[Darryl]

I find myself rarely producing anything, which is kind of frustrating for me. I'm either hunting for samples, watching tutorials on YouTube or reading forums.
And when i sit down to work on a tune, I would over-do it to the point of no return and delete the whole track!
Sometimes i think i should get rid of this internet connection all together .

How do you guys focus?

[Dippshoe]

I don't force myself to make music. If I do, it turn out shitty.

[Darryl]

Thanks for the tip, reminds of a saying. If you force fart or love, they turn out to be pretty sh^tty.

[EatTheFood]

Don't simply sit down in front of your DAW with having no idea on what to do. Always have something in mind on what you'd like produce, wich sounds you want and already imagine a song structure.

And don't delete something you did only because you find it's shit. If you made that in the first place it means that you thought it was a good idea. It might not come out like you want to but don't throw it away, try to improve it. You can go step by step: First try improving the melodies you could make better for example. Then try to change some sounds around, etc.

But don't stop reading them forums! It's always good to read.

[Louderest]

Originally Posted by Darryl

How do you guys focus?

I find that entering remix comps helps. The deadline gives me the motivation I need to finish a track.

Beyond that, I find timeboxing helpful too. Which just means you give yourself a set amount of time for certain tasks and once the time is up you force yourself to move on. For example, you might give your self one hour for finding samples, one hour for making patches, three hours for making patterns, three hours for arranging, two hours for mixing and an hour for mastering etc. I find this approach helps me get tracks finished, but sometimes I need to go back and fine tune bits. The idea though is to try to more or less stick to the allocated time for each task and not spend 12 hours scrolling through preset patches but not getting anything down!

Other times though I just like to jam with no pressure

[Numerical]

Originally Posted by Darryl

How do you guys focus?

It's not easy for me, this past year at least. Most of the output I've been able to produce is older tracks from 2-5 years ago that I've never shown off and just worked on polishing them up and remixing them with new synth sounds and fx applied, or doing covers, and one song from ten years ago that I completely re-recorded. I can't sit here and say "this is what you should do" because I have no idea at this time myself. Seems like every time I sit down with my guitar I just come up with boring B Minor riffs and I can't get out of that rut where all my old stuff is pretty varied and not stuck on one key...but it's a matter of just practicing for fun I think, rather than sitting down and trying, trying, trying to come up with something. Pretty much the same issue you are having I guess. So that might be your answer. I mean what the fuck did we all do before we had ways to record ourselves? Just played for fun.

[T-REn]

Originally Posted by EatTheFood

Don't simply sit down in front of your DAW with having no idea on what to do. Always have something in mind on what you'd like produce, wich sounds you want and already imagine a song structure.

And don't delete something you did only because you find it's shit. If you made that in the first place it means that you thought it was a good idea. It might not come out like you want to but don't throw it away, try to improve it. You can go step by step: First try improving the melodies you could make better for example. Then try to change some sounds around, etc.

But don't stop reading them forums! It's always good to read.

Juz happened to me, i was working on a track and i try to implement orchestra+electro(own experiment) style of music and it turn out to be not good.

What i did was save all the project and move on to remix one of the artist track. Maybe after the remix project i will look into it again.

[Divercity]

Organize your DAW with Stems. This will not only give you a guideline, It will allow you to get your idea's down and make the creative process easy.


I rarely lose focus anymore because I know what is needed to create a basic tracka long with knowing how to create complementation between different elements. Expand your knowledge of melodies and their surroundings as well as percussive synthesis if you are wanting a groove.


When you sit down at your DAW, Don't think about not making music but just have fun with it. I often have days where I produce nothing but shit for the first 5 hours. So many times I have had a burst of inspiration and creativity and everything seems to come together incredibly quickly just before I call it quits for the day.


Also, Try setting a timeframe where you will force yourself to sit down with your DAW and dick around. Include breaks and see what happens. You may find that you will become more productive

[Automageddon]

I have limited time available, so having something that I can fire-up and use in short rounds is awesome.
Hardware is perfect for this, but if it's not for you, you can optimize your daw with templates.

[Vlantis]

It should be spelled "imposiburu" if you're trying to sound Japanese.





Just sayin.'

[Muonos]

Originally Posted by Darryl

I find myself rarely producing anything, which is kind of frustrating for me. I'm either hunting for samples, watching tutorials on YouTube or reading forums.
And when i sit down to work on a tune, I would over-do it to the point of no return and delete the whole track!
Sometimes i think i should get rid of this internet connection all together .

How do you guys focus?

I guess it's easy when you know what you want to do, or really what kind of feeling you want to give a track. Most, if not all of my tracks are spacious and soft. So really I just focusing on making myself relax with some sounds. It's more about calming myself down from a hard day of work or something bothering me. Eventually I guess these sessions turn into tracks. I do hunt for samples and rarely look at youtube tutorials because most of them are like "GET THAT BASS" or "SOUND LIKE X".

[relic]

Originally Posted by Darryl

I find myself rarely producing anything, which is kind of frustrating for me. I'm either hunting for samples, watching tutorials on YouTube or reading forums.
And when i sit down to work on a tune, I would over-do it to the point of no return and delete the whole track!
Sometimes i think i should get rid of this internet connection all together .

How do you guys focus?

I find it fascinating how different people are. I never have this problem, but I don't have tons of time for producing (OK this semester I get a day and a half a week. Lucky me!). So I have to make the most of what I do have.

A lot of people have suggested sitting down with an idea (which is great advice). I cook ideas for songs in my head constantly. I rarely write out notes or hum out melodies and record them and I don't really sit down with a really specific idea in mind as the jumble together into what I call "capers"...sounds and vibes I track down through my practice of making music. I sit down with that. Not I want to make 127 BPM tune that has a hollow, woody Burial kick drum and a this kinda bass and that kinda lead. That stops me dead in my tracks. I need something more ethereal and primitive (?)...something I can't express in words exactly as I can with music.

I teach writing and often teach creative writing. The woman whose book I use, Natalie Goldberg, suggests that writing is a practice. I believe music is a practice as well. Not as in "practice makes perfect" but as in: when you sit down to make music, make music; when you need to sweep the steps, sweep the steps.

She suggests, as people have, blocking out time to work and also not waiting for inspiration. Of course sitting down at your DAW with a blank project is intimidating if you have no ideas! But you have to begin somewhere. If you have no ideas make a beat, a patch, write a harmony melody outside the context of "I'm going to write a song". Allow yourself to create things that are shitty. Also, create projects for yourself. I'm going to write a song, EP, album about X Y and Z...write them out! And then do those projects and don't care if they are terrible. Use a random generator to create song titles or topics and write a song about it.

Goldberg writes about having piles and piles of notebooks filled with terrible writing. I have these too, as well as folders and folders of terrible songs I've started and abandoned. Writers often get discouraged that they aren't writing the next Great American Novel. But no writer who ever wrote a Great American Novel sat down with that intention.

Edit: The book is called "Writing Down the Bones" and I recommend it to anyone with a creative pursuit of any type in their lives

[Rindborg]

Originally Posted by Darryl

I find myself rarely producing anything, which is kind of frustrating for me. I'm either hunting for samples, watching tutorials on YouTube or reading forums.
And when i sit down to work on a tune, I would over-do it to the point of no return and delete the whole track!
Sometimes i think i should get rid of this internet connection all together .

How do you guys focus?

Hi, sometimes I find myself in the same situation! But when I get stuck like that, I'm just taking a paus, and trying to think out some melodies in my head (or the thing you got stuck with) and go back to the midi to get it down. Works for me!