Creative dips and how to deal with them

So I had trouble thinking of what to write about and decided I would share with you how I deal with writers’ block when it comes to making music.

When you produce music you will find yourself faced with a bit of a dry spell when it comes to creative outbursts, a problem which can be very frustrating when you consider the fact that you’re trying to create something which a large chunk of society sees as an art form so here are a few techniques I implement to force myself to get into a creative mind state.

When I realize I’m not performing the way I should I start up a blank project in Ableton (the DAW I use to produce my music) and I limit myself to working with just one sample, or just one synthesizer/VST. Every part of a track I try to compose using just that one sample or piece of software. From the rhythmical parts to the melodies and more ‘musical’ elements. I achieve this by applying different effects and modulating frequencies to change the harmonics of the sound in the case of working with just one sample. When it comes to writing music with just one synth it really tests my sound design skills and even though it might not sound as polished as the end result I desire it’s still a good way to discover new production techniques which might spark my imagination.

Another technique I use is time challenges, I set a timer to 15 minutes and try to make a full ‘sketch’ of a song. The term sketch is what I call an 8 bar piece of music with all the components I want in that particular piece of music. When those parts are mixed down and arranged properly it could be classified as a song but when I produce electronic music I often find myself getting lost in the details of a certain element of the track. This in turn makes it easy to lose sight of the overall composition so to speak.

I realize this might not be useful for other creative disciplines such as drawing or writing but I hope whomever reads this gets some inspiration from the way I approach a writer’s block.