Okay, daniellondon, let me begin with this: 1) I got you on some of that mental shit, I do. 2) I have only read the first couple posts on here before realizing that I don't need to read any of them because I am always one step away from your predicament. and 3) Sorry,
Ak3mi91, I'm not comin at you, but I completely disagree with

because,while it may sound like a solution to the problem, you aren't aren't curing your alcoholism, you're just moving out of town so you're not within walking distance of the liquor store--that's all.
So, here is my two-cents....and five dimes.
I have been playing drums since I was ten, guitar and bass since I was fourteen, piano since I was about eighteen and I have always fucked with beats in one form or fashion or another, even when I was in Rock, Metal or What-The-Hell-Are-We-Making? bands playing whatever instrument. So, that's my condensed musical backstory. Now, I feel you on the mental shit, some more than others, but all of them to some degree (some, probably to a greater degree than you,) and I would be in the same boat as you, but the difference is that I am a stubborn motherfucker, often times to a fault [See: The Courtroom].
So, here is my advice: Be an unrelenting asshole with yourself. Don't turn off the internet and hide all the temptations, that's not going to solve anything. If you're going to procrastinate, you *will* find a way--you know this.
Sit down and tell yourself that even if you don't make anything that is worth a good goddamn from now until eternity plus a few more minutes after eternity ends, you are going to pump out whatever you can. Put yourself outside your head and into the place where there is just music that you want to hear that has yet to be made (I know how difficult that that can be,) and just sit down, you and the music, and if anything other than music, sounds and noises (yes, even *noises*,) comes into your head, berate yourself until you succumb to the fact that you need to get to shit or get off the pot. When those neat little fantasies of being the next !llmind(Grammy & success-wise,) tell yourself you're an ass for thinking that; you don't deserve it.
Basically? Hang up your guns unless you're going to put in the work. And I *mean* that. I'm not going to encourage one more person who is just going to flounce around with the *idea* of making music to stay in the game; why would I? You have *no* excuse not to be making music. You think half of the artists you like didn't struggle with some sort of mental barrier(s)? People who don't have the advantages of ten terabytes of tools who sacrifice whatever they have to see their music become a reality don't need you floating in their ether.
I may have lost you at this point, but the simple fact is, at best, you're coddling yourself, at worst, you're fooling yourself.
I have been playing for easily over a decade, non-stop, and *people who don't know me* have said that I'm naturally talented, and I am good--that's not ego, that's fact--but I'm not brilliant (yet,) and? That shit was hard won. I regimented myself to the point where it was dumb. Watching a movie? Run scales on the guitar and try and go Major to Minor in different keys, or just noodle slong with the soundtrack or songs that are in the movie. Play piano? Same shit; next time you're watching a show that isn't to terribly stimulating or doesn't require your full attention (which describes basically everything you can point your clicker at,) start playing until you here something that you like and then drag your ass away from the TV and get to work. I am currently diving deeper into mixing than I ever have had ther opportunity to before (life always seems to get in the way,) and I am running with it while I have the time. Do I want to mix the same song twenty times, experimenting with different techniques, to see what works best for my music? Fuck no, but that's the grind.
I am sure that everyone on this post is saying "Start a regiment." Great. Do it. But don't start a list of regimented activities and then decorate the list with flouncy quotes about aspiring to shit, and then go online and look up an inspirational font to type it up in, send to your BFF's and see if they think it's cool and then....--just start.
Also? There is a very real chance that you may not have what it takes to make great music. No matter what instrument(s) you play, and what genre(s) you choose to pursue. Most people who put the time in can become good; a smaller amount who are good, can become better than most; greatness is reserved for those that love the craft and completely dedicate themselves to capturing sounds that escape most.
I make myself do what I do because I love it even when I don't like it; music keeps me sane even when it's driving me crazy. My longevity and continued progress--despite life's setbacks that range from the ending of a five yr relationships, the loss of a solid job, the death of people close to me, to homelessness--I have made a habit of recycling my frustration into one more ounce of strength to push forward. Some of us do it for the love and because it is who we are; it sounds cliche, but it's that simple. If you're not doing it for work, which you're clearly not in any danger of, and you're not doing it for the love, get out of the game.
I'd feel like an asshole for the obvious abrasiveness of this post if it wasn't for the fact that I hold myself to the same standards that I hold others to; it's how I keep my scattered head and erratic life aligned with my aspirations, goals and nearly unhealthy pursuit of making good music, even if that music never wins more than a couple nods of approval, saying nothing of an over-rated Grammy.
Get off this forum and figure out why/if you really want to do this at all; maybe those 10TBs might be better spent on porn.

