i have spent a shitload of money on all kinds of equipment and literally thousands of samples over the past 10 years, i have ‘wasted’ the (i guess) best years of my life trying to make music, and here i am with nothing but hundreds of 1-2 minute song ideas… all of which i still like and would love to finish some day, but nothing ever sounds right… and after half a lifetime of trying and believing that i could make it, i have finally come to the point where i acknowledge that i simply don’t have the talent/skills. and yet i’m sitting in front of the computer every single day, as if not accepting the truth. the problem is, that i’m overflowing with ideas, but i just don’t know how to turn them into music… i’ve told myself so many times to just give up, but i just can’t…
i would love to know if there are others, who are having doubts about their skills, and to hear the tips and secrets of the successful renoise users… did u ever feel like u simply suck and that u should just go with your day job? where do u get your inspiration/motivation from? how did u know that u’ve got the talent? how do i know when to give up?
yep, i’m a little drunk, but i’d still appreciate any response!
of course it’s about the fun. i enjoy coming up with new ideas, i love music and i’d love being able to express myself musically. but it’s just not that easy! i guess for many people here music is just a fun hobby next to their great jobs and families. to me music basically is the only thing i always felt i’m good at, and the fact that i’m not is pretty depressing. this is not about being successful in the sense of making lotsa money, it’s about self realization, finding the one thing u’re good in. i know this is a stupid topic, just thought i’d try to get some other people’s thoughts on this…
Get someone to collab with. I can’t do shit alone, I have always been better working with someone else and if you look around most successful acts/bands have songwriting/producing duos or even more people. The internet makes it easy btw.
I understand exactly how you feel, I’m just like you … I always have thousands of ideas and melodies in my head at the same time, which can be damn annoying when you just want to get their feelings or just pass the time … I can tell you that I am over five years has been working on an album where I am from beginning to end has fellt just as you do now, my advice to you is to try to narrow down your’e songs because then maybe it will be easier for you to work on, the music … RESPECT & GOOD LUCK!
Taistella veljeni Suomen! Kyllä se on totta, olen suomalainen veri! Héja Suomi!
of course it’s about the fun. i enjoy coming up with new ideas, i love music and i’d love being able to express myself musically. but it’s just not that easy! i guess for many people here music is just a fun hobby next to their great jobs and families. to me music basically is the only thing i always felt i’m good at, and the fact that i’m not is pretty depressing. this is not about being successful in the sense of making lotsa money, it’s about self realization, finding the one thing u’re good in. i know this is a stupid topic, just thought i’d try to get some other people’s thoughts on this…
Then don’t! How long are you using trackers? I know I’ve been lazy, but it took many, many years before it was more than a 100% exercise frustration, you know… and I still cannot “express my ideas” like I could if I played a simple instrument really well… but it got a lot better, it’s less frustration and more jamming, so yeah, hang in there would be my pro tip haha. It’s in the Renoise contract actually, you’re not allowed to quit before 10 years are up.
i know your problem as i had it, too.
i guess, for you it`s the best to do a collab.
for me it was the best to stop trying to sound like others. maybe you have the same problem ?
Sometimes you simply have to stop for a while and i really mean for as long as it takes and do absolutely nothing with music.
And as soon as you start again after that while, make sure that you have the time to finish what you start then because you usually have enough inspiration to complete it.
The best music I make is in my head. I can live with that, but it would be nice to have it in a physical form before I forget.
I’ve been told it is always best to finish things even if you think those things suck, it becomes a discipline. That’s also something I should listen to.
I also find being away from the computer works, kinda like how a writer needs to experience life in order to write anything worth reading about it.
Also, I find that if I am hit with inspiration and what I’m doing I feel is remarkable, if I stop during that sitting it’s usually gone forever.
I use to get interrupted and distracted a lot by family members and telephones; any interruption or distraction MUST be eliminated.
But I feel exactly the same. Sometimes you just have to ask yourself if you’re playing in the right game! To be honest, I’m having more fun with hardware at the moment, specifically my Yamaha AN1x. Mind you, renoise is still the best DAW i’ve used. I like to think of it as a super korg Electribe.
I’ve had renoise since maybe 2003, and I still don’t know what 90% of all the little numbers and buttons mean or do I had many long breaks from music during these years, either because I didn’t have access to a computer or because I tried out different hobbies, but somewhere in my mind there’s always some melody or rhythm playing. Sometimes I’m so busy “composing” in my head, that I can’t sleep or do my job but as soon as I get to the computer it’s back to reality, spending hours looking for samples that sound even remotely like what it sounds like in my head (I don’t even try anymore to make the sounds myself somehow) and in the end I either just get frustrated and stop or I end up with a totally new 1 minute song that I’ll never finish.
