At 9/22/09 04:48 AM, gregaaron89 wrote: Mmm, caffiene

I haven't slept for 2 days lol, I've been busy. I spent the first half of this night feeling like I was about to pass out, trying to work on the bibliography for a research paper (yawn) I've been downing can after can of Dr Pepper with no effect, until all of a sudden after an hour of blasting trance music to help me wake up, I feel a second wind and yay the caffiene is kicking in finally! :D The tingling in my brain feels awesome and I can actually think and see straight! MOAR!

I can barely stand staying up for one day, let alone 2! And caffeine generally stops working for me after I've passed the 24 hour mark. I have no idea how you managed that.

Blocks

I need some advice guys. I've been suffering with a horrible block for.. well, about a year and a half now. My problem is, I can't finish songs. Sure, I come up with good demos that have potential and whatnot but I always lose interest due to the fact that I just have no idea what to add to them. It's like, once I get to a certain point in the song, I lose all my inspiration and creativity. My mind pretty much goes blank and I can't think of what to add next. Back when I first started producing, it would take me a day to finish songs. Now, I'll be lucky to have a minute done on a song after a week's time.

I love producing so much and I don't wanna' lose my drive completely because of this stupid block. Please, help me!

At 9/22/09 05:58 AM, Nechura wrote: Blocks

You're stuck in a rut. Try producing in a different way. If you don't keep your brain on its toes, it's harder to maintain neuroplasticity, which will almost certainly have an effect on your creative output.

Do you normally open up the piano roll and mouse the notes in? If so, try writing a chord progression, then jam along to it on a midi controller. Make sure you record the midi data so that you can go back and cut out all the awesome bits that you'll inevitably come up with.

Do you have a set of drum samples that you keep going back to? Try making some fresh new ones. Throw shit around the house and sample it. Kitchen cutlery crashing onto the floor is satisfying :)

Try using a different DAW. Try producing a genre that you'd never normally even listen to. Try producing a genre in the style of a radically different genre. Do a mashup. Make a song using only your voice. Make a song using only your various bodily functions. Draw random shit into the sequencer and quantise it till it sounds good. If you're starved for inspiration, go and sit in your garden on a sunny day, and absorb some fucking rays.

At 9/22/09 05:58 AM, Nechura wrote:

I can barely stand staying up for one day, let alone 2! And caffeine generally stops working for me after I've passed the 24 hour mark. I have no idea how you managed that.

Well I had like a 3 hour nap this evening. That definitely helped. Though it was HARD to push through the early part of the night, once I got halfway it got easier from there.

At 9/22/09 06:23 AM, jarrydn wrote: Some stuff.

I've tried producing other genres. I've tried exploring different ways of producing. I've even tried walking around the streets of my town hoping to find any small amount of inspiration but none of it worked.

It's not the way I produce that's 'causing the block I don't think. To better explain what I mean, I can start with any part of a song. The peak, the intro, the breakdown, etc and I'll nail it perfectly. It's after that point when I get stuck. It's like, I'm unable to have variety in my songs or something.. I'm not too sure on how to explain it.

Anyways, I'm starting to think this is a problem that I need to fix myself. My life hasn't exactly been perfect over the last few years and I'm starting to think maybe that's 'causing an impact on my creativity. Maybe I need to correct my perspective on life before I'll be able to produce at my full ability again? I still have one question though. Has anyone ever experienced a block that has lasted for this long and if so, how did you manage to get it to lift off your head?

Oh well, thanks for the tips Jarrydn. There's still some suggestions there that I'm yet to try so I guess I'll get started on those.

At 9/22/09 09:54 AM, Nechura wrote: Has anyone ever experienced a block that has lasted for this long and if so, how did you manage to get it to lift off your head?

It's just called discipline. You need goals, a plan, and a deadline doesn't hurt either. Just sitting down and plinking away isn't the most constructive way to produce a song. Remove all distractions, and make sure you have a pretty clear image in your head of what you want to put together. It really doesn't hurt to treat production like a job.

Try to avoid producing late at night when you're tired. Get up bright and early in the morning, go for a stroll to get your creative juices flowing (I have my best ideas on the walk to work), then sit down at your workspace and get stuck in.

Now obviously there are many people who can put together a good track at 3am on the spur of the moment. But you certainly aren't doing yourself any favors this way.

At 9/22/09 10:03 AM, jarrydn wrote: Try to avoid producing late at night when you're tired. Get up bright and early in the morning, go for a stroll to get your creative juices flowing (I have my best ideas on the walk to work), then sit down at your workspace and get stuck in.

That's interesting as I only try producing tracks during the evening and late night. Never really been one to produce stuff during the day or morning. I don't think it's the core of my problem but it's something I should consider before trying to produce. I'm definitely gonna' try taking a wander around tomorrow morning and see what it does for my music. Thanks for that!

