What Gets Your Juices Flowing

Hi Looperfolk!

So I've hit a stump lately and am going through some kind of "composers block", (yes, I apparently have the indecency to call myself a composer). So firstly I am going to put here a link to one of two songs I made before I started having problems:

https://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/150669
(i'm quite proud of this and would love to hear criticism, even if it's negative as that is usually the most helpful)

BUT ANYWAY the main reason I made this thread was to ask you one (or two) simple question:
What gets YOUR creative juices flowing?
What helps you come up with new ideas?

Got any tips, secrets, or exercises? Please share in the comments! It doesn't matter how weird you think they might sound!

(phew, sorry about the long post)

You know i can#t say I have a secret recepy for getting out of a writters block, I'm always in a writters block to be honest and what get's me going is a good sound (a guitar pattern or a drum pattern etc.), changing the genre or just scrapping the song it might be it just ain't working. You just can't force art.

A collab might get you going though and I know collabs are hard to achieve but a different creative mind might be just what the doctor ordered.

Try looking through the loops on here, I have a few tracks inspired by some that I found here. Did you see GzGlitchers scene challenge for composing a song representing a scene description/picture? I find good melodies or drum loops will get me inspired to write a song around it. Try looking up chord progression patterns, google is a wonderful tool for anything knowledge music wise. Even if you dont play a live instrument you can still apply it to your DAW. I have one DAW where you just pick a chord you want, hit the root note and the chord forms in the piano roll. Then I'll just play with the notes until I have a melody I like. There's a few suggestions :D Hope that helps.

I think the biggest way to get ideas for me is gaining life experience. Almost any experience can be translated in music. Try something new and focus on how it makes you feel. Train yourself to think of things that happen in terms of rhythm and melody.

Choosing a key to create a new song in also really helps me focus on the feelings of the song. Find chords that fit in with the key, but also convey your feelings.

Messing with synthesizers is very inspiring to me, sometimes a whole song comes out of one good sound. I've learned a lot about using specific synths by watching tutorials. I don't usually duplicate what they did in the tutorials, but usually I learn some new aspect of the synth that I didn't realize before.

I usually start by figuring out how I want the song to sound. Like for me I'm a dubstep producer so I might say that I want this song to sound kind of like Deadmau5. Then I start to mess around with the instruments I have in Logic Pro and try to make the song my own style. Then I'm pretty much good from there and can get the song finished. I hope this helped you in some way!

I would say just forget about what style or genre you have to write in.. Genres come and go, good songs and music remains.. Think of a subject you feel strongly about, love, hate, world domination what ever floats your boat then start applying it to what ever instrument you play I'm a house producer, i'm a dub step producer, i'm a rock producer.. LOL that means to me a fairly narrow minded musical approach.. Expand your horizons and watch the writers block disappear. i can't possibly record that tune because it doesn't fit to a dubstep rythum errr good, same with every other musical genre boundary..

Environment. Usually, I find that when I get to a place where I can't move forward with my music, it is because I am uncomfortable. Spend 2 or 3 days AWAY FROM THE MUSIC, rearranging your space and possibly smoke a joint or 2. Works for me to the maximum. Makes me feel like Goku. HAHA. I hope I helped you out.

The joints help too... for sure!

I would recommend something in the way Felix is thinking. Get away from the music for a few days and like others said, Don't force it.

When I started out with music I had some trouble coming up with melodies and stuff, I always went for a walk and thought of all kinds of melodies and tried to make it sound good in my head, then when I came home I tried to put it all in FL Studio. Mostly it didn't turn out what I wanted it to but it was something I could enjoy.

Never lock a goal, just go with the flow. Open your DAW and pick a instrument (I prefer piano to start out with). Make a melody and start adding stuff. I never start with Bass och Drums, that doesnt work for me.

Try your own way! And the song you've make sounds good, but could use some improvement in mixing :)

Thanks guys! There's a lot of good helpful stuff you're putting up on here.

I have tried quite a lot on this list. Tried stuff like listening to the world around me, trying to recreate places and feelings as music, even took a shot at atonal music(something I tried to avoid for quite some time).

but the thing I was afraid someone would say was "you can't force art", because that phrase is so true it hurts.
As much as i'd like to keep composing, keep the new stuff coming, it's just not gonna happen.
I think i'll just stick to making loops for the time being :)

Loops are art too, so don't feel bad.

I honestly think you can force art, but the results are not always what you expect.

Being a Rock oriented person I like to smoke a big fat bowl and listen to Old School Hip Hop. Usually Public Enemy, NWA, KRS One, DMX....high energy stuff and a total 180 from my usual genre. A day or two of that and I usually feel reinvigorated. Worst thing you can do is stress over it. jmo

tv

@topvega your response put a smile on my face! I like to see people going out of their comfort zone so to speak.

