How do you find inspiration to write new music

[damoog]

There has to have been a post regarding this so apologies in advance

BUT ….Would be Interesting to hear how you all find inspiration to write new music as this is a weird experience for myself as it strikes totally unexpected and I then go on to write half a dozen tracks at once but can go maybe 2 months where I’m not able to get my mind to work ,inspiration however does seem to take action first thing in the morning when my mind is fresh?

I know this is probably typical writers block

Software wise I do find XFER Cthulhu a very handy tool when starting a new track and hardware wise Arturia bsp

[foosnark]

When I make music I "write" almost nothing, it's all just playing. I'm really comfortable with improvisation -- jamming on the piano since I was a kid, on synths starting in the 80s, playing in the high school jazz band, drum circles in the 2000s, taiko drumming in the 2010s (taiko often includes improvised solos just like jazz), etc.

(While I don't use piano roll style sequencing anymore, nor "song mode" sequencing -- even in that sort of environment you can treat it as a kind of improv. It's just a mindset.)

Something that I found really helped my creative consistency was making myself finish a song a week for a year. It could be a weird little experiment, something really formulaic, etc. -- it was more about getting something done, not about obsessing over quality and second-guessing any creative choices.

Do that enough and it's excellent practice -- much better in the long term than trying to be a perfectionist about one particular thing. The music starts getting better and the flow comes more easily. By the end of that year I wasn't finishing one per week, it was three or four.

Once you have a few dozen recordings to go back and listen to, you can judge them as a whole, finding your own strengths and weaknesses. Some of the weak stuff you can work on, and some you can just cut it off and stop doing it.

This is one of those things where, I can crank out patches and songs quickly with what seems like minimal effort, only because I've put in the 10,000 hours (or whatever) doing it before.

...

As far as actual inspiration goes: what I do is, just start making some sounds. Pick a synth and just do something. If I hear something I like, I "follow" it -- that sound is my inspiration. What is about that sound that I like, can I emphasize that? Can I do something similar with other gear and transition from one to the other, or add a different voice to build it into a chord, or add something that contrasts with it? And so on. It's pretty much just play.

The more parts I start pulling together, the more specific the next need is... like I might feel the track is lacking in bass so I bring in a sub drone from a reliable easy-to-work-with synth, or I just want to double a part on a Mellotron or layer in a bit of filtered noise.

One important thing in that process is just not second-guessing myself and getting caught up trying infinite variations or absolutely dialing in the exact perfect thing. Just pick something that works and move along. This is part of why I don't use presets (the other part is, I'm good at the sound design stuff, I really enjoy it and it's just part of the process).

[VOODOO U]

Software wise I do find XFER Cthulhu a very handy tool when starting a new track and hardware wise Arturia bsp

You forgot a disclaimer stating XFER and Arturia aren't paying you to make this thread.

[dark_virus]

Listening other people's music. When I listen something I like I think "How would I make this track?" Then I start trying to emulate it and end up with something completely different.

[jamcat]

1. Try to imagine the best song you’ve never heard. What would that sound like? Hum a few bars of the melody and record it. If you have a smart phone, then you have a personal recorder with you 24/7.

2. Play an instrument. Something you do may spark an idea. Feed that spark until you have a flame. Try playing an instrument you don’t normally play, or better yet, one you don’t know how to play.

3. Mishear stuff. Your brain will fill it in with something better. Gary Numan gets most of his ideas from jingles playing on TV in another room. White noise or the shower can also provide a rich canvas for your mind to paint on.

4. Try to figure out another song from memory. It will probably end up going in another direction. But now you have a new song of your own.

5. Sing! Just start singing.

[soundmodel]

I used to think that I needed to know what to make.

Then I realized that one can generate infinite amounts of "what to make" by just selecting a bunch of samples that are in the ballpark and then playing with them randomly in the DAW timeline. Then getting something to start with and rolling from that. 98% of the tracks I do start from a sample or two in NN-XT or Kontakt.

Also, nowadays there are so many samples that you don't necessarily have to create new ones, because you can reiterate using the existing ones. E.g. get that guitar_loop.wav and cut it to hits and just rearrange the chords and maybe drop some -> new track.

Or if you work with recording, then just put rec on and record random stuff in. Then pick up the best parts and work from those.

