That’s about all I have to say for now. Thanks for your input
Hey Scott !
If somebody brings up such a question, it’s pretty obvious to ask the counter question “why on earth would you possibly want to do that?”
so i can only guess blindly and assume that you might ask out of frustration about your music (not reaching set goals - in terms of quality or quantity) or a lack of recognition from your environment, be it reallife or webwise or a combination of both.
well, whatever it is: been there done that.
for my part i can only say, no matter how much i hate my stuff or the fact that things didn’t turn out as expected… after “giving up” on my hobby for a couple of weeks, i would always get the feeling that something’s missing in my life from which i just can’t let go.
after returning to being productive again, life is back to normal again and i can finally breathe again 
so maybe also take a few days or even weeks off from trying to be productive and creative… i’m pretty sure you will feel when the time has come that you have to get back to it again.
and if that moment never comes, you probably know that you’ve made the right decicision.
and if you’re asking because of a totally different reason, just ignore what i wrote above 
best wishes
klaus
Hi Scott,
I like Klaus’ thoughts (hi keith303!). Again, all we can do is speculate why you are thinking this. Suffice it to say, for me, it had less to do with simply to quit or not, and more to do with redefining my mental concept of making music.
I think most creators have gone to this point where they realize it is a hobby that may not be something more. I will always continue to insist that it is your life to live and your time to spend. Anyone can continue to work at it and develop their skills.
But even if just for hobby – what is the point? I think when your hobby is put in a healthy frame of mind, it is something that you enjoy doing. Most of us know all too well that our jobs do not often fit in this category. Don’t let your hobby become a burden. Like Klaus says, maybe take time off from the pressure of “trying to be creative or productive”.
After that, shake things up. Discover some new path that excites you about music production (just as for me it was migrating from Psycle to Renoise, and consequently acquiring HW synths for fun midi sequencing).
I have been there, where I was so focused on it and seemed so determined to take it seriously, it stopped being fun and it became a mental construct that was not making music. Remember, it doesn’t have to be complete productions. Experiment with short demos of new sounds or styles.
Have fun! When the fun stops, you know something got broken. This usually happens for all of us in life when we need a new perspective.
-Peace
I like to think of it as retirement. You can always come out of retirement.
I don’t do music anymore. Well, i do, but it’s playing my daughter’s toy flute or sometimes the guitar. Time is a big factor. Space too. I sold my studio, can’t keep it in my small apartment, can’t rent a spare room to store it. Context is the most important for me though. Between music and spending time with my family I chose family.The kind of music I liked doing involved a lot of 3AM nights wasted, literally and figuratively. There is no room in my life for that at this time.
To me it’s like skateboarding. I can still do it but I don’t because it hurts.
The comment about doing it because you enjoy it is interesting and struck me. I asked myself the same question this weekend and came the closest I have ever come to the wrong answer. I never really think about whether I enjoy it or not, I’ve been doing it for so long and consider it a part of who I am so much that it isn’t even about enjoyment. When I read this thread and that comment in particular I thought quite hard about it and I seriously don’t know if I do enjoy it any more, it stresses me out no end and I feel like I get worse and worse, disheartened and disappointed are more like the dominant feelings lately.
I don’t think I’ll stop though, slow down maybe but not give up. I refuse (when I am in the right state of mind).
Unfortunately the rise of social media and youtube, etc has bred a culture where every one with a thimble full of talent or skill demands some degree of success in their chosen hobby or feels like a failure. That’s a recipe for delusion and dissatisfaction with your day-to-day life which is no doubt pretty decent despite the absence of fame / wealth / success.
I know it’s probably not a popular sentiment and I’m not being overly negative it’s just if you feel like you’re flogging a dead horse you could be busy finding another outlet (creative or otherwise) that you find more rewarding or can enjoy for it’s own sake without the heavy expectation that most people place on being a musician.
But for pete sake don’t start writing a cookery / travel / personal finance blog instead 
I have been thinking the same thing, but I needed the relaxation sensation that composing gives me.
Then I tried figure out why I would think that in the first place, and I think the reason was that my music really went nowhere.
After that realisation I begun to improve and study areas where my music was lacking and I still have a long way to go on that to-do list. But the improvements so far has made it fun again.
No, don’t quit it. You’ve already had that dream of loving music and making some yourself, keep it going, and it’ll keep YOU going, too, it can keep you going somewhere, where you’d never arrive without it.
