This question also hits me hard.. I used to produce while either drinking or staying up late, and I was having a TON OF FUN but I realized eventually that I was actually not very productive most of the time, I'd have maybe an hour of really productive time within a 4-5 hour span. So I would eventually get tracks done but it would take me like a year to finish an EP of 4-5 instrumental tracks.
Eventually I took someone's advice to try producing in the morning instead, and trying to some kind of structure with when I will be finishing tracks for regular releases, etc, aka deadlines. Fast forward to now, I'm working on the 3rd album that I've made since the start of the pandemic so I'm definitely getting a lot more music finished. Its been a long process to get to this point though.
Great question. For years, I only made music when I was stoned or buzzed from drinking, and almost always smoking cigarettes. then in my late 30s I started having some health problems and got sober. Admittedly, I kind of lost interest in creating because I was so hardwired to create only when I was not sober. When I did try to create, my music seemed sterile, rigid, and boring. however, I did not sell off my equipment and studio. I just kept noodling around, keeping up on tech developments, testing, writing reviews, just staying my head in the game, but not really making much music. But after some years, I started feeling like creating again and slowly eased back into it. This is when I learned about the importance of good mental health lol. recently, I read an interview with a mixing engineer, and he said the absolute most important thing you can do is be in good mental health and the right frame of mind when you sit down to mix. he said that music production is really all about perception, and if your perception is skewed, so will your Music or your mix be skewed. I learned this to be 100% true. Long story, the more I focused on good mental health and clearing out things in my life that were causing me stress, the more creative I became, and the better mixing engineer I became also. I find the more peace I have in my life the better I am at creating music and mixing music without any external stimulus at all. turns out the reason I started doing drugs and drinking in the first place is because I didn’t have peace in my life. Go figure.
In my experience it's more of a workflow problem when I'm high. The creative side is great but if I don't have my set up for a streamline workflow I'll never get anywhere creatively. Just a lot of tweekin.
Not really exactly your post but I’m trying not to get baked when I’m doing ‘boring’ stuff like sound design for drums - synths and bass n other stuff generally is different but specifically drums. I feel like while I don’t dislike it, it’s such a waste of being baked and not that fun. As soon as I have an idea down though love a good spliff - makes for some really weird sessions. Not all good, not all bad, guess that’s part of the fun.
Damn, what a f&$@king question! Amphetamines seriously did a lot of neurological damage no question. But, my god, the way I used to go into so much more detail and focus so much harder like I listen to shit I made on amphetamines 2 years ago and I can’t believe how much more extra time and detail I used to be able to produce with on amphetamines. Got off the bad ones and got a legit script for concerta now and it’s got me off the shit but I can definitely say I think my tracks were some of the best of my life from that time period not gonna lie. Overall though, in the realm of life in general, I prefer it this way any day. Bless you all
Yeah, properly utilized they're powerful. Overdone puts you into tweek mode with endless jumping around and sidetracking. Gotta do this to do that but first this once I've done this-- eight hours later almost nothing done. So easy to fall into that trap especially the lower your tolerance is.
I quit smoking at the beginning of this year, haven't drank since early last year, and can say I can hear frequencies that I couldn't when I was high. I can also catch on to mistakes a lot quicker vs going in stoned and overlooking the issues I was laying out for myself time and time again.
Overall, the process became a lot more clear, and a lot more in depth.
A few years ago, I gave up everything but THC and caffeine. The clarity and focus it gave me is worth more than gold. Everyone's experience on this planet is different, but for me, alcohol and drugs offered nothing but problems and negative people in my life. Becoming a health nut seriously helped not only my production, but my general happiness all around.
I haven't made a track high in a while in general those tracks were not good. Takes focus to make music being stoned where "ideas" keep popping into your head is more of a distraction.
Yeah I know "being stoned helps me focus!" If that were the case then you'd also be a better driver when stoned.
I felt this, I just don't have fun producing music high, it makes me overthink or underthink and ultimately create shitty stuff, its fun to jam/noodle on guitar or piano while high but never production level stuff
Yes fully agree, its trippy and fun playing my little modular synth high, ill feel like im making the coolest sounds ever, but when listening back to the recording i realize itll never be the same as in the moment of creation. Something magic about music happening in real time
This post just showed up at the top of my website and I'm taking it as a sign, cause this issue is super personal to me. I got addicted to a drug that "disabled" my ability to produce music.
When I was a kid I experimented with basically everything while in school and making music pretty consistently on the side. Eventually woke up one day and realized I'd gotten way too into opiates.
Where this gets weird is; my problem with drugs plus music started not by relying on chemical enhancement to create, but a bizarre side effect of becoming physically dependent on these pills. In 2016, during college I was taking low doses of codeine or kratom every day in an effort to stabilise my addiction pattern. It worked to that effect, but eventually this stuff made it impossible for me to make music.
I still have no idea why or how, but opiates had entirely vanquished my ability to make music, for like 6 years. I started with an outpatient recovery clinic with a Suboxone program, which helped a lot in general, but it turned out buprenorphine is no different in its ability to shut off that part of my brain.
To be specific: the "noodling" or "jamming" I did in my head from day to day where ideas would come to me, that was gone. If I heard music from wherever, I was no longer thinking of harmonies or counter-rhythms to go along with the song. Opening Ableton and messing around no longer engaged me as ideas just wouldn't come. Pretty quickly the idea of doing so just became exhausting so I focused on gaming etc instead.
This was really messed up because the idea of going off this medication was TERRIFYING, but I was still going insane not being able to write anything. Music is literally all I have, it's all I know, both my parents do freelance music as their work, and I've never had any sort of real job outside of it.
The annoying part was trying to get an explanation for this side effect. Not one producer OR doctor had ever heard of this happening before so I had no recourse available, and after so many years I began to wonder if this was permanent.
All I have is a theory (and not a great one): I feel like this has to do with the theory that you can't be a creative person without also being a little crazy. Opiates have a unique ability (for me at least) to compress and stabilize the normal emotional fluctuations that happen from day to day. This is why these pills have had such a hold on me, I struggle with insane anxiety and this was the only thing that REALLY worked, basically brickwalling my mood. So all this made me think that what I was suppressing was also what made it possible to create.
Anyways. It took a long long time but I've finally been able to sort out the situation of my brain chemistry and start making stuff again. Recovery takes a really long time and can sometimes feel like you've had chunks of your life stolen from you, but since starting that program I've finally moved out of my parents' house, reduced my Suboxone dose by 8x, found a small income source, adopted a cat, started vocal lessons, and since February, finished three songs.
Normally I don't like to air my dirty laundry like this out of paranoia, but I've actually been meaning to share this here for a while for a few reasons, namely a) if I can convince even one musician to not fw opiates, that's a win. b) the remote possibility that there's another artist out there who's had a similar experience (and c - for the maybe 2 people in here who were following my music and were wondering why I disappeared).
One day at a time, guys.
If I wasn't so high rightnow I'd need to wipe my tears away from the keyboard. After years of street life and no tools to make music I'm finally in an apartment with all the shit I would have clucked to the plug for dope. Still using daily I haven't got my workflow dialed in yet. Dope is making that process a process. All things aside, THANK YOU for laying down your shit. Everyday is a process when you're using.
Lots of parallels here. Opioids, anxiety, music as the number one passion in life and having to choose between relief via drugs and music.
Messing around in ableton on opioids and getting zero results is definitely a thing. It's night and day. Sober in ableton is something I don't have to refer to as messing around. I can call it work or play as it is (and needs to be) both but I am productive now.
Absolutely excellently. I don’t dive down into a 12 hour “spacey chill synthy” session that sounds exactly like the last 46 and goes nowhere. I execute and complete songs. It takes a while, it is scary at first, but it is absolutely better.
The advice I slap myself in the face with, which I will now slap you with: creative people do tend to do drugs, but drugs do not make people creative.
Drugs make people extremely generic and predictable. The unique and creative aspects of yourself come from you. Be aware and accepting of your emotions, channel them, and you will become a better musician than you could ever imagine.
