The Top 10 causes of Writer’s Block & How to break the cycle

Writer’s block is a creativity killer that we’ve all run into time & time again. Sometimes these periods can last days or months. In my case, it was years. Sure, I still toyed around with new programs & made a few decent ideas, but nothing was completed or released during this time.

The sad thing is that it’s easy to use writer’s block as a crutch so we define every creative obstacle as a form of writer’s block & give up. Many of us don’t even bother to try to define what writer’s block even is.

Lack of inspiration?

Lack of Motivation?

A creative black hole?

All of these definitions could be accurate, but let’s start calling it by it’s real name. Fear.

Fear is something you can face & overcome, unlike something as impenetrable as Writer’s Block. Sounds like a disease with no cure but to wait it out doesn’t it? It’s not.

Let me try to shed some light on the subject & hopefully set you back on the path of creating right away. Below are habits & belief systems that have lead me to the dreaded Writer’s block & some ways to crawl out of that hole.

Avoiding simplicity – A huge obstacle many people have is that they are trying too hard to impress themselves & their peers. Every idea that they come up with seems too obvious, too simple or both. Sound familiar?

It’s important to remember though, you are writing a song, not a riff. The only way a song can work is when it lays on top of a simple foundation. When you let go of your ego & just bang out a few chords you’ll find that more complex ideas will come to you as you play those simple parts back.

Complex parts are always derived from a more simplistic idea, so don’t be afraid to start simple & add layers until you hear something interesting. If you come up with a better idea later on, you can always scrap your simple parts later. More often than not though, it’ll be the simple parts that will give your song it’s backbone.

Don’t over complicate. Start with something you might consider overly simply, obvious or amateur if you have no other inspiration. Keep building the idea until something interesting comes of it. If it doesn’t turn into something you love, don’t sweat it. You’ve pushed past the fear of simplicity & survived.

Avoiding sucking – This is a huge one. Anyone is capable of sucking & we don’t want to be in that anyone category, so instead we hold out for genius. This can be a very long wait. During this time, you get more & more out of practice, so your current skills start to get rusty. The longer you wait, the harder it is to jump back on that horse. It’s a much better idea to challenge your fear of sucking head on every time. If you can’t make genius, make soemthing that sucks just for the hell of it. Have a laugh. Do you have any idea how much genius was created this very way?

Why are you so afraid of sucking? Tell me one thing you are good at now that you weren’t worse at when you started? Everyone who has created genius has a lot of suck in their closets that you haven’t heard. Don’t sweat it. Your job it to choose which of your creations are the best ones to share. Never stop creating altogether because you are afraid of sucking. Anytime you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, you are going to have to face the fear of sucking. Might as well get used to it now instead of later.

No Feedback – This is a big one these days. We create for ourselves, but if we are honest, we also create for the reaction & feedback of others. It’s why we all got into this.

When all you have to do these days is make a clever post on Facebook to get “liked”, this instant gratification becomes a curse when you are writing music. You want to know as you are in the process of writing whether something is good or bad.

The excitement of others fuels the creative process, whether it be friends, bandmates or family (although, you’re family will rarely tell you you’re work is genius). It’s good to look over your shoulder for some feedback when you are unsure. Not having it can put you in the fearful position of having to think through a creative block on your own, not knowing if you are building on an idea that doesn’t have a good foundation to start with.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes you are gonna have to grow some balls & be willing to say “I like this & I’m willing to take the risk that you won’t”. To always rely on other people is going to hinder you from finding your own unique way & that is what the world wants from you anyway.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t work with other people or get opinions. Just always be prepared to accept criticism & go your own direction anyway. It’s liberating.

Creative beliefs – A big part of writer’s block is the belief that some people have got it and some people don’t. What you spend your time doing is figuring out which side of the fence you are on. This is a trap. Nobody can be inspired if they hold the belief that whatever it is that makes someone a true artist, they don’t have it.

You are going to have to reprogram your belief system to the understanding that there are some people that preserver through their creative challenges, and those who give up.

It’s pretty easy to know which side you stand on with that belief & the remedy is crystal clear. The it is something that comes from putting so much time into your craft that you no longer fear it.

Social media – This is really similar to having no feedback in our creative lives. The first thing we want to do when we feel insecure with our creations is made a clever post on your social network of choice. This gives you your “fix” of approval.