If you’re frustrated and such with your results, take a break, don’t think about music for a while, then start to dream about it in fresh ways for a while, then try making music again! Try something different then. Try to learn theoretical stuff about music in the meanwhile, music theory, mixing/mastering tricks, clever effect usage and such. And listen to a lot of music in the meanwhile, also stuff you normally wouldn’t listen to, and think about making this stuff or similliar yourself, up to the details. Then get to know, how such dreams can get one hooked like mad dope, with the difference it won’t harm you like dope.
Oh, dope…it you find you have problems to work out tunes because, err…you’re always high on pot or what, then stop doing that stuff for a while, it can work wonders to see music software not like some sort of trip-toy, but actual hard work you need a bit of discipline with, and where the reward is the product afterwards, and the mental and creative process and progress you make by doing your thing.
I think it’s all been said already in this excellent and encouraging thread.
My .02 anyway: depends on why you make music. Do you do it for you? Or for “them”?
If you do it for you, I beg you, please do not quit.
If you do it for “them”, then you’re doing it wrong and yes you should probably quit. This will free you up to find what truly makes you happy, and in the end that’s all that matters.
Unfortunately if you wanted to quit, it’s not possible.
Frankly, if you come to beg such a attention here with this kind of topic (in English: attention whore? Emo-kid?) I say:
Go for it! Stop it! I bet you won’t dare to do it.
This is something like someone coming to say that I’m going to make a suicide.
In the end they are just trying to get some attention, nothing less, nothing more.
If you we’re intent to quit music making for real the topic/post would be something like this:
"Lately I have feel like X, Y, Z, blahblahblah Too busy lately, blahblahblah, ectect
AND that’s why I have been thinking that mayby I should quit making of music."
Even you’re quitting something, please, try to be more creative and express yourself.
My purpose is not to insult You, no, The thing is just that when You make lame posts, you will also get lame replies.
Sorry
/pEACE!
attention whore? Emo-kid?
WORD.
edit: Haven’t been on board for like a year, two, propably three? and now i remember why…
fcking lame sht, full of douchebags.
WORD.
edit: Haven’t been on board for like a year, two, propably three? and now i remember why…
fcking lame sht, full of douchebags.
You’ve got issues.
Hey all, I just wanted to say thank you for the well thought out replies. And I’m glad this thread could be a place for others who are feeling the same way to come and express their feelings too.
I’m sorry I wasn’t very descriptive in the original post. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the replies were meaningful until you get to #12.
So the original reason I posted this thread, and why I feel this way about possibly quitting music is : Because I suffer from depression and OCD. I am currently on 5 psychiatric medications, many days it feels like moving a mountain to do anything at all. It has been hard the past 5 years, but 2014 I seem especially low. The past few months I haven’t been enjoying doing anything at all that I usually enjoy. Making music, playing video games.
I can’t stand my job at work anymore and I’m desperately searching for a change. Fortunately something came up and it looks like I will be getting a new job within the next few weeks! So I am really excited about that, but I can’t put all my hope about the future just in my job.
I think the question really should not be “should I stop making music”, but “How can I pull myself out of depression so I can enjoy things again?”
As for “taking a break” from it, it’s already been 3 months since I’ve written any music.
Currently I’m just not feeling the drive to do it. I guess by asking the question “Should I stop making music?”, I’m doing what depressed people have the tendency to do: Not looking past the immediate situation, forgetting there is a future which could be totally different and potentially better.
But , I don’t want to make this post a thread stopper, a “woe is me” story, so I’d also just like to say thank you again for the thoughtful replies, and let you guys know that this has led me to do some thinking about “why I make music”.
For me there are several reasons I do this, and what has continued to make it enjoyable/meaningful.
-
The actual process of writing the music itself. Whether it is the spark of inspiration of a melody, putting down the basic parts of a track, or being deep in the mix at 2am, there is always something meaningful and gratifying about the process of actually creating the music in the first place.
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Sense of pride. I know some people like to listen to their own music and some don’t. I’m one of those who does. It’s great to have a finished tune and listen to it several times every day for the first week or two, and feel a sense of pride like “yes, this is something I created”. And then to have “the collection” of all the works I have created over the years… It is fun to go back and listen to my older tunes, reminisce, and also compare them to the newer songs and say “Yes, I have made progress”
-
Community aspect. I don’t feel the primary reasons I write music is “for others”. But, that doesn’t take away the little buzz I get when I get a certain number of plays on Soundcloud when I release a new track. Or get those rare meaningful comments on Soundcloud. But the -best- community aspect of making music for me has absolutely been SDCompo. In the past, the deadlines have been a great motivation to get songs done… But it is great to listen to other peoples songs, put meaningful feedback on their songs, and get some meaningful feedback on yours as well. Plus the friendships I have made, I wouldn’t take that away for anything.
