What do you do when you can't finish a song?

Discussion in 'Education' started by AlmostNormal, Sep 15, 2019.

  1. AlmostNormal

    AlmostNormal Member

    Joined:
    May 21, 2017
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    19
    Hey everyone, I don't know where exactly to post this topic, but...
    I just wanted to know what you do when/if you get stuck making music (whatever the genre is). I'm facing this kind of problem right now, like I can come up with ideas easily, nice chords, melodies, sounds... however I rarely take them to the end, they are nothing but loops in my daw.
    So I would really appreciate some cool techniques/books/videos to deal with this issue, and, maybe, have some creativity boost.

    Thank you :bow:
     
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  2.  
  3. Cav Emp

    Cav Emp Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2014
    Messages:
    2,127
    Likes Received:
    1,759
    Usually i just work on something else until I have some distance from the project I'm stuck on

    But if you want a good seminar about workflow, productivity, mentality, and just getting shit done in general, Ill Gates's the Ill Methodology was really useful to me a few years ago. Been meaning to re-watch it
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • List
  4. metaller

    metaller Audiosexual

    Joined:
    May 28, 2016
    Messages:
    760
    Likes Received:
    524
    Location:
    Persia
    Study about song structures and forms. Once you know that, you can finish a song better
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
    • Like Like x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  5. Research VS. Experimentation

    You need both. 50, 50, to understand what works for you. Professors choose the first one and futility-maker experimentalists' only interest is the second one.

    After years of exploration in both fields, you will throw away more than 90% of your accumulated knowledge and eventually find your voice and start to torture your audiences.
     
  6. rudolph

    rudolph Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Messages:
    920
    Likes Received:
    561
    What about real musical talent?
     
    • Disagree Disagree x 4
    • Dislike Dislike x 3
    • List
  7. Cav Emp

    Cav Emp Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2014
    Messages:
    2,127
    Likes Received:
    1,759
    How come every time I see your handle on here you're making some snide comment like this, but you don't ever post your own music?
     
    • Winner Winner x 7
    • Like Like x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • List
  8. naitguy

    naitguy Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2017
    Messages:
    732
    Likes Received:
    512
    Location:
    Canada
    I tend to just put the song on the back burner and work on something else... then come back later. I have a lot of finished projects but a lot of abandoned ones too. It happens. I actually just started working again on a song I stated years ago!!
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  9. ( . ) ( . )

    ( . ) ( . ) Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2013
    Messages:
    1,805
    Likes Received:
    1,178
    shit like this happens often when making music, it happens no matter what level you’re at, sometimes it’s just not happening in the office...

    the difference with the pros however, is this happens much less often than with others, and most of it comes with experience and practice...

    arranging a track can be really hard, in the beginning you probably will never know what to do, but the trick is never get stuck in a loop, always try to somehow make an intro, chorus, outro etc even if it is shit, getting stuck in a loop will prevent you from learning how to compose/arrange a track, and that experience is vital if you wanna get better at it and learn.

    Always arrange and as you get better you make better arrangement decisions... but never get stuck in a loop...
     
    • Like Like x 6
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • List
  10. fleschdnb

    fleschdnb Kapellmeister

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2014
    Messages:
    126
    Likes Received:
    45
    if you cant finish a song, it means you dont like it. move on. ill make patches out of the synths, bounce my drumloop out, maybe even make a new drum pack out of the processed drum oneshots,etc. basically explode the track..then use my favorite elements from that track in a new way on a new track. never look back.

    if you have alot of DAW sessions with just 16 bars of drums and bass and synth...then bounce those out! save the patches in the synth and start building your own sample library. thats where inspiration comes from and to make a good track you need to be inspired.

    when you like a track, and its good, you wont have any problem completing it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • Disagree Disagree x 1
    • List
  11. rhythmatist

    rhythmatist Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2011
    Messages:
    1,272
    Likes Received:
    810
    Location:
    Chillicothe, Ohio, USA
    I go bike riding on a trail (avoids traffic) or walking. It clears my head and things come to me that have had me stumped.
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Winner Winner x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  12. Funk U

    Funk U Platinum Record

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2015
    Messages:
    344
    Likes Received:
    175
    Masturbate. Sometimes thrice!!!:wink: The latter depends on how many frustrated tears I've managed to collect.:suicide:
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
    • Funny Funny x 6
    • Love it! Love it! x 2
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Creative Creative x 1
    • List
  13. The Pirate

    The Pirate Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2018
    Messages:
    5,183
    Likes Received:
    4,405
    Location:
    NOYMFB
    It happens to all of us. Through the years I have learned to have patience, and not get discouraged. You have to break that cycle or it becomes a bad habit. Everyone has offer you some valuable advices. One advice I will give you would be to seek collaboration. It is hard for two people to get stuck when creating a song. The exchange of ideas and interaction is good medicine for writer's/creativity block. Another advice would be to set a deadline. Approach the process as you would do with any other task. Give yourself certain time to finish it...AND FINISH IT!
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
    • Like Like x 3
    • List
  14. Olymoon

    Olymoon MODERATOR Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2012
    Messages:
    5,813
    Likes Received:
    4,459
    That kind of comment does not bring anything valuable to the OP s question.
     
