Tapping Into Your Creativity As A Music Producer

Music producers, how do you begin you beat making sessions? What are your creative processes? Do you start with a pre-made template? Are your sounds pre-loaded? Maybe you listen to your favorite songs before you start to kick off your creative energy. Of course there is no wrong answer and there are obviously different ways to get your juices going. In this post I'll share some of my ways and maybe they can inspire you when needed. 

Listening To Music

Sometimes before I start a track, I listen to various songs or beats. I might not even listen to the genre I am about to create, but I will still listen to something to get myself going. Once I catch enough vibes or my mind gets going I'll start to lay down my track. I'm not sure why this works for me, but it does. Especially if I have my earbuds in and I'm relaxing with my eyes closed. It's almost as if I envision myself creating the song that I'm listening to in my head. This seems to always work for me especially if I've been at my 9 to 5 that day and I need a jump start to get into creators mode.

Playing With New Sounds

As music producers, we are always searching or trying to create a new sound to keep our tracks and songs fresh. Well that is another tactic I sometimes use to jump start my production. There are times where I will use random sounds that I normally wouldn't use and "force creation". Most people would say let creation and ideas come to you naturally, which happens sometimes, but I also believe music production creation is a habit, one that you might have to push yourself at times to do. So for me by choosing random or weird sounds that are not in my normal palette, this forces me to create and break whatever barrier I may have at that time. Also it gets me out of the habit of going for the sounds I am comfortable with. Even if I don't keep the sounds in my productions, it still helps me to get out the gate and start working. 

Finish Up Old Tracks

Most of us music producers have a graveyard of skeleton tracks that we have never finished. It's easy to bypass those tracks and never get back back to them. Instead of leaving those potential beats in the unfinished folder, use those tracks to spark inspiration for something new. The main reason we don't finish tracks is because we run out ideas or we don't know what direction we want to track to actually go. I try to use unfinished tracks as motivation, in either finishing what I started or using it as a "template" to create something brand new with the sounds that are already loaded. When I don't have the juice to start something brand new or if I get tired of using my templates, I think to myself , "hey I know I have some beats that I never finished with a melody already in it" so I'll use that. This also will help you eliminate that stockpile of unfinished beats if you use this method often. Remember every beat or track has potential to be something to someone, so why not put all of them to work instead of letting them sit. 

When it comes to tapping into your creativity, there is obviously no right way or wrong way to get the results you need. What I mentioned are just a few of the ways that gets my flame ignited to get in the lab and make music, but you may have different methods. At the end of the day use whatever works best for you. As you get more consistent or if you are already consistently producing music, you know that it can be tough sometimes generating new fresh ideas , so this is when you have to pull out all the stops and find a way to break through it. You will only reach your goals if you can figure out how to work around the road blocks, because they will definitely come your way. Force the habit to create, so when you are called upon for your services, you will be able to produce as needed without hesitation. If you have other methods of tapping into your creativity , please let me know by responding to this post!