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Forums - Drums / rhythms / programming
Subject: Creative Slump
Original Message Date: 13-Sep-00 @ 05:52 PM - Creative Slump
Recently I have fallen into a creative slump. Everything I do feels the same as something I've already done. I'll start on something, than half way through it I decide it's too familiar sounding. I try new scales, new sounds, new everything but it turns out like sh*t. Has anyone else had this problem before? What can I do?
Message 11/27 18-Sep-00 @ 11:17 AM - RE: Creative Slump
or the other option is get a new girlfriend/boyfreind that usually gets the creative juices flowing - often a 'creative slump' is going hand in hand with a 'relationship' slump 
Message 12/27 19-Sep-00 @ 02:04 AM - RE: Creative Slump
listen some music you absolutely hate. i mean like stuff that makes your skin crawl. and break it down mentally in you head. get yourself so you can start to recreate it. do play anything you like just the crappy stuff you hate. then at some point in time you won't be able to take it anymore and you will go back to writing what you did before the slump.
Message 14/27 19-Sep-00 @ 08:20 AM - RE: Creative Slump
Relationships?!! Luckily, I'm happily married. No
emotional ups and downs, just unwavering bliss!! And I
write alot of tracks (not always amazing, but getting
better all the time!)
I think dating people gets in the way - individuals
only grow as individuals when they're unattached.
Nothing like a girlfriend/ boyfriend to despise all
your gear for taking the attention of of them!! I've
seen few relationships where people give each other
freedom to grow and change - something musicians should
be going through all the time, I think.
Or you can just ignore this married old coot
emotional ups and downs, just unwavering bliss!! And I
write alot of tracks (not always amazing, but getting
better all the time!)
I think dating people gets in the way - individuals
only grow as individuals when they're unattached.
Nothing like a girlfriend/ boyfriend to despise all
your gear for taking the attention of of them!! I've
seen few relationships where people give each other
freedom to grow and change - something musicians should
be going through all the time, I think.
Or you can just ignore this married old coot
Message 15/27 20-Sep-00 @ 08:55 AM - RE: Creative Slump
not that anyone's reading still, or that it matters.. much as i agree with too much gear being anti-productive, i think there is a minimum (probably different for everyone) that you need to be productive & not too limited. say.. 2 synths (analog & a digital??) a sampler, mixer and an fx processor?? also a sequencer helps, and some audio software is never hurtful, especially with all the free sound-marsing wares around. software can be neat. any more could really be seen as embellishment by some.. but a drum module doesn't HURT so necessarily.. or drum machine, thems rock too.. i'd love an Xbase.. no space or cash for it, and no mixer channels.. whatever.... i thought a few times about selling my airbase, just sample the shit out of it & downsize a tiny bit.. but it is hard to get rid of.. i mean it even had a letter to me personally from JoMoX.. and it is sweet. hmmmmmmm.......
sequencer, MIDI thru box or MIDI patchbay, sampler, a synth or two, some FX & a mixer. maybe a compressor/limiter, and some recording gear helps too!! also a cheapish mic for grabbing percussive sounds and bug oscillations. crickets crickets crickets. and tinking glass of the blender. wow... love glassy sound..
ok then
sequencer, MIDI thru box or MIDI patchbay, sampler, a synth or two, some FX & a mixer. maybe a compressor/limiter, and some recording gear helps too!! also a cheapish mic for grabbing percussive sounds and bug oscillations. crickets crickets crickets. and tinking glass of the blender. wow... love glassy sound..
ok then
Message 16/27 20-Sep-00 @ 12:39 PM - RE: Creative Slump
guess it depends on the way you like to work. I`ve kinda hit a point recently when I dont hate everything I do, everyone else still does, but I dont give a shit about them cos I enjoys it. But my way of doing it is basically my racksmapler, some records and a few sampled tones from my MW so I`m thinking about selling pretty much everything to finance a better desk, the rfx chip (yum), slider box and the output board for mumma e4. Mebbe I`ll hang onto the vf1 for now and I`ll keep the Meek but thats about it.....oh mw can stay too, prolly even offload the mpc for an mc80 which`ll hurt, but I could buy it back for the cost of a packet of woodbines when the new mpc and sp come out so I could pick another up later.........or just be happy that all my gear works properly now. Hows the mc80? I`mma little bit bothered about that track merging thing - does it slip up when theres controllers flying allover the shop? Hmmmm......I dunno, the extra money would be more usefull than what I get from the mpc......but I love my mpc..........but it annoys the hell out of me.......even tho I love it........but I cant do the things I want to do to my beats now with the mpc. Guess I should sell.
