Hello everyone

I want to share with you all a big problem That I have the past few years and hopefully someone is related to it and can advise me what I need to do to go out of this annoying loop.

One of the big problem that I have is that I’m addicted to tutorial , tutorials about music production, how to learn this and that vst synth , compressor, eq , how to make this type of a house track and how to make of some others techno track, etc etc etc..you get the idea .. I download all what I can think will help me with making music but I always feel stuck, it is sometimes help me but In my head if I will not watch all the 100 gigabytes of tutorial that I downloaded the past few years i will not get better and better, and I’m never stoping add more tutorial to the tutorial folder so I feel like I’m in this keep going loop that never ending...

I didn’t finish a song for at list 3 years!!

I always feel like I want to learn more and more and more but even after all what I watch and read I still feel I have a ton to learn and know how things work.

To be honest it is a very annoying feeling what I’m going through, I would love just to wake up in the morning and start a song without the feeling to be dependent on some tutorial show me how to build a track and follow it.

I mean I’m sure it is help to some people but I just feel like I’m a robot following tutorial,

I don’t have any comfort making music without tutorial.


If someone is related to this problem and can help or give me some tips how to go pass it I will appreciate it , or just anyone that have any idea what I should do.


Thanks so much

Phil

 

I know how you feel, I have a similar problem. I haven't produced a single note for more than a year. Here are some thoughts / tips.

1. Anxiety is the main reason. Composing generates much more anxiety and almost never pleasure. Learning for fun is soothing and gives you a false sense of purpose and completion.
2. Do an experiment in daring: Do I dare create a track, no matter what? Well, that's horrible music, but who cares? Most of the music produced today is horrible.
3. Buy some new toys (hardware). They may inspire you. The Maschine and Komplete Kontrol series are ideal for that.
4. When I can't write, I'm having fun with auto-arranger software such as vArranger2, One Man Band, Sofeh Music Studio and Onyx. I usually send the output to some other software, like Midi Player 5 (through a virtual midi cable, such as Bome's Midi Translator). Thus I have a nice HQ soundfont sound. They create songs for you.
5. You don't have to write music. If you don't have the need, do something else.

Have fun.

 

Phil, that's completely fine, and what you do depends on your goals.

Personally, I have decided not to make any music for a year, and practice my guitar playing. I made that decision because I want to be a better guitar shredder, so when I want to record solo tracks, I can play mind-blowing solos.
At the moment, I have an album recorded, but I am resisting to release that because I think that does not represent my abilities and is not yet aligned with my goals.

In conclusion, if you want to just make music, you can! and it is very very easy. (at least, from my own experience). But the quality or complexity of that is a thing. I can just make 10 instrumental orchestral music tracks in a month, but this is not what I want.

 

Download new tutorials only after you watched the previous one. Also video tutorials rarely address your issue and contain usually very little knowledge (on top of the author monologue). I'd remove all 100 gbs of that material, and research specific problems you have with your production.

As for the procrastination part, you just have to start, don't know any other way around it. Start slow, but do at least 5 minutes of work on your projects every day. If it's still not fun after those 5 minutes, don't continue and keep it for the next day.

 

There is your answer.

 

Stop procastinating. Create a song a day. No matter how shitty it is. No one is going to hear it. This is how you learn and develop. Not by theorizing, but actually doing the work.
Fuck the tutorials.

 

Man, if you can understand things by yourself in this game and need assistance for every step you make, you are pretty much done here. Nobody needs bent tails of someone who made it. You either have it or not. Stay in this loop longer, but time is of the essence, life will pass by in a heart beat. I'd say this bluntly: keep this hobby for your spare time and concentrate on doing/improving something you are good at.

 

You think watching technical tutorials will help you make music? That's wrong approach. All you need to do is make music. Listening to music you like hours upon hours gives you a goal, an experience to thrive to.

