I can understand the OP, as the technology to enable mixing can easily detract from the focus on underlying content. Without content there is nothing to mix, yet being near a computer can be distracting as the focus becomes the "end product" rather than a "rough draft." I used to teach college English and always advised students to finish a draft before ever getting into "editing loops" (if you keep editing chapter one, you can never finish a book). Ironically, I catch myself falling into this cycle at times as well, so I consciously force myself to break from the temptation of editing and be forced only to draft... being a guitarist/vocalist primarily, this manifests itself when I grab an acoustic guitar and get FAR away from the computer. There I can only play; and if something arises from that, only then will I come back to the computer and commit it to a track. Even then, it can get tricky to further develop an idea and not get caught up in "edit mode."

From what I heard music making supposed to be fun...Worrying about each process to me is not fun. Worrying about where everything goes should over time become natural and instinctive rather than formula based. Yes you want it to flow but over thinking is not good. I think the older we get and we want our music to go somewhere we start to analyse everything and our youthful passion turns into meticulous analyzing.

dappa1
From what I heard music making supposed to be fun...Worrying about each process to me is not fun. Worrying about where everything goes should over time become natural and instinctive rather than formula based. Yes you want it to flow but over thinking is not good. I think the older we get and we want our music to go somewhere we start to analyse everything and our youthful passion turns into meticulous analyzing.

For a hobbiest sure and that is where most people should set their goals because it is a lot less painful and you'll be a lot less poor. But as soon as you start aspiring to be a pro and/or you have this crazy obsessive fire in your belly that will not be quenched by anything else then prepare to be miserable. I love music, I have "fun" when I'm actually just playing my guit but if I didn't have this obsession my life would likely be a lot less fracked up and maybe I'd be able to experience happiness like a normal person.
 
Unfortunately art thrives where suffering lives. At least in the past 50-60 years us musicians get a lot more respect from society than in the past where musicians, actors and the arts in general were considered to be the purvey of the low class untouchables and only there to serve and amuse the whims of opulence.
 
It's still a pain in the crotch to feed that desperate belly fire though but I cannot imagine living any other way or for any other reason.
 
 

I know and feel that desperate belly fire too well. Interesting metaphor. I like it.
 

Rimshot
I know and feel that desperate belly fire too well. Interesting metaphor. I like it.
 

It is quite literally a physical manifestation for me and I've been describing it that way for many years now. A lot of it came from actual hunger (as in not eating even when there was food around because I was too obsessed with what I was doing), saucing myself with beer and liquor to get through gigs and actual gastro-intestinal issues (probably brought on from alcoholism and not eating properly but even as a kid I had bad guts). However there is definitely a musical "stress" element to it. Playing a good gig where everyone was ripping each other to shreds in the pit or singing and stomping along to some ridiculous shanty released it. Nailing a solo or writing a slick riff and now dialing in a tone on the DAW is like a slug of pepto hitting my guts and cooling it off a little bit. There's also the cerebral effect like taking a huge bong hit except without the disorientation and stupidity or some kind of brain orgasm.
 
I can't physically or mentally handle booze or recreational drugs anymore nor can I even really afford them so that little endorphin release of just nailing something has become an even more powerful motivator. I also can't stomp stages anymore so trying to duplicate that sitting in a dark room all by my lonesome makes chasing the musical dragon even more challenging... but chase it I will and I still, occasionally, give that ole belly fire a good douse of flame ****ant and it still feels damned good when I do. When I fail... I break but I'm getting better at shaking it off and plodding on. In fact this forum is useful for that because almost no matter what the problem is you guys point me to a decent, workable solution. Hope is never lost for very long with friends like that.
 
Cheers.

The more you think, the more you stink.
At least that's my experience. Because you are always looking to write a song better than the last one you end up mentally with nowhere to go and can creatively fall apart.
It's harder as you get older to write with the innocent freedom of youth and the attitude that goes with it so you have to adapt and write in a different way purely because life has thrown so much at you, you have different thought processes. But ultimately your natural music instincts are still there, you just have to find and use them again instead of your accumulated technical skills which can easily override the creative process if allowed.
I think the modern DAW can be a hindrance because the very nature of it almost asks you to produce the song as you compose it. Personally I am trying hard to put that in its rightful place and use it only after I have written the music.
I'm sure you mojo will return, you just gotta let it.

Bibs

I've been chasing my tail on arrangements and mixes of late and kind of feel the same way. Why is it taking me 6 months to finish this one song etc? How come I get it sounding great one night and then listen to it the next day and it sounds crap? Why can't I figure out where this arrangement is going? Why can't I figure out how to connect part A with part B? And then last night I listened to a couple of tracks I made very quickly (about a week each) when I first started out with DAW's, and I was actually very surprised at how good they sounded. Of course I'd want to go back and tweak them with my new found knowledge because I didn't know jack about mixing back then, but it's amazing how decent they sound and how quickly I was able to get those arrangements together without even worrying about it.
 
A lot of it comes down to the fact that as you become more knowledgeable, your standards and expectations increase. You've likely sat through a ton of professional tutorials since then, and you're also listening to commercial music and noticing just how great those mixes are. So now, nothing less than commercial quality will satisfy you.
 
I know it's psychologically hard, but sometimes you just have to accept that you need to get songs finished even if they're not perfect. You can always come back to them later. The point is that for every song you actually finish, you've learned a little more about arranging and mixing and the next song is going to be better.

What gets me is when I watch a tutorial on drums, they play the 'before' and 'after' and I can't tell the difference.

wizard71
The more you think, the more you stink.
At least that's my experience. Because you are always looking to write a song better than the last one you end up mentally with nowhere to go and can creatively fall apart.

This is interesting.  I like the nowhere-to-go aspect.  There's nowhere to go because it's the wrong path.  It's crazy to treat songwriting like some sort of competition.  I've been hearing some pretty funny monologues lately having to do with the life some of us have gotten ourselves into in which the quality of our actions is measured by the number of Likes they generate.  A competition you can't win because you're competing with yourself.
 
David, I don't know if you rely on music to eat which makes things a bit more urgent but if not, just make music because it's in you and wants to get out.  The music, not your skills at production.
 
Yesterday I was blown away by Bob Marley's Redemption Song which I heard for the first time.  I've never much liked Marley, but this song...  Just one voice and one guitar.  The production was pretty good too, but the song would have been great recorded on a cassette recorder.
 

Paul P
Yesterday I was blown away by Bob Marley's Redemption Song which I heard for the first time.  I've never much liked Marley, but this song...  Just one voice and one guitar.  The production was pretty good too, but the song would have been great recorded on a cassette recorder.
 

Years ago, I tried to convince a friend (who's a filmmaker) that he should just make the stories he wants to make using what he has available instead of waiting until he's got the perfect gear. He didn't, and he still isn't where he wants to be, career-wise. I often wonder if things would have been different for him if he'd just gone for the brass ring without worrying about so-called production value.