The forum · September 2003 – July 2004 › PROMOTE YOUR WORK

I'm stuck in a loop

Started by strukt · 4 posts · 39 views · this thread in the Internet Archive

1. strukt24 Feb 2004, 14:24
   It began with my mother bought me a really basic keyboard at my 6'th birthday. In my eyes it was a toy, and with being a kid i got bored with it after one hour.
   
   Many years later in my 14-15 year old i used Impulse Tracker, and i sounded really bad. Some years after that i discovered Propellerheads Reason and i was quite bad with that too. Now, when i'm 22, i'm still using reason and i've got a bit better. But right now it feels like i'm stuck in a loop, i can produce some good sounding tracks if i wish, but i dont get any better. I'm not stressed about beeing better because this is only a hobby for now.... but i dont know what to do. I've tried Cubase with some softsynths...sure, it sounds okay, but i dont like the workflow.
   
   How do you get new inspiration? how do you evolve? and how do you become better at what you do?
   
   http://www.soundclick.com/strukt
   
   Listen to my newest tracks there, "Disconnected 2004" & "New Beginning" if you wish and have the time..
   
   Some tips about improvements would be apprechiated, i think it's called constructive feedback :) And please bear my crappy english grammatics.
2. Lithius27 Feb 2004, 10:55
   Well sometimes I get stuck too. The best way to keep movin is to change something in your work. This might be experimenting with new ideas in Reason (or FL with me), trying to use hardware equipment only, using sounds and samples you've never used before ... you know. But if you're making a song and it's stuck as a loop ... well ... I dunno what to say cause I get that a lot too! Some successful attempts were to make the loop go on for a minute or to, but change something along the way, like adding a sub-melody, different drums, absense of drums entirely, unique sound FX, and that sort of thing. Then after that mark, change the progression entirely and introduce the listener to a new era to their musical journey, if possible. Something that always works: make a sound that sounds so cool that you wouldn't mind listening to it over and over. For example, a cool progression, a floaty synth, a drum riff, a catchy bassline, or something totally unique. If it's catchy and unique, then you've hit the nail on the head.
   
   I've done this sort of thing to a number of tracks I've produced! Check out Incandescent and Just One of These Days off my site (click the www button to get there). They were both stuck as loops and with a little aid, I was able to stretch em out to entire songs.
   
   Hope this helps!
3. Lithius27 Feb 2004, 11:00
   Oh whoops ... I guess you weren't talking about that kind of loop, lol!
   
   Oh well ...
   
   My way of sparking my plug when my battery's dead is to browse through my sound loops until I find something that sounds good and work from there. It really helps! If you want to find some good loops, try flashkit at www.flashkit.com/loops ... I even got some stuff up there! Search for "yothatrules" and click on more loops by LITHIUS TECHNO.
4. strukt1 Mar 2004, 10:42
   Thanks for answer,
   
   i guess i just have to work hard and often and it will go better after a while. I'm working on somthing now that sounds quite nice... but i'm stuck...again. but i will leave the track for a few days and work on it later with some new fresh inspiration.