Problem: repeatedly subverting/ruining your own ideas

[Dusk]

Ive been having the same problem for months now. However I start out (and it not always drums first) I just can't get to a critical mass of elements to make the track fully stick, or keep me in love with it.

Before I even knew the basic principles of sound design, I used to just throw stock sounds together and in truth, I did pretty well. I made collages, but of a sufficient complexity to override the ordinary nature of their component parts. These days, with good monitors picking every hole, a focus on sound design, and higher standards, I attempt to create every sound myself. But not just any sound - I effectively expect one sound to have the same impact/role as a dense layer of four or five stock ones.

My problem in practice: once I arrive at the point of having a few sounds working well together, I can never create or find that extra sound or two, needed to consolidate and elevate the track beyond what I consider to be a bland fascimile. Every sound is *wrong*. (I begin to question the basic sonic fabric others use; what do they actually fill their space with?) As a result, I drift into choosing a sound that works alone, but not with the existing ideas - thus taking the track in a totally new direction.

This happens repeatedly, and 2 weeks in, I have a well crafted beat plus 4 basslines, 4 hooks, 4 lots of FX, and so forth. Effectively, 4 different tracks, but not one set of complementary ideas at critical mass. Next of course, I get utterly bored of the whole thing and start all over: rinse, repeat.

I'm concerned enough to post this because I've not got into the arrangement of a track during 2009 (compared to 2005-2008, where I was getting to the arrange stage once every 2-4 weeks.)

Can anyone relate to this particular madness?

[MagpieIndustries]

fear of success.

chill out and stop trying to be so good. just make something cheesy and fun.

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

innit, use some samples, dont let this sh!t take over your life, its fun...

[pizzamon]

Everybody has to get through this point. I read some very valuable advice one time (in a magazine many years ago) that has stuck with me. "Learn every thing you can about music, and how to do it right; and when you ready..throw it all out the window."

[Audio Dependent]

i dont think you need all the necessary ingredients for a track ready when you're working in the early 'loop' stage of a track. a well crafted beat plus 1 bassline, 1 hook and 1 lot of FX, is more than enough to start laying down a structure and progression of a track. once you get there, i think it will be more apparent what you're missing and what needs to be added...

[Broken]

my best advice would be to move past the "loop" stage or even skip it entirely,

i never work on a loop anymore, it has very little relevance or connection to how a track will work in its natural state....which is not a loop but a sequence!!

so yeah crack on, write from start to finish,

if theres one thing i do know when you do work in a loop, the elements and ideas you make often are discarded to changed beyond recognition when you start to lay things out.

[victorgonzales]

regardless of how you structure your tracks Id say try working on more than one project. When you get to a point where you are starting to not have fun work on a different one then go back to the other one later.

I am usually working on about 5-6 projects. Keeps me from getting bored of it or too picky and destroying and overannylizing things.

[Shepherd_of_Anu]

my best advice would be to move past the "loop" stage or even skip it entirely,

i never work on a loop anymore, it has very little relevance or connection to how a track will work in its natural state....which is not a loop but a sequence!!

so yeah crack on, write from start to finish,

if theres one thing i do know when you do work in a loop, the elements and ideas you make often are discarded to changed beyond recognition when you start to lay things out.

I wish more people would concentrate more on creating the perfect loop rather then trasitions between segments. Tracks that emphasise transitions and changes seem to me like music that has been constructed to impress druggies. A loop doesn't have to mean 16 or 32 beats.

I think more effort should be directed at the fundamentals. You are on the right track Dusk.

Take a track like Swayzak - Form is Emptyness.

This is one of my favorite tracks of all time. The elements are fairly simple but they work so fucking well together.

I remember the first time I played this for people. It was at a house party and when I was mixing this track in (this = present tense... listening to it now... go buy it for effect.. thank me later) this girl was laying on the floor appearing to be asleep and suddenly she bolted upright and said, "This is an amazing CD!! Who is this?? Whats it called??"

When I informed her that there was no CD and it was just me DJing a record she looked sad because she knew that moment would not happen again.

Wait... I am going off on a trip down memory lane here...

my point is... this is a beautiful track. I loved that track the first time I heard it and have studied it quite a bit since then. It has a singular purpose and perfect intentions. One can tell that it is a purposful declaration of a spectacular state. It is a space created with intention. It is mindful and maticulous. There is great craftsmanship put into the sounds. In some ways it is little more then an overglorified loop but it is so much more then that.

Its perfectly and lovingly constructed.

That is what makes a good track. Not a slapdash sequece of change ups and progressive alterations... If you agree with me or not the fact remains that most minimal music these days is a lot more focused on those short moments created during the change ups and progression then it is the actual state created by the music.

A lot of newer tracks seem to rely on the excitment created when the track switches up from one small section of monotonous sounds to another small section of monotonous sounds. What seems to make a track "good" is the affect that little change up has on the mind... the fact that more often then not the material itself that people are listening is not all that nice/musical/pleasant to listen to just slides by people is bizarre to me...