Damon
Offline
Melbourne

So there's plenty of music going up each week.

Seem to be a few people- myself included posting at the last minute or thereabouts.

I personally have no problem coming up with ideas for pieces.
But, I do have trouble getting started.

Typical procrastination/last minute-cobble something together that isn't that great, but hey "I did it at the last minute" work habits.

Be interested to hear if other peoples have / have had similar experiences and how they deal with it.
To pre-empt "just get started" doesn't seem to work.

Aday
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

It can sometimes depends on how much fun I'm having with the creative process ..

Coming up with an idea isn't the problem, but implementing something - or starting something getting the ball rolling may take a solid day sometimes.

If I'm lucky, I get over that first day issue, and then thing's start to take form and I start to get tracks down in DAW, on paper, (in a cart), but I do find the direction the music takes changes form considerably after the ideas are formulated.

Find it difficult to reflect the ideas in reality sometimes.

Would say starting is the main issue,
Trying to combat that by
- Taking portable music devices with me everywhere, (NDS, LSDJ, Laptop with external 500GB *mirrored* drive where all my samples/stems/sets are) and take some headphones and a UMA25S (25 key midi keyboard with soundcard built-in) around with me.

Also Listening to stems and taking notes at work (Evernote!!) to try and stay focused on the creative task.

It's an ongoing battle wink - Interested in seeing how this forum post develops.

Last edited by Aday (January 21, 2014 3:49 am)

fc
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

I use a technique called productive procrastination, where when I am procrastinating I do so by working on something else that I need to do.

bryface
Offline
vancouver, canada

i'll let you guys know tomorrow.

invinciblemagicfist
Offline

my routine has become play league of legends until about 2-3 hours before the deadline, then get going. on one hand, i tell myself that i'm learning efficiency. on the other hand, i would like to take some of these tracks further than i can do in that short time tongue

preciouskindred
Offline
rochester ny

i have been trying to make myself get at least an idea sketched out by tuesday, and then try to flesh it out by friday, followed by arrangement and mixing on saturday/sunday. a cup of tea or a tall glass of ice water and perhaps a touch of herbal enhancer and i'll fall into working on it for at least a couple of hours. though i'm worried when summer comes around it will be tough to get myself to stay indoors - might be time to get better on working on the ipad!

RawTicks
Offline

Give yourself 10 minutes to make music everyday (at a predefined moment of the day, like right after supper for example). But also and more importantly, give yourself the right to quit for the day if after 10 minutes it's a complete failure. It somehow makes it easier to start (since you know you can quit early if things don't work out). I always end up working at least an hour.

Also, that deadline on weeklybeats is quite the incentive for me and since I can't pull together a song in 3 hours, it so far has been a procrastination breaker (but doesn't seem to work that well with OP!).

Good luck!

Last edited by RawTicks (January 21, 2014 2:12 pm)

E-dub
Offline
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Since I'm more of a singer than a musician, I have to write lyrics for my songs.  I find that's the hardest part of my composition so I actually try to stay a week ahead on lyrics--so far it's working.  Occasionally, I'll be fooling around with the guitar and come up with something that I think would go well in a song and then write lyrics to go with it, but usually it's the other way around.  A couple times, when the stars, moon, Jupiter and the Antares Nebulae are all aligned, I've been able to match existing lyrics to an existing musical idea.

For me, it's not a question of procrastination because if I had my way I'd spend almost all of my time trying to make music.  But I have to try to prioritize since I have a day job, a wife, and a family.  Then, my actual music making time has to be divided among doing and learning the massive amount of things I don't know.

Chris Dotson
Offline
Portland, OR

I agree with what both preciouskindred and RawTicks said, in terms of workflow and no-pressure.

I'm a big proponent of noodling, personally. Instead of thinking that I'm starting to work, I like to pick a piece of gear, or whatever, and zero it all out and just start messing around. In the long-run it really helps you learn your tools/toys, but it also takes the pressure off because you're just trying to have a good time.

You also should remember that the record button is your friend, and not think that it only is for your great ideas. The best advice anyone ever gave me was to simply "press record." It gives you a great living timeline of how you progress over the years, plus there's always some great gems that you can use later as starting ideas.

TL;DR less working more playing.

preciouskindred
Offline
rochester ny

spot on. record IS your friend. learning that made catching ideas way easier.

2PLAYER
Offline

I dont know if I have a procrastination problem per se. I do know, however, that whenever I visit this site i see the counter and think "oh shit only X days left?! I better get started." Then I close the site and forget about it until the next time (when i do the same thing).

CK
Offline
CA, USA

Don't feel bad if you instinctively don't feel like the urge to release something that isn't your best work, because the reality is what ever you put your name on becomes your legacy.

Maby take some time out to work on your tools, create some template files, research plugs that can fix your mixing problems, or find a better vocal mic / preamp, or set up your studio, organize a patch bay. Read the manual for your DAW, note any shortcuts you haven't learned, assign shortcuts to a multimedia / gaming mouse, make notes on your favorite patches. If you have hardware synths get a software patch manager and check out other peoples patches, and set up some of your own fav banks.

All this ancillary stuff can slow you down when your doing songwriting, so it really helps to solve all these problems to strike quickly while your inspiration is still hot.

fc
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

Like any musical endeavour, not having good technique slows you down and inhibits creativity. Knowing your tools well is one of the best ways to overcome "I'll do it later", because they're not a hinderance. This applies to instruments and recording/producing tools equally.

Mr Mort
Offline
Pweter City

^very very true. Something that made me put off music for a while is because I didnt really know the synths and programs i was using. Learn your tools inside and out. Pick a synth and try and make your own patches.

Alot of it has to do with patience. You must be ready to fail and not completely give up.

You must set yourself up mentally and be positive. I cant really get into it when im not in the best of mental health.

Something that helped me is giving myself time constraints in doing each track. I, like many others here, have ADHD. The vision of the track becomes lost very easily when thought out too much.

And most of all have fun with it. Think about making music as a fun thing to do. Not a chore or a task, writing music weekly should help you unwind from the troubles that you face out in the real world, not add to them.

yan_g
Offline
France

In my experience, procrastination consists in making music. I just do it instead of everything hmm Indeed I start new tracks instead of finishing old ones smile That 1 week frame is great for me.

Source Invisible
Offline
Australia

Definately, the one week time frame is pretty good to focus things - even though I missed week one tongue I'm a shocking procrastinator when it comes to actually finishing songs but, usually working up to big bursts of finishing off a bunch of songs in a short space of time.

Lately I've found putting post it notes with little to-do lists on the front of my laptop so they're in my face as soon as I open it is helping a lot to get over the hump, and having a notepad has always been simple and great  too! That and keeping a big folder of my demos and working songs on my iPod is pretty essential smile