Has anybody else other than me taken a break from making music? I have a few times. Sometimes you gotta step away for a little while and do other things. I know once I get back on it with a fresh mind I'll be able to come back at it from another (interesting*) angle.

Lately I've been doing the things I have been neglecting. Like spending time on the internet, playing video games, spending time with my family, and taking care of myself for the future. It kinda sucks to have to put the beat machines away for a bit...but when you're old like me, you know how life rolls on. I'll get back on it once I get situated again. No room to set up right now anyhow. anywho...It's snowing outside...I'm gonna have to start a fire.

I don't really take breaks on purpose but somehow there's times I switch on my equipment every day for weeks and times when I don't do anything music related for two months. I do want to have the eagerness to recrod produce something every week but sometimes I just can't get to it. Be it friends, work/school or switching the focus to art, it takes a while until I realize that musically I haven't done anything for some time and then I need to push myself back on the matter again *gg*.

But surprisingly I find myself somewhat more productive since I began my apprenticeship than before even though I had nothing to do all day every day for two months. It's just that I kinda want to make the most of my short free time so I sit down and do something instead of just biding time playing games or such.

Still true what you said, when I come back to my music I always feel like doing something fresh that I haven't done before with new motivation and goals.

i usually go 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. or so it seems

not all the time being a musician is spent playing an instrument or making music. Just living life and collecting ideas is as much a part of the creative process as getting down and dirty with your machine.\

if you feel the need to rest, please do so. Just remember to put the equivalent of gas in your idea tank or else when you go to start your engine, you won't even leave the lot.

I couldn't agree more. When I do feel the urge I act on it. Lately life has taken over...but I did buy some new records last weekend:

- Dionne Warwick - Dionne! (double LP)
- Syreeta - One To One
- Roberta Flack - First Take
- Quincy Jones - Walking in Space
- Earl Klugh - Magic in Your Eyes

All of it in total costs me $11.00

You might think I'm crazy for not sampling these yet. But it's whatever, lol. SOON!

The roberta flack album is damn good. her early stuff is incredible. I'm partial to quiet fire by her...so good you have to just sit and think about it for a few minutes after listening

First Take is my favorite soul album of all time.Funny alc- she was hated on(to put it lightly- america was barely out of segregation at this point) by mainstream america just like Kanye in her day for being so politically outspoken in her lyrics-- I can't even believe a record company put this out, honestly... check out www.myspace.com/adruthemisphit (my old myspace page) , the song "Society"- I used like 4 different records, but the main samples that anchor it are from the First Take album- forget which song right now, unfortunately.Recorded it in late 07- theres also a breakdown at the end of the song where I switched it up to a verse about hurricane katrina,using another sample from the album..but without drums. Really some of my favorite lyrics/beat(s) I've ever done. Worth a listen.. espescially for someone trying to call me out on another thread. But worth a listen in general for those that dig Roberta and that masterpiece of an album. And be sure to peep G.o.o.d. Music on your break!Peace

my local shop had some Flack that I picked up for a buck each. good diggs indeed.

i got fucked with my purchase of a used turntable/upgrade to compact flash on my mpxl. so ive been out of making music for about two months

damn dude. SO your MPC doesnt work either? DO you have an SP? if so...just sample off a CD player, radio, TV...something! Where there is a will there is a way. SOrry for your bad luck. My friend bought a bunk tascam recorder off Ebay...electronics were gutted and the only thing that worked was the display. Totally got duped.

the mp does work, i was just sold a fake card and i had to find a zip disc with the updated os. very bad luck indeed

that roberta album is definitely super tight, but since its already been touched on i'll jump to the next, that quincy album is dooope as fuck too, the second jam on that A side has the illest loop in the beginning, i can't remember whether it was the title cut or not cause its at my house and i'm stayin at a buddies for a few days, but that whole album is nice mellow funky jazz, heavy rhodes, super grooves, real nice, and i actually went to dig at this spot in manhattan the other morning (i'm stayin in queens) and the dude at the record store dropped the needle on walking in space right as i walked in and played it all the way through, you know i was hyped to dig to that

i wish i could differentiate that dionne from other albums of hers as far as the actual music goes, cause i know i have it, but i got too many by her at one point in some dollar bin shit and i never got to know em all that well, i cut a track off of 'promises, promises' and that was it i think, i just keep grabbin dope shit and that stash keeps gettin neglected......i think i got that earl klugh too, but it has also been somewhat neglected, for a more justifiable reason though, his shit can be super cheesey sometimes, i got an album by him where he plays acoustic the whole time and the tone of his guitar is so obnoxious it ruins most jazz flavor it had for me, i mean granted its like 1979 jazz flavor, there are a few moments when the rhodes shines through or somethin though, who knows though, maybe that album has the illest whatever break on some cut on the B side and i'm sleepin like a fool...........

syked for others being syked on the records they bought though, i often sweat buyin records more than tryin to flip tracks, i just keep findin dope shit and want more, and the more i buy the more i learn and the more i want........i actually lugged a fuckin packed crate and some of about 90 records down here to my buddies on an amtrak train and then from penn station over here into queens on the subway, it was fuckin brutal, and i promised myself i wouldn't get more cause there was no way i was gettin em home, and then there i was yesterday morning droppin 70 bucks on some fresh wax, its a disease i swear

Awesome reply, Dr. Van Nostrand. I totally agree with you about Earl Klugh (lol)...but there are a few shards in-between all the classical guitar work worthy of sampling. I do agree that at some point it gets pretty cheesy though. I have one sample from one of his songs that doesn't have too much guitar over everything. Definitely a challenge.

Roberta Flack...don't know much about her...so I got this record on a hunch that something is there for me. I know a lot of people have sampled her before, so she is worthy. Only a buck anyway, why not?

The Dionne record was a double LP and it was only 5 bucks, I had to get it. I'm sure I'll chop up a bunch of that album.

Quincy is too good to pass on. It only cost me a dollar for that one...there's no reason I couldn't get it.

I thought I saw this Syreeta album somewhere before, and it was only a dollar...so what the heck. There's something on there I bet - I enjoy a challenge.

I'll probably start sampling these this weekend. At least get them in the machines.

i'm taking a break too, but making music/beats is a pastime for me anyway... i've not touched my sp for about a month now, and i'm doing a lot more drawing now (which I'm better at anyway ... but it's good to do different stuff. That said both are terrible for my back haha. I'll go back to making beats before the end of the month though, hopefully it'll improve things. Clear out the SD card and fill it up with new sounds etc

Sometimes I like taking time off to digest and take in the things that are happening around me and think about stuff going on in my life.
That is where I get my inspiration from.

Other than that, sometimes I get stuck doing the same thing for every song I make so I take a break to give myself time to forget and start again.

No point in trying to force yourself to make music. It should be a fun and inspiring activity.