Archive for March, 2009
Have you made the switch to Ableton 8 Yet?
Ableton Live 8
So have you made the jump to Ableton version 8 yet? Personally I was so impressed with Ableton version 7 that I didn’t really imagine
I would be very interested in the update (even though I would certainly get the update anyway). After watching the promo video, I
got pretty excited. Let’s take a look at each of the features and differences between Ableton 8 and previous versions. I’ll start with the ones that I am most excited about.
Groove templates
This has been a feature I’ve been secretly hoping for and I am more than impressed with how well it was delivered. Currently we have the ability to quantize our midi with the “Control(or Apple) U” shortcut once you click on your clips note properties. You are able to humanize the part by quantizing it
slightly toward the triplet. this does give a different feel, but it is still pretty limiting considering it puts each part off by the exact same amount or percentage. This in itself is still pretty rigid. Quantizing audio to a Global groove works pretty much the same and it will never replace that live feel….
until now…..
With Groove templates, you are now able to drag in a loop or loops with the exact feel you want. Looking for that Led Lepplin swing, Michael Jackson’s groove, or maybe that loose funk of James Brown.. simply drag the file in and it’s a done deal. Perfect.
Looper
This is something I could see using as I do like to jam in a “tape loop” style at times, adding layer after layer without having to stop. In my first Ableton collection I show how I record loops on the fly, which gets the job done without too much fuss, but I can see Looper taking things to a whole new level. The feature many people will love about Looper is it’s ability to detect bpm. This allows a player to just jam out an idea without first setting a metronome. Looper with figure it out and then you can trigger a beat as if you had a live drummer playing along. The idea of layering if very intriguing, and the idea of doing it all with 1 pedal is fantastic. This is a great way to get in the flow without technology slowing you down.
Step Recording for midi
Depending on how long you have been making music, you may have worked with hardware sequencers that have a step record option. I found this to be so useful at times that I considered buying another hardware sequencer just for this feature! Basically step recording allows you to choose a note size (for example 16th note) and then just hit each key or note as many times as you would like it to play. Lets say you wanted hihats playing every 16th note on a drum beat. You would simply make an empty loop of however many bars you would like (lets just say 1 bar), choose the length as 16th note and then hit the hi hat 16 times. No recording, no metronome, no using the pencil. This feature may seem primitive, but I assure you, if you work with midi sequencing, you will be addicted to this feature. It can go much further in depth than you would think.
Group Volume:
A very nice feature that I think everyone will be able to get a lot of use out of. I certainly will. simply control (or apple) click on each track you want to adjust as a group then move the volume and everything moves at the same time and the exact same distance. previosly you had to do each volume by hand and hope you go everything correct. this was a huge pain if you wanted to boost all your drums a few db up at a certain time in the song and then back down after that part is complete. you could group add the drums to another track, but that just adds more clutter to your track. If you are like me, there is already plenty of clutter without rerouting things to group sand subgroups. This simple addition is a godsend. Group tracks looks like a simplified and cleaner version of what you were already able to do, but I look forward to the addition.
Crossfade:
I was wondering about this one thinking about how i would use this feature and if it was even necessary. Most of the time if I have a part I want to fade in while another is fading out, I would just do a fade in on one track and a fade out on the other. I’m still fine with this approach. I don’t want 2 different sounds on the same track. Each track has different volume, effects and processing requirements, so this feature wouldn’t seem handy for that. Same goes for making DJ mixes in your arrange window. Although this feature may be more useful for this task, I still prefer having each track independent. I may change my mind after putting it to the test though but for now I doubt it.
What I would find it useful for though would be a track with ambient sounds or incidentals. I can imagine taking all of your cut up sounds and dropping them into a track crossfading one to the other. I’d likely add a lot of reverb and delay to make the source material less recognizable. In this case you could keep sounds flowing without sounding too choppy. This could be a lot of fun. I’m curious to know how you would use it.
