# Tips on not losing the idea?



## davidnaroth (Oct 27, 2021)

A lot of the times I’ll be taking a break or even just writing and working, all of a sudden I get the idea in my head, sounding full, I can hear it all, I start putting it into midi, and 20 seconds later I can’t recall the voicings or sound and the “aha” moment has come and gone.

So frustrating.


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## Marsen (Oct 27, 2021)

For these cases, I always use a dictaphone in my mobile and summing the melody, the rythm, and some prominent lines, switching between those within 3-5 seconds. Works for me real good.


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## Elrik Settee (Oct 27, 2021)

davidnaroth said:


> A lot of the times I’ll be taking a break or even just writing and working, all of a sudden I get the idea in my head, sounding full, I can hear it all, I start putting it into midi, and 20 seconds later I can’t recall the voicings or sound and the “aha” moment has come and gone.
> 
> So frustrating.


Yeah me too!

I agree with Marsen, 

even a quick scribble on paper will help,

but now we all have voicerecorders on our phones, heck, you could even sing it...


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## Nimrod7 (Oct 27, 2021)

I can't write notes on paper, so I am just humming on the phones voice recorder.
I get weird looks but worth it!

I have recordings in there dating back to 2011


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## Trash Panda (Oct 27, 2021)

Hum it into my phone if I'm away from a PC. Hum it into the DAW and translate to MIDI via Melodyne if I'm at a PC.


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## davidnaroth (Oct 29, 2021)

Just had another thought, I think I dive into programming way too fast and thats a large part of why I lose the idea when I zone in on one instrument one sound of it all before sketching it out. Silly me lol. Idk why I never thought of it before, Im used to TV writing with short deadlines so I just power through ideas.


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## Nate Johnson (Oct 29, 2021)

davidnaroth said:


> Just had another thought, I think I dive into programming way too fast and thats a large part of why I lose the idea when I zone in on one instrument one sound of it all before sketching it out. Silly me lol. Idk why I never thought of it before, Im used to TV writing with short deadlines so I just power through ideas.


Absolutely - took me a long time to realize this myself. Honing our main skillset to being able to full-on compose from us humming melodies into an iphone is the key to the frickin’ universe!


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## YaniDee (Oct 29, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> I have recordings in there dating back to 2011


Hope you backed them up!


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## danevaz (Oct 29, 2021)

I sleep with my Zoom recorder next to the bed. In the morning I often wake up with my most recent dream in my head and it's often a musical idea/phrase. I hum it into the recorder, then later on go into the music room to work it out.


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## Nimrod7 (Oct 29, 2021)

YaniDee said:


> Hope you backed them up!


They are automatically saved in Apples Cloud not on the device.


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## osterdamus (Oct 29, 2021)

These advice are all good y’all, but how do you get over the fact that you have to listen to yourself later?


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## bdr (Oct 31, 2021)

osterdamus said:


> These advice are all good y’all, but how do you get over the fact that you have to listen to yourself later?


I make sure I block my ears. Works great.


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## Trash Panda (Oct 31, 2021)

osterdamus said:


> These advice are all good y’all, but how do you get over the fact that you have to listen to yourself later?


Melodyne to MIDI or ReaTune to MIDI gets around that.


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## el-bo (Oct 31, 2021)

If you wanted tips on how to forget ideas, I’m your man.

Wrote a piece a few weeks ago. There was a part on it that really seemed to drop from the sky. Could’ve sworn I’d played it through enough to commit it to memory. Alas, after moving to a new living space (with the resulting week without my studio gear set up), I’ve remembered all but the part that really made it special.

Just another one to add to all the others I’ve lost over the years :(


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