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.