Browse Scrubbing:
Yes! For DJ’ing this is going to be incredibly useful. Now you can basically needle drop through a track in the browse window instead of having to listen to the first few measures and hope it will work in your set. Considering not a lot happens in the first 32 measures of a song, it’s pretty hard to gauge whether a track will work well or not unless you know the tune pretty well. In most cases I suggest you know your tunes inside and out, but I know it’s hard to resist when you have a handful of new tunes. Now you can have more confidence playing new tunes “on the fly”.
New effects:
This for me is a very welcome addition to the effects palate. Although I use plenty of 3rd party plugin’s, it’s nice to have more internal effects to mangle and dirty things up. I’m a big fan of using the saturator to add grit or harmonic presence. Having the Overdrive effect will be another option I will probably use a lot on drums, synths, basslines.. well basically everything J. The vocoder looks very intriguing even though I have others in my arsenal. I show you how to set up a vocoder in may first video collection. I’m pretty sure this new effect will work pretty much the same. Bring on the robot voices! As far as multiband compressor and limiter, I’ll have to see how I like them. A limiter is just a compressor with a high ratio (25:1 and up) which you can already do with the current collection. You can also create a mutiband compressor with your audio racks pretty easily (another video I offer on my collection) so this just makes it easier. I certainly could live without these, but I’m pleased with the addition.
New Instruments:
I’m always interested in sonic upgrades and improved features on the instruments. I find Operator to be a pretty powerful beast as it is, so this should be a welcome improvement. I can’t say anything about the new instrument Collision as I don’t know enough about it. The latin samples should be great for some, but I tend to stay away from Ableton’s sample libraries. I’m not saying there is anything bad about them, I am just already loaded with plenty of samples, so I won’t find this as useful as some of you.
Ableton Share:
If you haven’t heard about this feature yet, make sure to take a look at the video below. It basically introduced a very innovative way to work on song with online friends. It basically creates an online server that holds all of your files.. coool! Cubase attempted this about 9 years ago with Rocket and it failed. Technology just wasn’t there at the time. I like that you can share plugin’s in the session even if only one of you has it. Here is a rundown from Ableton’s site:
key features
One click upload: select “Share Live Set” in the menu and Live automatically gathers and transmits the entire Live Set.
One click download: open shared Sets from the web with a single click.
Uploads and downloads happen in the background, so you can keep making music.
Manage your Live Sets online: You control who can access your Set. Keep access exclusive to your bandmates and producer, or go public and share your Set with the entire Live community.
Intelligent file transfer ignores duplicate files and recognizes changes in a Set. Live transmits only new or modified material, minimizing transfer times.
Avoid plug-in issues: Automatically freeze tracks that use plug-ins and virtual instruments, so people can still use your Set if they don’t own all your plug-ins.
Collaborate even with non-Live users: Non-Live users get a time-limited version of Live for free if you share a Set with them.
Max for Live: make your own instruments:
Well what can I say? Just imagine the possibilities with this one! Ableton now lets you teach yourself to make custom instruments and effects. You know what that means right? A very big community of Ableton Live users sharing their own inventions. Anything that gets the community involved in the software is a very good thing. The guys at Ableton can’t think of everything, but the community can! I love this idea and I look forward to finding links of instructional videos and Custom effects and instruments. When I do, I will share it with you (and if you find a link before me, please share it with me so we can get it to our whole group).
Enhanced Warping:
Ableton changed the warping method in Ableton 8 which caught alot of people offgaurd but given a little time i’m finally starting to appreciate it and like it even better then the previous approach. The fidelity is improved and there are more warping options that are very useful. I also like the new “drag to marker” feature. I see this really coming in handy.
The mastering effects:
Being that I am a mastering engineer I find this both intriguing and not so intriguing. I feel that inexperienced producers run the risk of really messing up a great tune just because they have a “louder is better” mentality. This issue isn’t the tools that Ableton has included, it’s the hands these tools are going into. If people think this is a way for them to avoid getting their song properly mastered by a professional, the delusion might cost them more than they gain. Previously I wrote an article on Mastering and gave some quick tips that people could put to use. If people have information like this in their hands, they might be able to use the tools wisely to “test drive” a track, but you should always keep a copy of your track unmastered for when you are ready to hand it over to a professional.
