The darker side of making music

Howdy! Today I wanted to talk about the darker side of making music and creative work, and some advice for dealing with it.

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▼▼▼ Timestamps ▼▼▼
0:00 Bandzoogle
0:27 Video

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[VenusTheory]

Welcome back to mustache feelings show! Last video I'll be filming for a bit as I'm on the road most of April, so hopefully the algorithm gods shine on it! 🙏

[mattrix]

I've been producing music for about 23yrs. 15yrs in i got depressed, i had no chart/dance hit (which i expected to have had by then) and felt like all those years were for nothing except my own enjoyment. I was contemplating giving up but i loved producing music, so after a long hard think (and realising fame and fortune was not going to happen) i decided to concentrate on a stable income and made music as an evening hobby. 2yrs later by pure chance i was an extra in a movie, ended up having an acting role, whilst working with the Director mentioned i was a music composer/producer, wrote some pieces of music for his movie which he loved. I went on to compose and produce the soundtracks to 4 other movies and had an acting role in 5 movies. Became friends with a Tech house dj, jointly worked on some tracks, he then went to Ibiza and became a resident dj in a club and also does a monthly mix for an online radio station where we get to play our tracks. All of this has happened in the last 5yrs. Ok, i've had some lucky breaks, but none of this would of happened if i had given up. Keep going keep getting better as you never know what is around the corner.

[kenkamonn]

"Use what talents you possess - the woods will be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best" - Henry van Dyke

[ATolerableQuietude]

Feeling like your music is too weird is definitely a better place to be than feeling like your music is too derivative. Lean in to what makes your art unique!

[bencurzon]

I cried a little when you said you expected us to report back with whatever we’ve created. It felt like the compassion, permission and love we deny ourselves for the very reasons you covered in the video.

I smashed out 4 super basic tracks and dumped them on Bandcamp with no concern for who would like them. Despite no one listening to it, it feels good to have done it.

[GrodyMcG]

I guess I just gotta applaude this guy for genuinely not giving up on something he's sucked at for 4 years. That's some serious tenacity.

[xSaintxSmithx]

For the guys who wanna make money off music, I wanna warn you what that entails. When I worked as an engineer/producer at a studio in Chicago recording rappers we had a pro tools template that we used for every artist. Everyone had the same compressors, delay, reverb, eq, etc. We spent about 10mins mixing cause people paid by the hour. We didn't get to make art. We were just recording people and mixing as fast as possible with barely any creativity involved. The guy in charge said, "We're not making gourmet burgers. We're McDonald's." I hated it. I don't wanna work with every guy who wants to pay for studio time. I don't wanna make songs I don't like. I don't wanna treat art like a commodity. It sucked.

[marcpinion]

I am a 62 year old. I have been writing and recording music from when I was about 14. I have worked with bands and worked alone. The first recording equipment I had was a Tascam 144 portastudio . I dreamed of a 24 track with 2” tape. Well it is years later I have felt all the things you spoke about in your insightful video and still do. As I sit here in my studio with a 64 input digital studio. Do I make my living from music full time no do I have 100s of published tracks yes. Do I still think I suck yes. But I do what I want and I make my music for me. To get into a studio and record music because you enjoyed it was not a thing in the 1970s it just cost too much. Fantastic video thanks.

[JSNM_]

I spent a year writing a song per week. I didn't worry about quality, my mixing skills aren't amazing, and treated it as a learning experience. Whilst some did suck, some were bangers and I learned so much during the whole process. I even went out of my comfort zone, recording vocals and trying writing for different genres. I'm glad I did it, it made me a better artist.

[Darkest_of_Winter]

I credit you for my return to music after a nearly decade break. I released my first piano EP and am knee deep in my fourth concept album. Thank you for videos like this.

[rregu]

"Embrace the chaos and turn all that energy into art" is what I always think of when making music

Just purely focused/lost in the process and unfolding the beauty you can make through it.

