Q: how do you manage to make so many tunes? i keep trying to make songs, but whenever i open up a music program, i can never think of anything original or nice or even bad, and i keep trying but it never happens, and then i get sad and cry and give up
A: oh my gosh, you are very in need of a very critical piece of advice and life experience that i must tell you. i have become quite certain, at least for me, that i should NEVER attempt to write a song in the studio. by that i mean, do not attempt to write your song while the recording software/equipment is open. That doesn't mean you can't, but what i have found is that most of the time, if i try to write a song in the 'recording studio', the result is exactly what you just described. this is exactly why, after experimenting a little with the 'write in studio' approach somewhere around 2011, i came to a firm realization that i MUST write and finish the song BEFORE bringing it to the official recording environment. so so important. Recording a song, has enough unknowns and challenges. not even knowing how it goes is WAY too many unknowns. my policy is, i must know how it goes, i need to know every word, every melody, chords, and what's also particularly important to me is that i have the exact 'road map', which means know exactly how long everything goes -- no uncertainty about the ending, no uncertainty about transitions, intros, etc etc, no uncertainty about how it gets from point a to point b. the whole roadmap must be known from beginning to end. not necessary to have every little auxiliary detail, not even necessary to know all the exact instrumental parts. but, you just need the exact melody, lyric, chord, full road map. and also important to have an exact tempo marking, to avoid what i call a 'tempo crisis.' This is just what i've found. not knowing this will cause things to crumble in the studio, at least that is definitely the case when working by yourself. This is not necessarily true for everyone, and i'm sure this approach is more applicaple to people doing the entire arrangement on their own (like me, and perhaps you too). and i'm aware that many many many people write songs in the studio, and i'm sure some people can do it just fine, but i have become quite sure that, for me, without a shadow of a doubt, the 'write first' approach is a must for me, and after reading your story i would strongly advise this for you also. i hope this helps