Music Production: Where To Find New Inspiration

Guest blogger Rob Brummans (Mindru) reveals how he keeps the music production process interesting and, above all, how he keeps himself inspired.

What’s Inspiration?

While it can be hard to come by, inspiration is that all-important hint of an idea that gives you a sudden burst of energy, enough energy to turn that wee idea into a complete project, whether it’s music, or visual art. Absolutely anything and everything can serve as a source of inspiration: the people you know, the artists you admire, the news, small encounters, other people’s work or even birds, rocks, a passing car, a novelty mug – basically, all of the stuff of life. Then there’s the gear that can inspire, like that synthesizer you’ve always wanted to use on a track, just to get that purer and more organic sound (personally, if you can, I strongly recommend just going for it). Also, every couple of months or so, I hang out with a mate of mine in his little studio in his attic, and we really inspire each other, whether we’re fiddling with music, listening to other people’s music or just watching a film or something. Basically, the secret to inspiration is being open and being fearless. This is something you can teach yourself. The trick is not to fear failure and to avoid viewing trying something out as a waste of time. Whether it works or not, it’s never a waste of time. You need to be open if you want to be creative, so just try, whether it’s a synth riff or a sample from a TV series. You never know where something might lead you.

Look For Unexpected Combos

As I just said, one of the most important things you can do to get inspired is to always be open to it. Of course, you can’t always be in the right mood, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since it’s often the way that the most creative ideas strike at the most unexpected moments. What you can also do, is prepare for those moments by creating the best possible conditions for inspiration to strike. Try sharing a demo or snippet of an idea with a mate who also produces or writes, ask for some input, and use that input to help your idea grow. You can also surprise yourself with the results that can come from two things unexpectedly merging, or when you take two very different genres and mash them up. The result might not necessarily give you a completed track, but it’ll probably trigger at least a few other fresh ideas – one of which is bound to grow into a complete track.

Dig Into Your Archives

A tip that another friend gave me is to open an old project and, using all of the tricks and techniques I’ve learned in the time since finishing it, touch up all of the sounds and details to match the vibe of the current moment. This ‘vibe’ might mean something simple like, you want to replace all of the sounds with something new or, it might indicate something deeper, like how much you’ve learned about structuring a track in the meantime. The fact that your old project isn’t completely up-to-date isn’t a bad thing in any case, since the basic bones are there. The process may not glean any inspiration, but it will get you into the music-making mindset. Alternatively, you can start a project by taking a track you love and using it as a reference – as a source of inspiration. You can even do it by simply placing the reference track next to the track you’re working on and start building from there.

Make An Ode to an Artist

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to writing any kind of music is that copying someone else’s style is a lazy move. To my ears, this is only really the case (if at all) if an artist only works in one very specific style so that, if another artist adopts the style, you can spot it a mile off. This is really true of the track Soul Train by Geck-O. I love the track, simply because it reminds of the time when Scot Project was still active in the hard trance scene. It’s for exactly this reason that I recently started work on my own ode. With the same idea in mind, you can make a sort of bootleg remix of one of your favourite tracks and see where that leads. I did exactly that with the track The Gaslamp Killer, featuring Amir Yaghmai by Nissim. In the end, you can’t actually tell that I started by remixing something, but you can maybe tell that that track was the inspiration for the whole thing. That result is like a dedication to what I consider the most influential song in my collection.

Get Inspired by Something Completely Different

I’m inspired by way more than anyone might think when they first hear my work. Influence doesn’t just come from the music I listen to, but the people I meet and hang out with, the kind of series and movies I watch and especially film soundtracks. Also the music I do listen to doesn’t necessarily match the music that I like to produce. When a friend sends me one of their tracks and asks for some feedback, I listen really closely to figure out what kind of techniques they’ve used. It’s always good to allow other people’s work to inspire you and to step out of your comfort zone. Seek out some forums and online groups where people are sharing their music. Because most of the work will be raw and unfinished, it’ll sound completely different to what you’ll come across on the radio or on any playlists.

Where do you go for inspiration? Let us know in the comments.