[meeamee]

the past couple of years when things got really tough for us musicians, I came to the realization that “music is its own reward”, quoting Bernard Shaw and Sting. Just being able to make music is enough of a reason to keep going.

[shaderaptorwright]

When I was at my absolute lowest, legitimately being monitored for you can probably guess what…that’s when I wrote my first song that I actually liked.
Depression is an intensely powerful emotion and the best music is created from the strongest emotions.
When I was at my lowest, I had a conversation with my sister and cousin making light of the concept of “live, laugh, love” signs. As I was spiraling downward later that week, I picked up my guitar because it was the only thing that made me truly happy and then started writing about a breakup then used humor to add in the concept of the “live, laugh, love” sign, using the opposite of depression to combat it and using that emotion to write just the right rhymes, the perfect chorus, and the right melody, finally discovering what I was looking for in my own music that I had completely given up searching for. At that moment, I realized that there was no giving up when there was work to be done and from those intense emotions, it brought me back from the brink and now every time I’m feeling at my lowest (after a fight with my parents, after a breakup, after severing ties with a friend) I use those emotions to channel into creativity.
I released a demo for that song a few days ago and now I plan on releasing thirteen songs alongside it. It doesn’t matter to me how much other people like it or approve of it (don’t get me wrong, the point of making my music public is for it to inspire/make other people happy) but I see these songs as something to be proud of. They signify the darkest times of my life that I’ve risen above and I think that’s a powerful message to share. This may not work for everyone, but for incredibly emotional people like myself who also suffer from depression and/or anxiety, channeling negative emotions into creativity may help more than you can expect.

Sorry for the novel, but if this helps even one person, it was worth it.

[jvcouk]

#1: "I'm not very good" -> I think this an essential step on the journey to becoming good at art. It means you see the gap between your current work, and where you want to be. It means you're on the cusp of understanding how to improve. It's not just a step; it's a cycle. With the next improvement, you see other opportunities, and so the cycle continues with each piece of work, and over time, your work evolves. If you then look back at early work, you should see how far you've come.

[ricktheexplorer]

I kind of teared up half way through this. When; in human history has a music producer been given 12 songs from an artist set in front of him to produce an album with? That happened to me last Halloween.

I just finished our band's 5th album and paid for the distribution last Saturday. It comes out 4/20/23. I took 4 and a half months of waking up every day, and my work was set in front of me; working every day on music production for 4 and a half months!

I learned a lot of things, meaning I made a lot of mistakes. I am now very much wiser on technique, and a much better musician. Thank you for the wise video.

[arcopolarisambient]

I started composing just after my father died, 12 years ago, and I am now 73 years old. I came across your channel about 4 years ago and you have helped me quickly learn my way around Pigments and other synths and DAWs. I have enjoyed your recent addition of video rants and this one is, in my opinion, one of your best. As one who has gone through the pangs of self-doubt and both writer's and composer's block. I thank you for this.

[etherealbonds]

This video feels like a warm hug of a dear friend telling you the world ain't that bad. And even as a fully grown male I need this sometimes. We're all the same in the end, we all want to feel like we spend our precious lifetime in a way that makes ourselves and other people happy, bringing a little joy into this overwhelming world where music is the only anchor sometimes.
Don't let your brittle hope and your passion get buried in the harsh noise of your intrusive thoughts. You're worth a whole lifetime of love, joy and forgiveness.
I hope everyone reading this understands that all of us artists feel exactly the same struggle everyday. As long as there is music, there's people struggling to make it, just as you are.
As long as there's music, you're not alone, never.

[martti]

I’m always surprised after showing people my tunes, how much they actually like them and how my mind is usually over critical.

[jdubs]

Once when I was being down on myself for not being better at guitar, my girlfriend at the time said, “it’s ok. It’s not about being the best. It’s about loving what you’re doing. That’s all that matters right now… keep loving the process and the skill will naturally increase in time”

[Byron_]

A LOT of people only delve into sound, loops, patterns and synthesis these
BUT it is only the arrangement and the composition! that makes a song or film music great and really exciting and can even make it timeless....