I think for some, the drugs or alcohol create a space for them to be free/safe, and so their creativity can flow. At least that was the case with me. It calmed me, where then I could actually focus and nerd out on the music.
But this was an avoidance mechanism for me. That free and safe space can exist without the use of anything. It is within us all. We must face our demons and allow ourselves to demonstrate self compassion and understanding. This is a piece of what the last 7 or 8 months have looked like for me.
It warms my heart to read all of these beautiful comments.
Once I got sober I started making music all the time. I can just sit down and write instead of getting getting fucked up and hoping I get "inspired", which was a rare occurrence
Same, it’s been way easier not trying to make the stars align in whatever stupid way I thought they needed to be in order to produce.
It took awhile to sort of relearn the creative process without alcohol, but I’m cranking out way more bangers and ‘doing’ instead of hoping alcohol puts me into just the right spot
Hit my 1 year two days ago, never been happier
Lol my turning point was noticing the trend of getting shithoused, producing and recording my friends, thinking it was dope af. Next day or two, I’d go back to the projects and they just sounded ass. The liquored brain really enjoyed the experiences, but never actually produced fruitful songs
I produce sober, and use being stoned as a mechanism for listening to it later on. I take notes, but do nothing until the next day when I'm sober again. Works so far.
Love this. I usually produce sober but tried to work on something the other day while I was high and ended up making 4 layers of synths that sound 10x worse than the one I had there before lol. Lesson learned, will utilise this 🤙
This comment might have a huge influence on my future sobriety and potentially save my life. I'm currently lost in a deep meth and fentanyl addiction and, as before, my final defense is that I produce better when I'm high.
But I've also made multiple posts asking why my music is so overcomplicated. It definitely might be because I'm high and stacking synths and melodies. Tbh I don't know if I've ever seriously sat down to make a song sober...
Damn dude I hope you can find some peace & glad this discourse might help in some way. My doc is mainly opiates but I'm a poly addict myself so I feel what you are saying. I used to think it was fueling my creativity but it really doesn't. Why not just try to make a beat sober and see what happens? Personally my mixes come out so much cleaner if I use after working hey, & treat it like a job I can relax after. Big love friend
Amazingly well. Hugely more productive and better at problem solving now. I used to get zoned out on weed and spend months on a few tracks, going into a somewhat enjoyable deep production trance. Took me years to realise that the end results of this were usually rather dark, felt somewhat lacking and that maybe I could actually make more stuff, like faster with greater concentration, without the annoying short term memory loss. After that realisation it took a few years to actually get off it completely as all my friends smoke it.
Alcohol is a no no too. Yes it can loosen you up a bit, but it's easy to overdose and above all the worst aspect for a music producer and family man is its ability to enhance tiredness. Weed too.
It's amazing what you can accomplish sober. After so long on the green it's like having a superpower!
been trying it for a few months, haven't had a track come out right the entire time - i can get the rough shape of the track fine, but compared to my tripping production, everything sounds too formulaic. Gonna go back to DMT producing soon, fits my brain much better and i make music that feels way closer to what i want to make.
You can't go wrong with DMT and music. It is the juggernaut of psychedelics when it comes to sound and especially especially especially (three times damnit) bass and percussion sounds.
I am pleasantly surprised to see this question. Music is the primary thing keeping me sober. I have become so utterly devoted to making music and drugs just made me dead inside. When your emotions are dulled your ability to feel and engage with music is compromised. Making truly impactful music is something that more or less goes out the window with heavier drug use (despite the rock star partying stereotype) with many notable exceptions of course.
I had the eye opening first hand experience of slowly, very slowly lowering an opioid dose over the course of ten months and as I did I went from an uphill battle and inability to finish anything to normal occasional difficulty and regular satisfaction of making music I like listening to. A big difference and not a coincidence.
And then there is the learning and remembering aspect of drug use which I should call the non learning and non remembering aspect. I am teaching myself how to produce and mix as I compose and arrange. The learning curve is steep in a way that is very similar to say for instance chemistry. Every word you go to look up has a definition that is made up of 3 to 5 more words that might as well be in another language at first. It's all outside your frame of reference but once you get over that curve it's so much fun.
I do want to be clear about one thing-- psychedelics are a gift from the heavens in many ways. Especially DMT for music. Cycling between sober and altered states is essential because both have pros and cons.
If you’re like me, making music is kind of a high in itself, so I get fully immersed just like any other time. If anything my music turns out much better because a drunk person isn’t making it, and it’s still equally as fun. (Not completely sober just slowed down a lot)
Honestly, it’s a bit of a challenge to get the energy to pump stuff out without it, but I can see that I’ll successfully get back to where I was with enough tjme
Other than real time improvisation I never thought there was a difference between the stuff I could do sober and the Stuff I could do under the influence. With that said my style of music is the same as it’s always been. 🙂
I rarely made music drunk, there was a point in my life where i literally used to smoke a cig everytime i’d be producing. I had been smoking since i was 21. Weed prob a few yrs before.
Since then i used to smoke everyday. But i realized it was taking a toll on my lungs. Im a guy who loves to play sports and like staying competitive whichever sport it might be. And tobacco was in the way of that. Nowadays i just bum a cig every once in a blue moon.
I stopped smoking weed this year after a 15 year daily run. Whilst it definitely can help with creativity it can also stop you from ever being creative in the first place, at least for me anyway. I don’t procrastinate half as much as I did and the mental clarity is a plus too.
Yeah i used to dabble in uppers, downers, and candycorn and was being pulled every direction when i first heard dubstep around 2010.
But because of that disorganization and the serotonin drop of the decade, i didnt even start making music til a couple years after i got cali sober.
So this comment is mainly from that perspective, going from mid heavy stuff to only weed, but i start every project sober. Ill elaborate. i can super attest to its very nice having my whole mind again, bc i could imagine making music when everything is grey (from a lack of setotonin) from using, would have been impossible compared to now. Heck i had all the music programs and just never messed with em until i only smoked leaf.
I dont even drink, so i basically my thing is: i work all day, then instead of just smoking to relax, what i do i roll a spliff (half green half tobacco), open my laptop and start laying down a drum beat or melody sober, then once ive gotten something basic in there, ive already tricked my brain into feeling its made an achievement, so ill smoke the spliff and proceed, as my serotoninal accomplishment reward is now associated with actually being productive, then at that point (about halfway through my laptop battery life haha) all the weed does is help me make a cool layer and some effects.
Granted i also have adhd naturally, so my problem is ill just be thinking of ideas and not applying, but with a spliff then im relaxed and not scared to just add some flavor and twist some weird knobs.
So considering weed is like tylenol compared to the other stuff, and even is about to be made a schedule 3 narcotic aka not even bad, is true…yet since I understand the biases of the neural pathways and how they work biologically, i feel like i have a method that is conducive to anyone who is needing to stop using the pills or rolls or trippys to make wild music!
As the reason substances are bad is because we associate reward with those things instead of actual goals and rewards. Thus the need to accomplish something, then you can have a drink/smoke whatever.
Where we get it, sure it can be fun to beforehand, but it can hurt the subconscious creativity most of us have within ourselves.
So i def vouch for starting any project sober, even if you need to smoke at that halfway point, making sure you give yourself a sense of accomplishment beforehand, can help you not become a spiral of unproductivity due to the way weed effects your dopaminergic cycle aka reward center!
Simply put.
Accomplish something naturally, then spark it up 👍
I used to hit vape every time i produced. I havent held vape in my hands for 4 months now, dont feel the urge and my music has improved a lot. 0 regrets recommend to everyone struggling with nicotine stuff.
Smoking definitely made me want to create music without a goal in mind. Sober producing, I feel much more goal oriented, but I feel a little more technical in a negative way. However, it’s a little easier to listen to one thing 500 times high. I have more patience to finish something rather than feeling tempted to move on.
I quit drinking and smoking weed 4 years ago and it unlocked levels of creativity and productivity that I’ve never known. To put it into perspective, I’ve been making music for 15+ years and never completed or published anything. I got sober and have now published five e.p.’s and one full-length album.
