Lost in the mists of production?

[AcidShroom]

Helloo all

I havent been much active and dont know where to begin. Basically to sum it up, i've been off from producing 80% ( usually went for hours in a day and now just 1-2 times in a week just a small session).
I feel kinda lost and dont know where to start again, thus i want to delve deeper back in and here is my question: If you have a break from producing for a while, do u just get back at producing just by making tracks?
I've made still 16 bar loops and such but they all sound skill wise at teh same level.
What is your learning process? How do u use your producing time? What is a good way of learning? I know lots of tutorials but they seem kidna frustrating because i'ev watched a few episodes from all of the tutorials.

The other this is losing the vibe..thus not finishing tracks. How do u battle this?

I link two of my tracks too for a reference. I would appreciate some tips and pointers where to start to get better.
www.soundcloud.com/acidshrooom/bolognese9/s-Dcnoj (cant get link to show -.-)

and sorry for the clyp.it link, i have really shitty connection in the fraternity dorm.
https://clyp.it/ycbndw2d

 

[Apostata]

Hi there,

I have been trough the same as you. I had a break for two years, in which I haven't finished a single track. However, in this time I have learned a lot about mixing and quality. So basically, I have dozens of 9-16 bar loops, which I was working on.

I decided to get back into it as you have and now I am actually really glad, that have dozens and dozens of loops, which I can finish. There is lots of good material. I have decided to make a system for myself. I will use certain amounts of hours for only producing effects, or layering drum samples to create my own. Then I created a folder in which I place all the project files, which I want to finish. Now my plan is to make a schedule for maintaining my output.

So, when I feel like I am lacking inspiration to make a track, I work on effects (risers, drops, basses, etc.). When feeling motivated, I work on the tracks.

The thing is, don't pressure yourself. You don't have to finish at rack right away, I had some tracks left for over 2 years, before I decided to finish them.

One of the most fun part for me is working on phat and complex basses. If you don't feel like anything else, you can do that. I have a folder for only 8 bar loop basslines, which contain nothing but a bassline, which I work on for several hours. Every now and then, I create such a nice sounding bassline that I just tell to myself: "damn, people have to hear this!". That motivates me enough to build a track with it.

 

[Dark Lizardro]

The first thing you wanna do is turn these 16bar loops into a full track. You won't get better if you don't practice.

Taking breaks are good if you feel you need to redirect your thoughts and all, and use this time to actually evolve your style.

As you said, tutorials are pretty good for you to get the hang of things, but you need to put what you watch into practice. Music, being it electronic or not, isn't a thing that you go from n00b to pro in a night.

 

[Apostata]

Music, being it electronic or not, isn't a thing that you go from n00b to pro in a night.

Amen brother!

To become a master at something (anything really), it takes about 10.000 hours of practice!

Now it depends on which aspects you want to improve, composition, technique or theory? All of these aspects are vital. Being a guitar player I know you have to have a feeling of rythm, knowledge of scales and theory as well as practice in techniques. I used to sit down for three hours on end, just playing a scale up and down, till my muscle memory was so good, I could play solo licks blind.

You can use any system you want, but I recommend scheduling hours for each aspect and sticking to the plan. The more hours you have, the better you get.

 

[Dark Lizardro]

Amen brother!

To become a master at something (anything really), it takes about 10.000 hours of practice!

Now it depends on which aspects you want to improve, composition, technique or theory? All of these aspects are vital. Being a guitar player I know you have to have a feeling of rythm, knowledge of scales and theory as well as practice in techniques. I used to sit down for three hours on end, just playing a scale up and down, till my muscle memory was so good, I could play solo licks blind.

You can use any system you want, but I recommend scheduling hours for each aspect and sticking to the plan. The more hours you have, the better you get.

As a guitarist myself, I'm too shitty to play things with my eyes closed. I'm sufering right now to replicate in the guitar some melodic parts I made on the piano roll in my DAW. I spent the total of 16 hours this weekend just practicing the same melodic line. My fingers are sore. Two of them have blisters. And all this because of what? I just stopped playing the guitar for too long before deciding to put it back into my music.

I don't know scales. Everytime I start fiddling with a new music, I just open a new browser window with the progression of a scale I want to use and start experimenting with the note there (and sometimes with the note out of there as well).

I don't know why the pentatonic minor sounds like this, or why I should solo over the dorian mode in a E harmonic minor scale based music.

But I DO know that perfection comes with practice. And sometimes, imperfection can also be a good thing.