 

Thoughts :

1.) Pick up a guitar, or any instrument to consolidate and execute your musical thoughts

2.) Maybe you need to get into DJing instead. Sprinkle your stuff on top.

3.) Slim down your hardware and streamline it. Also, fug-shuy your workspace (move stuff, remove stuff)

4.) Take a jog every day to clear you mind (or walk - 15 min one way, 15 min back) - (Bjork's advice)

5.) Understand that you're producing for yourself, and when you produce, you think back of all of the musical experiences, people and and history throughout your life - how much you used to love it when you didn't know what you know now. Live and produce like that......like a child.

6.) Produce for the purpose of moving people and making them happy. (or sad, melancholic, etc...)

6a.) L.A. Indie-Electronic

6b.) Check out Blaylock's Indie Playlist for inspiration. 100 tracks per month of creative indie groups you've never heard of, and they are ALL great. http://www.birp.fm/

7.) It's like working out......it sucks going to the gym, but when you do it for 2 weeks straight, you're back in the game, you just have to exercise your skills until you feel confident again (if that is a problem for you)

8.) Be ok with growing older and changing. It's what this life is about and your musical life must mature just like you as a human being.

9.) Try standing up and producing instead of sitting down all the time (stand-up desk)

10.) Create a schedule and post it on your refrigerator or door. Allocate 30 min for producing - even if you don't feel like it. Just produce something. Producing something for even 5 min a day is better than producing nothing that day. Adhere to your schedule and do it for 2 weeks. When you master that schedule, bump your producing time up a couple of notches. Musicians have regimented practice schedules.....it can get scary. e.g. modes and scales 20 min; 4-way independence on drum kit 30 min; arpeggios -15 min; play 4 jazz standards with jamey abersold CDs; practice blast beats 15min; Work out of Joe Satriani Exercise book - 15 min; Practice Mambo, Samba, bossa nova beats 20 min; take a break.......etc...

So you could say.........download new software 10 min; organize sample library 10 min; chop FLAC files into samples 10 min; Produce 30 min; watch a tutorial 10 min; produce random genre from a reference track 15 min; create lyrics 5 min; continue working on old project track 15 min; be completely random using techniques you would never use 15 min...........just examples......you make your own, but YOU MUST WRITE IT DOWN!!! Use a free countdown timer for PC if you have to!

Be true to yourself even if you don't like what you see. I mean, look at Marilyn Manson! He had guts to let who he truly was, and thought into the public eye, but he did it, and success aside, he's productive because of it.

 

Last edited: Jul 24, 2018

bluerover is spot-on with this bit, not that the rest is off-base or anything.
I've made music in different genres over the years that I didn't like at the time and, once I've let it breath for a while, went back (sometimes yrs later,) and found that it was actually pretty good--flawed, but the idea was strong enough to touch it up and make it a solid track. I find that this is especially true of my Hip Hop/Soul stuff. I think one of the reasons I'm so picky with it is probably because that is what I grew up on, 60's and 70's Soul, so quality has to be there, to the best of my ability.
Sometimes I even find myself trying to recreate what I have made before to make it seem like I am creating again when I am actually going through one of those hellish dry spells, and it goes nowhere because that's not where my head is at after all these yrs of making music; you change, add to and subtract techniques from your bag o' tricks, you move on and hopefully mature musically even if you find yourself in unknown territory.
Something that I find difficult is finding that fine line between keeping tracks "completed" or not, and coming back to them later, and keeping a pile of trash riffs/hooks/melodies/beats in hopes of making them great someday. I know you don't make Hip Hop, but I like what Alchemist said about making music--I think it applies to any type of music.
"Never be afraid to save a beat and move on to the next one; never be afraid to erase a beat--did you make the track or did the track make you? [,,,,] We hold on to things that are great that we created sometimes, and it can stunt our growth, as if that one beat or verse makes you."
- Alchemist -
Basically, that brings me back to what I mentioned before. Just sit down and make noise if that is all you can do. Keep it, throw it away, it doesn't matter. It will get you one step closer to where you want to be. Sometimes getting the gears upstairs moving is the hardest part.

