Now, I know many (most maybe?) will be fans of a certain genre, be it house, techno, drum & bass etc and naturally want to produce that genre. This is not a question for you

Basically, I have a very eclectic taste in music from orchestral to indie rock to house to techno to drum & bass to jungle to hip hop. I do not feel impassioned about any genre more than another. One thing I struggle with is deciding what genre to produce. Because of my eclectic tastes, I tend to have “phases” where I drift from preferring one genre to another every few months.

An6body else like this and have a similar problem? How do you guys decide on a genre to focus your productions on and how to stick to that genre, and then keep inspired and motivated when your in a “phase” of being into a different genre?

 

I look in the mirror and do what I like ,when I can But mainly I do what I get paid for, genre be dammed I got kids and bills

 

honestly, I also have this struggle... trying to find your own identity with your art can be a hard thing...

 

Compose with simple piano sound and try different instruments whether it sounds good in certain style when you come with enough composed material. It's not like there is any real difference in the notes that you came with when you think about genres (aside the tempo - so it's easy to mix dnb/rock/fast pop music etc, but good luck with that, if you want to arrange it as disco/house/medium tempo dance music - you have to rewrite everything, so it won't sound awkward.).
In Reaper (and Studio one, I think?) you could just load pre-saved tracks with instruments and effects chains, so you can just drag the midi to different tracks to check how it sounds .

 

fake news! nobody gets paid to make music

 

Me thinks it chooses you. Unless you're chained to a paycheck just go wuth the flow. Over a lifetime or part thereof you'll notice an ebb and flow as you are bounced, pulled here and there around the waves of your swirling creative tide. Change is expected and should be a welcome partner to your artistic dance. Sometimes you lead and other times you are led. Remember, the medium of your choice of expression right now is sound, and there is virtually a limitless amount of fodder to feed your Muse. Just opening your window to the wind bestows unlimited possibilities. You need only satisfy yourself.,and there are no expectations placed on yourself by anyone but yourself, so go slowly, or fast, easy or hard, let your future catch up to your past. That is to say, whatever is destined to be will be, give yourself slack enough to be free and go with your instinct...Que Sera Sera!

 

so do you own from all of that
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check out slow bpm
there is unexplored space
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most of the time genre hoppers are plain...and genre nerd freaks way ahead
yeah its all so easy ...just recipes...so plain and not banger tracks come out from them who say so..like dj ss...lolz
mampi swift vice versa is underated master
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in dnb noone can front the old masters , also noisia , thats why they masterd a newr genre neuro funk

 

Last edited: Jun 7, 2020

genres are more of a thing for consumers who want to pigeonhole everything than for musicians imo

 

I definitely have a similar experience for about 2 decades now. Not only in music making but also listening and going to events (although not at the moment obviously). But to be honest, maybe I don't want to choose when it comes to producing. Because each time when I try for a longer period or think it's the only way to achieve results, there comes a moment of selfreflection like "why am I limiting myself?" Luckily for me everything is 'dance' related - but going roughly from 125 to 170 bpm - and I'm not a professional artist (yet) who needs to stick to a certain style or path. But it's still frustrating at times. Some might say it's a good thing to be multi talented and explore everything you like but others say if you really want to succeed (for the lack of a better word) you still need to choose one or two directions instead of 10. With structure and focus in mind. One workaround would be creating the same idea for different styles and go from there. But that's time consuming. So it's puzzling.

 

Why don't you just do them all? I do. Of course the downside in my case is that instead of being a failure at one thing, I am a failure at everything.

 

1) what do I like
2) what am I actully good at
3) where's the money

Pick any two

 

Try a few and see which a) you're good at and b) enjoy making most. Go from there.

Most won't make you a penny probably so you might as well enjoy making it :p

 

i think this could also be a problem of solitude.

i may be wrong but i feel like when engaging with "real" tasks like working with, or for others, and making work public this problem tends to get solved automatically.

to much freedom in the negative sense as in a lack of commitment and real world activities causes a lot of problems not only in music, in life in general.

 

I dont think doing what ever you feel is a problem in fact for me i always start with a blank template so anything goes.This helps me not to do same things again but eventually you will realize what genre you are better at.Doing different genres is a good practice to find your own sound

 

1) Replicate one of your favorite songs (or a section of it) as closely as possible. Then wipe out the midi & use the same instrument/effect setup to write an original song.
2) Make hybrid genre songs. Start with an existing template for a song you've worked on that you think is good. And every time you write a new song, swap out one type of instrument for another. For one song, maybe you use acoustic hard rock drums, then for the next, 90s house drum machines. One song use a piano to comp chords, and on another use synth stabs. Maybe an accordion for a lead on one song, and a G-Funk Moog whistle on another.

 

Lot of good ideas from talented people, that said..

You can do anything great, now let other people decide those who understand about business

 

That depends.. Do you mean "producer" as in someone hired to produce an artists record? Or do you mean 'Im a songwriter sitting in my home studio working on my own stuff so therefore Im now a producer' thing?

The two are completely different jobs, and a professional producer doesn't really choose his genre until he's been at it awhile and made a name for himself. Until then you whore yourself out and take whatever work you can get until your resume is fat enough to attract an artist/label that hits the charts.

Now if you wanna talk about 'songwriting' Im pretty sure you choose whatever you want to do, unless your parents forced you into a polka band when you were 12 or something. I would think most musical type folks dont stick to one genre when they're writing their own stuff. We want to explore everything, shit now I might even start a black death metal polka band for the hell of it!

 

What do you have against polka? it's a lot of fun!

 

@recycle Remember Edward II and the Red Hot Polkas? Nice reggae/polka fusion.
Did PA for them a few times in the 90s.

And every other daw under the sun.

 

This is the first time I've heard of this group. I'm watching on you tube now and there is a lot of their music: not bad