I'm doing a little research for a project I'm starting next year regarding the process of making music.

I've struggled for years finishing music and after 25 years of producing, I feel like I've finally hit my stride and I'm able to follow through from start to finish consistently, even if its low output. I'm curious to know what specific struggles you all have encountered or deal with regularly that keeps you from finishing the music you make. I'm hoping you all could share your input with this poll and maybe some words about your own experiences. Thank you so much!

 

One possible aspect to add: file management and backup (organisation / logistics). It can also interfere with musical productivity, when you have hundreds of random files on your desktop, no clear folder structure or no proper backup setup (some musicians have lost years worth of work due to that).

Or when you have hundreds of plugins and suffer from choice paralysis or at the very least it slows you down...

 

@Hazen great point, I've added it to the poll. Thank you!

 

I wish that I had someone to name the tracks and to do all those other tedious tasks that take away from the actual moments in-between moments where I find my flame of creative momentum. Doing everything from soup to nuts is both a godsend and a curse. It's amazing to be blessed with the tools of recording such as being able to just turn on a computer, click on an icon and basically be up and running to capture anything from an orchestral piece to a solo guitar performance in just a few moments in the comfort of my own home, though I long for the days when I'd plug in and let someone else fiddle the faders and let me be mindless in the here and now. I'm a musician but need to wear hats that are either too large or too small these days (since around ADAT days).

 

To me it's perfectionism, but mostly aimed to identity. I can do a bunch of things decently well but even if the result is technically good enough, most of the time i get the feeling it's just another piece of music, not "my" piece of music.

It's not a quality or complexity thing either, it's just the feeling of connection to the music i make that in general is really hard for me to get just right, and as a result i end up ditching a lot of ideas and taking quite some time to do anything at all.

Little disclaimer though, I make music exclusively for myself, so that might be the reason why this is such a big deal for me.