At the moment i just cant bring myself to mix.I feel like i have had enough of running up hills and really achieving nothing after years of work.It just feels all pointless .A hobby i really enjoyed is really not enjoyable anymore . Maybe time to take up fishing or something and try to catch the biggest fish lol
I do find that it is important to change things up from time to time and take a break to gain perspective and energy.
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Done all that bud many times .Just think ive had enough of it.Time for something new. When i first started i just wanted to learn how to mix a song and i think i have hopefully achieved that at least.To get to the next level involves loads of work for another good few years and i just dont feel i can face that anymore
yeah you are right there. In fact I think it is a lifetime of learning that is available. Man if you are not feeling the passion than yeah you need to move on. Remember we will still be here if you get the itch again.
I will still come on the forums etc.love it all.Maybe i just need a break i have a lot personal problems in my life at moment that is draining me.
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Lots of us do that, on a regular basis even. And there’s lots of different approaches to take, maybe learn a new instrument or try film scoring or graphic arts or . . . .?
Hey Alan
I am the biggest headcase on the forum, so I have you easily beaten. I hope you don’t leave because I love your input. I have never been successful and never will. I am old enough now to be good with that. Stepping away is a good thing. I you really love the process, you will dive back in again.
When I get a little down, I go back and start playing all my favorites with my guitar or invite the old band over for a jam session. I forget how much fun that is.
It’s a slap in the face to tell someone they might just do this for a hobby, but it does (at least for me) take all the stress away. The only prob with that is that some won’t take you seriously anymore and engage in your music?
If there is anything I can do let me know. A collab might be fun also. good luck
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I gave up recording about 2 years ago because it was a constant source of frustration. It was a cycle and it took me many years to actually figure out that the overall results were always a negative feeling. (I know it is different than just mixing) The beginning of the cycle was I would get a new song idea and I would think it was awesome and I would be too excited about it, working on it constantly. Didn’t do my laundry, dishes backing up in the sink. I would get a few days into it and think I finally had a good piece of music going. During the day while I was working, I would listen to music, like I always do, and I would start to realize how far away I am from every song I would listen to. I would realize my limitations and I would feel how much dedication it would take for me to get there. After 18 years of this and about 1,500 songs, and pieces of songs, I realized that the end result was not actually a good feeling for me but the end result was always the same, constant frustration of not being able to do what I wanted to do.
I think you can always come back to it. It’s not a final thing. I come to the forum here now and then to be near it, to still feel connected to the people, the information, the heart beat. But the truth is, I am a lot more peaceful now. I will come back to it again at some time, but right now I enjoy having no pressure on myself to produce beyond what I can.
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Yes, that will take the fun and energy out of just about anything. I would suggest doing some deep “self care”, whatever that is for you - sleep, rest, eating well, exercise, walks in the park, etc. Focus your strength and address any challenges as best you can. Whatever is out of your control don’t beat yourself up about it, just congratulate yourself for making the effort to put things right. When you have done the best you can do, the sun may shine a bit brighter. 
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I hit that point playing music years ago. Utter pointlessness. It seemed that there was nothing to strive for. No matter how hard I worked, and how inspired I became, there was no reward for creating music. I could get better and better at playing the piano and have nowhere to play. The available performance opportunities would not pay me any more than they had in the past, regardless of how much better I played. It was a dead end job.
I was already the best in my city, neighboring cities, my entire region at playing music. I had made enough money off of music to retire, but if I kept going, it would have been the same money over and over and over again. The cash I could have made playing, I didn’t need.
Playing music made me irritable, and made me cranky around people who were enthusiastic and excited at the chance to play with me, and I couldn’t do that to them any longer because I was really turning into a dick. I started to get depressed. I quit working because I didn’t feel like it (and didn’t need the money).
Then I stayed up for days playing video games. And slept whenever I wanted. Then started spending money trying out new cigars and expensive alcohol. And then I would binge on horror movies before I went to bed at night. And I found myself sitting around spending thousands of dollars on video games like clash of clans just to amuse myself. During that time I had withdrawn from this site for months. Then I realized I was pretty depressed, and being retired sucked balls.
