In the creative world, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. There are rising waves of ideas that come all at once and drive a personal mini-Renaissance. There are some days where you produce more and better work than what took you months to complete. One of the biggest reasons why some people fail to reach their best potential is because they fail to change things up.
If you play an instrument, you can switch things up by running the audio through certain software to change the dynamics of how it sounds. If you already use a particular program, you can try to spark creativity by using a different plugin this time. If you’re using Serum, but you’re bored with the aesthetics, you can get free Xfer Serum skins to mix up your virtual workspace. The possibilities are endless!
Using any random generative process will automatically activate your implicit system-upgrade process, as you begin to play around with new ways of producing novel content. Here are just a few free and accessible ways to start mixing things up.
Creativity is about “babble” and “prune”
That word, play, is vital. Creativity and innovation are inevitably tied up with “play,” which is about producing new ideas and not refining old ones. The dichotomy is “babble” and “prune.” In other words, creativity is about “babbling” a lot of ideas into existence and understanding your sophisticated personal sense of taste and aesthetics to discriminate between the good and bad ideas that you have babbled into existence.
Remake your workspace
This is where something like the new skins for your virtual synthesizer can come in handy. You’ve got to mix things up, mix anything up! Change the design of your room, your workspace, the software you use, your equipment. Play a different instrument, use a new plugin, or get new Xfer Serum skins for your already existing plugin. Mix up your surroundings and make them according to your own personal aesthetic. Ideas tend to flow better when you’re more comfortable in your surroundings.
Explore foreign territory
Inspirations and ambitions are very common among artists, and there are role models and muses that have helped them create and imitate a different style and personality. But, as the saying goes, if you copy from one place, it’s plagiarism. If you copy from many places, it’s originality.
Look into creations far outside your usual repertoire. If you like dark music, listen to a cheerful song once in a while. If you normally have a standard beat, why not step it up and make it faster or slower? Try to step out of your comfort zone and explore new areas. You might learn a few things and you might even appreciate it differently, further boosting your creativity.
Sometimes, you don’t even notice that in some facet of your creation, you’re doing the same thing over and over again, and attaching part of the creative process to a random source can help you break out of that stale repetition. It also allows you to become aware of the part of your creative psychology that may be hidden from you. Breakaway from routine and intrigue your curiosity for the better!