1. Try to imagine the best song you’ve never heard. What would that sound like? Hum a few bars of the melody and record it. If you have a smart phone, then you have a personal recorder with you 24/7.

I used to think this way, but then I realized that it's impossible to ever recreate the ideas that one has fully, because of the limitations of production, samples, ...

Works for e.g. melodies or rhytmic patterns.

[harryupbabble]

well, my music heroes are my inspiration
they are what is called "songwriter"
i aspire to be able to do what they did
but it's not easy
what they did are miracles to me
the miracle of somehow having the right lyrics for their melodies

[harryupbabble]

i am reading about classic rock songwriters a little bit here and there
one of their motivations seem to be competition
the beatles and the rolling stones were competitors
they checked billboards to see how high their singles were charting?
the beatles did beat the stones that way
but the beatles quit and the stones kept going

at first, blur beat oasis that way too
then oasis came up with wonderwall
maybe a lot of bands, old and new, do/did that
compete on the charts, i mean
as a way of motivation

led zeppelin didn't do that
they released albums and not singles
and so their songs didn't show up in billboards singles chart or top 40
the way that led zeppelin competed is by how much tickets they sold
led zeppelin beat the beatles that way
the beatles did stop touring but led zeppelin kept on touring
led zeppelin were selling more tickets than all the other bands,
at the time
bands like the one pete townshend was in
the world health organisation
bowie's band(s) too
aerosmith
kiss
queen
etc

most of the bands said something like,
"there's no better high than performing on stage"

but if the band's catalogue isn't huge, then they might sell less tickets
so, led zeppelin kept making records
and when their fourth album came out, the radio deejays were solid fans

for motivation, emulate the greats?
compete?

the buddhists would probably say,
"no no no, competition is not the way to go"
"meditation is the way to go"

but competition equals better creations and better results?
microsoft versus apple, etc
olympians versus other olympians
mcenroe versus borg
nadal versus federer
fischer versus spassky
true in songwriting too?

i'm not sure who salvador dali was competing with
pick a sow maybe?

and joni mitchell, she probably won't admit it but isn't it
possible that she was competing with bob dylan?

[RunBeerRun]

I'm a robot vending machine. I eat quarters and spit out candies. After a while I don't need any more money and can expend goodies all by myself.

[DMG68]

There are a few things that put me on the path to musical inspiration.
1) listening to music and an idea strikes that’s inspired by what I was listening to, a variation so to speak.
2) playing my guitar I will often end up coming up with an idea
3) sometimes I get a title for a song that I like and then I want to make something fit into that
4) recreating or playing existing songs often inspires an idea, similar to how just listening does above

[vurt]

science fiction and fantasy novels.
i picture scenes or characters, then paint them, with sound.

[neverbefore]

I dont find inspiration, inspiration finds me

basically I have no control at all over whether I am 'inspired', it just happens that sometimes an idea comes to mind that interests me enough to think I will make something with it

more commonly I just play with software and save if any good - not as a 'piece' but more as a note to self about something that is interesting. That helps me remember for when I am inspired or have an actual piece to finish (I have the first in a video series to put sound to at the moment - but I will probably finish another few videos before I start putting music to any of them)

[eLawnMust]

Constriction & a Challenging Environment for Me... Modern DAWs are overdone & boring as hell & way too much getting in the way...

I compose plenty in this-



Old Freeware Tracker from 2001 internal multi-timbral synth up to 7 instances & other than that just samples no VSTs or other wimpy dependencies and just 460 KB directory size works on any windows OS & fully crash free no matter what or how many samples you stuff into it (up to 128 slots). now that's inspiring & no other I have used has been crash free...
And YEAH, I've used most stuff out there, Tracker or Piano Roll for decades now....

[donkey tugger]

Pizza in the oven, pick up the acoustic guitar and arse about for a bit, generally will come up with something. Lot of cold pizza.

[mhe]

Old Freeware Tracker from 2001 internal multi-timbral synth up to 7 instances & other than that just samples no VSTs or other wimpy dependencies and just 460 KB directory size works on any windows OS & fully crash free no matter what or how many samples you stuff into it (up to 128 slots). now that's inspiring & no other I have used has been crash free...
And YEAH, I've used most stuff out there, Tracker or Piano Roll for decades now....

Does this run on W10/11?