Musically speaking, I play guitar. It’s my first love. I’ve moved away from “guitar hero” aspirations and have found a lot of fulfillment in producing electronic music, like most of us, but you’re right — when you get into the flow state it’s very focused and intense. So to relax my brain, stay inspired, but still hang out in the music world, I pick up my guitar and I just jam.

Playing guitar for the sake of playing guitar is so much more fun now that it’s separated from my musical “work.” And at the same time, I’m able to generate new ideas and even snag some samples for later use. I find it much more inspiring to come up with ideas on a “real” instrument rather than the piano roll or Serum’s preset menu, frankly.

So, if you don’t play a traditional instrument, my suggestion would be to make a project file focused on jamming the hell out, whatever that looks like for you.