Crisis of faith

[Ermz]

Absolutely hate these moments. Nothing worse than stopping to question yourself. Waste of time and energy - but sometimes you just have to re-evaluate the way things are moving.

Anyone else having doubts? About anything at all, really.

 

[Joelegend]

We are close to 2012...

 

[SocialNumb]

Faith is a dirty word. I never did like it.

Na though, life is great for what it is.

 

[drew_drummer]

Man.... going through the same shit right now. If it isn't the new album material, it's the mix. If it isn't the mix, its my tone. If it isn't my tone, it's my equipment. Just generally really fucked off at the moment, and cannot be bothered to do anything musical whatsoever - scratch that, I can't be bothered to do anything creative whatsoever! I just want to cabbage out. Been like this for a month or two now.

 

[Ermz]

Good case in point to not mix your own album in the future? Hehe.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Man.... going through the same shit right now. If it isn't the new album material, it's the mix. If it isn't the mix, its my tone. If it isn't my tone, it's my equipment. Just generally really fucked off at the moment, and cannot be bothered to do anything musical whatsoever - scratch that, I can't be bothered to do anything creative whatsoever! I just want to cabbage out. Been like this for a month or two now.

That's exactly the problem with mixing your own stuff. Since it's your material, you can easily lose perspective on the mix, and because you want to make sure it's just perfect, you end up in a loop, second guessing your choices and losing direction.

What always works for me is taking a week off (don't touch the project, don't listen to any of the mixes, don't even think about it), then sit down, listen the material through, make notes of stuff that are obviously wrong to your ears, correct them and then let it go. Convince yourself it's done, and no matter how many times you go back to the beginning this is how good as it's gonna get.

I know letting go of the project is tough as hell, that's where deadlines are helpful

 

[MaellaJohn]

I assume that I question everything just because I'm a confused young person. Just turned 19 and the world is scary. Not quite that confident I will be able to get through.

Makes it kind of scarier to know that people older than me still feel this way--not being able to be consistent with beliefs and stuff like that.
Nothing like being a kid and having no worries, huh?

 

[vespiz]

I assume that I question everything just because I'm a confused young person. Just turned 19 and the world is scary. Not quite that confident I will be able to get through.

If it's any consolation, none of us do.

 

[SocialNumb]

Don't worry about making through MaellaJohn. You won't. None us will.

 

[drew_drummer]

Don't worry about making through MaellaJohn. You won't. None us will.

Good case in point to not mix your own album in the future? Hehe.

True dat man. I didn't really want to do it at first either. Wanted to get yourself or someone on a similar level to do it - lots of people around here who do mixes I respect. But at some point politics happened, money was talked about, and it just became very unrealistic overnight. So I ended up saying I would do it. At least this time around I don't have the rest of the band breathing down my neck (yet).

That's exactly the problem with mixing your own stuff. Since it's your material, you can easily lose perspective on the mix, and because you want to make sure it's just perfect, you end up in a loop, second guessing your choices and losing direction.

What always works for me is taking a week off (don't touch the project, don't listen to any of the mixes, don't even think about it), then sit down, listen the material through, make notes of stuff that are obviously wrong to your ears, correct them and then let it go. Convince yourself it's done, and no matter how many times you go back to the beginning this is how good as it's gonna get.

I know letting go of the project is tough as hell, that's where deadlines are helpful

Good tips Jarkko, and thanks

 

[Jind]

It may be kind of silly sounding, but whenever I'm feeling a bit down, creatively that is, or question my musical interests or inspiration, I've found watching the videos for "Rush: Classic Albums video for 2112 & Moving Pictures" quite inspirational (I told you it might come across as "silly"), but truth be told, Rush represents what every person in this business as a musician/producer/engineer/... (quite frankly any business for that matter) as a professional or casual observer, should aspire to be - both artistically pure in intent and practice.

I'm serious about this - if you can not feel inspired as an artist, or whatever your connection to music is, by watching this, then you probably don't have the passion for it to begin with. Even if you've never gotten into Rush as a band, you will find things in this video that can carry over to any creative endeavor, as far as integrity to what you believe in, creating the art that inspires and drives you.

