Merging / Juggling different styles/influences and time

[blavatsky]

Want to get some input from musicians on here who have lots of differing influences / instrument choices....I started as a guitarist in my teens, then drummer/bassist finally getting into synths and samplers a few years back.

My problem is finding time/creativity/practice time for all sides of music

For example, big influences (electronic stuff) like flying lotus, portishead, BOC, madlib/jdilla type stuff, early chemical brothers/crystal method
Then on guitar side, radiohead, beatles/floyd, STP, QOTSA, Smashing Pumpkins, AIC, electric wizard

Ok I'm rambling, let me sum up:
1. There is not enough time in they day for all the musical styles I like, esp. working full time - suffering from jack of all trades/master of none
2. It is harder (to me) than it seems to merge stuff, like say guitar + samples + synth and not sound cheezy / forced.
3. Is it better to have say, 2 or 3 projects/aliases or really focus on merging all of it into one big mess (albeit maybe a good one)
4. I don't want to mimic influences as much as be inspired, but its like one day I'm focused on shoegaze-y fuzzed out rock, then the next lofi grimey trip hop, and it makes it hard to finish a thought so to speak
5. Ideas/solution for time managment/more effective practice/merging/setting goals?


TLDR: If i was rich I could sit and home and play with my toys all day.

[tape smoke]

try and mush all your styles into one style and it should help de clutter your mind.

[fauna]

I've got a very similar musical history and set of styles blavs (add in vocals too). Over the years I've found my guitar based stuff is starting to pull in more electro / sample based stuff and it is feeling a lot more natural. Yr right - it is difficult tho. A lot of hours of practice to make it easy
One thing that really helped me was getting a couple of looper pedals. I run one thru guitar to amp and another thru sampler/synth/vox to PA. This lets me experiment and find new textures.
Also, sometimes I just wanna kick out some beats on the 505 or on the tablet. Sometimes the mood just strikes you. Its all you. Divide up the project names if you feel it, or keep it all together. Its all good.

[ellaguru]

Also, sometimes I just wanna kick out some beats on the 505 or on the tablet. Sometimes the mood just strikes you. Its all you. Divide up the project names if you feel it, or keep it all together. Its all good.

on the tablet? you mean graphical tablet thing? could you please explain it better? sounds cool...

[Rabot]

dude i totally feel ya. I've been in a band for 2 years now, and I used to play sampler styled drum in it and now we have a real drumer and I play some synth now and it's so refreshiiingg.

it's had to mix my more hiphop/beat/dub vibe into the band, but when i play by myself i end up wanting more rocking/band style stuff.

number of time i made wierd ass beats out of my roommate piano jams....

[tape smoke]

^
you should try sample and loop drums from 60s surf rock, garage and psychedic. would be impossible to recreate that style and sound these days, maybe if you made a make shift record cutter and were super wicked at drumming. dont want to offend the drummer though.

[Rabot]

lol where do you take your input on the drummer and stuff? I don't think I ever poster my band stuff on here!

[skinny.b]

i'm totally the same, started on drums, went to bass, then guitar, then bass pretty much full time, all the while aquiring various bits of gear and somehow learnt to DJ somewhere along the line. i'm taking time out from the band environment as it started to do my head in, too many compromises! I say just follow what ever turns your ears on at the time, i don't see any need to box yourself into a project if you feel the need to do something else too. time is totally an issue, you just gotta grab it where you can!

[fauna]

Also, sometimes I just wanna kick out some beats on the 505 or on the tablet. Sometimes the mood just strikes you. Its all you. Divide up the project names if you feel it, or keep it all together. Its all good.

on the tablet? you mean graphical tablet thing? could you please explain it better? sounds cool...

Oh, no Ella - nothing that cool, just an Andoid tablet - like an Ipad that isn't an Ipad.

Cool to see how many multi-instrumentalists there are in here...I'm on the verge of getting back into playing trumpet! We'll see how that all fits in!

[tdae]

it all fits, i just match tones. filters are magic.
what i really wanna know though, is OP the Blavatsky of the Lost Cave by blavatsky? I love that album and it's aesthetic! All hail our dark lord!

[blavatsky]

Some good advice here - cool to see other people who manage to merge stuff. Fauna - listened to a lot of your album, great mix of guitar w/ sampled drums/ synth etc. Agreed on the filtering comment, it can tie together sources that are otherwise a sonic 7-10 split.

Part of it too is learning your equipment - do you ever stop and think about all the knobs, settings, menus, keystrokes, locations of samples, effects etc you keep up with if you have a lot of gear? I can spend a couple hours a night tweaking synth patches and samples without really working on music - that stuff is fun but can turn into a void.

To above post, yeah the Lost Cave is me - thats a big compliment, I really appreciate it!
(Shameless plug, next EP is in the works so keep your eyes peeled in the next month, it is going to be a bit more spacey/synth/8bit mixed in but still dark and gritty)