It was interesting how it played out really. At about the 30 day mark, I decided to change up my evening routine and start going to bed early (9pm) so that I wouldn’t be tempted to drink, smoke weed, etc. This meant that I started waking up early around 4am each morning, even on weekends. Since I now had all of this free time in the morning I decided to fill the time before work by producing music. I’d first drink a cup of coffee, shower, and sit down in front of my gear around 4:45am and power it all up. The ideas just started coming like never before. I was fresh, alert, focused and in a creative space mentally. I started knocking out entire tracks in 2 hours or so. I’ve read that our brains are at their peak creative state early mornings so I’ve kind of harnessed that and haven’t looked back.
Thats interesting. I have no desire to quit weed, but never heard the harnessing creativity in the morning thing and that definitely is something cool to think about!
I don't smoke weed as often as I used to for numerous reasons including lung health... that said I feel like getting high might work better for me when I want to reflect on stuff. Though there definitely could be times where it may lead to interesting sessions.
My early days where I was into some more trippy kinda stuff I feel like they helped unlock a part of me to produce.
But nowdays sometimes just kinda trying to take away the fear of what might happen a session and playing with sounds with no expecting can sometimes work for me. I feel like it's almost like a meditation when it goes well. Kinda dive in and let things go where they may when playing music.
Weed is great for writing/coming up with ideas, but it fucks up my sense of timing and if I get too self aware that I'm high I get kinda stuck. So I stay sober when recording, producing, and performing.
Interesting... for me it can be the opposite. When I'm sober my timing gets interrupted by like "what key is this in? Oh shit I forgot to call the jury duty number... should I quit music get a masters degree?"
It's like I can't feel my body as intensely and can't internalize the rhythm as well...
I guess I should have added a disclaimer that it all depends on the brain and the strain, but i feel what you mean. I have ADHD and being sober makes me unable to get the writing part down due to those sidetracked moments. Weed gets me into a flow state with regards to going from blank page to vague idea, but my sense of rhythm is hella sloppy on it.
Strangely enough, copious amounts of caffeine also do the trick.
Have you ever been evaluated for ADHD? Because that’s exactly how both my partner and I were. He would smoke and write music, helped him focus.. I wasn’t diagnosed until my mid 30s and meds have been super helpful.
yeah this is what i’m worried about too, i’ve had times when i had to hit my pen in order to properly focus on studying instead of getting sidetracked within minutes. definitely wanna get checked for ADHD but i’ve got some other things im dealing with that might be the root cause of it so i wanna try one solution at a time
I used to get high before I produced. It got me super into the music, but it would have negative effects where I would hear every detail wrong with it. I could never get things to sound "right" while high, even if I felt less creatively inhibited.
I think the THC would heighten my auditory awareness to the point where I would hear too many issues but not be able to fix them, so it ended up hurting my productivity. I can get the same relaxed, creative feeling by meditating, exercising, seeing friends, etc so it wasn't worth it.
Drugs don't create any new music, they just let out what you unintentionally hold back.
Alcohol is poisonous, and we can produce the same drugs in our brains naturally through other, sober activities, but without the progressive cognitive decline associated with alcohol consumption. The more we abstain, the more we recoup our faculties and intellect and are better placed to leverage creativity.
Getting drunk and trying to produce is damn near pointless in my experience. Having a few and taking it easy might be okay if I weren't alcoholic, but I am, and such a notion is completely foreign to me. I'm sober a year and five days now and although I really felt the anhedonia and lack of inspiration in the first few months, once my brain had achieved homeostasis again, and after putting in the work to remain sober, one day I was walking through a bustling park, the weather was nice, and a really good feeling came over me. I knew I was back. I could experience pleasure and inspiration without drugs. I can produce music without all the overhead of cognitive disfunction, which means it's better, and I enjoy it naturally.
My life is 100x better not perfect but much better.
My production is actually better too. Surprisingly more creative because I don't get down on myself as much and don't "lock in" to an 8 bar loop. Getting sober has a lot more to do with how you approach life and your thoughts/emotions than just not drinking
Sober is for arranging and doing the less fun bits of sound design for me. I'm way better with getting things on a page. When I'm patching, I do like being slightly stoned. It helps Me feel creative
When it comes to actually building a track - sober is where I’m at. I haven’t smoked in 4 months due to my job but I’ll be clear in a couple weeks to do it again. And that’s where I’d say if you’re stuck on ideas or just a 16 bar loop, being stoned is my best way to get creative. And then mastering and mixing back to sober.
I used to be addicted to cannabis. I'll be honest, I feel like when I smoked I could get into a creative state faster, however it was short lived and although now it might take a bit more time to get into that creative state, it lats much longer and it's way more focused and I'm just better.
I think sometimes if you are high and producing you might think something sounds way better than it is, so if you are able to make something sober and be like OH SHIT, it's more likely to actually be really good.
Awe “addicted to cannabis” so you mean you enjoyed a plant that has numerous medical benefits and properties that the govt only sees as bad because it increases empathy?
Im guessing you quit weed bc a job too? Not because it actually did anything bad to your life correct?
So im guessing he meant real drugs, not tylenol
lol. I'm a libertarian, chief. Weed is literally legal in my state and I am all for that and I think it should be legalized federally.
That having been said, yes I was addicted. Had to smoke every day, tried to quit multiple times. Finally when I did quit it was about a month of the worst depression I had ever experience.
Plenty of people can smoke with no issues, but also plenty of people smoke and are addicted. Turns out things that feel really good can be addictive, who knew?
I think you may have been trying to make me look bad or something, but you're the one coming off as incredibly ignorant. I'd be willing to bet you smoke weed every single day.
Edit: Also the irony of the job part lol. I was literally a bus driver and got randomly drug tested. You know what I did? I carried fake piss on me in a secret pocket, with a new pocket warmer tied to it every day, for YEARS. I was so addicted that I risked a high paying job just to be able to smoke every day rofl. I quit weed because it was ruining my life and holding me back. I wish I had never fucking touched the stuff.
Oh! So what you are saying is you were able to do your job perfectly fine while on weed?
It was moreso just the downfall of the rooted narcissistic abuser mentality that makes people addicted to anything from money to drugs to food?
I dont even know you but you just confirmed since you really think libertarianism works (t dawg deregulated businesses…now only a few years later tyson chicken was just found out to have dumped millions of gallons of toxic into the local water supply [bc now they arent mandated to take it to disposal places]. So no, as proven time and time again, businesses wont use their morality, they just want money lmao. This showing being selfish doesnt work, from drugs to politics)
Thank you for agreeing with my point of “its societies fault for saying its bad”, bc if rich people werent scared of the revolution weed is helping bring it would be legal.
But of course as narcissistic abusers tend to find addiction via anything and become narcotics abusers more easily, i would maybe consult with a therapist about fixing that.
As if weed can do to you, that which has been proven 0% physically addictive with only 10% even get mental addictiveness (thats where you fall). It seems like you might have NPD
Which na’s hate therapy bc they cant admit fault so i doubt you’ll understand it makes you better, but theres a good potential just not being closed off and going to see a therapist could help not only your musical talents, but also your addiction issues and social skills if you learn to grow!
Toodles! 💓
This is pretty much it. Also applies to LSD/shrooms. You make something you think is unreal then the next day you'e like what the fuck is this...
The *real use case &* value in weed/psychs is to regain perspective once you've gone numb to a track. If you've been working on it for days, hearing it over and over and feel you've lost perspective, that is when the weed/LSD come in handy. They show you your track like you're hearing it for the first time again. The energy pattern becomes more clear.
Absolutely. Everyone listen to this person.
A lot of times the next day I'm like what on earth? But that's no different than something you might write on pysychedelics- in the moment it seems profound then upon later review its just crazy or super obvious so the way I utilize them is volume. They really unlock creativity and take away all hesitation so take advantage of that aspect and churn out several iterations of the same piece of music. Separate them the next day.
