by Electric Velocity » 15 Feb 2014 02:59
This is exactly what I've been going through the past few days. I've been working on 8-16 bar loops, not getting any structure done, and then giving up and starting another 8 bar loop even though the last track sounded great. I thought the problem was that it was too simple or that I somehow ended up making my original idea boring. This helped me realize that my real problem is that I don't even know what genre I'm making, so I don't know what people will expect when they listen to it.
When I do writing, like with this post as an example, I sometimes go through it and rewrite or move certain sentences so that important ones will have more impact. That's how it is with my music too. I try to make my favorite parts stand out, but sometimes I repeat what I'm saying too many times and feel like I've overstated. What I need is to find a genre for each of my songs and stick to it. It's hard though because most of my songs are created on the spot when and however I feel like it.
I thought that if I could come up with some lyrics, that I could finally have a structure to my song, but lyrics shouldn't be an afterthought. I'm more of a planner, so if lyrics weren't part of the original vision, they'll most likely drag my songs down. I know that I like the way my song is now, but if it's just that one 16 bar loop and nothing else, it feels lacking no matter how complex the loop is.
Of course people will suggest writing a new set of chords, but that only stretches it out for me. I'm going to loop those chords too because I want to get the most out of every part of the song. Sometimes my tracks will get up to 9 minutes long and I realize I have to cut my song in half. This makes me wonder if anyone really cares though. I mean, there are a lot of great songs that last more than the conventional 2-3 minutes most popular music is boiled down to. Music itself is just a bunch of repeating sounds put into an organized fashion. I think as long as you at least try to keep a flow going in your music, long tracks are perfectly fine.
The part of eery's post that speaks to me the most is the part about how one's musical taste can be narrow. I know for a fact that my taste is very picky. For awhile, I only listened to maybe two artists and thought all other music was trash. Only in recent years have I started accepting other types of music, but those first few tunes I grew to like stuck with me. They come through in all the music I do. No matter what, if I try to make another type of music, my original taste will effect it. I find that listening to music I don't like only strengthens my style and that's not a bad thing.
Thank you, eery, for posting this. Hopefully I can get out of my rut and worry less about what I'm doing wrong so I can focus more on what I'm doing right.