The downside is that it becomes so easy to get approval this way that doing real creative work takes a backseat. A good way to break this pattern is to intermix creativity & social media by announcing your creative goals & putting up your progress for those who support you.

It’s really important to create partnerships with other musicians of a similar vibe or style. These are your “go to” people when you want feedback on an idea.

Get yourself a Soundcloud page & post private links to people you trust to be the most constructive & honest. You may also want to make a separate page on your Facebook or Google+ strictly for your music. If you are going to be on those sites, you might as well use them to build your support team.

Brand yourself as an artist so people will expect work from you. This should help break the pattern of instant gratification. Also, never forget that you are in the driver’s seat. You can ask for directions, but never hand over your car.

Tutorials – It may seem taboo for a guy who makes tutorials to inject this into one of his blogs, but I think it’s important to realize that tutorials alone aren’t likely to build your songwriting confidence. In fact, if you aren’t putting what you learn immediately to use, these tutorials won’t likely do you much good. If you only consume information & dont put it to use, you’ll lose the habit & motivation to write. Then you’ll become afraid to write, and that’s exactly what writer’s block is.

Sometimes watching people way above your skill level can inspire you, but other times it can make you feel unqualified & unprepared to make music.

Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. Put on a Sex Pistols album & rebuild your confidence by making something within your current skill levels.

I personally like albums made by less talented musicians, because I feel like I can hear that angst in the music of not being able to fully express themselves. Have you ever read somebody writing about something that affected them so much that they struggled to find the words? That is powerful & should be embraced.

I don’t mean you should lower your standards. Instead except that the genius isn’t in the complexity of things. It’s in looking at simplicity from a different angle & layering these simple ideas to build something new.

Too many choices – This is something I know all too well about. When I played guitar in bands, life was simple. I have my Guitar, my amp settings & a limited amount of guitar effects. From there, I had to come up with something that meshed well with the other players. In all honesty, I probably had about 6 settings I used regularly. This made it super easy for me to just focus on writing.

When I started using drum machines, samplers & synths, the options were exciting, but it took ages to choose a sound palette. By the time I got ideas laid down, I had forgotten the original inspiration, leaving me with an uninspired set of sounds.

I’m not blaming the choices. I’m blaming myself for not having the foresight to know my own sound & search for those few patches that sounded like me. 

I encourage you to take the time to build some go to sound patches, drum kits, etc. These are patches that already sound good & inspiring to you. These should be the first sounds you go to when starting a new track ( a guitar or Piano is also a great place to start). This way you can bang out something that sounds good as the ideas come to you.

You can always change things later, but you’ll have the advantage of solid ideas to give you direction when exploring unfamiliar sounds, synths, samples etc.

If you want to bust your writers block, have good sounds ready at all times or your favorite instrument at arms reach. Would you be surprised to know that Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode/Yaz/Erasure) starts all his songs on guitar? He saves all the noodling on synths til after he knows he’s got a song worth writing. Something to keep in mind.

Past failures – So you write a song or a few songs you are excited about & the reaction you get it less than enthusiastic. This one is tough. I’ve been there myself. After sharing this music you’ve worked hard on, your motivation to continue making music is shattered & writer’s block sets in.

The thing you need to realize is that everyone does stuff that isn’t up to par.

Everyone.

Secondly, you’re friends will rarely share your excitement. Sometimes they just aren’t into your style. If you aren’t directly copying another artist, you’re likely to come across people who just don’t get it. People tend to praise the familiar, so if you’re getting a lot of praise from people close to you, be cautious. You might not be very original.

Now let’s say this person who isn’t into your stuff has a point. Have you exercised that constructive criticism muscle lately? It’s time you start.

Here’s what is great about constructive (or even critical) criticism. When you are put in a situation where you have to defend your work, you are putting your conviction to the test.

The people who challenge your work are the only ones who will give you an opportunity to defend it. Most likely, you’ll discover the parts of your work that you are most proud of because the criticism won’t bother you as much. It’s the stuff you aren’t as confident in that really bites you in the ass. To hear someone point out these things is just confirming what you already know, you’re not quite there.

Would you prefer to release something that is substandard because no one challenged your work? Every Major artist who works with an engineer will hear “maybe not so much of that, it’s not really working”. That’s what they are hired for (I think George Lucas could have used more of them with his last few movies..”You nuked the fridge? really??”).

