It happens to the best of us - you're looking forward to working on a track or writing a new beat, you get yourself into the studio, and... nothing. No, you're just not feeling creative today. Whether from a tiring day at work or just a lack of inspiration, writer's block can hit us all. So what do you do while you're waiting for the creative juices to start flowing again? Let's look a some options...Dig in the crates. This one's easy, and fun - listen to some of your old records and start looking for samples. Anything that sounds like it might be useful, just record it in - it doesn't matter if it turns out to be unusuable, but for future use you'll have a palette of sounds and starting points to get busy with when the mood strikes. Drums, loops, vocal hits, chords, even hiss and crackle - get it recorded and saved; it'll save you time later!
Make some sounds. Get a synth loaded up and start messing with plugins, effects, filters and so on. Don't worry about writing anything with it, just make some good sounds, and save the presets, or channel strips - or even resample them and mess about with the audio. Again, some sounds might turn out to be useless; or they could be exactly what you need the next time you're really writing.
Backups. This might sound like a parent telling you to change your underwear regularly, but do you backup your hard disk often? Really? Mac users can have the benefit of using Time Machine to do it automatically, but if backing up is something you've always meant to arrange, but never seem to get around to (like it is for most of us) then now's the time to sort it out. Think about how much you'd lose if your hard disk crashed today. Then get copying - or go online and buy a cheap external hard disk for the purpose!
Self-promotion. It always needs to be done, and maybe there's a few bits you could catch up on now. Is your website up to date with gigs and new tracks? Did you send your latest track to plenty of DJ's to get their opinions? You could also fire off a bunch of emails to club promoters, telling them what you do and why they should book you for a show. Don't know any club promoters? Well, get on some local music forums, look at the events page, and hunt down email addresses or facebook pages for people putting on events in your area. Throw them all into a spreadsheet so that you've got them for future use, and start hustling.Mixes. We all commit ourselves to do a DJ mix for a blog or an internet radio show, and then take forever to actually get around to it. Well, instead of forcing yourself to write music when you're not in the mood, maybe this is the time to pitch in and get it done. Listening to the tracks you use could even give you inspiration for your own work!
Analyse a track. This can really help you gain a new perspective on your own work. We often hear tracks as a whole and don't really think about what they're doing, so it's useful to pull things apart once in a while to see how they work. Listen to a track you really rate and start making notes - how long is the intro and drop, when do certain elements come in and out, how many parts are in a track, what does the mixdown do. If you're musically trained, have a look at the chord progressions and such too. You'll often find that tracks are much more simple than they initially appear, and this can give you some great ideas on how to work with your own beats!
Software updates. Have you been clicking the "remind me later" button on those software updates for the last however many months? You'll have to let it update sometime, and who knows, it might even fix a bug or two. Check for updates on all your latest software, put the kettle on, and let it get on with it.There's enough here to keep you busy for a good two or three dead evenings in the studio - and you haven't even tidied up the room or defragged your hard disk yet! So work through a few of these dull-but-productive ideas and you should find that once you emerge from your creative slumber, you're firing on all cylinders once more and ready to lay down some beats with no distractions!