Well, it’s pretty obvious that I love writing music and it is very meaningful to me. I guess I’m just in a slump right now. On hiatus if you will. But I guess the biggest thing for me to remember is this is impermanent, this situation will change. And I’m sure that I will be back to the mix at some point, whenever that is. And I do want to try to experiment with some different software/ideas and different ways of making music. I still love Renoise and trackers, but I think shaking it up every once in a while is a good thing.
So thank you again everyone, and again I don’t want this post to be a thread stopper, please continue discussing this issue if you have any more ideas or insights!
No, don’t stop, because I like lot’s of your melodies !
It sounds like you need to keep making music, but you need to find an approach that doesn’t leave you disgusted/bored/stumped/unhappy/generally dissatisfied with the process or the results.
I can speak from experience in all those, and I’m still in the process of recovering my love of music and the music making process. I’ve spent the last several years becoming increasingly less productive in my music, to the point where by 2011 I only released 2 tracks…and I didn’t enjoy any of the process as much as I felt I should. I’ve made a rebound, releasing more songs the next year (3 instead of 2), more last year, and more this year.
But I’ve had a ton of help this year and part of last. First off, I started participating in the SDCompo, which gives me enough time to do something but still forces a deadline on my productivity. Deadlines are fantastic motivators, incidentally. I also allow myself a bit more latitude for experimentation and fiddling around with compo tunes than I could stand in my other songs, something that really needs to be applied to all my songs so I can just get on with making them.
There are also 3 other things that have made huge differences in how I approach music making and life in general.
First, I grabbed a copy of The Guide Formerly Known As The Ravenspiral Guide, an informal guide on music theory that has given me heaps of useful tidbits without boring me to death. The latest version seems to be about a year old, and the original website appears to be mothballed and the domain up for sale so I don’t know what the future hold for it 
Second, I was pointed to an eye-opening book called Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck, a researcher in motivation and success. The main point I took away from reading that book was that I could learn to improve just about anything about myself that I wanted, including things like willpower, focus, commitment, and creativity. The most important thing involved in the learning is practice. Talent is largely a head start on the way to mastery, but practice can overtake and pass raw talent that is left unnurtured. Mindset is a source of many peoples’ dissatisfaction with themselves and others, and it tends to create conflict and unproductive competition between people who are trying to impress each other with their innate talent (or the manufactured image of their innate talent).
Third, I started on Mike Monday’s pull-the-rug-from-under-your-feet, world-changing motivational course called Start Now Finish Fast. The great thing about this course is that the core lessons can be applied to all aspects of your life and not just making music. It’s all delivered from the perspective of helping you make more music, but it can be used in so many other ways that it’s almost frightening. But it’s not cheap (yes, it’s a paid-for course). The good news is that Mike Monday has tons of free videos up on YouTube that you can watch and still get a nudge in the right direction. Unfortunately, the real substance is in the course, and it’s $500 all at once or $97/mo. for 6 months. Full money-back guarantee, too.
The real trick to anything you try or use is sticking with it. I ran into the problem of getting frustrated when the great music idea just turned out wrong once I got it out of my head. The truth is, that’s a normal part of the process. In order for the distance between the idea and the final result to be eliminated, you have to go through the whole process of making a song over and over again, practicing and refining things to the point where you have learned how to quickly and easily make all those fiddly adjustments to get the silly thing sounding the way it does in your head. It can be tedious, and you can end up working on songs that you may not be really crazy about, but all the things you learn in the process go to your improvement. The things you learn are either what you should do to get what you want, or they are things you shouldn’t do to get what you want.
Another thing to keep in mind when you find yourself unhappy with something you’ve created. Whatever your chosen craft (hobby, interest, whatever), your taste will always be ahead of your ability. You learned to listen to music before you learned to make music. As you learn to make music, your skill at appraising the quality of your music advances, always staying ahead of your skill to produce. That means that no matter how long you spend learning and improving your music-making skills, your music-appraising skills will always be better. So you’ll never be entirely satisfied with what you make, no matter how long you spend improving. So your goal should never really be to make music you’re 100% satisfied with or just give up. Expect to continue finding something wrong or something that could be fixed or improved.
