How to get inspiration?

blue hell · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject:

I had to actually look up the dutch word for "deadline", I didn't even know we had an original word for it, but in fact we have. Translated back into english it would be "time limit", more relaxed it seems.

Stanley Pain · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:06 pm Post subject:

well, the word is still "limit", which has negative connatations in english.

you could say "completion point" i suppose. wow look, i have a future in management tutorials.

dannylake · Joined: Mar 05, 2007 Posts: 4 Location: gillingham england

by listening to every bit of music that you hear everyday no matter where it comes from listen to it carefully. and then................think how you can change it or just re-construct it. then keep on going no matter how many times you think you dont like untill it finished, le grand masterpiece. (can u tell im not french)

thats what i`d do anyway

kijjaz · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:49 pm Post subject:

i like looking at shapes in nature..
for example, branches of the tree, shape of a flower..
the shape of the leaves forming the whole tree..
the clouds..
they way water flows..
the way we got interesting threads up in front..

(eh?)

IanBuzz · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:42 pm Post subject:

I'll tell you what I do when that happens...

I listen to a bunch of music for a few days just a ton...
Then I don't listen to music for about a week
Then see what comes out Razz

-Ian

*(add more or less weed for better results)

memedesigner · Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 59 Location: Berlin, Germany

In Ueland's book 'If you want to write' there was a pretty refreshing angle to this topic: being inspired is basically love+generousness.

Spent a month mid-winter in Goa and had the Artist's Way book with me but it hardly ever left the back bag. Very Happy

softfreak · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject:

no sex for a month might help with inspiration....

seraph · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

softfreak · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject:

never on purpose.
(but I can imagine that some kind of "pressure" might help)

when i`m not inspired; I`m not inspired
and I do something different.
I really don`t understand the prob.
forcing it doesn`t help, not in music, not in sex.

years ago I have tried different psychedelic drugs. yes.
the prob : I want to paint when taking them,
so this doesn`t really help too...

RecklessGint · Joined: Apr 30, 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Smoke weed. I'm serious.

You have ideas but can't get past turning on the power switch? Weed is perfect for that. Everything that could possibly be interpreted as a chore or task, on weed, is an adventure that you know you'll finish/succeed in, and enjoy it while you do so. A positive attitude produces the best results.

Of course, it's also possible to create something shitty while thinking it sounds incredible, but many of my best pieces of music were written while under the influence of something.

And it's not like it's the drugs taking over your mind; It's still you who's writing the stuff. The pot just makes it easier for you to focus your mind where it's beneficial to focus, and not think things like "this sucks" halfway through plotting down a melody.

I understand how a vocoder works, yet sometimes I have trouble getting a vocoded sound to be understandable. I tweak and tweak the vocoder bars and knobs and just can't get it right. Then I take a bong rip and get right back on that pony, and within seconds it starts sounding great.

Gary Blanchard · Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:23 am Post subject:

I had not written any music for a number of years, fo a variety of reasons. When Idecided to get back into composing, I found the ideas were not coming. The first thing I had to do was to not panic. If I tell myself I "must" compose, I end up blocking my creativity. I went back and started to write out some of the music I created via sequencer years ago, but this still didn't get things going. I just decided the time wasn't right for writing.

A few weeks ago, I came across a video tape of a performance I did in 1992 with a dancer. In it, I mentioned a new project to be titled "Music for Movement." That project never happened. I turned off the tape and went to the keyboard with my digital recorder and wrote the first piece for the series and the first piece of instrumental music I have written in nearly 15 years.

I think the combination of avoiding internal pressure and finding focus helped me to get the artisitc juices flowing. This may or may not be helpful for you.

bachus · Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 11:30 am Post subject:

eeleye · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:25 am Post subject:

Don't be afraid to write shitty music. In fact, if you're stuck, try to kill some time writing the absolute worst song possible. It probably won't come out as bad as you think. You'll get halfway through, and think "Damn! I've got to fix that, and tweak this."

blue hell · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:07 am Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:45 am Post subject:

kijjaz · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:15 pm Post subject:

Where can I get or produce a Virtual Weed?

(hmm.. and I might have to study New Age or Magick more -_-)

RecklessGint · Joined: Apr 30, 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

kkissinger · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:54 am Post subject:

Alexander · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject:

iPassenger · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:51 am Post subject:

the best thing for me and writers block is to just not write for a day or two, next time i play the keyboard/build synths/write drum patterns etc, it all seems to click.

re: the no sex thing. I think not having a gf/bf/wife/husband etc helps because you have more time for working on tracks and don't get moaned at for spending too long "sat in front of that bloody equipment making stupid noises". Laughing

Though perhaps that says more about my choices of female companionship than any artistic truism.

hmm...

iPassenger · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:52 am Post subject:

bachus · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:28 pm Post subject:

I don't know if it counts as inspiration but a fascination with technical issues or problems often provides a starting point. At the 2007 E-M there was a fascinating lecture on auditory illusions. One example was the subjective experience of direction in melodic tritones intervals. that led me to play with the octahoosits scale which is eat up with tritones and which informs the composition I'm working on now. But what ever works, Herb Laughing

iPassenger · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:34 pm Post subject:

totally agree, most of my recent sounds have been experiments on th g2, where i have been principally trying to understand one concept or another.

mosc · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject: