When you just cant make anything good

[spaceNTime]

For some odd reason i've been really off my game for the past month or two almost. I've made maybe 2-3 beats out of 40! that were of any decent use. I usually just keep making shitty beats till one comes out that turns everything around but nowadays its something mental man. I just feel drained like music in general from anybody isnt really hitting me anymore.

I still hit the lab everyday because i Know to become a pro at this you gotta work through your bad days but shit i'm 40 beats in and i've been struggling bad lol.

I'm thinking of smoking some weed again or something my mind feels real constricted. I hit the gym meditate and still kick it with homies but for some reason cant get into a good groove. Most of my tracks have felt so lifeless.

any advice ?

 

[Fade]

It happens to all of us. Are you mainly sampling? Or plug-ins?

Either way your best bet is to take a break, that's it. I've gone weeks even months without making a beat and when I came back it was like I never left, but I would always come back refreshed. You can also just listen to other music to get fresh ideas. Classical, Jazz, or whatever else you can listen to instead of just Hip Hop. I don't know how some people listen to only one genre of music!

 

[Poe Pockets]

@spaceNTime Try switching genres every once and a while. I produce a lot of Hip Hop/R&B. When I hit the wall I create House/Techno tracks to stir up my creative juices and to come up with something different. Some days when it's not clicking at all I step away for a day or two or I have a crew of producers I clique with; that I'll listen to some of their work to get me inspired. Don't be discouraged just keep grinding!

 

[The Real Kareem]

Just do the things, that are uncomfortable. Learn everyday something new and practice. Stay focused and See The big picture. Change your paradigm and Get rid of The negative thinking. Discipline yourself and maybe Meditate to an instrumental on repeat you realy dig. Good luck!

 

[KCSwagger]

Dont just focus on making beat try new techniques, work on your chopping, drums, experiment with music theory, try remake a beat just make sure u do something everyday

 

[thedreampolice]

This is the life of any creative person

This is the best song I have heard about this topic.

 

[DJWIDEBODY]

how i take a break from beats when im in a slump oll go digging or edigging , ill make new drum racks for ableton and drum groups for machine, i look at it like im prepping food , and when im ready i have drums percussion samples at my finger tips it also helps me focus on creating instead of searching for drums and samples when the time comes

 

[eXACT]

@spaceNTime - I usually try an array of things including switching up what I listen to. That isn't too difficult because I really do listen to everything, but I try and stray away from anything that is even remotely Hip Hop and aim for instrument-driven stuff.
Another thing I do is record and then load up some instrument notes or chords onto my sampler VSTi and just noodle around, punching pads on my MPD18, with the bottom two rows dedicated to Kick, Snare, CHH, OHH, and 4 percs. I find even if I don't come up with anything with what I set up on the pads, it sparks some idea for something. (I highly recommend getting a 16 Pad. It is a completely different feel than triggering samples with a keyboard.)
Also, try just creating ideas with backing tracks. This is huge for me. Try just laying down two chords on a guitar or piano and then coming up with an interesting bassline to it without drums. Or, lay down a simple (purposefully simple as fuck,) drum beat, a two-note (only two,) solid bassline (no fancy stuff,) and, here's the trick, use a drum set and a bass that is either very different sounding, or very different from the drums/bass you usually use. Now noodle away on your instrument of choice.
These are tips for creating music, which is mainly what I do. As far as sampling goes, try to find an album/song that you like but instead of looping it, cut up the loop into twelve to sixteen parts and assign them to your pads and then literally just triall and error the fuck out of the combinations. And remember, not every chop has to be played all the way through. Make sure you have your pads cut to 1-1 so they cancel each other out, and can be used far more rhythmically.
Those are just a few ideas. Hopefully they help.
Also, whenever you have an idea, riff, rhythm, tune, anything, pound it out and save it in a folder full of other snippets and ideas. I have hundreds of those that I go back to often when I am in a rut.
Remember; you don't have to cook up a song every day. Sometimes you gotta let that shit simmer.
Selah.

 

[2GooD Productions]

yo, @thedreampolice, you still around I see.

Exact? are you the same exact I did a track with years ago through myspace?

As for the OP, Ive just come off a 3 or 4 year break, been so long Im not sure how long its been. Still got the skills, its just the inspiration thats lacking. Writers block happens to all creative people, sometimes it just doesnt happen, best not to force it, take a break and come back fresh

 

[tomkillsjerry]

4 Posts and we never saw him again

 

[2GooD Productions]

maybe he took the break hahahahahaha

 

[eXACT]

@2GooD Productions Nah, different person. I was making beats back then (in the Myspace era,) but it was all local, no social media. I have seen other people over the years with my name, but I have always used case-sensitive "eXACT" because it was originally the way I threw up my graff name back in the day, so anything different, isn't me.

 

[RizzakBeats]

First of all, you need some breaks every here and then, it's like holidays for your soul and brain. What helps me a lot to feel good music is to listen to some other stuff I've never listened to. And tbh I also dance like a crazy mf in my room when I feel a good song because for me dancing is like letting every pressure go of your chest, even though I'm not good at dancing, but no one can see me haha. After the break, when you make beats, try to make a melody (if you aren't sampling) and get used to sing along a another melody to your already made melody. It's like at the jazz piano, there you also have to sing a melody to the chords. the point of that is, that your brain learns to make beats out of nowhere.
For example, I made a beat today and I had this super nice melody on an e-piano. After I played and recorded it, my brain or my subconscious was like: "Yeah, you have to do the drum like, dum-tscha,tsikitsiki, dum-tscha" and I beatboxed a little bit. And so on and so on. You should feel the music already inside you when you are making this kind of your own creative piece of work. In the beginning, i was more like a thinker, i thought of every process and didn't like the outcome, but now I'm more of a out of the guts, we call it "Bauchgefühl" in germany (gutfeeling) and now i love my beats.