Have you had that experience when you are in the middle of a recording or mixing session and suddenly you realize that you are not having some fun? You think it’s just a little bug you’re in, but a few sessions later you feel the same.
When the fun was replaced with work
To be honest, I’ve had this experience several times in my life. When I started composing songs and creating music in middle school (can you even imagine a 13-year-old Graham? Imagine brown hair and acne and you’re practically there) I was having fun of all kinds.
Then, when I got to college and started studying audio production, the fun became chores and pressure. Making music felt much more like a job.
But then he went back to having fun for a couple of years. Just to stop me all of a sudden when I did an internship in a $ 5 million study. Nobody in that place was having fun for baby.
The recording sessions were nothing but stress, screams and many words of curse. Making music really felt like work then.
Even sometimes these days, all content creation and mixing for customers can feel a bit like, well, work!
When the fun was replaced with equipment
Work is not the only thing that has stolen the fun factor of my music. The acquisition and investigation of equipment (that is, drooling over catalogs) has been an adventure of sucking each other’s soul.
What begins as an exciting adventure in (apparently) better music can quickly turn into disappointment, disappointment and boredom.
Eventually, that shiny new toy does not offer the angelic music you expected. And the funny wind is sucked out of your music making candles.
What to do when it is no longer fun
If you can not identify with any of this, then be grateful. Keep having fun every time you make music, because that’s what this whole adventure is about.
But for the rest of us who have struggled sometimes to find fun in all these recording and mixing things, let me suggest some tips to give you a perspective and get it out of the fun funk.
- Go listen to good music.
Seriously, open your absolute favorite album or mix of songs and repeat it. Go for a walk, jog or walk, and listen with headphones. Simply enter a place where music enjoy as a listener, not as an artist.
The good music, the music that we LOVE, is what led us to this crazy world of home study. So when the fun runs out, go back to the source: the music of other people!
- Sell a piece of equipment.
There is a surprising psychological thing that happens when you sell things. He no longer has power over you.
The moment you sell a microphone that you rarely use, or a preamp that just looks nice, you loosen the grip of your equipment and a flurry of freedom and creativity returns to your brain.
Conclusion
Every time I am in a funk state, it is usually due to one thing and only to one: I am thinking too much about myself.
Then, when that happens, I try to go and help someone else with something that is important to them. You can do the same.
Come to one of your musician friends and offer to help him record, mix or master a song for them. You will make your day, you will have fun and you could have some amazing collaboration sessions!
Fun Zone 