All that being said, I look forward to testing these effects out and reporting back with my verdict. I’m certain there are plenty of other creative uses for these tools besides mastering, so have at it!
Wishlist for future versions of Ableton:
Save song as previous Ableton version:
It would be great to be able to save your songs specifically for any version of Ableton preceding your current version. This would be incredibly helpful when sharing song files and working with others over the internet. As it is now, if I have version 7 and you have version 6, I will be able to load a song you are sharing me, but when I make updates and send it back, you will not be able to read it because it was saved as a version 7 song file. That can be a real drag. The only workaround I have found is to render each track to audio by going to File, Render Audio/Video, and then choosing All Tracks. This will make a separate audio track for each channel whether it be audio or midi.. This can be updated and emailed back and forth, but the file sizes can be prohibitive and make the whole process less fun and more work.
Group effects
Yes yes, I am aware of sends and returns, but sometimes this doesn’t do the job you want. Send/Returns simply add effect to the original signal, but if you want a sound or group or sounds 100% processed, you’ll need to drop an effect in the actual track. It would be so nice to choose all of the tracks that you want the exact same effect on, drag it once to any of the tracks and it would put a shared effect on every track you chose. When you change the effect on one track, it would change it also on the others. I can’t tell you how often I copy and paste the same effect and settings on multiple tracks which can eat up cpu and time. I know I can route groups on tracks to another track with the effect in it, but if I want a certain overdrive on tracks 2, 3 and 4 and a certain filter on 3, 4 and 5, you can see the complexity to setting that up and remembering what is what.
Update: Turns out you can do this by grouping your tracks and then dropping an effect on the group track. Works like a charm!
Videos:
I hope you enjoyed this little Review. Until next time…
Happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!
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Do happy people make crappy music?
Do happy people make crappy music??
Do drugs make you more creative?
This is one of those things that most artists have asked themselves or perhaps discussed with other artists over a couple drinks. I gave this a month to stir around my head before I attempted to write about it. I’ve always wanted to make music that mattered in one way or another yet at the same time wanted happiness, health, great relationships etc. I had this great fear that if I gave up all my bad habits and focused on the good in my life, my music would suffer. The question really comes down to this…
Do miserable or messed up people make great art? And if so why?
I’ll admit that I’ve had times of depression that lead to what could have been albums worth of powerful material had I bottled up all the emotion. I’ve also had creative juices come when I was drunk or on drugs. Then again I’m sure everyone has had sober spurts of creativity in the shower or sitting on the toilet.
So what gives?
Here are my personal thoughts……
The wakeful mind is often more analytical and less creative. The sober mind tends to have a greater fear of being judged, so we prefer to fill our time with things that wouldn’t highlight our lack of talent or skills. We are basically afraid to suck. It’s much easier to convince yourself that you are far too busy to explore the genius that you really are (or rather the genius you would like others to believe you are). Better to stay quiet and be thought of as talented than to open your mouth and prove the opposite.
These are some of the thoughts that creep in when the sober and generally happy mind starts a new project:
*Of all of my ideas, which idea is the best one?
*Are any of my ideas worth pursuing?
*What if I find out that my favorite idea sucks?
*What if I am technically not skilled enough to get my ideas out properly?
* Do I really have time in my life to pursue this creative avenue without sacrificing another part of my otherwise happy life?
* Is this music thing really the most mature thing for me to pursue?
Where do these thoughts come from? Unfortunately your inner critic speaks pretty loud when you want to try something new or challenging. Try sitting sober and doing nothing for 15 minutes. No eating, no TV, no internet, no video games. Notice how you feel and what your mind is doing. Without distractions your mind is most likely restless and looking for distractions. See, what most of us call happy could more likely be defined as distracted. If you had the confidence, more often than not, this restlessness could be channeled into some great enjoyable work, but then you would have to shut off that inner voice.