That’s what the next project is for 
By the way, please finish March 29th 2013 from your unfinished tracks track on Soundcloud. It’s got a fantastic vibe to it :3
Whoa… I didn’t mean to write a book 
Din:
Thank you for your detailed reply
Sorry to hear you had some unproductive years. I have had those too, mostly around 2002-2004 when I was in between Impulse Tracker and finding Renoise, I experimented with Modplug and Fruity Loops but wasn’t happy with anything until I found Renoise in 2005.
Also really glad to hear that SDCompo has been good motivation for you. Comments like that make it worth it to keep it going. Though honestly I have never considered stopping it. Before Sonicade passed it over to me, I already had plans for “If SDCompo ever goes down, I will continue to do compos on some forums”. But I’m honestly surprised and pleased that it has lasted this long. 8 years ago I could have never expected to see this thing still alive and flourishing. I think it’s really something unique and special.
Never heard of this Ravenspiral guide (!?), but it looks really neat, I will definitely give it a check out.
Also thanks for the recommend about “Mindset”, I will definitely give that one a look too. I’m somewhat of a self-help book junkie, I could fill an entire self-help book section at a library with all the books I have. (And I’m still screwed up, I know… ) I think I have actually heard of this one.
P.S… if you have never heard of it, check out “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I read this 5 years ago and it literally changed my life. Highly recommended to anyone, really.
That’s a fascinating observation you have about us being more advanced music appraisers than we are creators. Good advice to keep in mind when we are too critical of our own work.
And finally, thank you for suggesting I finish one of the tracks on “Old Haunts”. Unfortunately March 29th 2013 is probably the least likely to ever get finished. It’s just a short little d&b mess around. I’ve actually wanted to get back into making some d&b tracks at some point in the future, so if I do I want to start from scratch and focus really hard on good production.
Well, it looks like I wrote a novel in response to your novel. I tend to do that sometimes. Feeling a bit better today even despite the fact that I forgot one of my medications this morning.
Anyone else is still welcome to contribute to this thread with a novel or even a few sentences.
Peace
-Scott
Nevermind, I’m officially mentally deranged (yes, with diagnosis and pills of the kind you already know, it’s no rude joke), and think about the whole music stuff partly as selfmade therapy. And it works. After every breakdown I know my fair deal of difficulties to get into it again, and then after the dark swamp I have to redefine myself in terms of music, like learning to walk again, but with shoes that are still better than before from the last achievements. I sometimes visualise it as some kind of relaxing meditation to mess around with music software, and try to work out the more promising pieces later on with more discipline when my mind is up to it. Treating other people with results is something I shift up to the point, where I’m actually very happy with a piece, then why not, but it’s no priority for me. That’s probably why I argumented above vaguely in the direction that the process of creativity and learning being the most important for me, because that development actually means the most for me, and actually has the greatest positive effect on my mental health. Funny that you brought up your handycap.
We should make up some fictional group of people with handicaps whining about each other all the time how we’d like to quit (or not), or instead stop whining and try making music, or pancakes.
Mixdown is really hard with constant voices babbling in the background, and more prominent ones telling you different things about what you’re supposed to believe where that babble actually comes from. So don’t YOU whine, 'cause I’m happy with my occupational therapy.
Is there a license rebate for people with officially registered disablement? 
Hey Scott,
I know many examples of people acheiving their goals the moment right after quiting, like Andrew Wiles, who finally completed the proof of Fermat’s last theorm the day he gave up!
My personally experimence is also full of those (including music, when I was about your age, I was convinced that my best work was behind me and that it would only be downhill from now on, but thanks to the SDCompo, amongst others, it has proven wrong!). So quiting is a healthy stage in the great cycle of things, works especially well when you really believe it!
As for the more general question, how to find a motivation to go on, that’s a tough one. What about organizing one of those shamanic improvisation session I told you about!!? You put an ad somewhere, you need some place, and to collect old broken instruments, or maybe people can bring theirs. Man, if I were in your neighborhood I’d do it for you. I’ve got that feelling that if everybody would do that, wars would stop overnight. Maybe I’ll write a blog about that to try to promote it or something.
Anyway if you officially decide to quit don’t throw your gears in the process, I’m sure we have collabs waiting to be done in the future.
No… now is time for a concept album. Then quit. Then buy a mandolin and become a folk artist.
(sorry. but, seriously. but not. but maybe. but really, never quit. just change reasons or techniques or just spend a lot of time listening for a while… best music i ever enjoyed i didn’t make…)