At 9/22/09 10:16 AM, Nechura wrote: That's interesting as I only try producing tracks during the evening and late night. Never really been one to produce stuff during the day or morning. I don't think it's the core of my problem but it's something I should consider before trying to produce. I'm definitely gonna' try taking a wander around tomorrow morning and see what it does for my music. Thanks for that!

No worries! It seriously works :). I'm always chagrined that I have absolutely no way of getting my ideas down on the go, because I have my best ones at like 8 am - 10 am :P

And doing something differently is always good. Once again, it keeps your brain on it's toes. Even if it's something as simple as brushing your teeth with your other hand. Helps to make and reinforce neural connections :)

i know someone that catalyzes imagination, at anytime, emulator

I had a weird dream that I created a song composed entirely from samples of Donkey Kong's voice, people clapping, and some other bits and pieces of video.

Time of Day

Yeah, I usually try and come up with ideas after 10:00 PM. If I work on music before then, it's usually mastering or progression work.

At 9/22/09 02:04 PM, Stupor wrote: Time of Day

Yeah, I usually try and come up with ideas after 10:00 PM. If I work on music before then, it's usually mastering or progression work.

Seriously? Man, whenever the music wants to happen, it'll happen.

For me, anyways.

Permutations

1 - I am singing Linking Park.
2 - I am linking Singing Park.
3 - I am parking Singing Link.

from the bottom of my randomness...

New Siggy

I decided to wait until I had four songs submitted before I made a signature. I think it was well worth the wait; it would be kind of pointless to link people to a page with only two songs...

Oh right ~ I always submit songs two at a time.

MY DAY

i wake up after a crazy dream about balancing on cylindrical structures of light and finding a way out of a puzzle building (kind of like the movie cube) with christina aguilera. i checked my email, checked my voicemail, played call of duty Wow.

Was going to make tacos but then realized i didnt have money for fixings.
So pirogis it is for dinner. i write this as i watch back to back episodes of CSI and drink crappy white box wine.

Meh day is has been so far

As I said, I went jogging

After not sporting at all for months (besides biking to the station and back and such).
I jogged around 2 miles, which was probably a bit too much for a start. But I must say, it made me feel better. Had a good shower afterwards, had a big cup of tea.

Also, as someone suggested, I ate an apple in the morning. I'm going to make a habbit of these things and I'll be all good. Thanks again guys.

At 9/22/09 07:02 PM, MICHhimself wrote: I jogged around 2 miles, which was probably a bit too much for a start. But I must say, it made me feel better. Had a good shower afterwards, had a big cup of tea.

Today I jogged 4 miles through rice fields in Kathmandu valley in Nepal. And then afterwords I had a big cup of tea and egg fried rice. I win :D

Sad hometowns

Guys, the town I was born in and lived most of my life in has hit the internet.

Somehow... I'm not surprised by the photos.

At 9/23/09 11:35 AM, loansindi wrote:

Sad hometowns

god i hate fat people.
they are the only people that i get stereotypical against. they whine and bitch how they cant lose weight because depression makes them eat... oh god and how come in NYC where i live, all the fat ones have like 9827349682734 kids.

i guess cause fat chicks like to party too and when they go to a party they expect a train to be run on them

FAT PEOPLE ARE A FIRE SAFTY HAZARD

At 9/23/09 12:42 PM, SymbolCymbal wrote: god i hate fat people.

Me too.

Only a small percentage of them can reliably attribute their obesity to manic depression, dietary problems, or bone size, and yet they ALL bitch about how being fat isn't their fault. Or atleast most do.

They're just too lazy to get exercise.

We should just send them on an "eating vacation" to an isolated island, and when they find out it's a barren wasteland, make them starve to death.

lolololol just kidding. But seriously, loose some weight.

Fat people can at least stop their behavior or just generally be nice.

It's stupid people that don't change, and deserve more anger directed at them.

It's not the point of just "hey, I'm going on a diet and I'll stick to it." It's not that easy. Obese people have a hard time losing weight because of chemical reactions in every person's brain. When a normal person get's full, chemical reactions tell the brain "the stomach is full".

With obese people, those chemical reactions build up a tolerance, just like when you drink a lot of beer. Over time, your body can take more and more with out getting drunk, or in obese people's cases- full.

These receptors, over time, start sending out less of a signal, which causes the brain to think that the body is not full. This, in turn, causes people to eat more and more, thus gaining more weight.

As for the diet. When an obese person goes on a diet, it's usually pretty extreme. More so than the average Joe. An obese person will have a harder time because of the tolerance, as stated above, and because they aren't used to eating healthy.

When it comes down to it, today's society, especially in the US is accustomed to eating many more carbohydrates (carbs) than other countries. Carbs are the energy our body needs to do just about anything, problem is - instead of eating the right amount of carbs and burning them off during the day, we eat way too many.
Because we eat so many carbs, especially obese people, our bodies don't burn off fat but instead add fat and take the necessary carbs it needs for energy. In turn, causing people to gain weight in stead of lose it.