 

If I understand correctly, you have done an average of about one hours work per year for the last nine years . Have you actually written anything, mixed anything and if you did, did you think it was any good? Why you should not worry about being famous and how it could limit you and other wrong reasons for writing have been discussed thoroughly above. My question is why do you think you have the abilty to write music in the first place? So far the whole thing seems to have been a thought experiment.I am not trying to put you off, but it is a rather obvious question. I know a lot of people paste together loops written by other people and call it writing music. If this is all you want to do and can't start even to do that, then you definitely have a serious problem with motivation.

If you have got something down, put up a link to it here. You will get constuctive criticism and encouragement even if it's only a 20 second clip. I have loads of such clips in my 'ideas' folder. If you have no ideas of your own, do a cover. I sometimes do this as an exercise in trying to get it to sound exactly the same, you learn loads doing this, but you could always do your own version. Sadly putting in the hours is the only way to get good at anything, perhaps not the oft mentioned 10,000 but certainly more than 10.
I just reread your post. Did you mean 10 hours of work at a stretch? If so, nobody does that at least not without large breaks.If this is the case, please ignore everything I have written above

 

So, what I'm getting from OP's post is an impression of a someone who may well be armed to the teeth with a formidable arsenal of gear and sundry munitions but no target. The remedy is a simple one. Acquire an objective and a deadline. Take a specific challenge and go for it.

For starters, in one month's time, I shall expect a track from the @daniellondon stable that is between 5 and 7 minutes in duration. The style must be either big room, rock, metal anthem, or hardstyle. Absolutely no pop. Leave that low hanging fruit for those with a short reach.

If the work is completed within one month, it will be inserted in Midnight Furie's playlist for the Midnight Hour, which goes out on the internet once a week, every week. That's a guarantee. All you have to do is deliver on time. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

I double dare you, @daniellondon
Pull that rabbit out of the hat and nail it to the wall.
Procrastination is the thief of time. Pick up the gauntlet right now and quit with the grizzling. Tears buy you no beers.

 

Last edited: Jul 24, 2018

Take to nature, then come back and work like it's your last day on earth for a month.
(rinse&repeat)

 

Are you my doppelganger?

 

Don't make music in order to become a superstar,make music just for fun.That will avoid any disillusionment in the future.When you're young you have a lot of dreams for your life,but then years go by and you come down to earth.

 

Or to masterbate with.

 

These may help:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-memory-capacity/
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150401-whats-the-most-we-can-remember

Invoking the familiar computer analogy, Reber says the limit to human memory in a lifetime is not hard drive space, but download speed. "It's not that our brains are full," Reber says. "The information we're experiencing comes in faster than the memory system can write it all down."

Ease off a bit as you go round the life's bends.

 

Relax. It doesn't *have* to be done.

Quit. It's ok. You're allowed. Go find a wife, sleep around, get drunk, walk barefoot in the woods, learn something else, whatever. You might, or you might not, come back to it. The Cosmos is not depending on you. Have a beer, relax, forget it.

 

usually both here

 

Thanks for nothing guys :/....joke joke!!


No really...wow. Thank you for all the useful insight and wisdom. I sought a pity party and instead I received a motivational ensemble. To be honest I was half expecting half of the responses to be "STFU dude...just do it brah...get a life" - so im pleasantly suprised at the level of comradery embellished in this forum.


Special thanks to T3NR@, johndoehizzle, hellxenn, gizmotech, BaSsDuDe, bluerover and eXACT_Beats_ for the in-depth replies.


@tvandlover If we are talking solid production then I would say 10 hours in total. Perhaps more hours of just messing around but ten hours of developing an idea, arranging, mixing etc.


@DarthFader I will definitely take you up on that offer.


@G String I really can't. I will either be fulfilled being a freelancer or i feel that I will kill myself soon enough. There is NOOO way I'm spending my life bunged up in an office in a mediocre job.


