"artist" with quote marks because music is not my main source of income

for the last couple of years, or perhaps more than that, I have hit a plateau musically because I have lost the sense of direction on where to go.

I feel like my art has no identity, I cannot figure out which genre or sound I want to master, whenever I open up my DAW I have no idea what I want to create, and this whole experience leads me to end up only with frustration and confusion. I can't even give a proper answer to myself whenever I think of what genre I primarily produce.

only recently I have realized that the genres I love listening to do not always overlap with the genres I enjoy producing, and there are other barriers to consider when trying to answer the main question in the previous paragraph. as most creators do, I worry whether if my work is going to meet the listeners' appeal, if the market for the sound I'm working on is already oversaturated and there's no way I can keep up competing with more advanced artists with more network & more time to devote to (I work a regular 9-5 job), whether if I can find artists to work with (in my case I used to make a lot of RnB, but it is practically a nonexistent genre in the country I live in), and other numerous questions I cannot think of

I would love to hear from people who have had a similar experience.

 

its a burden many of us hold, even skrillex and big name artist face this same crisis from time to time. My advice, make whatever brings you joy, regardless of others expectations. create for the sake of creating, no rules, no expectations from yourself or others. just make. have fun! try new things, flip old songs, break stuff, experiment!

 

I hate music now.

I hate it.

Hate hate hate.

I hate making it. I hate hearing it. I hate thinking about it. I REALLY hate the machine I use for it. Typing this response is making me think about it and my blood pressure is going up and I may have a stroke.

 

A very simple advice to get rid of all these bad feelings:

Don't tie music to money. Both start with M, but two completely different worlds.

Music wants to be like a living creature to go everywhere, jump and be free. But when you tie music to money, it's like putting a leash around the neck of music. This music will never be the same again. You have taken that sense of wildness and freedom from your music and turned it into a tame creature. Music and money are not of the same species. Money is a creation by governments and music is created by the artist. It is not easy to put these two together. Both repel each other and only come together when you reduce the power of your music to connect with money.

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2024

Read a bunch of Salvador Dali quotes - perhaps one will bring you some perspective on your situation.

One that helped me early in my painting career was something similar to this - "Art is never difficult, its either easy or impossible"

 

Try being a Davíd Bowie

 

To all you tortured artists out there.

Try Bitwig... and just keep on keeping on, regardless.

 

Easy. Simply stop doing it.

Unless you have a pressing reason then why are you forcing it? You're having trouble because you're not compelled. There are probably other things that actually require your attention, and better problems to solve in the world.

 

All crises are good

 

sister site is good for this, i keep trying different instruments and libraries and sometimes help to get ideas
if youre playing in a oversaturated genre is more tough

good luck

 

only in movies?

 

When I started music, I wanted to make the most crushing caveman metal. Two years in, I had to admit to myself that I enjoy working on mellower stuff much more. So now I make mellow stuff that sometimes sounds like caveman metal. I think that's pretty normal and probably how most genres come about.

When I'm making music purely for my own enjoyment and I truly have no idea where/how to start, I'll often just pick something I haven't done before or roll the die and go from there.

Something with keys? Roll the die between electric, harpsichord, clavinet, whatever. Feel like playing along to drums? Roll the die and pick from your drum MIDI collection. Think of it as a challenge past your comfort zone. IMO all practice makes you better at making music that everyone, including yourself, can enjoy.

But by the sound of it, you're looking to stick quite closely to your chosen genre's established aesthetics for broader appeal?

However:
if you don't enjoy listening to the genres that you enjoy producing, and
you also don't enjoy producing the genres that you enjoy listening to, and
you also don't want to do your own thing,
then what's left?

 

I don't know what it is with these "artists" that are "in crisis" or "stuck" or have some "block" torturing them ... people from other fields of crafts do not have a "crisis" if they weren`t "make it" amongst the top of their art. I mean such craftspeople as carpenters, tailors, even car mechanics. They are good at their craft, excellent, but there are no charts. Why do they do their jobs, feel good about it, and are will never ever "make it", whatever that means? Rhetorical question.

Most "artists" are no artists" or even craftspeople. Mots "Artists" are narcissists, but only that much, that they do not slip into total reality denial but get it, that they are not belonging to the "top". That includes not getting their music to the point, where they find it "competitive". People who do sprots of some kind mostly do not think about being in the Olympics. But "artists" in music always compare themselves to "the top" in regards of sound, income, public acknowledgement and so on. Not that I advocate them to be average, bad sounding, thinking of music making as "doesn't matter", no, they have to develop some criteria on their own. Do not rum after that train, that has just left the station. Do your music. You will not make it to the top with sheer work, regardless how good you are. Be yourself and do not pray to false gods. As there are: the right loudness, the right sound, lyrics that are considered good, the right song-construct, and so on and on. Make the music that you want to hear. Period.

And stop whining about "crisis", "writer's block", "loosing identity", don't have the right tools and such. It's all bullsh1t. Whining gets you nowhere. So stop it.

 

then don't do it - music making isn't for everyone, and if you don't enjoy it then it's not worth your time,
and it's quite common that music you like to listen isn't music you want to produce, it's not that special problem,

perhaps shift your focus elsewhere? maybe live sound, or music video creation, album arts, or whatever completely different...

afterall, you can always get back to making music once you notice a spark of creativity flow

 

Thanks. Was wondering which old games to play again. Crysis it is...

 

Nice occasion to ask this question that I always wanted to ask you people here: do you have a CD player in your mind? Can you compose with your mind? Do you hear music in your mind? Cause I do, and this is so handy for creativity. I can compose whilst having a walk, and I always do. Later on, I just lay it down in Reaper.

I really wonder how many people do this.

And maybe it's a solution for the OP. Learn how to create music without the DAW. Your mind can imagine so much more than a DAW can give you when you're just trying to make something. It saves a ton of time experimenting, but experimenting is always welcome, too. However, the basics can be first created in your head, and then you can experiment with the idea.

Finally asked this. :P

 

I have crooked teeth, for starters. (he straightened them at some point in the 80s I think)

But also, maybe he had a CD player in his mind that helped him create all those wonderful and innovative tracks.

 

most important for making art is the muse and giving a fck , that means also dont tie it to depend on making money . the only thing a agree with blackhawk is
(especially for painting and music )most ppl call themselfs artists are not artists even if they good already . most real artists never would call themself artist cause they sort of perfectionists or only see where they could be or cause they know exactly how much further others were in their craft , but thats all equal , no muse no love means no creating , so stop all and open DAW
only again when you really have the fire again .my english to bad for this eh eh

 

I've been having similar issues, but you just reminded me, took me back to where I was a couple of years ago...

I set up a system where I went through all the sounds that I really love. So for Lead Synths, I went through a load of tracks and started pinpointing what was magic to me, what lit me up. I collected like 20 of each sound, Basses, Pads etc. I called this phase 'Synthspiration', because these are the tracks that will give me my sound.

I got lost along the way and stopped following that part of my system and started just making any sound that I liked... But the sounds lack reverb and balance and the mixes are a bit thin (aside from being shit at engineering).

I think what sounds I was intending to emulate is largely who I am. The idea isn't to get those synths perfect, just to find the general feel of what I genuinely like, then to hope that what comes out the other side is a sound that makes sense, but it kinda unique to me.

I'm still not there yet obviously, but I just remembered that I need to bring this part back into my process and be honest about who I am and make the sound that I want to hear.

Maybe this is also the best version of you, when you figure what it is that lights you up with music. That's probably the reason you started making it to begin with.