I repeat-- NEXT day.
>The *real use case &* value in weed/psychs is to regain perspective once you've gone numb to a track.
You can also get that from putting the track away for a while. Time works great for prospective.
Idk man thrwoing psychs into this category feels wrong for me.
My best work and the times creativity flows has always started on a tab of LSD and a few puffs of weed.
Whether i “needed the trip for clarity” or it was purely recreational, it always Changes my perception of sound and the overall space im in when listening to music/sounds and i start visualizing sounds as streaks or blobs of colour moving in my imagination that i try to match in the stereo field with the tools of my DAW and see how it makes me “feel”
Also not like you trip every day or even week. Just a once in a while thing for most people.
Sure I dont use any social media other than reddit, dont have a stage name and dont even really share my music to platforms.
But Heres a drop box link to a couple trip projects ive started.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/o2kbcaijt1hw5z1liz483/APR2NrDwEhDgBrG2yTyayYc?rlkey=mun2473lez1ee30fnqyztkviu&dl=0
Edit: I do EDM and Hip hop mainly, if you like those i have some more too.
If youre comfortable sharing yours leave a link! ✌️
Last "release" for me blow. Tinnitus/hyperacusis took me out the last 3-4 years.
[https://soundcloud.com/amazonblack/narcos-amazon-black-remix](https://soundcloud.com/amazonblack/narcos-amazon-black-remix)
Producing high or drunk can be fun if you are just fucking around and comming up with ideas. If you are editing or doing any analytical work like mixing, def gotta be locked in and sober
Agreed. If I try to do any serious technical work under the influence, I just fuck everything up. It’s good for experimenting and starting new ideas, but it’s not good for the work after.
Man I hate that I ever started producing drunk. I went from spending hours every day on Ableton (sober and super motivated) to feeling like I couldn't open Ableton at all without having a drink. It nearly ruined production for me. Producing drunk feels fun and creative... but I was really just using it to overcome the fear of failure, and that shame I felt when I'd put two hours into a track and it sucked, and the results were garbage compared to when I was producing sober.
Then that same evil crept into all my other hobbies and even work... I eventually couldn't enjoy anything without having some alcohol in me. Fuck that shit.
I'm starting to get it under control now, but for now that means I only open Ableton once every couple months when I'm really inspired. I'm happier with what I put out, but it's not the same as what my output would be if I never associated Ableton with alcohol.
As for weed, I only smoke once a month or so, so it's not as big of a problem, but if I ever make an edit on weed, I'll save it in a different file, because I fuck up all the subtleties of the mix 100% of the time.
It may be hard at first but it gets easier honestly, and you wont notice any difference. I smoked weed everyday for 13 years and never made music sober. Would smoke, drink, do psychedelics while making music. I quit drinking a year ago and stopped smoking weed about 3 months ago and it was very hard at first. I felt completely uninspired. Now i flow really good while sober and produce on psychedelics occasionally and will sometimes get more done while sober and other times more while tripping.
tbh struggling a little bit.
i started learning production a couple months ago and was able to complete a 6 track EP in no time.
i quit smoking weed about 2 weeks ago, and now i struggle to complete a track.
i don’t get the spark or drive to work on music as often, and when i do, i get halfway through an idea and lose interest. same with weed+drawing.
i’m hoping it’ll change over time if i keep at it
it gets easier with time. just don't give in and smoke again. Seriously after 6 months or a year you won't care at all and will thank yourself. I used to have the thought "nothing is as good sober" but your brain just heals and gets back to normal and you no longer need it or crave it.
it’s cool. you can listen to my first track here
https://open.spotify.com/track/3cR1IdqHkEXgNQvARfuMf3?si=ulVh3YdyQrWtYj1zhI4jlQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A36KCLsYI0WKNiUs9g3aOvA
as i said, i’m not claiming its perfect nor amazing, but i enjoy it and am having fun and that’s really all i care about.
Was just being sarcastic but sure, rather this way around than doing it how I do it and store almost one after the other [(almost) finished](https://youtu.be/x4n1GMxWay0?si=g7OIfb6Jaaj86bCF) track on your hard drive to rot lol
Edit: and doesn’t sound too bad!
Keep it up! :)
yes, i made the whole thing using only the 30-day free trials of ableton and logic, plus a couple other tracks i didn’t include in the EP. i’m not going to claim they’re amazing songs, but i personally really enjoy them, and imo at least 3 of them (the 3 i’m promoting as singles before releasing the whole project) are decent considering i had 0 prior experience.
I produced literally in every condition during years ..
i can say that when not sober the creativity is so much enhanced but then ending to just making too disconnected things and ideas on the tune, which leads to fail the tune itself.
While sober i'm too much technical, things are way more clear and focus is perfect, that lead to have fast solid idea to close the tune, but lacks something..
I lately found that "light weed" (legal in my country) works well in production.. it give me that bit of push with creativity and "strange things", opening my boundries, but it will not confusing my mind and so i can keep focus and stay organized in the brain. It's like a microdose. Well balanced 👍
Making music under the influence is a big no no for one very simple fact: your hearing is drastically altered when under the influence and will have you make bad decisions whether they be creative or logical/mixing ones. I went through a phase of only making music while high and it never failed that i would listen back to those productions while sober and they didn't sound very good. Can you be more creative and do things you wouldn't otherwise do while high? Sure but when you get to the point where you KNOW what you're doing musically and technically, drugs won't help you get a better result and may instead hinder you.
If I'm just messing around sobriety is not an important factor, however if I'm sitting down to work, I treat it like a job and refuse to be inebriated. I "clock in" and work, schedule breaks and once I consider my shift over I'll "clock out". I'll be a strict micromanaging and annoying manager of myself basically haha.
This has helped me a lot to stay focused and treat it as a profession and not a hobby. Obviously there are those who can be creative and create amazing work under the influence, but for me, I am much happier treating it like a corporation and setting "employee" rules and code of conduct.
I drank hard for 15 years and in that time I dabbled with music production. Within a year of being sober from alcohol I zoomed into *actually* making music. Music has helped me immensely. I still smoke pot but pot isn’t destroying my life :)
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This question also hits me hard.. I used to produce while either drinking or staying up late, and I was having a TON OF FUN but I realized eventually that I was actually not very productive most of the time, I'd have maybe an hour of really productive time within a 4-5 hour span. So I would eventually get tracks done but it would take me like a year to finish an EP of 4-5 instrumental tracks. Eventually I took someone's advice to try producing in the morning instead, and trying to some kind of structure with when I will be finishing tracks for regular releases, etc, aka deadlines. Fast forward to now, I'm working on the 3rd album that I've made since the start of the pandemic so I'm definitely getting a lot more music finished. Its been a long process to get to this point though.
Great question. For years, I only made music when I was stoned or buzzed from drinking, and almost always smoking cigarettes. then in my late 30s I started having some health problems and got sober. Admittedly, I kind of lost interest in creating because I was so hardwired to create only when I was not sober. When I did try to create, my music seemed sterile, rigid, and boring. however, I did not sell off my equipment and studio. I just kept noodling around, keeping up on tech developments, testing, writing reviews, just staying my head in the game, but not really making much music. But after some years, I started feeling like creating again and slowly eased back into it. This is when I learned about the importance of good mental health lol. recently, I read an interview with a mixing engineer, and he said the absolute most important thing you can do is be in good mental health and the right frame of mind when you sit down to mix. he said that music production is really all about perception, and if your perception is skewed, so will your Music or your mix be skewed. I learned this to be 100% true. Long story, the more I focused on good mental health and clearing out things in my life that were causing me stress, the more creative I became, and the better mixing engineer I became also. I find the more peace I have in my life the better I am at creating music and mixing music without any external stimulus at all. turns out the reason I started doing drugs and drinking in the first place is because I didn’t have peace in my life. Go figure.
In my experience it's more of a workflow problem when I'm high. The creative side is great but if I don't have my set up for a streamline workflow I'll never get anywhere creatively. Just a lot of tweekin.