Then I went to law school and my life started to feel normal again. And then I met my wife, got married, and I feel functional again.
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Sorry to hear you’re going through a rough patch, Alan. I hope things will turn around soon for you.
You’ve been going pretty hard for a long time at the mixing thing, and you’ve gotten very good…
But moderation is sometimes the key to enjoying things. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If you’re not feeling it ATM, take a step back for a little while and do something else positive that you enjoy.
You might find in time you’ll get the desire to do it again. When you do, you might even find you’ll have more of an appreciation for how far you’ve come in your skills.
All the best, mate.
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Same here. I know how you feel.
While I learned tons about mixing, I was never happy with my results and have not recorded anyone for several years. I still remix my older tracks and download stems from websites, but cannot justify spending another dime on my hobby.
Being an electrical engineer, I still love designing and making equipment for my studio and have loads of components and old circuits to cannibalize.
I never was a musician and started just because of my love for electronics and tweeking knobs.
Knowing that this site is full of musicians, I will be honest and state that it was a pain in the ass to work with them and that was a huge factor in my deciding to stop recording.
From just not showing up to a session or rescheduling it many times all the while expecting the engineer to fix the impossible, I just couldn’t do it any more…
Hopefully a break will put you in better spirits and allow you to refocus.
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That’s a whole other rabbit hole to go down. Incidentally, I’m going fishing after work today. lol
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Got you in my thoughts, brother. Went thru this a couple years ago myself.
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You’ve got a lotta talent. If you’ve lost the passion for it then yeah, its definitely hard to want to keep going. The personal stuff never helps. As others have said, maybe take a break… even an extended one and see if that makes a difference.
Cheers
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I expect i will bounce back after a break.Thank you all for your support it really means a lot and just shows what a nice caring community this is.
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You’ve churned out a ton of mixes… and I’ve enjoyed listening to them to try and glean lessons from each. I’m often amazed by the talent and the commentary here on IRD because I have not developed the ear that many of you possess.
I’m just a hobbyist and I often feel the same sense of getting nowhere… probably for different reasons. On one hand I think I have too many hobbies that interest me. Trying to get better at guitar, recording, photography, graphics, etc. … leaves me feeling like I’m not making any real progress anywhere. The old “Jack of all trades, Master of none” feeling. It comes in waves… but while having these other interests distracts me, it can also be helpful, I guess. I’ll not even touch my guitar for a few weeks because I get absorbed learning Photoshop… but eventually something musical inspires me and I either pick up the guitar to learn something new or try recording a song. It’s always a struggle and never really easy… and it can get you down.
Step back a bit and eventually inspiration may lead you back to something enjoyable that right now seems to be only an endless source of frustration. Take care of yourself and your personal business and the rest will work itself out.
Best wishes.
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This is totally me.
I’m just going to reword what everybody has already said, taking a break, or even giving something up completely is not a bad thing as long as it’s replaced with something else. There definitely comes a point in mixing where you have to completely change everything in order to keep some purpose in it.
I’ve talked to many big name mixers and engineers, and there’s a reason why many of them switch from mixing to writing or making videos or plugins. As with any skill, once you get to a certain level, the magic of it sort of disappears, and you either need to find new ways of making it feel like magic again, or just move on to something else that feels like magic.
For some people, turning a skill like mixing into a career is the magic part. Learning the business, meeting new people, making new stuff, seeing people react to your music, etc. Those elusive ideas can give people motivation for a long time, because some of them are really hard to catch. But if making a career of it doesn’t feel like magic, then it’s hard to justify the next steps.
Do whatever works best for you. Maybe someday you’ll find it interesting again, maybe not. As long as you fill it with something, it doesn’t really matter. Plus, 90% of the stuff we talk about on here has nothing to do with recording, so it’s not like you have to go anywhere.
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Seems like a good problem to have. I’d much rather have lots of scattered interests and hobbies than one that I’m really good at.
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