The hard lesson I learned about reinventing my process
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling frustrated with the results of my music-making sessions.
I had a new creative vision in mind and was trying to experiment and evolve my sound, but the tracks I made just didn’t feel good enough.
For a while, I thought I was simply adjusting to a new workflow and direction, and that eventually I’d fall back into the flow.
Eventually, something clicked. The music with that magical spark started flowing again but it came in a different way than I expected.
What I did right during that time was focus on exploration, experimentation, and evolution.
That’s a fundamental part of making great art.
But what I did wrong was trying to re-invent and drastically change both my workflow and the style of techno I was making.
For some reason, I thought that to push my music in a new direction, I had to change everything: how I start a track, do less resampling, more programming, even try out different effects and plugins every time.
At the same time, I shifted my style into a direction that didn’t actually feel like me.
The result?
I spent a dozen sessions making music while feeling confused, frustrated, and directionless (even though I’d set a clear direction).
What happened metaphorically was this:
I was climbing my own creative mountain, making music I liked, enjoying the process, and suddenly decided to drop it and start exploring a completely new mountain: new sound, new workflow, new composition.
But there was no real reason to leave the mountain I was already climbing.
That mountain was working for me. I had a workflow, a process, and a style that felt natural and productive.
Instead of abandoning all of that and trying to re-invent everything, I should have stayed on my mountain and explored it more deeply.
Eventually, I came back to the mindset, workflow, and style that worked for me and simply made small adjustments in a new direction, rather than scrapping it all and starting from zero.
As an artist, your creative process (your workflow) is just as important as any other part of it.
When you find what works and what you enjoy, lean into it. Build on it. Expand it.
If you find a set of effects you love, keep using them and explore new ways to use them.
If starting your tracks in a certain order brings the best results, keep doing it and refine it.
If your music captures a vibe you love, keep creating more of it but change the ingredients around it.
Just like a filmmaker, a painter, or an athlete you improve by sticking with the process that works best for you, refining it over time with small adjustments.
Not by throwing it all out and starting again just because something felt off.
So next time you’re in a creative rut, don’t assume you need a new mountain. Maybe you just need to climb a little further up the one you’re already on.
Now go make some music!
Big love
Eryk Kabay
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