Hi all,

I started producing around this time last year, but I haven't dropped anything since November. I made a ton of progress in the first four months or so, but now I just can't make anything I like. Part of this is that everything I do either sounds incredibly stiff and clinical, or just vaguely off time. I try to swing my drums, they sound weird (and not in a good way). I try to simplify my melody and let it flow more, and it sounds awful. Nothing is hitting my ear in a way that makes me go "ooooh this should be a whole song". I'm struggling so much to get energy injected into my music.

I've been trying to do more experimental and aggressive stuff, but when I do it, it just sounds off. I have been going insane for months and don't know how to fix it. If any of you have tips on anything; melodies, drums, effects, whatever, please let me know how you loosen things up. Everything I do sounds like a musical doctors note and I don't know why. I'm trying to move beyond the concept of "beats" and make compositions with more natural variety and less frequent vocal parts (just sprinkled in, rather than my voice being heard for the majority of the track). Please help me! I'm begging!

Edit: Some examples of artists I'm loving right now are Dreamcrusher, Arca, Machine Girl, Eartheater, Salvia, and Black Dresses. I do pretty light, ethereal vocals (I often say I like my voice to sound like the wind) so I've been craving some more interesting contrast between instrumental and my voice; right now my production tends to learn pretty airy and twinkly, which I'm sick of.