Needing perspective on writing music

[michaelmerik]

I am having a problem when it comes to recording my tracks. In my home town there are only a select few synth players all of which do their own thing and very rarely see each other, and each of us do something different than the other. This means that I have the disadvantage of working completely alone and having no outside perspective on the work I'm doing. Leaving my confidence shaken as to weather or not I'm doing good work. I have nice gear that can do anything I require, but the lack of outside perspective is holding me back. Should I just record everything and sort it out later as trial and error, or continue to not record until I feel i have something that I can really justify to myself? If anyone has any suggestions all would be appreciated and noted.

Thanks

P.S. The music I'm trying for is drone music. I use a modular rig, alesis micron, various string instruments and a digitech dsp 128

[commodorejohn]

In my experience, the one certain way to not improve at something is to avoid doing it. Outside perspective is valuable, but don't let a lack of it keep you from continuing to do.

[madtheory]

There must be some musicians other than synth players who would enjoy improvising with you? There could also be a psychological aspect. Put away the judgement and just enjoy the process. Just play for an hour or two regularly each day, and record it all for editing later. It can be hard to suspend judgement given all the c**p you've internalised from authority figures during childhood especially. But you'll find yourself being super productive. Could be physiological too, it's amazing how easily solveable things like B12 deficiency, thyroid problems and a myriad other things manifest themselves as lack of motivation. A standard medical checkup with blood samples would solve that. That book The Artist's Way might help also. Or even counselling, if you can find a good therapist.

I don't know you, so I'm just suggesting a range of options that seem to affect artists.

[pflosi]

You could post some tunes here for some comments. Although the "Listening Lounge" is not nearly as active as I wish it was...

[meatballfulton]

Your own perspective is most important. Do you like it?

What's your goal? Releasing recordings, playing shows, just a hobby?

[tomorrowstops]

Meatball kind of nailed it, so I'll just reiterate; just worry about if you like it or not. Really. That's all that truly matters. If you can connect with your own soul, they'll be others that respond to it as well.

My wife is discovering this in the blog writing land. She had tried a few years ago, but was writing about stuff she thought people would be interested in, and it just didn't gel. Currently she's just writing about whatever she damn well pleases and voila - people are paying attention!

Of course, your concerns are totally normal - I've been writing music by myself for years, and still can get lost a bit wondering about what the f**k I'm actually doing. There's most definitely a lot of self-psychoanalysis involved, but that happens to be something I'm very interested in. The crazier you are, the better artist you are, right?

Definitely start posting your work in the Listening Lounge!