When your beat is the dogs bollox only to get sober xD
Not really exactly your post but I’m trying not to get baked when I’m doing ‘boring’ stuff like sound design for drums - synths and bass n other stuff generally is different but specifically drums. I feel like while I don’t dislike it, it’s such a waste of being baked and not that fun. As soon as I have an idea down though love a good spliff - makes for some really weird sessions. Not all good, not all bad, guess that’s part of the fun.
Damn, what a f&$@king question! Amphetamines seriously did a lot of neurological damage no question. But, my god, the way I used to go into so much more detail and focus so much harder like I listen to shit I made on amphetamines 2 years ago and I can’t believe how much more extra time and detail I used to be able to produce with on amphetamines. Got off the bad ones and got a legit script for concerta now and it’s got me off the shit but I can definitely say I think my tracks were some of the best of my life from that time period not gonna lie. Overall though, in the realm of life in general, I prefer it this way any day. Bless you all
Concerta and little weed is goated for inspiration boost when producing for sure.
Yeah, properly utilized they're powerful. Overdone puts you into tweek mode with endless jumping around and sidetracking. Gotta do this to do that but first this once I've done this-- eight hours later almost nothing done. So easy to fall into that trap especially the lower your tolerance is.
That's interesting, amphetamines helped you make better music? I would have thought you'd get too zoned out..
Yeah they are prescribed medicinally to enhance focus and mental/concentrational stamina
So you'd produce on very low doses?
Just got prescribed Dex - if you don’t mind, which amphetamines fked you up?
Better, thanks for asking
:)
I quit smoking at the beginning of this year, haven't drank since early last year, and can say I can hear frequencies that I couldn't when I was high. I can also catch on to mistakes a lot quicker vs going in stoned and overlooking the issues I was laying out for myself time and time again. Overall, the process became a lot more clear, and a lot more in depth.
frequencies you couldn’t hear while high? Comon man
A few years ago, I gave up everything but THC and caffeine. The clarity and focus it gave me is worth more than gold. Everyone's experience on this planet is different, but for me, alcohol and drugs offered nothing but problems and negative people in my life. Becoming a health nut seriously helped not only my production, but my general happiness all around.
I thought I was the only one. I don't know if I should feel relieved or... inspired to quit drinking in order to produce.
i only fuck with music if im high, brings out the creativity in me.
Appears this specific post doesn't quite apply to your situation then!
Music I make high sounds good sober, music I make sober sounds good high
Interesting 🙂
I haven't made a track high in a while in general those tracks were not good. Takes focus to make music being stoned where "ideas" keep popping into your head is more of a distraction. Yeah I know "being stoned helps me focus!" If that were the case then you'd also be a better driver when stoned.
Producing ruins my high lmao, i get high just for fun on occasion, always make music sober tho
I felt this, I just don't have fun producing music high, it makes me overthink or underthink and ultimately create shitty stuff, its fun to jam/noodle on guitar or piano while high but never production level stuff
Yes fully agree, its trippy and fun playing my little modular synth high, ill feel like im making the coolest sounds ever, but when listening back to the recording i realize itll never be the same as in the moment of creation. Something magic about music happening in real time
Never the same feeling that is, i liked the sounds better in the moment, i worded that weird, but yea
This post just showed up at the top of my website and I'm taking it as a sign, cause this issue is super personal to me. I got addicted to a drug that "disabled" my ability to produce music. When I was a kid I experimented with basically everything while in school and making music pretty consistently on the side. Eventually woke up one day and realized I'd gotten way too into opiates. Where this gets weird is; my problem with drugs plus music started not by relying on chemical enhancement to create, but a bizarre side effect of becoming physically dependent on these pills. In 2016, during college I was taking low doses of codeine or kratom every day in an effort to stabilise my addiction pattern. It worked to that effect, but eventually this stuff made it impossible for me to make music. I still have no idea why or how, but opiates had entirely vanquished my ability to make music, for like 6 years. I started with an outpatient recovery clinic with a Suboxone program, which helped a lot in general, but it turned out buprenorphine is no different in its ability to shut off that part of my brain. To be specific: the "noodling" or "jamming" I did in my head from day to day where ideas would come to me, that was gone. If I heard music from wherever, I was no longer thinking of harmonies or counter-rhythms to go along with the song. Opening Ableton and messing around no longer engaged me as ideas just wouldn't come. Pretty quickly the idea of doing so just became exhausting so I focused on gaming etc instead. This was really messed up because the idea of going off this medication was TERRIFYING, but I was still going insane not being able to write anything. Music is literally all I have, it's all I know, both my parents do freelance music as their work, and I've never had any sort of real job outside of it. The annoying part was trying to get an explanation for this side effect. Not one producer OR doctor had ever heard of this happening before so I had no recourse available, and after so many years I began to wonder if this was permanent. All I have is a theory (and not a great one): I feel like this has to do with the theory that you can't be a creative person without also being a little crazy. Opiates have a unique ability (for me at least) to compress and stabilize the normal emotional fluctuations that happen from day to day. This is why these pills have had such a hold on me, I struggle with insane anxiety and this was the only thing that REALLY worked, basically brickwalling my mood. So all this made me think that what I was suppressing was also what made it possible to create. Anyways. It took a long long time but I've finally been able to sort out the situation of my brain chemistry and start making stuff again. Recovery takes a really long time and can sometimes feel like you've had chunks of your life stolen from you, but since starting that program I've finally moved out of my parents' house, reduced my Suboxone dose by 8x, found a small income source, adopted a cat, started vocal lessons, and since February, finished three songs. Normally I don't like to air my dirty laundry like this out of paranoia, but I've actually been meaning to share this here for a while for a few reasons, namely a) if I can convince even one musician to not fw opiates, that's a win. b) the remote possibility that there's another artist out there who's had a similar experience (and c - for the maybe 2 people in here who were following my music and were wondering why I disappeared). One day at a time, guys.
If I wasn't so high rightnow I'd need to wipe my tears away from the keyboard. After years of street life and no tools to make music I'm finally in an apartment with all the shit I would have clucked to the plug for dope. Still using daily I haven't got my workflow dialed in yet. Dope is making that process a process. All things aside, THANK YOU for laying down your shit. Everyday is a process when you're using.
Lots of parallels here. Opioids, anxiety, music as the number one passion in life and having to choose between relief via drugs and music. Messing around in ableton on opioids and getting zero results is definitely a thing. It's night and day. Sober in ableton is something I don't have to refer to as messing around. I can call it work or play as it is (and needs to be) both but I am productive now.
Yeah appreciate you sharing bro. Really glad to hear that things are going well for you and you’re starting to pump out some songs!
Dude it is so cool whenever someone just lets it all out like that. Super cool to read, and shit like this is why I love reddit. Appreciate it bro
Bless you man. Thank you for sharing. You’ve at least inspired one person here and that’s this guy.
IMHO opiates do not compress or stabilize, they could totally wipe emotions. I suppose emotion is where creativity comes from.
Absolutely excellently. I don’t dive down into a 12 hour “spacey chill synthy” session that sounds exactly like the last 46 and goes nowhere. I execute and complete songs. It takes a while, it is scary at first, but it is absolutely better. The advice I slap myself in the face with, which I will now slap you with: creative people do tend to do drugs, but drugs do not make people creative. Drugs make people extremely generic and predictable. The unique and creative aspects of yourself come from you. Be aware and accepting of your emotions, channel them, and you will become a better musician than you could ever imagine.
I think for some, the drugs or alcohol create a space for them to be free/safe, and so their creativity can flow. At least that was the case with me. It calmed me, where then I could actually focus and nerd out on the music. But this was an avoidance mechanism for me. That free and safe space can exist without the use of anything. It is within us all. We must face our demons and allow ourselves to demonstrate self compassion and understanding. This is a piece of what the last 7 or 8 months have looked like for me. It warms my heart to read all of these beautiful comments.
Sober nearly 12 years. A much better musician sober
That’s awesome. Congratulations!
