Getting back into work

Inspiration = motivation. Look at live gigs, listen to albums, find a new artist to like (that you may want to incorporate new sounds). Just a spark can do wonders.

As the other writer rightly writes: as with doing any artform it’s all about keeping yourself inspired…
You must reconnect with the ‘why’ more than anything. This can be very personal to each individual, but if you have a solid ‘why’, the ‘how’ will take care of itself.
Keeping yourself inspired can be helped along by not having just one track on the go at any moment… having a handful of sketches will keep things fresh. Start with short sessions initially, 30 minutes and then turn the computer off, build up the desire again.

But WHY is it exactly that you want to write music?

Because being creative in itself is one of life’s biggest pleasures?
Because the opportunity to start from scratch offers limitless potential?
Because Drum & Bass is without doubt the most exciting format of music available?
Because you have a growing seed of talent that deserves to be watered?

It sounds like you really want to write music. So, why don’t you do just that? Don’t get in the way of yourself.

Energetic Desire for achieving a goal is often met by inertia; if you place your willpower in this gap you will continue the trajectory. Inspire yourself with how much willpower and patience you have.

When I feel uninspired, I spend at least 4 hours in the DAW, and something always happens to spark me up.

This is a hard-nosed approach, not for everyone…but I know that deep down I want it, and lack of inspiration, to me anyways, is just a disconnect between my desires (heart) and my ideas+abilities (brain).

I live on small wins…and if I can get any kind of win in on any session, that fuels me to return.

Again, not for everyone, but more than anything, I find this works for me. And i should note that for MANY of those four hour sessions, I have absolutely despised the first 1-3 hours. Pissed off, nothing working, not making anything decent, bag of bullshit. But if I stay there, something *always* happens. Small wins.

I feel like lack of inspiration is you putting so much pressure on yourself to create something “perfect”. When I’m in this frame of mind i remember i started making music because of the love i feel for it and the joy i get from actually creating. This takes away some pressure and gets the creativity flowing again

Anubis___ wrote:

I feel like lack of inspiration is you putting so much pressure on yourself to create something “perfect”. When I’m in this frame of mind i remember i started making music because of the love i feel for it and the joy i get from actually creating. This takes away some pressure and gets the creativity flowing again

Perfectly put. Make music for your own pleasure, reconnect with the enjoyment of the act of creation rather than the result.

GENIE HQ wrote:

But WHY is it exactly that you want to write music?

Oh man, this hits home. This is exactly why I’m struggling for the last 8 months or so.
Can’t at all find the why in why I’m producing. A decent tuen here and there, but mostly mediocre tunes and/or tunes I don’t know how to finish..

Really need to find the spark again

Solace wrote:

GENIE HQ wrote:

A decent tuen here and there, but mostly mediocre tunes and/or tunes I don’t know how to finish..

It’s difficult, isn’t it? Some people just seem to be able to finish tunes left right and centre…

We were standing around at this show the other day talking with Nik from Noisia, he was telling everyone how easy it was to finish tunes, several a week, Sub Focus was standing right next to us and we all ended up at an after party with Teebee all agreeing.
… no we weren’t, no he wasn’t, and that never happened.

The truth is writing music, doing art, is an incredibly tough process.
Most of what you do will be no good, you must become friends with this fact. It’s like panning for gold.
If you can write two or three good tunes a year you are doing awesome.

Stick at it. Keep the curiosity, keep it fun and celebrate the small successes. Don’t be hard on yourself 🙂

so true i think most people go thru this

Hear hear, one of the hardest parts about being any kind of artist, music no exception, is the ability to know when and how much to “Kill your children”.

And you had me going for a sec with that Nik/SF/TB story, lol.