Logic is getting stale, and my art is suffering.

[simonphoenix]

Well... It's been a few months since you first posted this thread...

 

How are you feeling??

 

Have you managed to get on top of things??

 

Has any of the advice here managed to help you out?? It's all quite good too.

 

I empathise because I have these moments too, and I find the more I strss about it, the worse i make it for myself.... I'm very good at making life harder for myself!!

 

I feel very tempted to add my advice here too, that helps me to pick things up again or keep on going.

 

• EXPOSURE

 

There's a bunch of unofficial "commandments" for musicians/composers, all of which I don't remember.

 

One of them is "Practice, Practice, Practice." But the one I recall and I think is more relevant is "You can't create in a vacuum"... or something like that.

 

What this means is you got to expose yourself, to new ideas, concepts, music, books, whatever!!! Because this is where inspiration comes from. Sometimes it maybe a Logic preset, which I guess might be the case for you, but then the next day an idea might come from listening to Christine Aguilera , or Beethoven!! Or as someone else suggested... the birds!!

 

• RHYTHMS

 

I find that new rhythms can lend themselves to new ideas. Maybe lift a rhythm, off another tune that inspires you, add your personal touch to it, and then build on top of it.

 

Or you may try doing something different with a delay, especially Delay Designer, or some kind of beat slicing plugin and build from there.

 

• EVOLUTION

 

Many times, as well as recently, I'd be creating something, and I come to the realisation that I think it's a bit lame or just plainly sucks.

 

But I've got in to the habit of analysing it a little to see what I don't like about it or why it doesn't work. Then with that new info, I hit it again. I might mute some channels (I never delete anything until the end of the final mix... just in case) or i might change the setting on my Drum Module/Plug in. Try a different riff, a different sound, a different style of bass..whatever.

 

Thing is, I am finding that while an idea might suck at first, approaching it again fresh with new ideas and building on what you have it often leads to something greater. Even if none of your original idea survives, it's just part of evolutionary the process to get you where you are... the final arrangement.

 

• EXPLORATION

 

Another method I use to write something is to try something different each time I do it... In Fact, it's kind of a personal philosophy for me.

 

I usually try coming up with a different chord progression, using a different key though there are only 12, there are various modes/scales you can try. Some are better for certain styles than others.

 

I try different sounds, sometimes a different approach to writing, but that is not usually intentional. It will be because instead of punching in a drum pattern in Ultrabeat, I decided to select a random preset from my MC-505 GrooveBox, change the temp, sounds, mute the bass, play with my own bass line on top. Before you know it, there is a whole new idea. Sometimes I get song ideas by jamming along to basic drum loop on the bass, other times it's from fiddling with the ivories.

 

Try different, plugins over a familiar sound or simply altering the temp on an old project... you get the idea. Just challenge yourself to try something different each time.

 

...Anyway

 

You probably have things all under control by now, but hopefully this thread will be a source of inspiration for others

 

Good luck with you endeavours

[andygarcia1137]

I know what your problem is.

 

It's song arrangement. It's figuring out how many tracks are required for this, what combination of effects are required to do this, etc.

 

 

I can give you great advice too.

 

1. REMAKE a hit song in your genre. I.E if you're into hip hop, remake T.I's Whatever You Like. Because remaking a song, and working on it until you recreate something that was already successful is about the biggest confidence boost you can get prior to believing in your own ability to write songs.

 

Remaking a hit song also helps you learn about THEIR song arrangements and effects and mixing styles. If you can REMAKE that, you can MAKE a similar hit song.

 

I hope that helps.

[route-electrique]

Things that can widen your mind;

 

1. Participate to competitions; where you have limited time and other limited factors.

2. Do music for money (or just for fun); it's really fashinating to do music for animation, movie or anything. Suddenly you recognize that you've just scratched surface w/ your own compositions. For example atm i'm working on Hip Hop / RNB Contruction Kit sample cd. I f$@%ing hate that genre YO, but hey if it pays my web hosting bills. Sure.

3. Take your Laptop and go

.

4. Widen your musical influences, listen lots of music from genres what you are not familiar with. Go to the library. Old music. Pick the "things" you love.

5. Work together! Meet new people and record with them, jam with them!.

6. Continuosly educate yourself atleast w/ one insrument. Train. Don't just launch Logic, sit down and play the instrument.

 

We'll i guess you knew all of these, but sometimes we need slap!½ .

 

And yeah good wine, Glen Livet or whatever you please can't hurt either.