Stop Beating Yourself Up

In this week's newsletter, I cover:

Stop Beating Yourself Up
My Favourite Things this Week
How To Create an Orchestral Template
Massive Action Trailer Drum Tutorial
This Week's Release: Elastic Band Guitars

The Quiet Whisper | Issue 17

Stop Beating Yourself Up!

This week I was going to talk about when things feel scary, all it takes is 10 seconds of courage.. but I decided to do something else instead.

You see, this week I've been giving myself a really hard time about not producing good/enough/the right work etc.

I know I shouldn't - but sometimes it's just like that. You beat yourself up over things that don't matter. Your critical voice goes into overdrive.

So I went for a walk, a few walks actually, and came up with some rules for myself to follow. I'm going to put these up somewhere visible in my study. So that I can see them whilst I'm working.

They are my rules for more contentment as a composer and creator.

When I read them they give me a sense of calm and surprisingly seem to refocus me.

If you ever find yourself being too hard on yourself read these rules out loud and feel the weight lift from your shoulders.

Produce rubbish
Be unproductive
Step away from work and enjoy life
Have days off
Be bored
Lie in
Feel all your emotions
Be silly
Make mistakes
Say "No"
Let yourself off the hook
Take a nap
Be kind to yourself
Procrastinate
Do nothing

You can add "let yourself" to the front of each of these. For example, "Let yourself be unproductive". By doing this it feels more personal and like you're giving yourself permission to do these things.

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😭 This had me in tears

My father-in-law suggested that my wife and I watch part of Channel 4's show The Piano. This particular clip was of a blind, neurodiverse 13-year-old called Lucy playing a Chopin Nocturne. Needless to say, the beauty of the whole thing had me in tears.

🦸🏼‍♂️ This Kid is My Hero

I was sent this by a friend of mine. She obviously knows me very well. This is a video of a 6-year-old making a beat from a toothbrush...this is how it's done!!!

📘 I'm Reading

Rest: Why you get more done when you work less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. This book is quite frankly a huge weight off my shoulders. I have been fighting my natural tendency to "rest" in the afternoon for some time and this has now officially given me the approval I need to take a nap. It's ok, it makes me more creative 🎉

🥶 I'm Practicing

The Wim Hof Method. I have been a huge fan of his since I first took his free course around eight years ago. I am not saying I have been practising cold exposure and daily breathing exercises for eight years, but I have been doing them since June (when I read his book). It's been a game changer, particularly his breathing exercise to lift your mood.

🌟 New From Rich

How to Create An Orchestral Template

In this post, I show you how you can create an orchestral template that can be used for either detailed orchestral mock-ups or simply exporting stems.

Massive Action Trailer Drum Tutorial

I wanted to create a tutorial where I show you how I would approach writing the drum and percussion line for an action-packed trailer.

❝ Quote of the week:

“In hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.” - Albert Schweitzer

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Want to learn more from me? Check out my online video courses

The Ultimate Trailer Music Bundle → Learn everything there is to learn about Trailer Music

The Trailer Music Course → The perfect course to get you started writing trailer music

Trailer Music for Beginners → Learn to create trailer music with nothing but FREE samples

🎁 This Week's Release

A few years ago I won a Golden Trailer Music Award. The guys at Elephant Music bought me the award (yes, you have to buy them once you have won them) and it arrived at my house in a beautiful black box.

I took the award and put it on my shelf and immediately wrapped the empty box with elastic bands.

Just like you do at school.

I sampled it and created this little Kontakt instrument, Elastic Band Guitars. They are really great for swagger trailers.

What better way to celebrate the occasion!

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Stop Beating Yourself Up

Richard Pryn

The Ultimate Guide to Trailer Music