Making the final product we call music consists of two very different things. One is scientific, and the other is creative. Start by thinking about them that way - separately. Then make music first. Great music hasn't been writtten because the authors of it were well acquainted with the music production techniques. Great music has always come and comes from within - creativity. Relax. Forget the EQs and compressors, make great lyrics for a start, then make music to accompany it, or the other way round. But that's the only way that leads to something. Only afterwards you should apply your knowledge of production to it, to make it sound even better.

Well, now that I think of it, it does depend a little on what kind of music you're aiming for. This applies mostly to music with lyrics we've all been acquainted with. Instrumentals can be more tricky. But you still have to have a good theme and intro first, at least. Then arrange that thing into something that makes people feel something. Production comes next, mastering comes at the end. Fullstop. Every part of the creation of music has its meaning. Separate them and give your best in each and every part of it.

And afterwards it feels like you've just had the best sex you've ever had. Or haven't had. Accomplishment is the best drug. And it doesn't hurt you.

p.s. Drink! [father Jack from father Ted series] It makes you introspective. Well at least it makes me introspective and philosophical - creative. I have a weird brain... I'd like to spank it from time to time. It has a mind of its own.

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

This actually is the best suggestion! Cheers

 

Cheers, Agent007!

 

one thing that helps is making joke/crappy songs, if anxiety and fear is your problem. many years ago i used to make happy birthday songs and random crap just for fun to my friends, and the main reason was to learn how to actually FINISH what i was starting. everytime i started doing something serious i could never finish.

question here is not how to start making music, but how to finish what you start

 

A painter paints, a runner runs, an astronomer gazes at the stars, while a musician hears the creaking of a door and imagines a symphony.

 

At least your second philosophical poetic outburst today

Is it time for you to start writing a novel?

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

I'm not assuming or accusing anyone of anything but for people that may be doing this particular thing daily, this will help if you make music...


STOP DOWNLOADING NEEDLESS PLUGINS, SAMPLES & DAWS!!!

Learn to use the tools you have and you will master them. The things you can do with limitations in music are limitless.

EDIT: ''The things you can do with limitations in music are limitless''

I don't know if I'm the first person to say that (I doubt I am) but that is probably the best thing I will ever contribute to this forum. I'm gonna make it my banner/motto from now on

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

this is a problem today. people try to copy others. if not, they feel left behind.
listen to Kasabian. greatest band of all time. they go against everything you know

 

This has always been the case.

"good artists copy, great artists steal" as said by Pablo Picasso and cited by Steve Jobs.
And you know what? Great artists just don't care!

I think there's nothing wrong to copy other artists in the beginning as long as an artist finds an own style in the long run.

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

Stop talking about samples, compressors, daws and tutorials. Why not just buy a simple instrument, a plastic recorder or an ukelele and start playing that?

 

Kasabian greatest band of all times? Come on man...

 

Juat crank out music every day... Shitty or not... Do it for its own sake...

I watched a talk by Diplo on YT and something he said stuck with me... He said "the important thing is to just make lots of music... In the end, nobody will remember your bad music... But everybody will remember the good ones..."

So thats what I try to do... Also, an emotional detachment from the final product works wonders... For example, while positive feedback from listeners thrills me to no end, any negative feedback doesnt bother me at all... I make music for a living and have been rejected about twice as much as Ive been accepted... Its all just another days work...

So, just sit at your daw or your instrument and let those notes ring!

All the best!

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2018

studio-view, you wrote: I didn’t finish a song for at list 3 years!! Do you mean that you have finished some songs longer than 3 years ago? What were they like? Happy or not with them? What could you improve about them?

People usually, though not always, watch tutorials to learn how to do something specific.

I think you need to give yourself a purpose to create music. How does this idea sound?: could you find a music production course in a local college or somewhere advertised locally? I don't know what country you're in, by your writing it doesn't look like English is your first language. But a college course, a club of some kind. Some activity that would force you to create and finish pieces of work.