I started working on my own solo thing around 2018, and put out 5 records between 2019-2022. I finished a record early this year, finished a couple more songs that have been kicking around, but now I haven't picked up a guitar in about 2 months, and the month prior to that was strictly rehearsing for a show I was getting ready for.

I am still recording a lot of drums for other people (as others have mentioned here, that's a thing I do), but besides that my kids and day job are running me ragged. I also record the band I play drums in when we get together (that has slowed down to maybe once every other month.)

I do hope to pick things up again maybe this fall - in the past one thing that has jumpstarted playing / recording for me has been working on a PRF Monthly Tribute track - it tends to remind me how much I enjoy making things.

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:19 am Is this thread strictly about recording music, or is the spirit of it more about the ebb-and-flow of our creative engagement?

Should just be about... "Have you stopped recording music? why? ... what led to that decision? What's the reason?"

elisha wiesner wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:22 pm I have a decent studio in my basement. Good but limited gear selection, decent sounding room, lots of instruments etc... About 4 years ago I pretty much stopped recording. I stopped recording other people because I had an absolutely nightmare session and decided I never wanted to do that again. I stopped recording myself because I haven't written anything worth recording. I think I literally only did one album for some longtime friends/clients and mixed another record in that time. I recorded one vocal for myself as well. Besides this, nothing. I literally hate seeing all the gear every time I go to do laundry or get something out of the freezer. I should probably sell it or at least sell most of it.

I relate to all of this entirely, but it should be noted that you and MVF made one of last year's best records, so....maybe keep doing it, if you want.

Yeah that Ferries record is great. Bummed I missed the Boston show this summer.

I have yet to start, does that count? I just optimistically collect gear I hope to use one day to record something.

thecr4ne wrote: Sun Aug 28, 2022 11:20 am I have yet to start, does that count? I just optimistically collect gear I hope to use one day to record something.

This is me.

I stopped when my laptop died, as this fallback one isn't really fit for purpose. I'll probably resume someday though.

I really wonder if I never started recording my own music, which at times became a completely unhealthy obsession (as others in this thread have mentioned also happened to them), but instead chose a different hobby and took it just as seriously and spent just as much time doing it... like standup comedy, or... something else where actual money is somewhat involved... where I'd be at now.

Haven't made jack shit as a touring musician or a recording artist. Have spent thousands upon thousands upon equipment. Every hobby costs money, I guess. The other ones I've tried are skateboarding and painting and those cost bread too. At least with painting you can make some of the money back at some point.

EDIT: On the flipside recording can be extremely fun and also rewarding... Obviously I hate a love/hate with it. Though ultimately I find myself slowly recording less and less as I've accepted my own benchmarks/achievements as per my own set of criteria.

I guess it's like someone paying money for golf, the clubs, the bag... all the greens fees... It adds up. And what would be the golf version of recording? See that's tough... it has to

1. Cost money to potentially make you money in the long run.
2. A lot of self-evaluation, self-criticism is also potentially possible.
3. Improving as you learn but that's just one aspect of the game.

It's complicated I guess. I do find myself more interested in improving skills whereas in the past I was very focused on recording.

I guess it would be like somehow going to a golf driving range, but then taking a video of it and selling the videos or something? I don't know. That's still less creative than music writing/recording. Maybe something like this:

The band Tsunami put it best when they sang, "No one's holding a gun to your headstock."

I think operating creatively with the expectation of a larger payoff beyond the work itself is setting oneself up for potential disappointment. In music, this is especially true for home recorders or weekend warrior types who aren't out in the world, playing regularly for groups of people, making connections within their community or among heads in the larger music world. Even for those who do achieve some goals in this regard, on a more drawn-out timescale, it's not that easy to maintain a consistent presence. (Positive) notoriety is often fleeting.

One can take into account the above and feel horrified or discouraged, or they can say fuck it and just get on with it, if they still otherwise feel inspired.

I tend to oscillate between the two poles ("what's the point?" vs. "fuck it, I'll do it anyway") and have found that, naturally, the latter stance is always more productive.


If we want to get a little heady, we could draw parallels between this ^ and being a relatively kindhearted, non-morally-bankrupt person. If one has to be assured of "getting into heaven" in order to be this way, then possessing such qualities might not mean much. In other words, doing things for the own sake should be motivation enough. Anticipating outside rewards is where all kinds of people, in all kinds of endeavors, get off-track and become insecure and unsteady.

^ Hell yes to all of that.

I think Vonnegut covered this idea eloquently when he responded to a letter from a student at a high school:

Vonnegut wrote: Practice any art—music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage—no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

Practice any art, however well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to find out what’s inside you.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower, and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.

Practice any art, however well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to find out what’s inside you.

Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six-line poem about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.