How to feel miserable as an artist

[Phonometrologist]

For a good laugh, I thought it'd be appropriate here as perhaps some of us musicians can relate.
This has always been one of my favorite blogs...

How to feel miserable as an artist
(or, what not to do, underline any that currently apply)

1.) Constantly compare yourself to other artists

2.) Talk to your family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.

3.) Base the success of your entire career on one project.

4.) Stick with what you know.

5.) Undervalue your expertise.

6.) Let money dictate what you do.

7.) Bow to societal pressures.

8.) Only do work your family would love.

9.) Do whatever the client/customer... asks.

10.) Set unachievable /overwhelming goals. To be accomplished by tomorrow.

I'd be curious to read what was the most applicable point here for y'all.
Anything you would add onto it?

Here's the source: http://www.kerismith.com/blog/how-to-feel-miserable-as-an-artist/

[ZipZipper]

How about "make a profile online" LOLLLL

[Phonometrologist]

At 8/29/14 12:22 AM, ZipZipper wrote: How about "make a profile online" LOLLLL

Might as well add now "waking up and getting out of bed"

reality sets in

[johnfn]

At 8/29/14 12:41 AM, Phonometrologist wrote:

At 8/29/14 12:22 AM, ZipZipper wrote: How about "make a profile online" LOLLLL

Might as well add now "waking up and getting out of bed"

hehe

How to feel miserable as an artist

1. Exist

[LunyAlex]

Cute how accurate most are.

Asked my mom for feedback on one of my tracks once.

AHAHA
AHAHAHHA
HAHAHAHAHAHA NOPE
NOPE NOPE NOPE NEEEEWP
LESSON LEARNED

[8-bitheroes]

At 8/29/14 01:12 AM, LunyAlex wrote: Cute how accurate most are.

Asked my mom for feedback one of my tracks once.

AHAHA

What happened man? Times I've asked my mum she's always been very supportive of my music. Maybe thats an unusual thing..

[LunyAlex]

At 8/29/14 06:38 AM, 8-bitheroes wrote: What happened man? Times I've asked my mum she's always been very supportive of my music. Maybe thats an unusual thing..

No no, she's supportive enough; and I appreciate that immensely.
But she has fairly specific musical tastes and extremely strong opinions.

So I'm working on a song and are very happy with the result. At some point I show it to her, cause you know, you like to showcase your work to people, and I get slammed with "The 2nd half of the song is bad", basically.

Albeit blunt, this is well intended criticism, of course.

Normally I'd probably just write it off, but it's my mother so... naturally... I go into a musical existential crisis.

Is she right?
Is this a taste thing? (generally she can't stand feelings of sorrow or aggression in actively-listened music, though she tries to be objective regarding my work)
Did I fuck up?
Do I rework it?
Is this a taste thing?
Can't I write a piece of universally pleasing music?
Is this a taste thing?

Ultimately, I ended up leaving the song as it was, because I kinda liked what I had going; but it's easily become my own most hated song, because it kind of symbolizes the whole "You can't please everyone" concept... or alternatively "You're not good enough to please everyone" concept.

[Ceevro]

For me, the thing that inevitably makes me most miserable as an artist is taking myself seriously. That's why most of my songs are jokes, or at least contain something humorous in them. You can't laugh at me if I'm already laughing at myself!

[camoshark]

I've been on a constant cycling of undervaluation, constant self-doubt, procrastination because of the dread of facing said-doubt; self-loathing for not accomplishing anything, an immense sense of dread as I see time fade away, unwillingness to invest time in my work because of the aforementioned self-doubt; further under valuate my work because of my inconsistency, further procrastination, et cetera ad nauseam...

Not really been in a great mood in the past year as a result, so yeah...

[Eagleon]

Not having even opened the DAW the whole day because you're too tired from your 'real' job... I try to at least put in thirty minutes or so before I leave to avoid this, but let's be honest, this -v

At 8/29/14 12:47 AM, johnfn wrote:

At 8/29/14 12:41 AM, Phonometrologist wrote:

At 8/29/14 12:22 AM, ZipZipper wrote: How about "make a profile online" LOLLLL

Might as well add now "waking up and getting out of bed"

hehe

How to feel miserable as an artist

1. Exist

[Step]

Here are some of mine.

1.) Work for many hours on a particular small section of your track, followed by the realisation that for whoever hears it, it'll be gone in a few seconds.

2.) Listen to other producers and to how much better they are at mixing/mastering than you are.

3.) Count how much money you spent on music hardware and software.

4.) Notice how inactive your other networking sites are.

5.) Listen to the radio.

[SoundChris]

Hm - here are mine:

1) When you notice that a day only has got 24 hours ...