  15. Olymoon

    Olymoon MODERATOR Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2012
    Messages:
    5,813
    Likes Received:
    4,459
    That could be into lounge or education sections, but "working with sound" is not the right one.
    I'm changing it to "education"
    ............................

    As you say that you endup with loops in your DAW I'd recommend to try this:
    Think about what role would play the idea in a complete song/track?
    Would it be the chorus or main idea? Or would it be the verse? Or...
    Once you decided this, create a structure with the idea where it should be, letting blank spaces for any other (not yet composed) parts.
    Now, work on filling the blank spaces.

    Example: let's call your loop " written part" and let's says it's a chorus

    Intro - verse - written part- break - verse - bridge - written part - instrumental - written part variation - outtro

    You can think of any structure in any genre that way, and thanks to this method you can listen to your written part in context, and feel what you need to do. Specially if you keep some drums in the not yet written parts.

    Obviously, the structure is initially so arbitrary that it will certainly change while composing the missing parts.
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • List
  16. evolasme

    evolasme Producer

    Joined:
    May 11, 2013
    Messages:
    322
    Likes Received:
    115
    Location:
    somewhere different almost every night
    I'm fortunate I have a lot of musician friends if I'm stuck sometimes ill see if one of them wanna work on it together often a different set of eye and ears and taste can walk into a project and find the answer that was right there all along. even if that doesn't happen, for me it broadens my vision and I seem to find not necessarily what i was looking for but something that works and better then I ever could have imagined. sometimes you get tunnel vision on a track and you need someone to help you snap out of it.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  17. Burninstar

    Burninstar Platinum Record

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2011
    Messages:
    543
    Likes Received:
    192
    Location:
    Behind my instrument
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • List
  18. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2012
    Messages:
    6,956
    Likes Received:
    3,830
    Location:
    Europe
    Wrong topic. Wrong language. Wrong education. Wrong everything :rofl:

    Good advice! Doesn't work always though, I know it because... a.. because...a... a friend of mine told me! :wink:
     
    • Funny Funny x 10
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • List
  19. PatriciaNeqrency

    PatriciaNeqrency Member

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2019
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    12
    Location:
    C:\users\
    It's hard to answer your question, it seems very simple but when we take a closer look it's complicated. I think it all boils down to your personality. There are people who are very productive (like the russian dude called Senmuth has over 150 albums on bandcamp) , there are others who are not. If you are not productive that does not mean you are a noob without skills. Creativity flows different for everyone. I personally have lots of hobbies like making music, playing games, making graphics. I am like you, I can't finish my songs even if the song parts are great and while I don't have any PhD in music, I know how to finish songs. But same goes with graphic art. I often get sidetracked, distracted and my focus shifts to something else. If I "force" myself to finish a song or art piece I always feel like I am restricting my creative freedom and most likely the result won't be that good.
    Is motivation the key? Maybe. Would you be more productive if you know you have a fanbase and thousands of people would listen to your song? Or would you be more productive if a record label would pay good dosh for your songs? Maybe. We are all being motivated by something else. I know I would be motivated to be more productive if my friends and family would at least give a listen to my songs, or take a look at my artworks, but they are just not interested.
    There was a time when I felt bad for not being able to finish my works, I thought I am retarded. But then I talked to other artists and it changed my views on this matter. Turns out this problem of "not being able to finish your stuff" is more common than I thought and it has nothing to do with talent or skill level. It's just there. Even great painters and writers have them. So far there is no answer why, not that I'm aware of.
    Creativity is a very abstract concept. It's a force that lives inside us, hard to grasp and hard to tame... Not to mention that everyone's brain works in a different way.
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • Love it! Love it! x 1
    • List
  20. AlmostNormal

    AlmostNormal Member

    Joined:
    May 21, 2017
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    19
    Thanks for the replies guys, many of them are very interesting, appreciated. :bow:
     
Loading...
Loading...