To have past failures doesn’t mean you suck, it just means you haven’t written enough music. You should look forward to criticism, it’s a form of quality control that every artist needs. We aren’t talking about perfection here, we are just trying to get it to a higher quality standard. In the end, perfection doesn’t end up sounding good anyway. It’s like quantizing everything you do 100% to a 1/16th note grid. Life=gone. Imperfection gives life to your music & art.

Past successes – This can be even worse than past failures & is something I’ve had to deal with myself. After having some success with my tracks in the progressive house field, it first made me question what I was doing right & how to repeat it. Then my ability to write was hindered by the fear that my new tracks would sound amateur & ruin the reputation I had built. This led to literally years of not finishing tracks.

It took a lot to get myself back in the game & by that time I had lost some of my chops & the tracks weren’t as well received. Now I realize that had I not stopped, the quality of work work would have likely been better, but even if it wasn’t, I’d get over that hump and on to new tunes soon enough. It’s a hard lesson that I hope you don’t have to go through.

When you have success, take note of what you did well but move on & do something new quickly. Don’t sit too long feeling good about yourself or you’ll become crippled & not able to move. Try to ignore the fact that you were well received & just keep making music you like & have fun making it.

There are bands that have made brilliant albums later in their career that will always be known for 1 hit song early on. Radiohead – Creep for example. Just imagine what a loss it would be for music if they stopped after their first album(deal with it haters). They did the right thing by pushing outside their comfort zone. Creep might be their most popular song but I certainly wouldn’t consider it close to their best.

Don’t stop writing, don’t get comfortable & don’t conform for success. It could be the end of you if you do.

Chasing the dragon – So many musicians are searching for a shortcut. That 1 tune that will change everything. So instead of listening to their own creative intuition they are constantly searching for friends, charts, radio & tv to tell them what they should be doing.

The problem with this of course is that it’s very rare to build a career by doing what is currently popular. By the time you finish your perfect dubstep album, the trend is over-saturated & played out and of course, since you were putting your focus into following trends, you lost your ability to have confidence in your own ideas. Now that style is toast & you look for another trend to follow.

This habit of chasing the dragon will likely get you nowhere & you’ll likely never build your own sound. Your new goal is to make songs that sound like songs other people have already made so that your friends will respect you.

Now I have no problem with being a fanboy of some sort. It’s pretty much how we all start. We hear something we connect with & think “I want to do that!”

Fair enough. Just make sure you are ready for the long haul & that you are injecting other influences that excite you, not what you think others will like. It would be hard for me to think of a more sure way to give yourself writer’s block than trying to please others.

Want to break this habit real quick?

Write something you like that you expect your friends won’t. Do it on purpose just to freak them out. Don’t purposely make a song that sucks, just pick an influence of yours that is less popular & have fun with it. Stop asking what others would do & start asking “what would I do?”. It might not be your best work, but it is incredibly liberating. And who knows, maybe your friends will end up liking it anyway.

Gear envy – Sometimes I wonder if we are music makers or just purchasers of toys. I’d say I am a bit of both, but I’ve leaned too far on the gear end before.

You’ve got this amazing song idea in your head, but you don’t want to start it ’til you get that new gadget. You saw someone going apeshit with it on YouTube & you now consider it the holy grail. This is exactly why your music hasn’t been up to par!

You get it home, love it for a month (but never actually make a song with it), and then you’re back to YouTube looking for another piece of kit, sample cd, soft synth, plugin or whatever.

Stop!

All you are going to do is spend a lot of money, have some bragging rights but never get anything done. You, my friend, have become a gear hoarder(they will soon make tv shows about you). Plus you haven’t even learned what your current tools are capable of.

I promise you, you can write a great tune with what you have now. Let’s be honest. Think of the best tune you ever wrote (or the best unfinished idea, if you aren’t there yet). Was it the gear that made it great? Are your newest tracks with your latest toy always your best? I’m willing to bet there is something else. Something not so tangible that makes it good.

It can be maddening to see these popular musicians with craploads of gear filling up their studio, but I guarantee what got them there wasn’t the gear. It was good ideas & doing the best with what they had. Even u2 started small, and some people would argue that their best albums were before they had every toy known to man. Luckily, they aren’t hindered by the gear. At the end of the day it’s a guitarist, bassist, drummer and singer jamming things out that makes good songs.

