Something I've always struggled with production is the creative aspect of it.

I can come up with a melody, a pattern or design a sound I really like but after that I find myself always staring at a pretty much empty project. I'm totally capable of re-creating songs in my DAW- stemming them out and working backwards so I know it's not about production knowledge, I just can never seem to figure out what to add to my project. Does anyone have any helpful tips or advice to overcome this? What do you do when you find yourself in a block?

 

What seems to work better for me is to focus on writing most or possibly all of the song using basic instruments (piano) before diving into sound design and mixing. If I don't laser-focus on writing the song first, then there's a good chance I'll end up wanting to move on before finishing it ("it was kinda meh anyway!").

But I guess that doesn't really work if you're making non-traditional music.

 

It took me a long time to overcome these issues. I was like Xorome where I lose my path and can't hear it any more, so abandon, but I figured out how my own brain works and tailored my approach to my brain... I'm guessing it will be the same thing for you.

If you already understand enough about production, how a track is structured etc, then yeah it has to be deeper psychological issues. I think even with a huge depth of knowledge I was struggling until I fixed the actual issues. For me its ADHD related. I lose focus and add too much, keep adding and make a mess of things, so kind of the opposite to what you describe.

My fix in short was to organise myself so that I have a fixed process that works for me. I create the parts, kind of where you are at, map them out as a 'Structure' (arrangement if you like), get the most important parts mapped out, so that its like Verse, Chorus, Breakdown etc and this is only the bare bones of a track.

Then I can see where I am going. I keep everything in strict processes but when I've got cocky and stepped outside it stops working. I end up back in carnage again. I have to stick with distinct processes to keep my mindset on track...

I think of each process in bulk. So 'Melodics' are Backing Synths, Lead Synths, Arps and Stabs. I found that my brain sees these actions as a similar creative process... By contrast, as an example, Pads are static and don't have energy really, so they aren't really melodic how I hear them. That's personal to me, you might be different, but by separating this into a different process it stops the carnage and focuses my mind.

Then I go into the Canvas stuff. Backgrounds. Pads, Air, Risers, Impacts, and what I call 'Evoluations' which kind of rise and fall. Little incidental sounds. I find that all of these processes are very different attitudes to being melocially creative.

I go into Groove stuff next. Again its a very different process to the other stages. This is adding energy to the track in a different way and generally its going to follow the groove elements that already exist, so its pretty easy.

I finish with Vocal sessions and tidy up engineering etc after that, but also in dedicated sessions. These are different frames of mind and isolating these processes stops my ADHD mind from taking control. Every process is tailored creativity and I'm finally finishing tracks...

So I don't see my exact path being the same as for you, but hopefully I've explained why I'm isolating processes well enough for you to see how things can get mixed up and cause us to not finish tracks... in my experience at least.

 

if you cant finish the project. try starting new project and try again. sometimes too much work is too much work

 

No yeah I definitely tried that too, in fact a lot of that blockage is just me looking at an entirely recorded piano ballad on my saw that I don't know what to add to.

 

That's a really interesting thought process- I actually also have ADHD so I wonder if we struggle with the same thing. I'll also work on arrangement in the mean time, giving myself a framework for the verse, prechorus, chorus and bridge sections. I don't know- maybe I just need to keep hitting the wall before I go through it.

 

People have disagreed with me on this before here, but it works for me. Define a structure however you see fit: [intro] [verse 1] [chorus 1] [verse 2] etc. The structure forces me to find a direction. Then I fill up the busiest part with ideas. I might go overboard with this, and it's fine. Then when it's too busy, I start substracting parts up to the quietest section of the song. That, at least, should get you close to a finished song without thinking too hard. Once you have more than just a riff or a snippet, creativity might find its way to polish it and mod it to your heart's content.

My two cents.

 

after coming up with those three, i'd come up with a bassline and a drum beat... and that could be it.
start basic. you don't need 40 channels to make a good track

 

I almost always have one track I am primarily working on. But some days you have to change it up if you are bored or stuck. Whatever that may be for that day. If so, maybe I will watch some production video; or work on another track. Giving yourself cute little rules is pointless, unless it's for a reason you may come up with. Working on other people's stuff is much easier to structure, because almost everything is already there.

I go with the method @mercurysoto mentioned, if I am on a roll. I will make too much stuff, and then start subtracting. I mute and hide stuff, I do not delete it. Especially if the track is of a genre where I almost always write in the same key. I remove the unused stuff from the project and dump into a pool of samples folder. Sometimes I will just go in that folder and audition stuff just like I would other people's samples. I mark ones of interest with the color tags we have in MacOS. I delete most of the rest. Anything recorded from hardware gets a little more thought before deletion, but not a lot.

There is some old saying like "there are no finished songs, just ones you have stopped working on". It doesn't apply as much for other people's stuff, but for my own it is pretty much on the money.

 

Yeah ADHD will make a big difference to how you interact. In my experience I'm full of ideas, too many once I get going. I've been to a group session for a couple of years and we're very different people, but the traits that matter are what I see in others. Our minds don't think in the normal way, so we have to figure that into life in general... And its all on us. You won't get proper help because its hard to understand how our minds work. We have to take what we can and then interpret that into our way of thinking. It has taken me a long time to figure out a system that works because its not as simple as the traditional process...

So where I planned out my process it defeats the monkey mind. But for you at this point in time it sounds like you need to engage the monkey... But I think that planning better in advance will be a great move at this point. You are welcome to a copy of my Ableton setup, or I can print an image for you to translate to a different DAW. Its the isolation that matters. You won't want the same elements as me, but seeing how I visualize the mix will help for sure.

For creative stuff from there, its actually very easy if you make it easy. You take the same melody and duplicate it over into these preset sections and translate what you already have... So for a Pad its going to be the same fundamental key/keys just sustained. Remove some notes and get creative from there... For backing melodies keep the pulse and change key into harmonies. Move the notes around to counter melody. Its that easy... Groove will follow the general tempo of your piano piece, just emphasize certain aspects with Drums and Bass... Make it easy, make it into a process. The creative flow will come once you get some momentum.

Controlling ADHD will make you creative. It feels like the opposite, but this is my solution for sure. Don't try to over reach. Put everything into solid compartments so that your brain drops into certain modes and you will become ridiculously creative, because we're built that way. The carnage can run havoc like this and as long as you stick within boundaries it becomes a strength to have no focus.