So going ahead and embracing the wisdom given to me - it would make sense to stop yapping and start doing; but I just wanted to give some extra context to anybody who is interested:



I was a really talented and aspiring kid . . . music, making short movies (one of the first guys on YouTube), photography etc. I then got depression, involved in the wrong crowd, had some MAJOR traumatising experiences and I then kind of sidelined music and anything creative for that matter. Red pill / gore forums sure didn't help.


On top of that I have ADHD, I will start exploring medication; but imagine trying to set up a super complex patch bay or some complex matrix routing in reaktor (or anything that takes up a lot of mental capital for the average person). Now imagine using that kind of mental energy and focus on the most basic things - you end up being mentally drained very quickly; which isn't great for creativity.


I listen to so much music that in my head I know how i want an idea to sound and when I don't have the technical knowledge / experience to achieve it; I just stop. By technical knowledge, I mean that i'm more geared towards modern / mainstream music production which requires a lot of nuanced knowledge of automation, synthesis, layering and sample manipulation. So on one hand it helps having all the tools the pro's use but on the other hand my brain literally refuses to make anything SHIT!


I am Sysyphus personified.


I'll start today by finishing a quick beat no matter how crap it is and I'll share it with you guys tomorrow. The crapper you tell me it is the more progrese i feel that I have made.

 

take a tape recorder ( phone whatever)
where you can hit one button when ready to record.

next get piano.
next use most basic music theory to create most basic music ( while still adding expressions)

take your deepest emotions related to THIS topic ( you posted your thread about)

write
intro, verse1, chorus verse 2 chorus verse chorus outro

or

write a intro, verse 1, per-chorus,chorus verse 2 , per-chorus, bridge, per-chorus ,chorus ,verse 3 chorus outro

turn your feelings and experience into very basic but powerful music
talk about your inner feelings.

have good melody good harmony good rhythm and good storytelling.
make the music simple as possible to start and only adding in detail to perfect it.
play and perform this song for people who have nothing invested in you

go back to basics

 

sounds to me you have learned to prepare to work instead of just working and you're addicted to preparing / finding new sounds. Throw away all but a few and just use those . As to post traumatic stress disorder , please don't use that term unless you truly have that because for some of us that have served that is real shit. Not to take away from your issues but ptsd is no joke and not something to throw around.

 

Yay! Delighted.
To set the scene, I shall PM you a link to a 320k mp3 copy of last week's Midnight Hour.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2018

You know, if you're serious, you get professional help. If you don't, the only thing you want is attention.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
(funny side fact: the old domain therapistsearch.com is no longer valid, apparently too many users confused it with the rapist search. lol.)

Any kind of trauma can invoke ptsd. The loss of a loved one, an accident...

 

You've given me an idea!

 

yes that is normal today_ I for example have like 2000 plugins _ but I have a quick acces to my favorite ones_..
spend a lot of time making songs_ the rest is for making "presets" very important_. and learning how to get out of my own kind of music and trying to get to other kinds of music_. I have a lot of "demos" and then I choose the best songs to produce them_ in my case I don't find a lot of inspiration watching "tutorials" or "music documentaries" etc:_ I find inspiration in other things:_ othe arts "painting" for example_ "philosophies" and try to aply those "new things for me" to the new songs_. a lot of inspiration does not come directly from "music" really:_ sometimes obviously YES:_ but that is not all:_ and another thing you chould try is to make let say_ this next 3 months I'm gonna make a lot of "songs" "demos" 30 40 songs_ if you fail it is ok.. you don't have to release them __ then.. after that .. don't listen to those songs.. at all when you make them.. just make a alot.. then.. after a few weeks later.. you listen them.. and see what's the best of those experiments.. sometimes takes days to get in to that .. rhythm of making a lot of songs:_ but once you are there.. all is easier.. then it stops.. you get tired-- and start searching again.. and produce them.. etc.. anyway.. music.. what a complex world it is.. it has no end... even after you die:_

 

Really? Gosh. Do tell.

I hope it's not like the one that you had last week. Spray my lovely, shiny, black armour pink? Seriously? Nuh-uh.

 

Last edited: Jul 26, 2018