I logged 25+ hours of beatmaking this weekend

[Cold Truth]

basically i did 5 blocks of 5 hours or so.

friday night, and 2 each saturday and sunday- plus a few fairly long untimed sessions.

and NOTHING. i have.... total.... three basic templates, that arent even ideas really. no good chord progressions, maybe.... one decent melody idea? thats even a stretch.

you serious?

i'm very irritated right now,.... cause i havent really put forth that kind of time and energy during the summer- so i finally sit down for some marathon sessions, say screw everytthing else, and.....nothing.... damn if that aint discouraging. i would say i am in a "block" opde cause last week i did 5 decent tracks that can be fleshed out well. what i really wanted/needed were some fresh ideas though.... i was/am determnined to go up a few notches.... i am determined to start doing some of those "wow" tracks.... fuck all this "just playin around and see what happens" that i have been doing... i got to learn how to sit down and directly make something..... the real world aint gonna wait for me to get creative.....

so i broke out my piano book for a minute, im learning how to read music and play with my left which is cool.....

but damn... 25 hours and not one beat?

 

[classic]

im down to one beat every 2 weeks so dont feel bad,

But thats a good lookin on starting the piano thing, like we talked about im doing the same thing(starting gutiar lessons on wed) its important to stay fresh and try new musical ideas. If producing is ur only musical outlet it can get stressful

class..

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah, i was *thisclose* to putting my midi keyboard right through my pc monitor.

honestly though i am through with this..... its been too long sinc ei began this, and its high time it starts paying dividends.... so i have been mroe focused then usual lately, but thus far it has produced little results.

 

[Formant024]

Minimize your concepts, start out simple and build a custom library. Works for me

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Dawg I have insight .....two of my friends are signed and have done stuff with Rocafella, Defjam and some other labels.....that comes with the territory, they stay up all night almost every day working on beats LOL so that's nothing....you are just honing your craft, I put in a ton of hours and sometime s come up with nothing.....another time I can sit down and create.....my biggest blower is tracking beats though I hate that.....with hardware its more sensible to track the beat right after you make it especially if you might lose the exact sound or you are using multiple, modules and racks and god help if you lose the sample.......that is one reason why doing production in a self contained studio like reason can make you more productive, you can move to the next concept or come back to it and all of your sounds sould be be there so you wont ever really ever have to track the beat until its needed.....but with making a track on multiple pieces of gear its smart to track the beat right after you make it......anyhow man hopefully the next 25hours you spend will be more productiive for you.

 

[Formant024]

^^^word!

I dont even flip presets that much, or save them either. I edit programs and start playing/recording track by track when Im on hardware. On the pc it's mainly beats I produce with the additional little bit of samplism. But the tracking is so much intuitive when working on pre production, my problem is all the options when Im not working by project but more impulsively

 

[eXampuL_oNe]

basically i did 5 blocks of 5 hours or so.

friday night, and 2 each saturday and sunday- plus a few fairly long untimed sessions.

and NOTHING. i have.... total.... three basic templates, that arent even ideas really. no good chord progressions, maybe.... one decent melody idea? thats even a stretch.

you serious?

i'm very irritated right now,.... cause i havent really put forth that kind of time and energy during the summer- so i finally sit down for some marathon sessions, say screw everytthing else, and.....nothing.... damn if that aint discouraging. i would say i am in a "block" opde cause last week i did 5 decent tracks that can be fleshed out well. what i really wanted/needed were some fresh ideas though.... i was/am determnined to go up a few notches.... i am determined to start doing some of those "wow" tracks.... fuck all this "just playin around and see what happens" that i have been doing... i got to learn how to sit down and directly make something..... the real world aint gonna wait for me to get creative.....

so i broke out my piano book for a minute, im learning how to read music and play with my left which is cool.....

but damn... 25 hours and not one beat?

Well, I can definitly relate to this. This weekend I was at it hard and I only came up with one that's really an okay beat. I can feel your frustration brotha, I get very aggetated aswell.. The thing is, I found that when I rush myself or force myself to make music because I want to but I'm not feeling it at the time, it comes out BOOTY! It is definitly frustrating and it can get to be a problem. I was in a slump for a long time because it seemed like my beats were not coming out to my full potential and I would just close the program/turn off my gear without saving and I did this over 50 times. Then, after I really started analyzing why this could be happeneing, I came to the conclusion that I need to let what comes out come out and not try to force all this shit so much (don't know if that makes sense but...).. Now, after this weekend I am just going to do all my beats when I feel madd nspired, because that's when I make all my classic material and I would recommend that. But on the other hand I see where your coming from.. You want to make fsome cash as fast as possible and I know we can all use that. That's were it gets frustrating, racing against time is a bitch, ain't it?

