As you know, I’m fairly new to this music production gig. I’ve only put together one original song, and a fairly basic one at that.
What you may not know is that I have about 10 other tracks, both originals and bootlegs that I’ve been working on. The thing is, I’m having trouble finishing them! Why? Because I just get stuck on ideas, and aren’t happy with their current stage to finish up.
Enter what I can only imagine its called Production Fatigue. I guess its kind of like writers block for writers. I have spent a 4 hours today, trying to nail a melody for a new idea I had, and after changing synths about 20 times, rearranging, listening to my idols for inspiration I just though – “bugger this, I’m going to get lunch!”.
You see, NOTHING was working. All my ideas were turning to mud. I started to not like any of this particular track and wanted to just delete the whole thing.
This is unusual for me because I’ve not experienced it in the last 18 months that I’ve been dabbling in music production, I normally just enjoy the process of being create and I think this new found frustration is due to a number of things.
Travel Tiredness
I’m currently travelling and dorm life is meaning I haven’t had a good nights sleep in weeks – my brains a bit foggy and my patience is much lower than normal – I have even more respect for those producers now that travel from country to country for gigs yet still manage to release albums and new tracks every month or so!
Music Theory / Chord Progression
I’ve also reached my limit of tacky one finger melodies! I want to create better sounds and my music knowledge is lacking. I think tomorrow I will focus purely on starting to learn chord progression and music theory to help me get better sounds quicker, rather than spending hours on trial and error by not knowing chords or which notes to progress to.
I’m also going to take piano lessons when I get home! Lucky my sister is a star pianist. Hopefully some of the same genes were passed to me.
Still Learning The Tools
I’m still building up my sample libraries, learning the ins and outs of the various synths that I have. It takes me a long time to get things together and my work flow is some what blocked by my own inabilities. I need to get things a bit more streamlined.
Perfectionism
My mum always said, “You wanted to be Greg norman from the moment you stepped onto the golf course”. This still applies to me as I listen to my idols and want to create music of the same level. I get frustrated when I just can’t produce the same quality sounds. Its easy to forget these guys have been doing it for years, have made hundreds of songs and have a team of like minded professionals to help and consult – something I need to work on.
I need to remind myself of the age old saying “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle or end”. So I just need to relax, go back to enjoying learning and take my time. Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Platau-ing
You get to a point with everything you do, where your skills seem to platau. I’ve found that this has happened to me of late and I believe that its because I haven’t taken the time to watch any more instructional videos, learnt any new techniques or watched how others are doing things lately. I guess its like doing the same thing oer and over and expecting different results, if I want to create better tracks I need to learn more about creating better tracks. I could be waiting a long time to just “fluke” a new skill set!
So there you have it, my rant for the day! Perhaps I just need some food and nap! Talk again soon. I’m going to watch Avicii make music, always good to know the professionals have the same issues! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dIcuU58Oy8
LJ.
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