If lack of gear is giving you writers block, then just tell yourself you are making a demo with what you have & will it improve later. I think you’ll be impressed with your results. Any result is better than no results.

I hope this article, which turned out to be a pretty long one has given you some food for thought. Writer’s block is simply fear disguised as other things. It’s certainly not something that is out of your control. Make creating a habit, even if it’s for 15 minutes a day. Whatever you do, never stop because of fear. Take a break on your own terms when your confidence is high.

Happy music making

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above). All your feedback & support is appreciated.

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Always In Key

Never hit a bad note again! With this tool, you'll be able to choose the key you want to play in and conform anything you play or ANY midi loop to that key! This is a fantastic tool for playing Live, DJ'ing, Remixing or Producing. Imagine chaotic, out of tune parts transformed into beautifully harmonized music. This will be the most fun you've had in Ableton in a Long time! Will work perfectly with the "Mixed in Key" number system or by actual key name. Must have Ableton 8.1.3 or later. Does NOT Require Max For Live.

30 Day Music Production Video

If you've ever wanted to look over my shoulder while I make songs, THIS is the collection for you! In this collection you get me producing 2 full songs and a DJ mix from start to finish over a 30 day period. I take you through the good the bad and the ugly. It's the most honest video collection I've ever made. It includes every Ableton songfile for each day, every sample used and about 20 hours of Video(Video is being edited and will be delivered once complete). It also includes mixdowns of the 2 completed songs and DJ Mix.

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!

Song Made From Sampling a Porno Clip

With all this rambling on I do about finishing songs & avoiding distractions, I take on this doozie of a challenge.

Can I actually create a song completely made from only manipulated sounds from a porn? No synths, no drum samples. Only the source audio from a 6 minute video.  Can I keep my focus while listening to all these erotic (and ridiculous) sounds & complete something, without it sounding like I just made a song full of grunts, moans & dick sucking?

This was my experiment & it really tested my music skills as well as my focus skills. Typically watching porn is something you do to distract yourself. I decided to make it my work in this experiemnt.

The most difficult part was selecting, editing & processing the samples into something usable. I think I’ve proved that you can make drums, bass and melodies out of literally anything. I have to laugh, because I know what that snare drum is

From there it was a matter of constructing parts that worked together & didn’t sound completely stupid, creating a few scenes to make sense of a song structure & arrange something that still sounded like me. I was surprised how good things sounded considering the source video was of low quality & had a lot of background noise.

Below are all the videos documenting my process and a download of the completed song. I am adding the whole Ableton songfile & HD videos as a bonus for my Remix Walkthrough Collection. If you’ve purchased it in the past, this is a free addition.

I hope you make it through this collection without getting too distracted. If I can keep focus through this, you’ve got zero excuse to not finish your own tunes!

Song Download

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyUAWF2dxzw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0l91xzRFjk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS9xmYS203k

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLWYcEVXmrQ

Happy music making!

Jason

If this video series helped or inspired you & you would like to “buy me a beer” for the work that went into this, I always appreciate donations.

Another blog coming soon (pun intended)

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above). All your feedback & support is appreciated.

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Always In Key

Never hit a bad note again! With this tool, you'll be able to choose the key you want to play in and conform anything you play or ANY midi loop to that key! This is a fantastic tool for playing Live, DJ'ing, Remixing or Producing. Imagine chaotic, out of tune parts transformed into beautifully harmonized music. This will be the most fun you've had in Ableton in a Long time! Will work perfectly with the "Mixed in Key" number system or by actual key name. Must have Ableton 8.1.3 or later. Does NOT Require Max For Live.

30 Day Music Production Video

If you've ever wanted to look over my shoulder while I make songs, THIS is the collection for you! In this collection you get me producing 2 full songs and a DJ mix from start to finish over a 30 day period. I take you through the good the bad and the ugly. It's the most honest video collection I've ever made. It includes every Ableton songfile for each day, every sample used and about 20 hours of Video(Video is being edited and will be delivered once complete). It also includes mixdowns of the 2 completed songs and DJ Mix.

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!