Sometimes I actually DO like what I’m working on and when that happens I tend to put all my energy and time into it. I’m obsessed with the details, sometimes I spend hours on something that nobody would ever care about or even hear. I listen to it over and over again, until I can’t even listen objectively anymore. After a couple of days or even weeks without any progress, I realize that it’s crap, that I only like it because I made it, and if I heard it in the radio I probably couldn’t care less. Then, years later I look through my old files and discover this old idea, listen to it and “hey, this is nice, I should try to remake it”… and back to square one.
HA! same here man prob more like since 2000 though
yeah man, the first question you need to ask yourself is : Do i enjoy making music? If the answer is yes, then keep doing it! It does sound like you have some problems with song structure though. If your songs are that short, then you need to look at how many different parts you have in your song, and how often they are repeated.If all else fails, go for some sort of verse,chorus,verse chorus, bridge, chorus - structure. You just need to be a bit more pro active with looking this stuff up. Listen to songs you like, and try to figure out how song structure is used for them- ask questions like, how often is this phrase repeated, how long is the phrase?- most phrases, or hooks, are about 8 bars in length. and also try to look at how manny main prases or riffs are used in a song. - most only have about 2, one for the chorus, one for the bridge- with the verse often being some sort of anticipation to the chorus- i.e same notes but different rhythms- or same rhythms, different notes- you get the picture Always keep in mind that the most important thing to do is to FINISH the song. give yourself something like 4 days to finish a song start to scratch. once you start to finish more and more, you will get into the rhythm of it. Hope this helps
the songs are this short, because they are just ideas I play around with for a couple of days until I get sick of them they don’t have beginnings and endings… they are not even songs yet! structure is not a problem, it’s the actual sound of everything that discourages me before I even get to think about the structure. I didn’t really care about this when I started many years ago, in fact I actually was able to finish songs back then (even released some of them here)
Before I started this thread I was going to post in the beginners questions forum to ask some technical questions, but since I probably wouldn’t understand any of the replies I thought “what’s the point”?
4 DAYS TO FINNISH A SONG?? If i could finnish one in 4 months I’d be happy
Ok, one more time… If you are annoyed by the numbers of songs & feel that you can´t finnish them… Try to narrow them down, maby then it´s going to be easier for you to deal with them…
If that does not work, well then maby you need to Face the facts and deal with that you only can make short clips of stuff… There are alot of DJ´s/producers that makes short songs, On hyvä !
BTW, it´s very common for me to spend up to 3-4 months to finnish a song, i am a perfectionist just like you & others here at the renoise forum… As I tryed to say before; i have recently finnished an album and it took me 5 years to complete becouse of this. But thanks to my obsession of getting the job done, i did it…
the songs are this short, because they are just ideas I play around with for a couple of days until I get sick of them they don’t have beginnings and endings… they are not even songs yet! structure is not a problem, it’s the actual sound of everything that discourages me before I even get to think about the structure. I didn’t really care about this when I started many years ago, in fact I actually was able to finish songs back then (even released some of them here)
Before I started this thread I was going to post in the beginners questions forum to ask some technical questions, but since I probably wouldn’t understand any of the replies I thought “what’s the point”?
4 DAYS TO FINNISH A SONG?? If i could finnish one in 4 months I’d be happy
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Just an aside, do you not understand how the feature works? Example:
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Someone says this
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You say that.
NOT
Someone says this
You say that
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Just pointing this out because I have great difficulty reading your posts the way they are currently formatted. It’s the principle of opening and closing tags. Make sure there’s an open one before closing. Also, use the PREVIEW feature to see if what you think you typed matches what people will see.
Just pointing this out because I have great difficulty reading your posts the way they are currently formatted. It's the principle of opening and closing tags. Make sure there's an open one before closing. Also, use the PREVIEW feature to see if what you think you typed matches what people will see.
Thanks.
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Thanx for the help connor, actually I have great difficulties in understanding how this works, so thank you for telling me how to do. I want people to be able to read my postings/answers... In the future I will try to do better, best regards ! 
I had many long breaks from music during these years, either because I didn’t have access to a computer or because I tried out different hobbies, but somewhere in my mind there’s always some melody or rhythm playing. Sometimes I’m so busy “composing” in my head, that I can’t sleep or do my job 
but as soon as I get to the computer it’s back to reality, spending hours looking for samples that sound even remotely like what it sounds like in my head (I don’t even try anymore to make the sounds myself somehow) and in the end I either just get frustrated and stop or I end up with a totally new 1 minute song that I’ll never finish.
prob more like since 2000 though 
If i could finnish one in 4 months I’d be happy 
If i could finnish one in 4 months I’d be happy