The writers block is something that I believe every creative person goes through. Since this site caters to individuals that make beats, writers block can be referred to as producers block. First, I think it’s a good idea too discuss why this happens. Keep in mind, I do not proclaim to be a psychologist or any expert of the mind. These are just thoughts based on my personal experience.
About 3 years ago, I decided to dedicate a love beat mixtape for my wife and present it to her on our anniversary as one of her gifts. This was only meant to be for her ears at the time, even though I have parts of it on youtube and bandcamp available for free. Anyway, I found myself working so hard for this project. I mean, this had to be right. I wouldn’t stop until I had the right song to sample, the right drums, ect. I acted as if I was making a demo for some big name artist.
I can’t tell you how many times I scratched stuff and started over. By the time I was finally done, I gave it too her and she loved it. The funny thing is, she only loved it because I put the thought into it. It wasn’t about the beats and the two months work I invested.
What’s the Point?
Well after getting back to my regular beat making, I found myself stuck. I had writers block and it hit me like a ton of MPC’s. I couldn’t come up with anything for at least three weeks(which is a long time for me). It was as if my brain was fried from all the time spent on the anniversary love beat mixtape. I got so frustrated and started forcing beats which ended up sounding WACK!!
My point is to never think too hard while creating. I feel that writers block happens when we overexert our brains. In other words, we are allowing our thoughts to overcome our feelings. I was all about technical stuff and asking myself, “what sounds should i use, what about “EQ”, is the tempo too fast, and so on” and who gives a crap!
The Remedy
After the pointless writers block drama I experienced, I started listening to other genres I wasn’t familiar with. I started listening to middle eastern, classical, electronic, afro cuban, and other styles. I got inspired just through the sounds I was hearing. I started creating my own sounds and played around on different instruments. I discovered that my writers block was completely gone.
Moral of Story
What I learned through all of this is to basically create with your heart and not your head. Sure, its good to think technical
sometimes, but not to the point where it interferes with your creativity. To overcome writers block, you must vibe off feeling and not your mind. Also check out other producers for added inspiration, here are some recommendations. A beat with feeling can carry a great more of audio satisfaction than an over thought of production.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and feel free to comment.