChev]

I agree with Davie, I also have a few other things I do...

1. Read books:
- Try a new book, by an author you've never read before.
- A genre that you'd never usually read
- Maybe even an old favourite

2. Watch Movies:
- Same deal with the books, something new by a director you're not familiar with or even an old classic

3. Go check out some live bands in your town

4. Listen to the oldest tunes of your own, the ones that really make you cringe, and see if you can re-write, re-tool them. Now, this may not be the best idea...but in my case I'm talking about beats/tracks I haven't listened to in almost 10 years.

[Patch]

I have found there is nothing you can do, except ride this period out.

Just step away for a day/a week/a month, with the intention of eventually returning with renewed enthusiasm. You can't force creativity, because then it stops being fun, and eventually, that will show through in your art.

[Chael]

Thanks for the input BiggChev and Patch - all solid advice. A few days away from all forms of music making / DJing and a self imposed laptop ban has done me the world of good, had a productive session on sunday so it seems like a little time out and a mental reset was just what the doctor ordered

[Patch]