5 Ways Music Producers Can Stay Creative

Creativity isn’t something that you can turn on like a tap. Here are ways to stay creative even when the flow of inspiration runs dry.

Our time is limited. While it must be lovely to be able to leisurely make music when inspiration strikes, few if any of us have that kind of trust fund lifestyle. For most of us, music production is a part-time endeavor, a hobby, a side hustle. We have to cook when the time allows, not when we get the inclination. Some of us are full-timers, and while we may have more hours in the week to make music, the pressure is also more intense. This is our job, not just a hobby, and if we don’t deliver, we don’t eat.

How then to stay inspired and in the flow? Here are five ways that you can stay creative, all sourced from experience and some even based on science.

Before the release of the iPhone in 2007, people used to get bored all the time. Now, thanks to that attention-sucking slab in our pockets, we never do. Mind start to wander? Open Instagram and scroll away the day.

But the science is clear: we need to get bored to have creative insights. A 2014 study called “Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative?” found that boring activities do indeed lead to increased creativity.

“You need to be bored,” says Harvard professor Arthur Brooks in a video for the Harvard Business Review. He explains that when we’re not occupied cognitively, our thinking system flips over to another part of our brain called the default mode network. “The default mode network is a bunch of structures in your brain that switch on when you don’t have anything else to think about,” he says. “So, you forgot your phone and you’re sitting at a light, for example. That’s when your default mode network goes on.”

Arthur’s point is that we need to be bored in order to stay happy, but we also need it to stay creative. You won’t have any of those necessary insights if your mind is busy thinking about perfect snare memes. So put down the phone. Leave it in another room, far out of reach. And if no ideas come? Go for a walk. Stare out of the window. Drive around. That way, you’ll be able to experience what Rick Rubin likens to a positive distraction.

“When we reach an impasse at any point in the creative process, it can be helpful to step away from the project to create space and allow a solution to appear,” he says in his book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. “This way, we can remain present with it over time while engaging in a simple, unrelated task such as driving, walking, swimming, showering, washing dishes, dancing. These distractions keep one part of the mind busy while freeing the rest to remain open to whatever comes in.” 

Analysis paralysis is what happens when we’re given too many options. This is also known as the paradox of choice. It may seem funny to think of yourself as being “too free,” but with so many VST plugins in your DAW (and not to mention all those shitty snares in your sample folder), it can be almost impossible to even get started on a project.

This is where setting constraints can be helpful. “It sounds counterintuitive, but setting limits can actually boost creativity,” notes Mastering.com. “By imposing certain restrictions on your music-making process, you force yourself to think creatively within those boundaries.”

What sorts of boundaries are we talking about? You could try limiting your sound palette to just one sound, like a piano or one of those terrible snares. Can you make a bass from a snare, or a hi-hat from a piano note? You’re probably already feeling inspired just thinking about how to do that. You could also constrain yourself harmonically. Set yourself a limit of three chords, or to working within an unusual mode or scale.

If you find yourself without much time to make music, even just five minutes could be enough to get some ideas flowing that you can come back to later. You don’t even have to be in your studio. Whip out your phone and work something up on Ableton Note or Koala Sampler. You’ll feel better for having done something creative and will have the start of a beat that you can come back to in the studio when you do have the time.

In 1975, Brian Eno published a deck of cards called Oblique Strategies. Made with multimedia artist Peter Schmidt, the cards contain unusual phrases and suggestions designed to help you get past a creative impasse. Pull one out at random and follow the (often cryptic) instructions like, “Is it finished?” or “Use an old idea” or “Distorting time.” The idea is to come at creativity from a different angle.

Rick Rubin takes a similar (if less oblique) tactic: “Set parameters that force you out of your comfort zone. If you always write on a laptop, try using a yellow legal pad. If you base your melodies on instrumentals, write one acapella. Whatever you choose, decide on a framework that breaks your normal rhythm and see where it leads.”

This could even involve changing up your studio space… literally. Try moving things around, face a different wall while tweaking knobs or making beats. Whatever it takes to change things up. 

Plugin company Karanyi Sounds offers similar suggestions on its blog. “Your physical space significantly impacts your creative thinking,” the site says. “When feeling stuck in your music production process, a change of environment can trigger fresh perspectives.” 

Karanyi suggests moving to a different location, like a park or a coffee shop, or changing up the lighting to stay creative. “Many successful producers report breakthrough ideas coming after a simple location change,” it says. “The new sensory inputs can disrupt stale thinking patterns and inspire unique musical directions.”

Although we’re very much about production, music isn’t the only creative game in town. There’s a whole world of art out there to draw inspiration from. Film, photography, paintings, architecture, poetry—whatever gets the creative juices flowing.

While there’s technically nothing wrong with looking for inspiration on your phone, it’s very easy to lapse into scrolling for the sake of scrolling. Remember, the goal here is inspiration. That’s why it can be helpful to have art and photography books on hand to reach for when the need strikes. Check out this video from Splice where they visit Yaeji’s studio. She devotes as much space to books in her studio as to music gear.

Better yet, combine boredom with inspiration and go for a stroll around town. Pop into a library or gallery, check out some cool buildings, marvel at the landscaping in your local park. It’s all grist for the creative mill.

This last suggestion to stay creative comes from writer Meaghan Wilson Anastasios. With social media such a big part of our lives, we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others. The music in that in-studio reel sure seems a whole lot cooler than what you’re making now. Don’t worry about that. Embrace your imperfect work. 

“Perfection is a great thing to aspire to,” Meaghan says on her blog. “But no creative work of art ever explodes, fully formed, into the world without a whole lot of stumbles along the way. We only ever get to see the final creative product when it’s ready to go out into the world.”

That reel that you’re so into? That’s the end result of a lot of work. 

“Don’t stop because you’re afraid what you’re making won’t measure up,” Meaghan adds. “Because everything you do is bringing you one step closer to creating something truly wonderful.”

One way to make sure that you don’t give up is by making creativity into a routine. “Funny thing about creativity,” says Meaghan. “The more you do it, the easier it gets. So try to set a routine of sorts. Find a block of time, no matter how small, where you can exercise your creativity.”

The more you engage with it, the less you’ll stop to compare it to the work of others. And the more you’ll just get on with doing what you do.

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