How do you get inspired

[Full Dosage]

I was just wondering well basically i have really little time for production lately because of work and stuff an when i get to making some music i just cant get any decent ideas out of me or when i have an idea for melody or element it just get lost in process and i get bored with it so how do you guys get over this stuff do you just force your self to writing music or what

 

[wesStyle]

Same here. Tons of unfinished pieces wich will never be continued.

But what helps me is having days when I have enough free time to mess with music production. For me the most trustful way of finding inspiration is sampling. I just sit and go through my sample packs or old records to find something to work with(usually drum loops/single samples or if I want to start with melody - chords, progressions). After that I usually write down 4-16 bar loop on which I can say "yep, I like it". After that I go straight to arrangement to not end up playing one loop for several hours/days

 

[Cold Quake]

Focus on finishing one or two tracks unless you do finish them.
If you can't come up with a melody, just go make a break or go mix stuff that you already have.
Maybe try doing some sound design (pads, basslines and such)...

Usually what works for me when making melodies is just playing around in one scale on my midi keyboard.

 

[Sultanare]

I switched from using the step sequencer in FL a while ago to using audio clips, and that's helped a bit workflow-wise because I can just drop a bunch of stuff in and see if it works :3

Don't spend too much time processing individual sounds, just see if everything works together without tons of eqing, compression, etc.

And make sure to get lots of sleep and take breaks often haha, it's really hard to make music when you're tired/have ear fatigue.

 

[Dugg Funnie]

looperman.com

 

[Binary_UK]

have a smoke, listen to different music that is outside the box, and different to what you aim to make. Never set out to make a certain style of tune, just go with the flow and play with ideas

 

[Mason John]

I'm playing to my strengths atm and just playing melodies on my usb keyboard. I have some (limited) classical piano playing and guitar/flute experience so that definitely helps. Usually just w/ the default sound, find an octave range that works and compose something quick. Then tune a few things around.

I'm usually thinking of sweeping symphony scores when doing that, and pad sounds from other dnb tracks, can either be dark ones or more along the line of stuff like Total Science or w/e. Doing the breaks is the hardest part for me; just so many different little ways it can go, but I guess a strong pad scratched up quickly can keep it contained some.

 

[Mania]

Listening to music walking home from school or the gym. As inspiring as it gets.

 

[IV4]

Rant:
Some down time would inspire me to make a track. I have made about six tracks this year, and four of them are shit. A little time away from the kids, work, and school would help a lot.
I just want some time to make music....

 

[Full Dosage]

yeah i think lot of time im really tired after work and im trying to push it and that isnt good. some time off would be great but that isnt possible :/. on the other hand i do listen to lot of radio at work cause im driving and that its little bit inspiring just listening to more pop an mainstream stuff but then i get home and have no mood to make music :/ also i think i have to learn better sampling ways and using more samples in my tracks i think that can bring some musical "background" on which to work on. thanks guys for your replies

 

[Mania]

yeah i think lot of time im really tired after work and im trying to push it and that isnt good. some time off would be great but that isnt possible :/. on the other hand i do listen to lot of radio at work cause im driving and that its little bit inspiring just listening to more pop an mainstream stuff but then i get home and have no mood to make music :/ also i think i have to learn better sampling ways and using more samples in my tracks i think that can bring some musical "background" on which to work on. thanks guys for your replies

Radio tunes are about as inspiring as a pigeon turd. Listen to the stuff that engages you and gets you motivated.

I dont know about you guys but i tend to get my better ideas in the shower.

 

[Menosance]

Search for silence and ideas will be created in your head and keep on elaborate on those ideas until you have some free time to produce. The world is full of noise to distract us from what we want to hear. Fuck noise, aim for silence. Silence is the ultimate artistic block killer.

 

[JaceWzu]

Do the dishes

 

[D-Jhepz]

Same here. Tons of unfinished pieces wich will never be continued.

But what helps me is having days when I have enough free time to mess with music production. For me the most trustful way of finding inspiration is sampling. I just sit and go through my sample packs or old records to find something to work with(usually drum loops/single samples or if I want to start with melody - chords, progressions). After that I usually write down 4-16 bar loop on which I can say "yep, I like it". After that I go straight to arrangement to not end up playing one loop for several hours/days

what ive done recently is just starting from the my oldest unfinished going through bouncing down all and everything bit of worthwhile work (ie drum break bass pads) and started a folder "my sounds".

you can then go through that and see actually how many decent things you have made and they are yours!

 

[LikesItHardware]

Coming up with a theme is a great way to get inspired. It can totally influence the sound of a track. If you can't get the bassline yet, write a melody, you may find a bassline in it.

I've downloaded Steem (the Atari ST emulator) and have been playing around with ST Speech. Sounds so vintage, yet the pronunciation is so much more accurate than modern text to speech. And yes the first thing I made it say was "3, 2, 1, techno". lol (If you get the reference)

Almost anything thing can inspire me. Music, movies, video games, even random sounds. I've even had a track inspired by a thunderstorm (in which I recorded rain sounds on a cheap tape deck. Crate digging for vinyl is also fun. I don't really sample besides a few drum hits, but just music outside of the genre you listen to can create great ideas. Archive.org is a great source for finding old public domain movies to sample. The source of sound bites in Noisia's "Friendly Intentions" came from "Plan 9 From Outer Space" in which I'm sure they downloaded from Archive.org.

 

[Serum]

If you want to get ideas for tunes I find listening to as much different music as I can works well. I often tend to grab a ton of music and sample just about everything I can find that's open.

Watching films and listening to interviews with musicians can also help quite a bit.

Trying to force it can just be a massive waste of time. You've got to have some sort of idea to start with or you're stuffed.

 

[Deekay[AUS]]

Inspiration comes to me from a range of things. From other genres of music. Being a big metal fan I find lots of awesome riffs that i try use for ideas. Also another one is going through old dnb tunes and just feeling that vibe.

For a while I was getting the worst case of writers block. I ended up just walking away from EDM all together for a few months. Clear the head. Don't even open up my DAW. But when I did decide to get back into it. I opened up old projects that I just left and yeah get inspiration from there.

 

[alz]

I source inspiration from a number of places.

1) Trying to put something off always works, I'll bury my head in logic instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
2) Listening to other people's music, often I'll hear a drum pattern I like and try to recreate it, then end up going in a totally different direction and making a tune.
3) Laying a kick drum pattern down; doing that just inspires me for some reason.
4) Sound design; sometimes I just get bored and want to make a lead, pad or bassline, if I make something I like then it starts working its way in to a piece of music.

 

[JimpaDirt]

This was a big problem for me before.. But now I just keep adding sounds like, make tons of melodies, bass stuff, percussive loops and then decide what I like the most and spread them all around the tune. Then I mute the stuff that I dont think is ''working''. That sort of works for me atleast... So I guess I get inspired by the sounds and groves I'm making?