Why a lack of inspiration needn’t be a blocker to songwriting & music production.
lately, I’ve been struggling to write and produce music. I have the odd idea here and there, but nothing like the volume of ideas I used to have. And no ideas equals nothing is produced, right? So what’s to be done?
Remove all technical hurdles
Firstly, I had a long, hard look over my recording setup: Garageband on iPad. Was that the issue? Garageband Drummer is fantastic but it doesn’t provide auto-accompanyment with multiple instruments. Do I need to revert to a good old Yamaha arranger keyboard and my own tried and tested workflow?
Well, I looked into it and, as it turns out, arranger keyboards present additional issues with synching and connectivity in that, with the Yamaha SX series in particular, there’s no USB audio out, meaning the line-outs would need to be fed into a compatible USB audio interface featuring stereo inputs (which I don’t possess).
So what about alternatives to and plugins for Garageband? I looked into One Man Band, and it’s terrible, a million miles away from a workstation keyboard.
Next, is the iPad the best medium for music production? Would I be better off getting a MacBook to run Garageband? I don’t think so, I love the portability and touch instruments on the iPad and can’t see any features in the full-fat version to justify the switch.
What about Logic? That’s now moved to a subscription model I’m not even going to entertain.
Could going back to a Windows Laptop with Ableton Live, EZ-Drummer, Auto-Tune and a BOSS BR-800 be the solution? It certainly worked before, but the reason I moved to iPad Garageband was to simplify and become more mobile, whilst still having all the tools and sounds.
So after all of that, I’ve come back full circle. Garageband on iPad is the way to go for me. I just needed to go through the validation process to be sure.
First hurdle cleared. But even with the right setup, I still needed songs to produce, so where are they coming from?
Going back over the back catalogue
I’m a firm believer that songs can’t be forced. For me, a good idea either comes or it doesn’t. It can’t be manufactured. An arranger keyboard is cheating in a way, as it suggests accompaniments and songs with pre-recorded material. Sure you can change up the tempo, the structure, and the chords, but can you really say the result is original?
Nevertheless, an arranger keyboard was always the quickest route to a good song idea, and without it, I’ve needed to go the traditional acoustic guitar route for idea generation, which is infinitely more limiting and ultimately produces less inspiring ideas.
Maybe in future, when I’ve spent more time with the Garageband instruments and Live loops, I can start to move away from the acoustic guitar again, but right now ideas are very thin on the ground, so here’s my plan…
… Go back over the back catalogue of songs I’ve already written, but as yet haven’t produced, or at least haven’t produced to the standard that iPad Garageband is capable of.
With new-found enthusiasm. I did a bit of soul-searching. Which songs would make the cut? Which ones could I do justice to without losing their magic? I made my list.
Bringing the old song up to date
Moving from an original song format of music recorded on an arranger keyboard into cassette-based, and then mini-disk-based media to something digital and new presents another challenge, not least in recreating the beat and feel with something like Garageband Drummer and software instruments. But do you know what? The process is actually fun, particularly when you know you have the foundation of a solid song idea driving the whole thing.
Yes, I’m a little out of ideas at the moment, but I never did do the original songs justice. Now is the time to put that right with a level of production and polish not possible back in the day. Also, I’m a much more experienced musician now, so that’s got to count for something too.
Hopes for future Songwriting and Music Production.
Maybe when this experiment is over, my Garageband chops will have reached a level where new ideas will form within Garageband instruments, which is where I really want to be, and the best of both worlds. I’ll have moved away from acoustic guitar for ideas without being hampered by the technical limitations or the unoriginality of an arranger keyboard. Maybe I’ll be able to move forward again.
I’ll keep you posted.
What are your ideas on removing blockers for songwriting & music production? Drop me a comment below.