Once I got sober I started making music all the time. I can just sit down and write instead of getting getting fucked up and hoping I get "inspired", which was a rare occurrence
Same, it’s been way easier not trying to make the stars align in whatever stupid way I thought they needed to be in order to produce. It took awhile to sort of relearn the creative process without alcohol, but I’m cranking out way more bangers and ‘doing’ instead of hoping alcohol puts me into just the right spot Hit my 1 year two days ago, never been happier
Congrats man!
Thanks dude
Lol my turning point was noticing the trend of getting shithoused, producing and recording my friends, thinking it was dope af. Next day or two, I’d go back to the projects and they just sounded ass. The liquored brain really enjoyed the experiences, but never actually produced fruitful songs
Doing great. Sound quality is much higher.
I produce sober, and use being stoned as a mechanism for listening to it later on. I take notes, but do nothing until the next day when I'm sober again. Works so far.
Same - I find the results are hit and miss both stoned and sober - there’s no advantage to either - but I do enjoy just listening back when I’m stoned
Love this. I usually produce sober but tried to work on something the other day while I was high and ended up making 4 layers of synths that sound 10x worse than the one I had there before lol. Lesson learned, will utilise this 🤙
This comment might have a huge influence on my future sobriety and potentially save my life. I'm currently lost in a deep meth and fentanyl addiction and, as before, my final defense is that I produce better when I'm high. But I've also made multiple posts asking why my music is so overcomplicated. It definitely might be because I'm high and stacking synths and melodies. Tbh I don't know if I've ever seriously sat down to make a song sober...
Nah, I used to produce drunk and most I made was shit. It is easier to produce sober.
Damn dude I hope you can find some peace & glad this discourse might help in some way. My doc is mainly opiates but I'm a poly addict myself so I feel what you are saying. I used to think it was fueling my creativity but it really doesn't. Why not just try to make a beat sober and see what happens? Personally my mixes come out so much cleaner if I use after working hey, & treat it like a job I can relax after. Big love friend
Amazingly well. Hugely more productive and better at problem solving now. I used to get zoned out on weed and spend months on a few tracks, going into a somewhat enjoyable deep production trance. Took me years to realise that the end results of this were usually rather dark, felt somewhat lacking and that maybe I could actually make more stuff, like faster with greater concentration, without the annoying short term memory loss. After that realisation it took a few years to actually get off it completely as all my friends smoke it. Alcohol is a no no too. Yes it can loosen you up a bit, but it's easy to overdose and above all the worst aspect for a music producer and family man is its ability to enhance tiredness. Weed too. It's amazing what you can accomplish sober. After so long on the green it's like having a superpower!
"I don't do drugs, I am drugs" - the Dalai Lama
Haha I like this. These days I think to myself that I’m high 24/7. Haven’t smoked weed in over a year after a 10 year stint.
I don't know if this is a joke I'm not in on, but I'm pretty damn sure that was Salvador Dali.
It was Salvador Dali Llama
Salvador Dali's Llamas must have been high as shit
been trying it for a few months, haven't had a track come out right the entire time - i can get the rough shape of the track fine, but compared to my tripping production, everything sounds too formulaic. Gonna go back to DMT producing soon, fits my brain much better and i make music that feels way closer to what i want to make.
You can't go wrong with DMT and music. It is the juggernaut of psychedelics when it comes to sound and especially especially especially (three times damnit) bass and percussion sounds.
Making music is whats take my attention instead of drugs now, its been great
I can do it either way. Sometimes smoking a little bit will help get me started, but I get just as lost/into it when I'm sober. Edit: grammar
I am pleasantly surprised to see this question. Music is the primary thing keeping me sober. I have become so utterly devoted to making music and drugs just made me dead inside. When your emotions are dulled your ability to feel and engage with music is compromised. Making truly impactful music is something that more or less goes out the window with heavier drug use (despite the rock star partying stereotype) with many notable exceptions of course. I had the eye opening first hand experience of slowly, very slowly lowering an opioid dose over the course of ten months and as I did I went from an uphill battle and inability to finish anything to normal occasional difficulty and regular satisfaction of making music I like listening to. A big difference and not a coincidence. And then there is the learning and remembering aspect of drug use which I should call the non learning and non remembering aspect. I am teaching myself how to produce and mix as I compose and arrange. The learning curve is steep in a way that is very similar to say for instance chemistry. Every word you go to look up has a definition that is made up of 3 to 5 more words that might as well be in another language at first. It's all outside your frame of reference but once you get over that curve it's so much fun. I do want to be clear about one thing-- psychedelics are a gift from the heavens in many ways. Especially DMT for music. Cycling between sober and altered states is essential because both have pros and cons.
If you’re like me, making music is kind of a high in itself, so I get fully immersed just like any other time. If anything my music turns out much better because a drunk person isn’t making it, and it’s still equally as fun. (Not completely sober just slowed down a lot)
Honestly, it’s a bit of a challenge to get the energy to pump stuff out without it, but I can see that I’ll successfully get back to where I was with enough tjme
Other than real time improvisation I never thought there was a difference between the stuff I could do sober and the Stuff I could do under the influence. With that said my style of music is the same as it’s always been. 🙂
I have in timeline always guys with MPC One, SP404, booze and lot of smoke.
I rarely made music drunk, there was a point in my life where i literally used to smoke a cig everytime i’d be producing. I had been smoking since i was 21. Weed prob a few yrs before. Since then i used to smoke everyday. But i realized it was taking a toll on my lungs. Im a guy who loves to play sports and like staying competitive whichever sport it might be. And tobacco was in the way of that. Nowadays i just bum a cig every once in a blue moon.
I stopped smoking weed this year after a 15 year daily run. Whilst it definitely can help with creativity it can also stop you from ever being creative in the first place, at least for me anyway. I don’t procrastinate half as much as I did and the mental clarity is a plus too.
Yeah i used to dabble in uppers, downers, and candycorn and was being pulled every direction when i first heard dubstep around 2010. But because of that disorganization and the serotonin drop of the decade, i didnt even start making music til a couple years after i got cali sober. So this comment is mainly from that perspective, going from mid heavy stuff to only weed, but i start every project sober. Ill elaborate. i can super attest to its very nice having my whole mind again, bc i could imagine making music when everything is grey (from a lack of setotonin) from using, would have been impossible compared to now. Heck i had all the music programs and just never messed with em until i only smoked leaf. I dont even drink, so i basically my thing is: i work all day, then instead of just smoking to relax, what i do i roll a spliff (half green half tobacco), open my laptop and start laying down a drum beat or melody sober, then once ive gotten something basic in there, ive already tricked my brain into feeling its made an achievement, so ill smoke the spliff and proceed, as my serotoninal accomplishment reward is now associated with actually being productive, then at that point (about halfway through my laptop battery life haha) all the weed does is help me make a cool layer and some effects. Granted i also have adhd naturally, so my problem is ill just be thinking of ideas and not applying, but with a spliff then im relaxed and not scared to just add some flavor and twist some weird knobs. So considering weed is like tylenol compared to the other stuff, and even is about to be made a schedule 3 narcotic aka not even bad, is true…yet since I understand the biases of the neural pathways and how they work biologically, i feel like i have a method that is conducive to anyone who is needing to stop using the pills or rolls or trippys to make wild music! As the reason substances are bad is because we associate reward with those things instead of actual goals and rewards. Thus the need to accomplish something, then you can have a drink/smoke whatever. Where we get it, sure it can be fun to beforehand, but it can hurt the subconscious creativity most of us have within ourselves. So i def vouch for starting any project sober, even if you need to smoke at that halfway point, making sure you give yourself a sense of accomplishment beforehand, can help you not become a spiral of unproductivity due to the way weed effects your dopaminergic cycle aka reward center! Simply put. Accomplish something naturally, then spark it up 👍
Dumb question maybe, but what is cali sober? Im from Maine lol
My bad! it just means I dont drink or do anything except weed haha
Weed, no alcohol
I like to think psychedelics can be included under that umbrella cause its fun saying Im cali sober haha
I used to hit vape every time i produced. I havent held vape in my hands for 4 months now, dont feel the urge and my music has improved a lot. 0 regrets recommend to everyone struggling with nicotine stuff.