Time away from recording, and a hog-leg.

Listen to good music all day, then sit down close your eyes and don't force it, just let the melodies flow through your fingers. If you force it, it will ruin it. If I don't play any instrument for a while I get depressed. Always play your instrument every day, try to, even if you don't feel like it, and don't force it. Let your fingers be as light as feathers on your keys or strings.

Listen to good music all day, jazz, dance, rock, everything, as long as it's quality...then sit down close your eyes and don't force it, just let the melodies flow through your fingers. If you force it, it will ruin it. If I don't play any instrument for a while I get depressed. Always play your instrument every day, try to, even if you don't feel like it, and don't force it. Let your fingers be as light as feathers on your keys or strings.

^Lol, nice re-post. :)

But yeah, I am constantly listening to music and it is obvious (even to me) where certain bands have inspired parts of or entire tracks of mine. For example I got obsessed over Pendulum and for about two months I found myself constantly wanting to raise the tempo to that 175bpm mark.
Not to mention that a lot of my drum effects are heavily inspired by artists like Linkin Park.

I find though that this creates problems through confidence because I've got SO MUCH inspiration yet I always fall short of what i'm trying to achieve. I've even created really cool dubstep tracks in my head but due to my lack of efficiency with synths I end up forgetting them before I get close to recreating it on computer.

I think my music is becoming more mathematical and less creative. Like, I find that before I learned how chord progressions work and stuff like that my music was much more interesting. Poorly mixed, but more interesting.

...Reality, chemical reality, and the need to express in sound/musical form. ;)

I've had days when I sit down, I feel like I will create the next hit, but in fact I just make something random and it turns out to be crap. Most of my songs, comes from "before bed" tired-ness.. Don't really know how to put it. But before I go to bed, I get this urge to do some music and just do it.. I have no f-ing idea what Im doing, but the next day when I listen it's actually kinda nice. It's almost as If I put my "pre dreams" in my songs.
My friend said he has done the same, So maybe its worth a shot?

Yo Viral. I tend to listen to music by others, especially favourite tracks, and also try remixing others work. Maybe even go back to some old tracks of mine and try tweaking them a bit. Right now I am slap-bang in the middle of a block so tinkering & mixing keeps my hand in, so to speak, and helps recharge the creative batteries. Hope you get that block sorted soon mate.
Peace, Love, Justice & Respect.
Vis . . . .

Forgot to add Viral. Listen to guilty pleasures. Maybe some old pop or C&W stuff you wouldn't admit to anyone you enjoy te he he. Guilty pleasures have ways of soothing the soul oh yeah . . . .

Just enjoy what you do

Dont worry if nothing works out sometimes.!

Even the best F1 drivers in the world crash at times lol.

I dont have problems regarding idea's as all my music is created from mood,but it depends on what mood im in.!

Trance = happy
Electronic Dance Music = happy
Electronic = Thought provoking
Chillout = Calm or Relaxing.
Cinematic = loss/love/Sorrow/Pain
Industrial = Trying out stuff lol
HipHop = Trying out stuff
Rock/Pop = Trying out my old school vibes in my blood.!

When im not really in the mood,i just dont turn on my pc lol

But like i said,the main thing is to enjoy what your trying to create regardless of Genre.!.

Music creating can be everything from putting beats on lines to trying to convey a whole story.!

Most of my music is what i call hit n hope lol

If it fits on the lines regardless on genre then i use at will lol

Here's a slightly alternative tip from someone who constantly works on many, many tracks. So, I always have loads of old ones "lying around", some of which I've pretty much forgotten about.

If you just want to make some good music for the sake of it but are out of ideas on your current track/s, try opening up an old one and see what brilliant stuff you can find in there. Sometimes there are ideas/riffs/settings you could import into another track. Or maybe you'll just make better progress with that unfinished track.

My juices flow when the atmosphere is right, i'm the kind of guy who likes to put something from the universe inside the track, but then again, i love me some old skool boom boom bap hiphop with sample usage. Oh, and let's not forget women... yea women, deffiniatly flow my juices...

Another specific idea from someone who uses loads of synth parts and unashamedly does a lot of Copy-Paste-Modify with the parts.

Find a good part that you really like in your track. Then just copy that exact part to a new synth instrument and go through all sort of presets as the track plays. New synth presets ('factory' ones or your own) playing the same part can sound very different and be quite inspiring.

I find it quite boring going through presets like this but I've done it loads of times and eventually stumbled upon something very cool. This is brainless creativity, in a way, as you don't really have to come up with an idea, you just recycle a good one you've already made.

I hope that helps. Or maybe everyone already does this as standard. I don't really know...