I returned relatively recently to making music and have spent a lot of time and money over the last year or two on my midlife crisis synth setup.
Still very much finding my way, what I like, what I don’t like. Experimenting and making some slow progress toward the sound I’m aiming for, but Jesus Christ, sometimes I spend an hour or so on something so incredibly annoying and unmusical, I just need to switch everything off and do something else.
I’d say this happens maybe 50% of the time. Other times, I can spend the whole evening on something, maybe not something I’ll see through, but I’m having fun at least. On a few occasions, everything effortlessly just falls into place, almost as if I truly know what I’m doing.
Just wondering, how often other people annoy themselves with their own output, then rage quit.
Do you find it gets easier with more experience?
How did you improve the overall quality of your own output?
Yep. My advice is keep pushing on. Not with the same song/beat/sound, but take a beat and start a fresh with something else.
It’s taken me a few years and several finished songs and many more half started ones before I’ve finished a demo that doesn’t bug me when I listen back to it.
Remember it’s as much about the process and the enjoyment from it as it is the results.
I went to a Q&A with London Grammar last night and they were talking about professional song writers who will write 500 songs to get 2 or 3 that are actually worth working on. With that sort of hit rate for the pros, it’s no wonder us amateurs struggle to like our own output.
All the time, but I don’t rage quit. I just say to myself, “well, not today” and move on. The more dramatic I get, the more caged in I become and that feeds negatively into my productivity. I find it better to be kind than to torture myself, because the next time that I try to make music, I won’t a weight on my shoulder.
Yes. The more you try, the more you succeed. It’s a skill after all.
As above, by trying and trying and without expectations (or at least with expectations pocketed for later). Sometimes it helps me to be focus on what I am practicing or trying to make, like I’d aim for a disco track, for example, and other times it super helps to not aim for anything and just make, make, make.
I’m mostly just annoyed that other people are so good. But if I ever make anything that I’m actually truly satisfied with, then I’m sure that you guys will be the first ones to know.
I think for me it’s the inconsistency that is so frustrating.
I have managed to ‘finish’ a few pieces and they do seem to be improving, so that’s something.
But as someone with limited time for making music, it can be infuriating for the output to be so wildly variable.
I think a couple of you may have taken my rage quit comment literally, the reality is more like muttering ‘this is shite’ under my breath as I flip the power off, before going off to do something else.
i’m super happy because i grew up on rock (read: drunk/stoned human-played) music and used to be punk in my teen age (but we all know that there are no former punks).
so i don’t annoy myself because i don’t even try to be perfect and/or conform standards – it’s just pointless unless i’m a superstar of the very 1st magnitude.
Only in retrospect, when I listen to older stuff, do I realize improvements I’ve made.
Be honest with yourself about your goals. Are you trying to hustle up to top 40? Probably not if you are here.
Are you trying to make music an even semi professional capacity? Or was fun always the primary aim.
Are you just trying to chat and show some tunes to some random nerds online? I welcome you. Post some noises, crappy or not.
These aren’t the only paradigms out there. Just be real about what you want out of this, and don’t be too hard yourself. Blah blah journey not destination.
To answer the first question. I make a LOT of music that I just don’t even save. I jam for a while, get something groovy, get tired of it, start over lol.
I don’t ever rage quit but I often find myself getting bogged down in pointless details that anybody listening to the music wouldn’t even notice and I have to take a step back and remind myself of the bigger picture.
I find the best way to be objective about my own music is to not listen to it for a few months while I work on something else. When I go back to it I’ve forgotten what it sounded like, so it’s almost like hearing it for the first time
I’d say 98% of my nights in front of music gear are spent the former way - spent on something I probably won’t see through to a finished song. I really try to have fun no matter what I’m doing with music so even if, by the end, the result is an obnoxious sounding mess, it’s my mess and I wouldn’t have gotten there without making my own decisions (and hopefully figuring a couple of things out along the way). It’s like painting or drawing. Goodness knows I’m a shit painter. But on the occasions I try, even knowing the result will be childish at best shouldn’t take away from the enjoyment of putting color to canvas.
That 2% of the time when everything falls into place like I know what I’m doing? That’s a high I continue chasing. The only thing I feel like will improve my odds of that happening is practice and more practice.
I have no doubt every single track i finish is better than the previous one. It may not better musically but it’s better from a technical standpoint (to me). So, yes it definitely gets easier over time I think.
By the way, my “secret” i think is that I don’t leave anything not finished. Other than my random jams for fun, I never have anything on my computer like a loop or an idea or anything like that. I sit down and finish it. Again musically it may not be the best music out there. But I am happy with the results and my development.
