An Introduction to Producer's Block / Beat Blocked - How to Overcome It

Image courtesy of www.djtechtools.com

If you’re new to making beats then I suppose you are wondering what “Producers-Block” or “Beat-Blocked” is… And, if you are no stranger to this phrase then you probably experienced it a lot throughout your music production years but you still wonder how to properly overcome it. 

Have you ever heard of “Writers Block”? It mostly points towards songwriters and rappers who have a hard time attempting to compose new lyrics for a new song. They suffered a short-term loss in creativity to compose lyrics and they can’t seem to find enough inspiration to help write a new song. Producers-Block is very similar, but it applies to music producers when they lack creativity in making a beat. No matter what a producer does when hitting the keys and browsing through sound banks on the computer, they can’t seem to get a melody right or they're just not feeling the beat. Does this occasionally apply to you? 

Being Producers-Blocked can make a producer lose motivation and almost want to give up but that is never the correct answer. A music producer needs to have a lot patience because music isn't an easy thing to make and it doesn't matter if you have made so many hits or not, every producer still have those depressing moments when they want to throw their keyboard out the window because they can’t make a new tune.

---

Image Courtesy of www.pinopinion.com

There are several different ways to overcome this problem. Some methods work better for different producers and you must take the time to try different methods to find what works best for you.

• Take a break from producing for at least one week in order for your brain to gather together its creativity.

• Free your mind and listen to a wide range of Genres like Jazz, Classical, Dance, Rock N’ Roll, Metal and even Opera.  Try to listen to different genres instead of the same music, over and over again.

• If you use a Midi Keyboard (which I recommend), open up your software and play around with all the different sounds. A melody you come out with will spark that creativity.

• Don’t force yourself to make a beat as it will cause things to get much worse and more depressing for you. Even the human brain has a limit so don’t overwhelm yourself.

• Communicate with more producers online. Start networking and be receptive to feedback. The information they offer can help you to improve your music and it can also give you a boost.

• Get straight into your favourite zone. Start off with what part of the music you are best at producing for example, if you are better at creating a drum beat then start there, or if you are better at creating the bass first then go ahead!

• Don’t delete your current project. Just because you can’t seem to add more flavour to the beat, then save it and come back to it in the future. Never delete a project because if you look back at it later then you will start feeling the tune much better.

I hope this has helped you for your future music production projects. Take into account how important the information is. Please share your methods and opinions below.

D.J. Hill
Follow | Like | Subscribe

More Articles -
Beats are Essential for the Music Industry
How to Create a Stage Name
List of Common Sub-Genres and How to Categorise Beats

---