In all seriousness, I was going through a period last year where I almost sold all my gear, questioning whether I had any interest in music at all anymore. Being the huge Rush fan I am, I watched the "Rush: Classic Albums 2112 & Moving Pictures" video thinking it would be informative about two albums I absolutely adore, but walked away from it with so much more. Not only do the band members and others discuss the details of both albums (Terry Brown ("Broon") really did produce some great albums when he was working with Rush), but the underlying tale of how they did not cave into the popular notion of creating music for others (pressure from "the business" end of things) instead of oneself, I found myself realizing that these things can motivate me in all my challenges; so much so that I have watched it many times since just for how I feel after watching it (not only the stellar performances contained within).

Seriously - watch it. You'll be motivated!









PS - Why Rush is not in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame is simply one of the greatest snubs in all of Rock history (not that it bothers them, but as a huge fan it just seems ridiculous).

Ok, so I've worked my favorite band into a "Crisis of Faith" thread; my work is done!

 

[ze kink]

I just read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, and am in the process of reading A New Earth. Definitely worth checking out IMO. You have to get past the pseudo-spiritual new age moments in his writing though. They're probably aimed at religious people or new age hippies (of which I am neither), but I still consider the lessons included in them valuable.

 

[Terminus]

I actually do something similar to Jind, watch alot of videos for inspiration etc. I was up late watching this last might (part 1 of 5, and if you haven't seen this, it's a really cool history lesson on how music was refined over the centuries)



There's also episodes on rhythm and harmony for those interested. I found out that I was using alot of the same tricks that have been utilized over the years.

Anyway, yes I can relate on the whole because I always write music in a daw, the wrong way I guess lol but it's the only way I can do it...but I hate writing songs sometimes because of second guessing. I can spew riffs all day long but putting them together and making it memorable and exciting and staying musically coherent makes me pull my fucking hair out sometimes.

 

[Old_Gregg]

I'm just gonna leave this here...

 

[Trevoire520]

Realizing that I am not as good as I thought I was.
Afraid that I am pretty shitty at what I do.

I get like this ALL THE TIME. I hate it.

I'm a much better live engineer than a studio engineer really.
I really love working with bands and making music though, so I just keep trying to better myself.

Guys in my local area seem to think I'm pretty good. But I can't touch most of the people on this forum though.

Really need to get the time (and the guts!) to post a bunch of shit on the forum and get some tips!

 

[schwinginbatman]

Questioning whether I'll get anywhere with this band thing, whether or not my songs are any good, yeah. It tends to happen. I just push through it, because I want to see this work.

 

[AndrewB]

Only 14, so probably not as severe as most of the people posting in this thread, but I'm going through this right now.

I'm writing, recording, and mixing my own album all from my basement, and I'm quickly starting to doubt my songwriting skills. It seems like every one of the parts from my songs is based off of another band's style, and I haven't found "my sound" yet. Also, I sometimes end up going over my mixes over and over again, and end up not being satisfied with my guitar tone, or the lyrics, or just the song overall, and feeling like I have to completely re record all the parts.

The bright side is that I'm on no deadline, and I own everything that I'm using to record, so I can take my time. But still, it feels like if I sell it to other people, I'm putting every second of every song under a microscope.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I'm in great health and my cock still works on demand

perspective

as long as you're not living like an idiot ... these moments of doubt you speak of tend to become less frequent and less bothersome as you get older

 

[Line666]

I get that feeling once every few days or so, I just use it as incentive to work harder.

 

[Soundlurker]

I mostly get frustrated when there's a long period without any work to be done. This year has been awful in that aspect. There just seemed to be no one recording or needing mixing at all, at least not among my usual clients, so naturally I start questioning myself and rethinking my whole business model, I start wondering if I should get some stupid second job I'm no good at just to have a solid albeit miserable income.

Thankfully, things seem to be going back to normal and I'm once again working on new projects and enjoying every bit of it. However, there continues to be a slight sense of uncertainty that I can't get rid of - I'm not 100% sure there won't be another huge drop in demand, whereas the bills keep coming like clockwork.

Perhaps, I'm more worried about the volume of my work than its quality and the rates at which it's improving. People seem happy with the results and recommend me to their friends but as good as word of mouth is it just doesn't cut it beyond a certain level. It seems it's all about hype and viral videos/other content. Unfortunately in most cases to get them you either have to ignore your dignity or invest money and in both cases there are no guarantees for success.

Probably getting a bit off topic there but yeah sometimes it's the necessary evil to get depressed and think about what you're doing wrong or how your environment is stopping you progress.