russ1981 wrote:I have 6 projects that I can't seem to get past the beginning with, they're only a few seconds long so they're not worth uploading yet. How does everyone get past mental roadblocks so you can finish a song? I realize everyone's method is different of course, but anything could possibly be helpful.
Save those scatterings in a way that they're easy to gather up later. I usually do this in the form of instruments, so that when I want to do a song, I don't actually have to do any serious synthesis except tweaking because I already have most sounds done. But even just a logical and consistent file naming and sorting system (Melodies, Basses, Progressions, etc...) can do wonders.
Also, prototyping. Take the first somewhat good sounding kick and put in the simplest beat for your genre, and just let that run while you're working on the bass. Meanwhile, also take a very simple chord prog for some simple pads and just leave that. Then, once you got a decent bass, go back and look at the kick, equalize it, put reverb on snare etc... And then go back to the pads.
Basically stuff is much easier to do if you have a general background setup already there.
Finally, probably the most effective one I've tried, is isolation. I did this by dual-booting on ubuntu studio, where I have all my music making stuff. This basically means that I'm cut off from most distractions like skype or games until I restart the computer, which does wonders for keeping you on track. Even just not having all communication programs open goes. This works for general kinds of work, like coding or school work too.
Also, it's pretty normal to have a lot of scatterings around. I have probably around 20 now, if that reassures you.
Hope any of this helps you!