2) When you finish a track and suddenly notice it is already 8 am and those birds out there are singing already ...

3) So many possibilities - so many styles. What to do now? This is cool ... hm lets better do that. Ah thats also cool ...no this!

4) Seing awesome game projects on kickstarter like e.g. "Kingdom Come - Deliverance" and not knowing how to get in contact with people who are really willing to do a serious project / game.

5) To imagine i could score a film and the producer wanted to make a live recording - and i would have to write down the notation ... that really scares me - especially when it comes to percussion stuff... :)

6) The feel after i have purchased a new vsti for several hundreds of euros ... on the one hand i am totally excited and its like birthday, christmas and easter together ... but on the other hand i have got a really bad conscience about all the money ... thanks god this only lasts for 1-2 days :D

7) The fact that i know i should deal far more with music theory and score analysis and somehow cant find enough time to do it.

[LunyAlex]

1. The rabid insecurity that starts growing whenever I upload something and only goes away if I receive some kind of positive feedback.

2. The moment when you've worked on a track so long that you've become desensitized to its intricacies, so you really can't tell if it's any good anymore.

Serious question time:

Does anyone else occasionally become depressed when writing music? As if the process becomes emotionally draining, instead of rejuvenating.

[samulis]

1. Realize you know pretty much nothing about a subject even after years of classes and/or research and/or talking to Camoshark.
2. Stay up to 4 AM trying to figure out how to get a part to work in a song only to either: A. get a single small bit of advice from someone which solves all your problems or B. end up nowhere further along and so furious you want to smash things and cannot sleep.
3. Have a friend say "I found this great new artist", who they link to you, and it is painfully clear the new artist is so much better than you that you want to give up music. Enter a period of existential dread and recession to fetal position and rocking.
4. Have a friend say "I found this great new artist", who they link to you, and it is painfully clear the new artist is so utterly terrible that you want to give up music. Enter a period of existential dread and recession to fetal position and rocking.
5. Having many people message you asking if they can use your music in their commercial video and after explaining that it will cost them $10-20, they never reply or reply "okay" and never get back to you on it.
6. Buying a new plugin and realizing that 90% of the instrument is a waste of space or just marketing hype. Buyer regret, existential self-doubt, and recession to fetal position ensue.
7. Realize you can't remember what you learned in a certain class or year at all and have to look through the notes thoroughly.
8. Look at the list of virtual instruments everyone else has and realize what was decadence at the time you bought it is now just a small piece of the pie for most people.
9. Realize that a quarter of all the physical instruments you play/own, you cannot fluently read music for, or are not in tune enough to play music, or are too broken to really work.
10. Epic fail at playing stringed instruments when 3 yo's in China can play Bach fluently.

[samulis]

At 9/2/14 08:39 PM, LunyAlex wrote: Does anyone else occasionally become depressed when writing music? As if the process becomes emotionally draining, instead of rejuvenating.

Happens to me quite a bit, especially on more complex/"epic" tracks with lots of stuff going on. The gentle stuff and ambient stuff is the rejuvenating for me, but the really detailed stuff is fun for the first two hours and then becomes incredibly painful and draining to the point you just want to throw it all out (which I have done).

[larrynachos]

At 8/28/14 11:52 PM, Phonometrologist wrote: 1.) Constantly compare yourself to other artists

Stop right there, I'm already miserable.

[Ditchy]

At 8/28/14 11:52 PM, Phonometrologist wrote: For a good laugh, I thought it'd be appropriate here as perhaps some of us musicians can relate.
This has always been one of my favorite blogs...

How to feel miserable as an artist
(or, what not to do, underline any that currently apply)

1.) Constantly compare yourself to other artists

2.) Talk to your family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.

3.) Base the success of your entire career on one project.

4.) Stick with what you know.

5.) Undervalue your expertise.

6.) Let money dictate what you do.

7.) Bow to societal pressures.

8.) Only do work your family would love.

9.) Do whatever the client/customer... asks.

10.) Set unachievable /overwhelming goals. To be accomplished by tomorrow.

I'd be curious to read what was the most applicable point here for y'all.
Anything you would add onto it?

Here's the source: http://www.kerismith.com/blog/how-to-feel-miserable-as-an-artist/

loved it!

I think number 1 was the biggest for me as its important to try not be like another Artist (easier said than done) - Really just have fun with your songs and don't worry so much about being different or creating your songs to match popular styles/artists just for the reviews.

Do not try so hard to be famous/liked/earn money (in other words don't put all your eggs in one basket), don't quit your job, keep your social life active and avoid the attitude of "why am I not well known yet!!!?"

Never be put off by the fact that someone is better/popular than you even if your just as good (you cant dictate that though lol) - I believe 9/10 times its all down to right place at the right time.