 

[afriquedeluxe]

lol damn, am only laughing because ive been there and sometimes it re-occurs. Just gota decrease the pressure on yourself though, and stay light hearted. Dont force nothing, however cliche that sounds.

 

[that kid]

if ya'll seen fade to black when jay said you got to let the music flow don't force it because when you force it that's when the music gets wack. my suggestion is don't plan on a marathon session or makin sick bangers just sit down and let it flow if it's workin out that day then you'll be there for awhile if not stop and do somethin else. if you keep stressin making sick beats on command you'll never make another one because your forcing it- that kid

stay focused man...one

 

[MarkN]

yea im in the same position trying to get focused and get things moving and come up with less than i would normally, its like people have said you can't force creativity sit back a bit relax it will happen eventually !

 

[MaZaMuNe]

one time i was 72 hrs and no beat, just 30 project files, that were all crappy sampled beats...

 

[sYgMa]

I'm guessing (cuz I dont really know) but I dont think Pharrel, JD or any producer force themselves in making beats...

I mean, beatmaking is creation. It's art. Forcing art is not something I would do. I could do a 10h of beats (with 30 min breaks every 2h or so...) But I wouldn't mind if nothing comes up. Cuz that's what art is.

2 weeks ago, I made, like 5 or 6 good beats in a week. And I didn't even put that much time on it. There was a music fest and some free hiphop concert in the streets... (that helped my creativity a lot). But last week, I only did 2 and this week.. we'll see.... It all depends.

 

[Greg Savage]

Damn im sorry to hear that.. Never had anything like that happen... heh i think i'd be pissed too

 

[DJ Xsinna]

Yeah, I'm there right now myself man. In fact, every year around this time I get this feeling like I'm losing it...can't come with anything creative. But then something clicks and junk starts to come together! Sometimes it's stuff that you struggled so hard on to make bang and some inspiration hits you for that track. It's weird. Be encouraged Cold Truth, it will all come together for you. It's just a matter of time. You've got the skills...that's not an issue. Just in a temporary slump that's all. You'll be bangin' again man!

 

[Cold Truth]

i dont see how i am forcing it...

forcing it would have been to keep the things that i didnt like... i tossed those though....

i personally view it as a good thing. yeah im ticked that i didnt get anything done, yeah its dicouraging at the time- but honestly these things will happen.

sometimes... you just got to sit there and push yourself... i see it like working out almost..... to me it isnt "forcing" until you keep the shoddy work....

anyhow thanks for the words of encouragement... usually posts like this are just venting, ive been here before but never have i spent so many hours to come away with NOTHING.... i sually get some good skeletons but this time.... nope... nothing.

 

[CampO]

I hear Ya still Truth It's not about you forcing it cuz ive had some similar experiences where I have the inspiration and the urge 2 make beats but even with when im feelin it sometimes I just draw blanks .

I duno if you already have one but since your more of a Composer I would recommend gettin a Digital recorder cuz sometimes out of nowhere i get some Ideas and start humming away and come up with a few melodies , I dont put the pressure on my self to go play it out right then cuz I no i have it saved and i can go play it out when im more relaxed

 

[Beatz 101]

i did over a hundred beats this summer alone. So right now im just chillin'. My brain is tired.

Now i do just 2 beats a week average. But ima get back on the grind again cuz niggas is peepin' my shit again and i wanna stay fresh.

sometimes marathons are good. Cuz if u plannin' on gettin' into the music industry, u should have a good catalog of at least 300 beats that are at least mixtape worthy and like 100 album joints. Cuz when all the people start callin' for some work, you not gonna have time to make a beat n' shit, you gotta do business.

but if u aint feelin' the creative juices then u should chill. But i dont chill no longer than 2 weeks. After two weeks then u slippin'.

 

[P_1]

This is why i like making beats when im not thinking about beats. i know the world doesnt wait for us to be creative but with me, when it comes to beat making, i try not to force it. this is how these "dope" producers end up with garbage material. i understand they have a deadline to work with though and thats totally understandable. I think that you just need to sit back and listen. make a beat while going online or something. man ive made beats where i started off talking to someone on the phone and just kept plugging away on my keys. then once it felt right i would tell the person, "call you back. im on to something!" CLICK............

P1

 

[massikrbeats]

I tried one beat every day for two weeks. The following two weeks involve mixing all the sounds down and "completing" the actual track. This usually helps me 'add meat' to my track record.

 

[Freakwncy]

man i still crank those things out like short order flapjacks.... nothing long.. thou... i like to save that part for the lyrics... but good 9-17bars of niceness....3-5 short beats a day... i would like to say, that i'm usually 80% Heat!, but yall can pull my card if u can... One Love.