Why I don’t Learn Music Theory

Music to me is mysterious & magical. Without restriction, I can explore music through trial & error & come to my own conclusions, as well as make my own discoveries. I enjoy playing guitar or my keyboard & fingering out variations of simple chords until I hear something that excites me. It gives me this wonderful boost of energy. It’s that “wow cool, I just discovered something new!” feeling. I still get that to this day.

I can still recall regularly walking over a mile to the music store as a kid just to play the sounds on the amazing Roland Juno 60 synth. I had no idea how this instrument was creating such wonderful sounds. All I knew is that when a played a couple keys,  it sounded fantastic. As the years went by I eventually bought the Roland Juno 106 which was largely the same sound engine. Little by little I discovered what certain knobs did to the sound. I certainly didn’t know what all of the knobs did. I just knew that when I pushed up that fader, it sounded even better.

As time went on, by default, I gained a bit more musical experience & started understanding what was previously behind the curtain. Soon enough I started to lose a bit of the magic because I knew the tricks. When you know the magician’s (or musician’s) tricks, they no longer drive the imagination the same way.

I had to set the synth down for a while & rediscover the magic in the guitar. While working with the synth, I was able to forget & unlearn some of what I know about the guitar. I felt like a beginner again. It felt new again. Like I was starting over for the first time. That was extremely exciting for me. I’ve always liked the “give me 4 chords & an imagination” approach. I like to drop an instrument when I feel too comfortable on it for a while & explore something new.

When I was first given one of my dad’s guitars, he also gave me a chord book. I tried, honestly I did. All I got was bored… and sore fingers. None of the music I was listening to were using these chords anyway. I then thought of all the guitar players at my school who played much better than me & realized that although I was impressed by their playing, I wasn’t impressed with what sounded to me like a cookie cutter approach to writing songs. I imagined them arguing “No, it’s gotta be this chord, anyone who knows music knows that!”. Sometimes getting it all wrong can have pleasant results.

Listening to Bauhaus, The Cure & New Order were much more exciting to me even though there were no elaborate guitar solos. I knew these bands didn’t play their instruments as well, but there was something else they did have that sparked my imagination much more.

My argument is not that one style of music is better than another. It’s that sometimes when you create your own path, it may take longer, but it’s more likely that you’ll find your own sound, and in doing so, a much deeper satisfaction.

Would you prefer to know all the chords in existence & lose that feeling of discovering them on your own? Would you prefer to play that 1 chord because your education has taught you that it’s appropriate or because it feels good to you? Education can be pretty important to understand some of the rules before you break them, but letting go & using “the force” might help you express things that simply can’t be taught.

For me, every time I sit down to make music, I still get to feel like a beginner in this magical & mysterious world. Of course I get better instincts which help me solve problems faster, but it’s very satisfying to know that I made these discoveries on my own or through conversations with others of similar tastes. There is still a bit of fear that I might suck or that I might not know how something I want to accomplish is done, but the problem solving involved in making music is one of the things that drives me creatively. After all these years, I wouldn’t trade what I don’t know about music for anything. My ignorance has been bliss. Bring on the magicians!

* Here’s a few musicians who never learned music theory:
(Feel free to add to this list in the comments)

David Bowie (except for sax lessons)

The Beatles

Eric Clapton (he started learning in the last decade or so)

Brian Eno

Thelonious Monk

William Orbit

David Byrne

Aphex Twin

Danny Elfman

Happy Music Making,

Jason

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above). All your feedback & support is appreciated.

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Always In Key

Never hit a bad note again! With this tool, you'll be able to choose the key you want to play in and conform anything you play or ANY midi loop to that key! This is a fantastic tool for playing Live, DJ'ing, Remixing or Producing. Imagine chaotic, out of tune parts transformed into beautifully harmonized music. This will be the most fun you've had in Ableton in a Long time! Will work perfectly with the "Mixed in Key" number system or by actual key name. Must have Ableton 8.1.3 or later. Does NOT Require Max For Live.

30 Day Music Production Video

If you've ever wanted to look over my shoulder while I make songs, THIS is the collection for you! In this collection you get me producing 2 full songs and a DJ mix from start to finish over a 30 day period. I take you through the good the bad and the ugly. It's the most honest video collection I've ever made. It includes every Ableton songfile for each day, every sample used and about 20 hours of Video(Video is being edited and will be delivered once complete). It also includes mixdowns of the 2 completed songs and DJ Mix.