Message 17/27 20-Sep-00 @ 03:26 PM - RE: Creative Slump
track merging thing? er.... you can merge selected information together.. process the hell out of your midi data pretty much.. user defined templates for quantizing.. honestly i never use more than 7 to 12 tracks of info, and that would be to a few machines.. no, i don't have any timing problems with cc messages.. i'm not sure what exactly you mean about merging.. help me out there? i really haven't gotten into the stuff like pattern calls & song mode.. really it has a lot of features to it. as a loop sequencer i have used it a bunch, but i have not fully learned it. have you read the SOS review? i've never talked with anyone else who had one. and some peoplem buy them with the sound board inside for.. wait for it now......... KARAOKE!! oh gawds & hells.
Message 18/27 20-Sep-00 @ 04:19 PM - RE: Creative Slump
karaoke eh? I`m there dude That track merging thing I read in the sos review as it happens - they said its 32 part multitimbral, but only 16 track so you havta merge and unmerge tracks? Nay mind anyway, my e4s only 16 part and I dont need any more than that. Theres money in the bank which is set aside for bills, but I can ignore that for a while if mateys still got his for sale and keep the mpc in case I dont get on with it, I`ve got a feeling I might like it better tho with all those quantising options and sweet resolution. I fecking hate selling gear, buyers tend to be such arseholes but they gots the money 
That track merging thing I read in the sos review as it happens - they said its 32 part multitimbral, but only 16 track so you havta merge and unmerge tracks? Nay mind anyway, my e4s only 16 part and I dont need any more than that. Theres money in the bank which is set aside for bills, but I can ignore that for a while if mateys still got his for sale and keep the mpc in case I dont get on with it, I`ve got a feeling I might like it better tho with all those quantising options and sweet resolution. I fecking hate selling gear, buyers tend to be such arseholes but they gots the money
Message 19/27 20-Sep-00 @ 05:43 PM - RE: Creative Slump
right.. got it. if it were really meant as a 32-track sequencer it'd have been made with 32 track buttons. so that's my little thought, or at least something i think might have occured to the idiot types this. i would keep the mpc until you know if you like it, yes. personally i love using the footswitches to do stuff. that is neato. i think. er....... the screen isn't intensely bright either. still pretty clinical feeling, though not as much as hospital-sterile akai. and i like my akai. but while you fucking emu users get a new fx board we get a flipping usb board. oh joy! well i'm still keeping my akai.
Message 20/27 20-Sep-00 @ 07:48 PM - RE: Creative Slump
I think the "toomuchgear" syndrome is a double edged sword. It is best that you know all of your kit intimately so you can squeeze the maximum amount of originality out of the oscillators and avoid preset frustration/embarrassment- however.. when I know a certian sound will work best with an fm synth I instinctively reach for the DX or if i need a demon growl... the SH101 will surely speak for itself.. But one thing I am sure of is that looking for inspiration only in new gear is a sure trip down milquetoast lane.. I reicently did a piece for an ad agency's tv commercial, they wanted a specific kind of Muzak for a pharmacy scene. I banged out a couple of different versions but got stuck on one that sounded really dark and swanky... I delivered the others and they predictably chose the least obtrusive ie. most boring one and payed me for it.. however I went back to the dark jazzy version and fleshed it out and it has become a track that I really like and am currently shopping around. So, in conclusion maybe you shold give yourself an "assignment" to write something you usually wouldnt consider, and I'm sure you would find an aspect of it that will fuel your creative fire for a while.. oh.. and dont take yourself too seriously and dont try to copy some specific genre too much you'll end up getting Hamlet's syndrome... (apologies for the S.P.)
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