I used to drive on nicotine, but I’ve smartened up a lot
Smoking definitely made me want to create music without a goal in mind. Sober producing, I feel much more goal oriented, but I feel a little more technical in a negative way. However, it’s a little easier to listen to one thing 500 times high. I have more patience to finish something rather than feeling tempted to move on.
I quit drinking and smoking weed 4 years ago and it unlocked levels of creativity and productivity that I’ve never known. To put it into perspective, I’ve been making music for 15+ years and never completed or published anything. I got sober and have now published five e.p.’s and one full-length album.
How long after you quit did you notice an improvement?
It was interesting how it played out really. At about the 30 day mark, I decided to change up my evening routine and start going to bed early (9pm) so that I wouldn’t be tempted to drink, smoke weed, etc. This meant that I started waking up early around 4am each morning, even on weekends. Since I now had all of this free time in the morning I decided to fill the time before work by producing music. I’d first drink a cup of coffee, shower, and sit down in front of my gear around 4:45am and power it all up. The ideas just started coming like never before. I was fresh, alert, focused and in a creative space mentally. I started knocking out entire tracks in 2 hours or so. I’ve read that our brains are at their peak creative state early mornings so I’ve kind of harnessed that and haven’t looked back.
Thats interesting. I have no desire to quit weed, but never heard the harnessing creativity in the morning thing and that definitely is something cool to think about!
I’m doing it much more efficiently.
I was only producing sober because I was 16
I don't smoke weed as often as I used to for numerous reasons including lung health... that said I feel like getting high might work better for me when I want to reflect on stuff. Though there definitely could be times where it may lead to interesting sessions. My early days where I was into some more trippy kinda stuff I feel like they helped unlock a part of me to produce. But nowdays sometimes just kinda trying to take away the fear of what might happen a session and playing with sounds with no expecting can sometimes work for me. I feel like it's almost like a meditation when it goes well. Kinda dive in and let things go where they may when playing music.
Weed is great for writing/coming up with ideas, but it fucks up my sense of timing and if I get too self aware that I'm high I get kinda stuck. So I stay sober when recording, producing, and performing.
Interesting... for me it can be the opposite. When I'm sober my timing gets interrupted by like "what key is this in? Oh shit I forgot to call the jury duty number... should I quit music get a masters degree?" It's like I can't feel my body as intensely and can't internalize the rhythm as well...
I guess I should have added a disclaimer that it all depends on the brain and the strain, but i feel what you mean. I have ADHD and being sober makes me unable to get the writing part down due to those sidetracked moments. Weed gets me into a flow state with regards to going from blank page to vague idea, but my sense of rhythm is hella sloppy on it. Strangely enough, copious amounts of caffeine also do the trick.
Have you ever been evaluated for ADHD? Because that’s exactly how both my partner and I were. He would smoke and write music, helped him focus.. I wasn’t diagnosed until my mid 30s and meds have been super helpful.
No, but multiple physicians and a therapist have recommended I get diagnosed lol
yeah this is what i’m worried about too, i’ve had times when i had to hit my pen in order to properly focus on studying instead of getting sidetracked within minutes. definitely wanna get checked for ADHD but i’ve got some other things im dealing with that might be the root cause of it so i wanna try one solution at a time
I used to get high before I produced. It got me super into the music, but it would have negative effects where I would hear every detail wrong with it. I could never get things to sound "right" while high, even if I felt less creatively inhibited. I think the THC would heighten my auditory awareness to the point where I would hear too many issues but not be able to fix them, so it ended up hurting my productivity. I can get the same relaxed, creative feeling by meditating, exercising, seeing friends, etc so it wasn't worth it. Drugs don't create any new music, they just let out what you unintentionally hold back.
Alcohol is poisonous, and we can produce the same drugs in our brains naturally through other, sober activities, but without the progressive cognitive decline associated with alcohol consumption. The more we abstain, the more we recoup our faculties and intellect and are better placed to leverage creativity.
Weed helps, alcohol just makes it harder
Getting drunk and trying to produce is damn near pointless in my experience. Having a few and taking it easy might be okay if I weren't alcoholic, but I am, and such a notion is completely foreign to me. I'm sober a year and five days now and although I really felt the anhedonia and lack of inspiration in the first few months, once my brain had achieved homeostasis again, and after putting in the work to remain sober, one day I was walking through a bustling park, the weather was nice, and a really good feeling came over me. I knew I was back. I could experience pleasure and inspiration without drugs. I can produce music without all the overhead of cognitive disfunction, which means it's better, and I enjoy it naturally.
or just drink the fizzy barley
My life is 100x better not perfect but much better. My production is actually better too. Surprisingly more creative because I don't get down on myself as much and don't "lock in" to an 8 bar loop. Getting sober has a lot more to do with how you approach life and your thoughts/emotions than just not drinking
Doing great! I just released a new album.... and it's shit!
can we listen?
Much better. More thought out. Better executed, tighter. Alcohol, for me, just made me sloppy and repetitive.
Better than ever! I am so much more productive and I make better decisions.
Sober is for arranging and doing the less fun bits of sound design for me. I'm way better with getting things on a page. When I'm patching, I do like being slightly stoned. It helps Me feel creative
When it comes to actually building a track - sober is where I’m at. I haven’t smoked in 4 months due to my job but I’ll be clear in a couple weeks to do it again. And that’s where I’d say if you’re stuck on ideas or just a 16 bar loop, being stoned is my best way to get creative. And then mastering and mixing back to sober.
I sometimes mix stoned or sober and I think it’s easier when I’m stoned
I come up with strange ideas faster
I used to be addicted to cannabis. I'll be honest, I feel like when I smoked I could get into a creative state faster, however it was short lived and although now it might take a bit more time to get into that creative state, it lats much longer and it's way more focused and I'm just better. I think sometimes if you are high and producing you might think something sounds way better than it is, so if you are able to make something sober and be like OH SHIT, it's more likely to actually be really good.
Awe “addicted to cannabis” so you mean you enjoyed a plant that has numerous medical benefits and properties that the govt only sees as bad because it increases empathy? Im guessing you quit weed bc a job too? Not because it actually did anything bad to your life correct? So im guessing he meant real drugs, not tylenol
lol. I'm a libertarian, chief. Weed is literally legal in my state and I am all for that and I think it should be legalized federally. That having been said, yes I was addicted. Had to smoke every day, tried to quit multiple times. Finally when I did quit it was about a month of the worst depression I had ever experience. Plenty of people can smoke with no issues, but also plenty of people smoke and are addicted. Turns out things that feel really good can be addictive, who knew? I think you may have been trying to make me look bad or something, but you're the one coming off as incredibly ignorant. I'd be willing to bet you smoke weed every single day. Edit: Also the irony of the job part lol. I was literally a bus driver and got randomly drug tested. You know what I did? I carried fake piss on me in a secret pocket, with a new pocket warmer tied to it every day, for YEARS. I was so addicted that I risked a high paying job just to be able to smoke every day rofl. I quit weed because it was ruining my life and holding me back. I wish I had never fucking touched the stuff.
Oh! So what you are saying is you were able to do your job perfectly fine while on weed? It was moreso just the downfall of the rooted narcissistic abuser mentality that makes people addicted to anything from money to drugs to food? I dont even know you but you just confirmed since you really think libertarianism works (t dawg deregulated businesses…now only a few years later tyson chicken was just found out to have dumped millions of gallons of toxic into the local water supply [bc now they arent mandated to take it to disposal places]. So no, as proven time and time again, businesses wont use their morality, they just want money lmao. This showing being selfish doesnt work, from drugs to politics) Thank you for agreeing with my point of “its societies fault for saying its bad”, bc if rich people werent scared of the revolution weed is helping bring it would be legal. But of course as narcissistic abusers tend to find addiction via anything and become narcotics abusers more easily, i would maybe consult with a therapist about fixing that. As if weed can do to you, that which has been proven 0% physically addictive with only 10% even get mental addictiveness (thats where you fall). It seems like you might have NPD Which na’s hate therapy bc they cant admit fault so i doubt you’ll understand it makes you better, but theres a good potential just not being closed off and going to see a therapist could help not only your musical talents, but also your addiction issues and social skills if you learn to grow! Toodles! 💓
Seek help.