In all, you can't just say obese people complain because they're fat, they complain because it really is a struggle. Sure some might use their weight as a crutch, but others are seriously trying to change, but cannot.
We as people have developed this pallet for fatty foods, jobs where you don't do anything but sit, and incredibly stressful environments.
Before you go on to say you dislike this person or that person, or even saying you 'don't like fat people' take a few minutes and learn a little.

I'm not the type of person to judge someone by first impressions. I learned at a young age that we as a society are too quick to judge someone by the way the look, by the way they dress, or in this case, how fat they are. I try my best not to.

Sorry for the rant. I just felt like sharing a little knowledge with you.

TL;DR - Too fucking bad, learn to read.

well no, hunger pangs are caused by etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger#Hung er_pangs
need to release better information before i decide to read that

i wouldn't accept milk as a part of my diet, because it gets rejected after being a baby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic _diet

If you want to start eating raw uncooked meat you can go right ahead. More power to you, dude.

I'll probably just eat a burger and then, say, run a few miles.

All right, I'll grab my rifle and get me some wild cows-
Oh wait, I live in Chicago. Not a lot of fresh carcasses for the picking.

I think in that respect, your dietary ideas fail to realize that in an urban setting, things like freshly killed carcasses are a little implausible. Now if you want to go a step further and dismantle the urban culture, more power to you, but i think it's something that's here to stay, considering that cities are as old as human culture (this is more true the more you think about it).

At 9/23/09 04:31 PM, EmperorCharlemagne wrote: If you want to start eating raw uncooked meat you can go right ahead. More power to you, dude.

I'll probably just eat a burger and then, say, run a few miles.

You may burn off the calories from the burger from running, but he plaque build up in ur arteries remain there.

Also, the reason there are cities in the first place is because a long time ago smart people realized that life as a hunter-gatherer absolutely sucked, and that they would do anything to NOT live that life.

At 9/23/09 04:54 PM, EmperorCharlemagne wrote: Also, the reason there are cities in the first place is because a long time ago smart people realized that life as a hunter-gatherer absolutely sucked, and that they would do anything to NOT live that life.

Actually is because the gatherers learned farming. To farm you need land, you need to take care of one plot of land, you can move around like gatherers. So they made settlements. The more farmers the more settlements. The more farmers, the less gatherers because the gatherers lived as a group, without a large group you are more vulnerable and less likely to survive. So everyone decided to farm.

That's why there are cities.

They didnt just say, oh this sucks, lets go make a city.

except they werent as vast, and full of concrete
well you really dont need a fresh kill, just buy off some established organic meat dealer

i dont really eat red meat, and seafood is polluted

mckenna has it spot on about the birth of agriculture and civilization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MEIbisok QE

Ok, 'trusted meat carcass dealer?' Yeah, I get my slabs of bison from a guy I can TRUST.

At 9/23/09 04:58 PM, LK412 wrote:

At 9/23/09 04:54 PM, EmperorCharlemagne wrote: Also, the reason there are cities in the first place is because a long time ago smart people realized that life as a hunter-gatherer absolutely sucked, and that they would do anything to NOT live that life.

Actually is because the gatherers learned farming. To farm you need land, you need to take care of one plot of land, you can move around like gatherers. So they made settlements. The more farmers the more settlements. The more farmers, the less gatherers because the gatherers lived as a group, without a large group you are more vulnerable and less likely to survive. So everyone decided to farm.

That's why there are cities.

They didnt just say, oh this sucks, lets go make a city.

It is a rather simplified account on my part, and yes, the Neolithic revolution basically brought on the advancement of civilization.

However, it's not like any large group of people, after they started farming, decided "You know, living day to day amongst wild animals is much more preferable to the marginally less dangerous life we have now. Let's return to our roots!" Look at the character Enkidu in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In essence, he is the wild prehistoric man, and the rest of society looks down on him until he joins up with Gilgamesh and becomes 'civilized'.

Read Aristotle's Politics. He says in it that the nature of man is to live a 'political' life, with political coming from the word polis, meaning city in Greek. Thoughts of some 'returning to earth' movement are well-intentioned, but the fact is that people throughout all stages of human history have preferred always leisure and society over going with a band of people to hunt for their day's food, uncertain if tomorrow would yield the same thing.

'But wait!' you might say. 'What about the Native Americans!? They lived peacefully in a hunter-gatherer society, right?' As well, Native Americans also fought bloody wars with one another over food resources, in many instances, it was every tribe for themselves. Even the Iroquois, the most powerful and well-organized Indian tribe had developed a kind of 'polis-style' of living, even if there weren't really cities, so to speak.

So yes, it wasn't so much that they said "Hunting and Gathering suck", but that IS essentially how they viewed it in comparison to the urban life.