Part 2 - How to stop writer’s block: 12 more writing prompts for music production
Beat Beat Block Blues (PT2)
Here are 12 more ideas for music producers to explore as creative starting points when you feel stuck…
13) The Jam Session
DeepMind 12 Synthesiser
Take any instrument and start recording a jamming session. This idea comes from watching The Beatles play in the documentary Get Back, where they would jam together to find new songs. Rick Ruben also talks about creating moments to be open to inspiration. I think this counts as one of them.
Practically speaking, I would set up a small hardware synthesiser (the ones pictured above are in a synth shop, the Waldorf was amazing to test out), then have fun editing patches, playing riffs and morphing sounds. Record everything for about 15 minutes of continuous material. Once it is recorded, you can use this Jam session as the foundation for a new piece of music.
Pro’s
Lots of fun to explore sounds
You get a natural progression over the 15 minutes, which can help build a whole track, once edited down
All ideas are captured because you are recording the whole time, so you don’t miss any happy accidents
Con’s
Lots of large audio files
It can be time-consuming to listen to all of the ideas if the recording goes on too long.
14) Oblique Strategies
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt - Oblique Strategies
Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies are a set of small cards with ideas and prompts to help break out of a creative rut. All sorts of creative people can use them. There is also a website (search for Oblique Strategies online) that you can use for prompts.
To get started, pick a prompt; my one was “you can only make one dot at a time”, and then use this obscurity to ignite your creativity for a new piece of music.
Pro’s
Lots of different prompts to explore
The abstract nature of the ideas can help with creativity
You get to interpret what each one means for your music
Con’s
Some of the ideas are a little too abstract
Some ideas might relate more to visual or literary creatives
15) Double Up
Is this too much?
This idea is inspired by a video by Rob Scallon with hundreds of guitar pedals.
Start a new DAW project. Load any synth, sampler or instrument. Then pick a plug-in, for example, a delay. Whatever plugin you choose, you must use 2, 3 or more of them in a row. Now choose different settings on each of the plugins. Finally, create your sounds through this FX chain. This rule applies to any other plugins. If you want to add a compressor? You must add multiple, just like my example in the picture above. Are 20+ OTTs too many?
Pro’s
Really fun to create the plug-in chains
You get to decide how many extra copies you add, 2 - ∞ (or the limit of your computer processing power)
Con’s
It can be time-consuming if you want different settings on each plug-in
The sounds going into the chain need to be quite simple, or it can get messy and muddy really quickly
Be careful of your ears and your speakers; quiet volumes are advised, and good gain staging
16) Humble Beginnings
Found objects can be great for small sounds
The image is an old pump that I saw on the street. I took a photo and now I wish I had recorded a tiny snippet of me tapping on it, scraping it or pushing it over. It would be good to capture sound memories as well as visual ones.
For this prompt, you can use any small non-musical sound. For example, paper ripping, bouncing ball, tapping a pen or nails on a chalkboard. However, the limitations are the same. Start with a small, non-musical sound around 1-3 seconds long.
Once you have this sound, make every single part of the song from this small recording.
Pro’s
Great for developing sound design skills
Uses some of the ideas from a style called Musique Concrète from Pierre Schaeffer
Sounds made have lots of character
Con’s
The sound design aspect can be time-consuming
The sounds that you make at first might not be as good as what comes from synths
It takes work to create a range of sounds that have clearly different timbres, textures and envelopes
17) Noise Music
Serum synth with pink noise loaded
This is a trick from old techno producers who would start with noise and add big resonant peaks to the sound to create musical sounds such as pads, stabs and possibly even drums. You can do the same, load in some pink noise and then use EQ, envelopes and filters to sculpt what you need. These sounds you make will be the starting point for a track.
Pro’s
Pink noise has a good range of frequencies, and this gives the potential to make a wide range of sounds
Most synths have a range of different noise colours that you can explore
Con’s
It can be time-consuming at first if you are new to the technique
You need quite a lot of processing to start getting different textures from the piece, so consider adding sine waves too
18) Stock Sounds Only
Ableton Operator is an incredible stock plugin
It is too easy to get swept up in all the new and fancy plugins. Take it back to basics and create an idea using only the stock plugins that come with your DAW.