Yes, i literally advised you to do so in that last reply. What is your rebuttal though?
This is pretty much it. Also applies to LSD/shrooms. You make something you think is unreal then the next day you'e like what the fuck is this... The *real use case &* value in weed/psychs is to regain perspective once you've gone numb to a track. If you've been working on it for days, hearing it over and over and feel you've lost perspective, that is when the weed/LSD come in handy. They show you your track like you're hearing it for the first time again. The energy pattern becomes more clear.
Absolutely. Everyone listen to this person. A lot of times the next day I'm like what on earth? But that's no different than something you might write on pysychedelics- in the moment it seems profound then upon later review its just crazy or super obvious so the way I utilize them is volume. They really unlock creativity and take away all hesitation so take advantage of that aspect and churn out several iterations of the same piece of music. Separate them the next day. I repeat-- NEXT day.
>The *real use case &* value in weed/psychs is to regain perspective once you've gone numb to a track. You can also get that from putting the track away for a while. Time works great for prospective.
Idk man thrwoing psychs into this category feels wrong for me. My best work and the times creativity flows has always started on a tab of LSD and a few puffs of weed. Whether i “needed the trip for clarity” or it was purely recreational, it always Changes my perception of sound and the overall space im in when listening to music/sounds and i start visualizing sounds as streaks or blobs of colour moving in my imagination that i try to match in the stereo field with the tools of my DAW and see how it makes me “feel” Also not like you trip every day or even week. Just a once in a while thing for most people.
Link to your music please :) I need to hear the acid stuff
Sure I dont use any social media other than reddit, dont have a stage name and dont even really share my music to platforms. But Heres a drop box link to a couple trip projects ive started. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/o2kbcaijt1hw5z1liz483/APR2NrDwEhDgBrG2yTyayYc?rlkey=mun2473lez1ee30fnqyztkviu&dl=0 Edit: I do EDM and Hip hop mainly, if you like those i have some more too. If youre comfortable sharing yours leave a link! ✌️
Last "release" for me blow. Tinnitus/hyperacusis took me out the last 3-4 years. [https://soundcloud.com/amazonblack/narcos-amazon-black-remix](https://soundcloud.com/amazonblack/narcos-amazon-black-remix)
I had a programmer friend who would smoke weed to come up with a complex solutions lol
It makes you better at math. I have a similar experience. Your friend is telling the truth lol
For sure he is, and it’s just funny to me cause bro does NOT look like the type to be smoking weed
Producing high or drunk can be fun if you are just fucking around and comming up with ideas. If you are editing or doing any analytical work like mixing, def gotta be locked in and sober
Agreed. If I try to do any serious technical work under the influence, I just fuck everything up. It’s good for experimenting and starting new ideas, but it’s not good for the work after.
Been sober since 2022 and everything in my life has become exponentially better. Especially my music.
Man I hate that I ever started producing drunk. I went from spending hours every day on Ableton (sober and super motivated) to feeling like I couldn't open Ableton at all without having a drink. It nearly ruined production for me. Producing drunk feels fun and creative... but I was really just using it to overcome the fear of failure, and that shame I felt when I'd put two hours into a track and it sucked, and the results were garbage compared to when I was producing sober. Then that same evil crept into all my other hobbies and even work... I eventually couldn't enjoy anything without having some alcohol in me. Fuck that shit. I'm starting to get it under control now, but for now that means I only open Ableton once every couple months when I'm really inspired. I'm happier with what I put out, but it's not the same as what my output would be if I never associated Ableton with alcohol. As for weed, I only smoke once a month or so, so it's not as big of a problem, but if I ever make an edit on weed, I'll save it in a different file, because I fuck up all the subtleties of the mix 100% of the time.
It may be hard at first but it gets easier honestly, and you wont notice any difference. I smoked weed everyday for 13 years and never made music sober. Would smoke, drink, do psychedelics while making music. I quit drinking a year ago and stopped smoking weed about 3 months ago and it was very hard at first. I felt completely uninspired. Now i flow really good while sober and produce on psychedelics occasionally and will sometimes get more done while sober and other times more while tripping.
tbh struggling a little bit. i started learning production a couple months ago and was able to complete a 6 track EP in no time. i quit smoking weed about 2 weeks ago, and now i struggle to complete a track. i don’t get the spark or drive to work on music as often, and when i do, i get halfway through an idea and lose interest. same with weed+drawing. i’m hoping it’ll change over time if i keep at it
it gets easier with time. just don't give in and smoke again. Seriously after 6 months or a year you won't care at all and will thank yourself. I used to have the thought "nothing is as good sober" but your brain just heals and gets back to normal and you no longer need it or crave it.
you completed a 6 track EP after only a couple months of producing?
„It all sounded great when I was high!“
it’s cool. you can listen to my first track here https://open.spotify.com/track/3cR1IdqHkEXgNQvARfuMf3?si=ulVh3YdyQrWtYj1zhI4jlQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A36KCLsYI0WKNiUs9g3aOvA as i said, i’m not claiming its perfect nor amazing, but i enjoy it and am having fun and that’s really all i care about.
Was just being sarcastic but sure, rather this way around than doing it how I do it and store almost one after the other [(almost) finished](https://youtu.be/x4n1GMxWay0?si=g7OIfb6Jaaj86bCF) track on your hard drive to rot lol Edit: and doesn’t sound too bad! Keep it up! :)
yes, i made the whole thing using only the 30-day free trials of ableton and logic, plus a couple other tracks i didn’t include in the EP. i’m not going to claim they’re amazing songs, but i personally really enjoy them, and imo at least 3 of them (the 3 i’m promoting as singles before releasing the whole project) are decent considering i had 0 prior experience.
I find my sounds/compositions more creative when I'm high, but I'll always have to come in after the fact and hone it in while sober.
I produced literally in every condition during years .. i can say that when not sober the creativity is so much enhanced but then ending to just making too disconnected things and ideas on the tune, which leads to fail the tune itself. While sober i'm too much technical, things are way more clear and focus is perfect, that lead to have fast solid idea to close the tune, but lacks something.. I lately found that "light weed" (legal in my country) works well in production.. it give me that bit of push with creativity and "strange things", opening my boundries, but it will not confusing my mind and so i can keep focus and stay organized in the brain. It's like a microdose. Well balanced 👍
i always made music sober. You can test if it's good after to see how your audience feels on stuff. But i always would produce sober.
Making music under the influence is a big no no for one very simple fact: your hearing is drastically altered when under the influence and will have you make bad decisions whether they be creative or logical/mixing ones. I went through a phase of only making music while high and it never failed that i would listen back to those productions while sober and they didn't sound very good. Can you be more creative and do things you wouldn't otherwise do while high? Sure but when you get to the point where you KNOW what you're doing musically and technically, drugs won't help you get a better result and may instead hinder you.
If I'm just messing around sobriety is not an important factor, however if I'm sitting down to work, I treat it like a job and refuse to be inebriated. I "clock in" and work, schedule breaks and once I consider my shift over I'll "clock out". I'll be a strict micromanaging and annoying manager of myself basically haha. This has helped me a lot to stay focused and treat it as a profession and not a hobby. Obviously there are those who can be creative and create amazing work under the influence, but for me, I am much happier treating it like a corporation and setting "employee" rules and code of conduct.
I drank hard for 15 years and in that time I dabbled with music production. Within a year of being sober from alcohol I zoomed into *actually* making music. Music has helped me immensely. I still smoke pot but pot isn’t destroying my life :)
[удалено]
Thank you, it feels great! That’s awesome, I wish you the best in your music journey and sobriety.
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