i think weve all been there been listening to the same loop over and over… track not going anywhere… starring at the screen… ideas all gone! Id be interested to find out what you guys do to clear the head and move on…
i normaly just start another project but means i end up with hundreds of unfinished tracks!!
I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ve been given the green light to do a set of videos for the guys at SA regarding music theory, and my first several videos on meter and building your drums around it, which I’m planning to finish this weekend and send to Phil and Bryan, deal with this issue. It’s taking me a lot of time and effort to (in a presentable, yet terse manner) incorporate the idea of using music theory to combat writer’s block, and what I’m working on presenting should help you quite a bit if you take the time to practice the concepts. Just to give you a hint, it is all about controlling your methodology and process with knowledge and analysis.
Stay tuned…
[quote]lukeyb79 (07/05/2011)[hr]i think weve all been there been listening to the same loop over and over… track not going anywhere… starring at the screen… ideas all gone! Id be interested to find out what you guys do to clear the head and move on…
i normaly just start another project but means i end up with hundreds of unfinished tracks!![/quote]
good to hear your idea was accepted Jamie, your thread had lots of good ideas. looking forward to it.
and sometimes the best way to get rid of writers block is to leave the track for a bit, new ideas usually don’t come if you force them. leave the track as it is for a day or two and just listen to other music or maybe start a new track and come back to the first one later.
I do usually find listening to music helps, maybe give a genre you usually don’t listen to a shot, it might give you a cool idea you can bring back to whatever you’re working on.
My advice would be to turn off your pc,pack up your studio and leave it alone for a few days or weeks. Have a break. Music should flow and be easy and fun! I recently had two weeks off making music, I cleaned up my hard drive, made some samples and cleaned my studio. Came back and made a tune in a few days, best work I did in ages. Now I’m on a roll again 
everyone does things differently but this worked for me might not help if your working to deadlines though :hehe:
Agree with James - take a break - that’s what I did today (not tidied up the studio that is just going too far)
knock one out at the bmp of you track, while doing it listen for resonance and hum along to it, this should help you get a nice rhythm going in your head. Use the rhythm to create a melody and loop it a few times. All goin well you should end up with a pounding beat and a sticky keyboard.
I think its more a case of arrangers block… rather than writers block.
arrangers block??? wtf is that?
Stop wanking for a minute Wayne & think about it… its not that deep Mate 
I find if i get stuck with a tune i will mix the unfinished tune into one of my favourite tracks of that genre and get ideas of whats missing in my tune.
You sort of know what your track should break into after the intro.
I started to upload my loops of my half *** tracks in soundcloud and i listen to it in my car while driving to work . sometimes just listening the loop i can come up with an idea . and if everything fails . do a dJ mix session with similar music. for me i get lots of inspiration when i Dj .
I never get writters block!
i also dj to get inspiration… or i take a break of a few days and then listen to it again…
Nice avatar Wouter!
[quote]ICN (08/05/2011)[hr]I never get writters block! :)[/quote]
yah i dont have this problem ever.
if its arrangement block… i throw up a track I admire that is similar to what I am working on.
Just ghost it and see where changes/transitions need to be made. that simple.
the trick is to be creative with it though and not do the same sh*t as everybody else.
even that, I dont have a problem with anymore.
when i start writing a track, i know EXACTLY what i am writing.
do i experiement? absolutely… but only within the confines of what I’m workin on.
I havent had a “block” for ages, what I get is not being happy with anything I do so the track dosent progress!
Thanks Jamie, looks good… i pretty much use the same method theory each time dependign on what style im doing… the below looks really intersting though looking forward to seeing it
[quote]JamieinNC (07/05/2011)[hr]I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ve been given the green light to do a set of videos for the guys at SA regarding music theory, and my first several videos on meter and building your drums around it, which I’m planning to finish this weekend and send to Phil and Bryan, deal with this issue. It’s taking me a lot of time and effort to (in a presentable, yet terse manner) incorporate the idea of using music theory to combat writer’s block, and what I’m working on presenting should help you quite a bit if you take the time to practice the concepts. Just to give you a hint, it is all about controlling your methodology and process with knowledge and analysis.
Stay tuned…
[quote]lukeyb79 (07/05/2011)[hr]i think weve all been there been listening to the same loop over and over… track not going anywhere… starring at the screen… ideas all gone! Id be interested to find out what you guys do to clear the head and move on…
i normaly just start another project but means i end up with hundreds of unfinished tracks!![/quote][/quote]
[quote]gofunk (07/05/2011)[hr]knock one out at the bmp of you track, [/quote]
haha spat my tea out reading that one!!
[quote]ICN (08/05/2011)[hr]I never get writters block! :)[/quote]
yes yes fat fingers and cr@p spelling…
[quote]
do i experiement? absolutely… but only within the confines of what I’m workin on.[/quote]
great point… my main prob is im trying to do to miuch stuff at the same time…