I’ve been active in this forum many years ago when I started doing IDM/Breakcore stuff. I wasn’t too sure if this is the right forum, it used to look a bit different, but I was happy to see that it’s still alive.
I stopped producing/releasing as my life got a bit rough and I was hit with heavy writers block and anxiety. I never stopped making music, I just stopped fnishing it. But I always thought of returning and in the last couple of months I tried to set myself up to finishing and releasing again. I was a bit torn about continuing my previous project or just lock it up and start fresh, no strings (or expectations) attached. I chose the latter, so here I am, but I won’t tell you more (unless you discover it yourself :D)
I just released my “first” EP “Phase Shift” and I have a huge backlog of sketches, so there is more to come, just have to get it done.
Good to have another funky drummer around. Totally agree, I had to take a break for a bit because of life stuff too. But now that I am working on music again all my knowledge is still there, but with this newfound restraint and I’m making the best stuff I’ve ever made in way less time than before.
How have you found coming back to music after the break?
@Manton ohhh that explains why I couldn’t find my old posts, what a bummer. As a software engineer myself I can relate to that sorta catastrophe. What was the saying? There are only two types of people, those who do backups and those who will do backups Glad you’re also back then!
@White_Noise Funky drummers ftw! I’ve never fully stopped making music but what I did I kept mostly for myself or just never finished it. I think I stopped finishing stuff due to multiple reasons, for one I got ADHD so finishing things is generally not my forte but apart from that, I got better at producing and I felt like every project was already outdated after a short amount of time, so I wasn’t fully satisfied and put it away. I remember in the beginning I was really fast, mostly because I had a “eh it’s good enough” mindset. Funnily enough, everytime I released something I deemed not good enough, I still got positive feedback, but I guess the inner critic got too strong over time. Also because when I had somewhat of an audience (although not large) I more and more thought that they expect something of me, so I also expected it from me. I mean its somewhat natural, if you have an artist you like, you always have some expectations (“Oh yeah it’s Igorrr, there will be Metal, Breakcore and classical instruments. Check”) but it’s an issue if this thinking limits you as an artist. … Which is what happened to me and why I wanted to start fresh, without expectations.
Now that I really started again, I was explicitly trying to force myself to finish stuff. One thing was to get back into this “good enough” mindset, so whenever I felt like I am throwing everything away or rewrite everything I instead tried to focus on a few problems that really annoy me, but then move forward. Just get it done. And try to make it better in the next track. Another thing was focusing on quantity over quality first. I found Mike Monday and his Music Machine (basically just a Trello board, but also a general approach), which lead me to create a lot of short sketches, which are mostly pretty bad But I now got this backlog (~200 sketches now, which is still growing) and can just pick one, work on it for a while and either progress it or put it back in my sketchbook. This took a lot of pressure of individual tracks. I remember I used to have like 3-4 projects I was working on and every project felt like it has to be “the one”. Now, with this backlog I know there will be a lot of trash, but also many rough diamonds and working on them feels much more chill.
But yeah, long story short : I’ve also noticed that I get equally good or even better stuff done in way less time. And it feels freeing doing music because I want to and not because I feel like I have to do it to maintain my identity (or something). Benefits of getting older I guess
Oh awesome, really appreciate the in depth response. I do some of the same things. Not as systematic about it but I always lay down the sketch of an idea when it strikes and then work on it as time permits. I’m only doing that 1-2 times a week for a few hours, but the progress on songs is consistent and I’m always doing something I enjoy.
I also had to get into a “good enough” mindset of sorts. For me, I was constantly trying to 1-up myself and do something more bizarre, more unexpected, more complex, more ideas shoved in there, etc with every song. Then a few years ago I realized that I’m good enough to do what I want, I don’t have to constantly force myself to do more creative work. I can just do what comes naturally and it’s good enough.
So now I just build my tracks around 1 interesting idea. That’s it. It can be a bass riff, an arp sound, a pad, a drum groove, whatever. But I get ONE focus element and the rest is going to be more basic stuff that just supports the main idea. As soon as I did that tracks started coming together way faster and easier than before.
Yes! Why focus on a few good elements if you can have a gazillion of mediocre ones in one track?! I totally get that and its also something I am trying to improve lately… looking at my projects with 50+ tracks…yep seems to work But your absolutely right! I think the difficulty then is to keep the interest over the span of the track. I often feel bored with one idea after while (may be my ADHD, may also just be fatigue from listening to it over and over again), so what I try to do then, is to use the existing “material” and create something new. A new groove or new feeling overall and to progress from that.
Funnily enough I just thought about my work as a software engineer, because its kinda similar: when I started I was into complex software architectures and inheritance hierarchies and all that technical jazz. But nowadays I am more into simplicitly.
It’s a certain kind of zen that comes with time. Really helpful for me has been bouncing ideas off non-producers in my life who are into my music. Like my SO, brother, close friends, etc. I watch them listen to my stuff and if they drift out of attention then I know it was too repetitive. Depends on the song, sometimes I still do 7 minute epics. But usually the right length is around 3-4 minutes and that’s something I’m cool with. Let the song get in, do that one thing, tweak it a bit to show it’s not completely static, and then get out and leave them wanting more. I find I go back and listen to my stuff more now too, like I made it short enough that I want to hear it more.
Yeah my close friends and family are not too much into my music anyway (which is why I hope for good criticism in this forum)
Track-Length was always a problem for me, because I was bored so early and had struggle to develop my ideas to get over 3 minutes. For a while I was really trying to force myself to stretch things out, now I have a bit of a better approach that naturally creates longer tracks. But I also try to resist forcing longer tracks, if it feels good with 2 minutes, so be it (also kinda depends on the purpose of the track). I guess its always a balancing act.
What I noticed over the years is that I am kind of an imposter I hear something I like, say a sound, feeling, structure or whatever, try to replicate it, fail miserabely and therefore created my own spin of it. But its a feature, not a bug
Glad you’re also back then!
I’ve never fully stopped making music but what I did I kept mostly for myself or just never finished it. I think I stopped finishing stuff due to multiple reasons, for one I got ADHD so finishing things is generally not my forte but apart from that, I got better at producing and I felt like every project was already outdated after a short amount of time, so I wasn’t fully satisfied and put it away. I remember in the beginning I was really fast, mostly because I had a “eh it’s good enough” mindset. Funnily enough, everytime I released something I deemed not good enough, I still got positive feedback, but I guess the inner critic got too strong over time. Also because when I had somewhat of an audience (although not large) I more and more thought that they expect something of me, so I also expected it from me. I mean its somewhat natural, if you have an artist you like, you always have some expectations (“Oh yeah it’s Igorrr, there will be Metal, Breakcore and classical instruments. Check”) but it’s an issue if this thinking limits you as an artist. … Which is what happened to me and why I wanted to start fresh, without expectations.
I totally get that and its also something I am trying to improve lately… looking at my projects with 50+ tracks…yep seems to work 
