George W.'s Birthday (2/16/09)

[fluffy]

Today I had the day off work because of a certain rebellious President's birthday. I cleaned my kitchen and worked more on finishing up my studio reorganization. I also considered actually, you know, working on music. Or something. Someday I will record another song. I need to get inspired to write one or something.

qotd: I know this has been asked before at least once (by me, even), but how the hell do you get out of a non-recording rut?

[jast]

QotD: record the worst song you can possibly manage recording. Things tend to change after that (or even while you're at it).

[Billy's Little Trip]

QOTD: Start a song with certain people in mind to collaborate with. It's always inspiring to put a few heads together with the same goal. It doesn't have to be the next great piece of music that will rock the world. Just something simple and fun works great.

[JonPorobil]

I found my productivity started shooting sky-high when I started showering (and singing in the shower, of course) in the morning. I usually come up with good ideas in the shower (and I know I'm not the only one here), but then I'd fall asleep and the ideas would disappear. Showering in the morning has ensured that these cool ideas spend a day bouncing around in my head before I get to sleep, which tends to diminish their odds of disappearing into the ether.

This has, unexpectedly, also improved my recall when singing to myself on other occasions. I was singing a new song to myself on the way to a Rock Band party last Friday, and when I got there, I realized I didn't have anything to write it down on or record it. So I shrugged, wrote it off as a loss, and went to play Rock Band for like four hours with some friends. To my surprise, the song was still stuck in my head when I awoke the following morning.


The other thing that usually springs me out of a rut is trying to emulate someone in particular. I was thinking of The Mountain Goats when I did my "Credible Threat," Glenn was thinking of Elliott Smith when he did "Reasons," and I'm sure there's a bunch more Songfight-related examples.

[inevitableguy]

QotD: Join SongFight!

Shoot, that doesn't help you, does it?

[Ross]

Here.

QOTD: Deadlines.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

QOTD: 1) By saying "Fuck it" and rolling tape (or pressing the jolly red candy-like button, as the case may be); 2) powering up the keyboard, selecting your favorite patch, and noodle. Loudly (for some reason, the volume helps).

[Billy's Little Trip]

Another thing that gets me going is a pumping drum loop. And as Rabz mentioned, loud helps.