Pro’s
Most modern DAWs have amazing stock sounds and plugins
Learn your tools to a greater extent as you make music
Discover plugins you didn’t realise you had (that’s what happened to me at least)
Con’s
At first, you might miss your Serum or Fab-Filter Plugins
Depends on the DAW as to what stock plug-ins you will have
19) New from the Old
The mixer mix-up
I read about an audio engineer (possibly Vance Powell, but I can’t find the reference) who would leave the console all set up from the previous session from the day before. Instead of resetting everything, he would just run the new stems through the previous sessions’ settings, just to see if anything interesting occurred and to create space for happy accidents.
You can do the same in the digital world. Pick an old session DAW session, delete all the audio and MIDI parts in the arrangement, but keep the channels, FX and Routing. Then you can do something new musically in the existing tracks to see how the randomness impacts the writing process.
Pro’s
Creates room for happy accidents
The re-use of FX chains may save some time
It may help to develop consistency if you are doing this over a few tracks
Con’s
It could be a waste of time if nothing sparks ideas
Final mix might be a bit tougher when you have to re-trace the old stuff and combine it with new plugins
20) Bowie Cut-Up Method
The Bowie cut-up method from BBC documentary
This method is from a BBC documentary I saw about David Bowie and is best used for writing lyrics. Bowie would begin by taking his lyrical ideas, diary entries and other notes and writing them all down, then chop them up into individual lines. Next, he would shuffle them all and see what order the lines appear. You can even throw the lines into the air and see how they land.
Pro’s
It is cool to work using a method that David Bowie used for music
There are many opportunities for happy accidents, randomness and new ideas to arise in the writing process
Con’s
It can add to frustration if you are going into it with the wrong mindset
The process may need to be repeated several times to find something that clicks
21) Only One Instrument
Vital Synth is excellent considering that you can get it for free
Only one instrument, that is the rule. If you are a guitarist, every part of the song needs to come from the guitar. For Drummers, the whole song will be from the drum kit. If you are an electronic producer, choose one synth and make everything with that. You can use FX, sound design and processing. But the prompt is simple: one instrument creates every sound.
Pro’s
It is an excellent technique for learning an instrument in more depth
All sounds will have a cohesive timbre (hopefully) because they are all from the same instrument; this is more the case for acoustic instruments
You have a chance to practice creative problem-solving to get a range of sounds
Con’s
It can be time-consuming
Sounds can be too similar if not careful, and begin to muddy the overall clarity
22) Time Signatures
Time Signatures PT3 Artwork
This idea was inspired by an electronic band called Noisia, who created a song in 17/16 time. You can do the same, break out of the 4/4 world and write a song in a different time signature that you have never/rarely tried before, such as 3/4, 5/4 or 7/8. *Shameless Plug*. This was a great source of inspiration for three albums of mine, Time Signatures PT1, PT2 and PT3, where I explored this prompt in depth using ‘Drum n Bass’ music.
Pro’s
Great to break out of the 4/4 time that is commonly used
You can change time signatures in the track to keep the ideas developing
It gives the chance to explore different grooves and patterns in the drums
Con’s
It seems daunting at first if you have not explored time signatures before
It might be tough for DJs to incorporate into their sets if the genre you make is predominantly 4/4 time
23) Polytonality
Abstract colours
Explore polytonality and create a song that features two or more musical keys explored simultaneously.
Pro’s
It is amazing if your taste for harmony is adventurous
There are lots of opportunities to explore harmony
Con’s
I found this one wildly challenging to create something usable
The harmony can get difficult and muddy really quickly, depending on the keys you select
24) The Sheet Music Remix
Vintage Sheet Music
Find the sheet music of another song (ideally one that is out of copyright and free to use) that you like and import it into your DAW (digital files such as MIDI) or play it in. Then, with a touch of randomness, assign different instruments to each part. For example, consider putting the bassline part into a drum sampler track and making the lead into the bassline. Then see what ideas come out of the exploration.
Pro’s
It creates good opportunities for randomness and happy accidents.
Improves sight-reading skills (if they are underutilised)
Con’s
Need to know at least the basics of how to read music
It can sometimes be difficult to source sheet music
Those are the second batch of 12 prompts for music production starting points that will hopefully help you get creative. If you do make anything using these ideas, I would love to hear about it. Feel free to send me a link. I won’t be able to respond to all messages, but I am interested in finding out which ones work for you.
Look out for pt3!
If you would like to develop your music production, or you are interested in 1-to-1 tutorials, check out the services listed below for online lessons to level up your skills:
Matt Chapman24th September 2025