[Neon-Bard]

Oh dear...this has made me very sad. So many of these are shockingly true.

I feel as if this thread needs an antithesis! :)

[SkyeWint]

At 9/2/14 07:42 PM, SoundChris wrote: 2) When you finish a track and suddenly notice it is already 8 am and those birds out there are singing already ...

...and that they're more musical than you. :(

[Jernemies]

0. Not being able to finish anything (Although improvement has shown glimpses of itself every now and then)
1. Being able to actually "finish" a song for change, only to realize the end result is garbage
And while not relevant for me at the moment, this:
2. Having an awesome theme and melody, being unable to make anything of it, losing interest, and losing it among the lot of dud "songs". Some serious cleaning up should have happened quite some time ago
(2,5. Not being able to up and clean up actual shit from 500 project files)

[EvilRaccoon]

At 8/30/14 11:24 AM, KatMaestro wrote:

This is how I think of myself during NGADM: "Peter must be not trying, perhaps I can beat him this time", "Our submission was out, I hope I can be like Peter", "Uh oh, Peter's submission blasted everyone out of the water, I'm doomed".

lol. It was a close call! Hardly blasted! :)

My spiral is just as destructive as most of you guys by the look of it. Usually consists of:

> Listen to great scores and inspiration from as many sources as possible.
> Create a melody with a piano.
> Set up new template for the million-th time.
> Start off great. Hit a few minutes in and think it sounds like cats in a fight.
> Listen to more music.
> hate my track and put it into the exceedingly large reject folder to be brought to life another day (probably to fail that day too)
> Listen to more music. Realise it's late and go to bed....

Well what do you know...it's 1:22am right now.

[Troisnyx]

Write something that sounds gloomy and miserable... so gloomy and miserable that you'd wind up feeling that way after say, half an hour working with it.

[Troisnyx]

At 9/6/14 04:36 PM, Lich wrote:

At 9/6/14 04:26 PM, Troisnyx wrote: Write something that sounds gloomy and miserable... so gloomy and miserable that you'd wind up feeling that way after say, half an hour working with it.

I love writing Gloomy and miserable stuff on the side, gets me in the right mood to make some DSBM or Atmospheric stuff (which I haven't bothered uploading).

I hardly ever write dark pieces.... but if I do, they really sound dark, according to listeners. >_< This one might be my darkest yet, because it's not only scared my fiancé out of his wits; it's made me scared to the point of not being able to handle production of it (or recording or whatever) after half an hour, or forty minutes.....

[SoundChris]

At 9/5/14 01:46 PM, SkyeWint wrote:

At 9/2/14 07:42 PM, SoundChris wrote: 2) When you finish a track and suddenly notice it is already 8 am and those birds out there are singing already ...

...and that they're more musical than you. :(

Depends on the bird - maybe a hill myna really is :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAch9P0wlBY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMEccNLXcQc

... those birds are just too cool!

[samulis]

At 9/6/14 04:39 PM, Lich wrote:

At 9/2/14 09:12 PM, samulis wrote: 6. Buying a new plugin and realizing that 90% of the instrument is a waste of space or just marketing hype. Buyer regret, existential self-doubt, and recession to fetal position ensue.

I don't have this problem whatsoever, I force myself to use a few different Softsynths every project r so and I'm slowly building up a library of self-made patches in each one (since they all sound so unique most of the time in their own little ways)

Yeah man! That's sweet. I'm slowly working on sampling my way through the entire orchestra. Give me four years and eventually I'll be using an entirely self-made sample library. :D

[LunyAlex]

#1402. Learn about room acoustics and realize that the 120hz frequency that has been bugging you for the last 5 years is a result of sounds bouncing off of walls and clashing with itself.

This resonance has always been there, and you learned to ignore it years ago, yet it suddenly starts driving you mad in light of this newly gained perspective.

[TV-MAN]

lol, expect people to listen to your music

or expect them to even find it

[ZLEAP]

Well this certainly hits close to home. All except for the money, this entire list applies to me.

[DESHIEL]

I don't get it.

[BrainLight]

I try to ignore all the things that everyone mentioned here already, because a lot of these are guarenteed problems that come with trying to be a musical artist. People are gonna dislike your shit, you're gonna get bashed and criticized, and almost no one cares about your new song.

What bothers me the most though is not having any close friends that want to join you in playing. I bet a lot of us are sitting at home alone when we make music, especially in the electronic department. And for me it feels kinda shitty at times and leaves you VERY prone to getting lazy about your own work.

This is why I love that there's nice communities out there like NG. NGADM gets you going on making music and thoughtful criticism makes you wanna keep going. Then you find other people with similar tastes and maybe you'll start making shit together.