In a bit of a rutt, any advice?

messymess

Not just 'writers block' but 'users block' too. I am the stage where my tracks are primarily vst instruments without using any vst effects. My tacks seem to follow the same type of formula and I understand that this is 'my style' ... but I'm getting so bored with it. I went through tracks I've half played with over the past four years and I was embarrassed with the similarities in their construction. They just sound weak!

I'm handy enough with music theory, enough to get by and I've introduced live guitar into some tracks but it just isn't cutting it.

I need to get more competent with cubase and the plugins I have. But I'm overwhelmed with the amount of them. Can anyone suggest the best plugins to start playing with first, maybe other than the obvious, reverbs and delays etc. Any great 3rd party plugins you'd recommend even?

Anything you can offer in the way of suggestions is appreciated! I'm staring nightly at an unproductive cubase screen

seannash

eople are gonna come on here and tell you alot of things like copy a track you like,try a remix comp,collaborate

to be honest if things arent happening there not happening.

dont force it,if creativity isnt happening try experintenting with effects,techniques.this is not to help ideas come but to help your ideas sound better when they do come.

you cant ask people for inspiration

jesse.j

sounds like you need a break. from experience I've discovered that if you can afford the time (a few days) to completely break from what you are doing, this will help get the flow back. another tactic is: draw up a list of all that annoys you about this task plus everything that you enjoy: this might help you see the changes required. good luck.

Quiggers

try creating a track with just guitar, use it for drums, bass, leads etc, use only cubase's bundled fx and processes to mangle it into a full track, re-pitching and time stretching as needed, pick a key you never work in. create a track that never repeats the same 8 bars of music, force it to evolve. go crazy with automation on your fx channels.
drop straight timings and use swung triplets, work at a much lower tempo and leave space in the music.

as for vst's, more is often too much, get to know the ones you got with cubase and add to them slowly.

Sky King

Your problem could be described by Maslow's Hammer... i.e. to a man holding a hammer, every problem suddenly becomes a nail.

It's so easy to become swamped by the massive capability of a DAW and get stuck in a rut of relying n the same old tricks and samples. People have their own tricks to break the cycle. I am not condoning drugs but thay've been used for this reason....

But I find a good tool to aid creativity is, believe it or not, to limit yourself to the max.

Set yourself a challenge to compose a track using one specific kit you've never used (jazz kit 4), a key you rarely use ... and an odd time signature... that's the challenge. See what happens.

Then post it up here for us all to rate!

TheBardWest

Agree with Kilkenny Flyer - limit yourself. I might even suggest getting away from the PC altogether, pick up an instrument and limit yourself to writing chord progressions, melodies, etc. just on that instrument for a month. Or limit yourself to writing a complete track with only one VST.

Here's a tutorial I wrote on this topic not long ago: http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/production/using-ambient-techniques-for-composing/

messymess

Thanks, some good advice in this thread. I have barely turned on my work station this week ... I probably just need to create some distance between the two of us for a while I'll let yous know how it went in a few weeks!