Leave your DAW for a while

It’s easy to get stuck making music on computers. At some point you always come back the same rhythms and sounds, and everything seems bland and lifeless.

When I was studying graphic design, the problem was the same. Working on computers give you a lot of power and overwhelming possibilities. To fix that, teachers came up with the following rule: no computer allowed the first year. Get back to paper, get back to the feeling of drawing and painting, embrace their limitations.

This approach works well with electronic music too. Close your laptop and find something else. Record stuff with your phone. Spit an entire track using an old drum machine. Never underestimate what limited interfaces and imperfections can bring to your creativity.

When you have that part nailed down, maybe you can go back to your computer and polish what your have.