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!

The Suck Factor

I was talking to an artist I met the other day & was intrigued that he was not only getting by with his art, but that he was living a pretty good life from it. Most of what he makes sells out pretty fast, and it’s not like he lives in a big city, so I was impressed. Naturally, I had to investigate what made him tick & what separated him from all the starving artists.

I already had learned that he was very good at what he did so I figured that he obviously was born with quite a gift.

well… yes & no…

He definitely had a gift, but it wasn’t as an artist. A least not from the start. His gift had more to do with his ability to plan for what most artists would consider red flags for any artistic pursuit. Sucking.

Where most people would try something once & fail, try again maybe a year or 2 later, failed again, then give up, he didn’t look at things the same way. His art of choice was ceramics, something I tried once or twice and gave up (anyone need an ashtray?). What really surprised me is the story he told me & how he viewed his experience.  It’s not the way most of us approach things or define the experience at all.

Apparently, this artist was far from naturally gifted at ceramics. I guess he started off as a hell of an ashtray sculptor himself, but he came from a physics background & instead of feeling like a failure, he looked at his artistic venture in a more scientific way. If one approach didn’t work, he would take note and try again slowly improving his technique.  Sometimes it would take 10 or 20 tries just to figure out where the issue in the process was. It seemed that in his mind, he already knew he would nail it given enough time. Keep in mind that he wasn’t even thinking yet about selling or even showing his work. He was still getting the process down.

After about 1000 attempts he was prepared to show his work & people bought it up right away. Some things obviously sold better than others. There was also pricing to keep in mind. He didn’t want a $20 piece to devalue his $500 pieces but he knew he needed both to make a good living. He didn’t really have an artistic conflict about one thing selling better than another because he simply enjoyed the process of creating, not necessarily the specific piece. He knew that his art was a job, a job he could love, but a job nonetheless.

This really hit me hard and made me take a good look at my creative beliefs, my work ethic & my definition of failure & success. Was I willing to try something 10 times? 100? 1000 times? until I had mastered my creative art? If I am being honest, I’d have to say no & the reason for that is that I was defining failure as a certain number of times I don’t succeed. Sound familiar?

Remember, there is a huge difference between the art you make and the art you share. Don’t let the art you are making now deter you. If your goal is to be great at something, plan for a lot of sucking & missing the mark. Try not to let it get you down.

Remember that many people have to go to college for 4-8 years before they are prepared to do what they do well. Can you imagine someone judging their architecture skills on what they were about to accomplish & understand after a week of schooling? So why then would we judge ourselves on our art or music before we put in the proper amount of time? From that point of view it sounds a bit silly doesn’t it?

Now once you become a “natural” at one aspect of music, don’t think you weren’t meant to explore another style just because your work is not nearly up to par with the style you excel at. How about making 100 attempts at it before you judge?

I can give you a perfect example for myself in how I will use this new process. I am not great with many soft synths. My strengths would be Ableton’s Operator, Subtractor (reason), and TAL’s Juno 106 clone. Most soft synths I just poke around on the presets, tweak the knobs I understand & then use EQ, Filter & fx to get an interesting sound. If I don’t get the sound I’m looking for, I go back to the familiar. This, I must admit, slows me down & limits my options.

You could argue that less options is a good thing & I would strongly agree, however I believe that too many options mainly becomes a problem if you are not already skilled or familiar with the tools you are using. For example, you can’t have too many words in your vocabulary unless you have no idea what the words mean & how to use them in a conversation.

What I’ll have to do to get better at more synths is put the breaks on making songs & take a week (or a month) on 1 new soft synth until I can consider myself proficient at it. Then I can add it as another option. I predict that doing this process a couple times will make the process go a bit faster each time as I find similarities and common themes among different tools.

What is it that you can apply this to?

What is it that you think you are a failure at?

Do you think you will still be a failure after 100 or more attempts?

Are you willing to let go of instant gratification to allow yourself to improve at whatever pace is necessary?

If the art you make doesn’t satisfy you, pat yourself on the back for the improvements you made since your last attempt & then refocus on perfecting your weaknesses in your next attempt.  When you attempt something new, set aside some time for the “suck factor”. Maybe that’s why they call it suck-cess

Happy music making,

Jason

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).All your feedback & support is appreciated!

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Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

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Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

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Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!