Unfortunately many of us need to get out of our normal headspace to feel relaxed. That’s probably why mood altering substances lend themselves to creativity as does showering, or those moments before you fall asleep. These are all times that the mind relaxes a bit and also allows itself to wander.
Many times the awake sober mind doesn’t look at daydreaming to be a very productive use of your time. Your mind usually tries to fill every moment it can with a distraction and rarely leaves the open space that allows real creativity to shine.
That gets us through the productivity part, but what about the quality of your work when drunk, drugged out, stressed or depressed vs happy and sober.
I think this comes down to the intensity of your life experiences. The reason why content and generally happy people aren’t creating their best work is because their happiness is rarely a peak experience but rather just absent of bad events and emotions. It’s like the difference between reading words, or actaully getting “lost” in a book. Which mindset would you expect to give you a better creative output? Life usually has to shake you up a bit in a positive or negative way to inspire you creatively because peak experiences knock you out of your “daily life” thoughts and forces you to “let go” for a moment or rethink something you thought you had figured out. Being that I suffer from panic attacks among other mental challenges that are anxiety related, I am in a more consistent state of having to let go, give up or just stop thinking. These experiences are intense and drive me to very left field spurts of creativity, unfortunately I rarely have the motivation or energy in me to take advantage of these spurts. I have read about and I tend to believe that genius comes at moments where the brain is actually not thinking. Some people call this the “gap”. Everyone has likely felt this unintentionally at one point or another, but it’s difficult to create it “on demand”. Personally, aside from depression or a chemically altered state, I’ve experienced this while driving, right before i fall asleep (if I can catch that moment) or if I wake up in the middle of the night remembering a dream or thought process. I’ve also had some great moments during meditation.
Einstein was known to give himself plenty of daydreaming time. Thomas Edison was able to create these moments on demand by falling asleep in a chair with a spoon in his hand and a pan at his feet. When he would start to doze off, the spoon would fall from his hand onto the pan and wake him up. At those moments he would get these great ideas. Many songwriters and artists will keep a pen and paper next to their bed or a small recorder with the intention of getting the ideas out when they come to mind.
The real answer is that it is much harder to create a creative moment from scratch. Drugs, alcohol and extreme life circumstances are a shortcut that may be helpful in the beginning, but will eventually make you unable to enjoy your own creative success…or your life for that matter. Once these things become habits, they will no longer create peak experiences and you’ll just constantly be looking for something more (one big reason why you always want to buy a new piece of gear or software). I think everything has it’s time and place, but when you are no longer exploring new experiences and instead just repeating a pattern, the mind will no longer reward you with good ideas. Unless you can continue to get “lost” in your work, your thoughts will constantly be jumping back to everyday concerns and away from creative thinking.
Another reason you may lack productivity is that you are creatively lazy and unorganized. Most of us first and foremost are creatively lazy (are you relieved to hear me say that?) and unorganized. It’s not like we don’t have ideas, but they just stack up like a load of dirty dishes until we have so many ideas that we don’t know where to start. Many great ideas jump in our head but we don’t take them seriously enough to write them down or record them right away. This is how most or our great ideas are lost. At the time we think the idea is so simple that we won’t forget it, but within an hour we realize that charmingly simple idea is gone and you can’t retrace it.
The best advice I can give you is to consistently try to have new experiences by visiting new places, trying new foods, taking on a new habit, meeting new people etc. I also recommend that you engulf yourself in other artists or musicians that excite you. I find some amazing stuff on youtube that gives me new creative ideas. Although I make Tutorial videos, I also constantly allow myself to be a student. I read blogs, books and short stories as well. I love when a new idea forces me to throw out old concepts. This is where new ideas can be created. Another idea is to create restrictive rules for yourself like… only one synth for a whole song… no chords, only melodies.. see how long you can sustain one note in a song without it getting boring… see how long you can sustain silence…. When your mind is given a new challenge, it thinks about the process differently and more creatively. Your mind likes to be kept on it’s toes (think of your mind like your girlfriend/boyfriend… can’t go too long without a few surprises or new experiences). Meditate.. I can’t stress this enough. It can really take you out of your element and enlighten you to new solutions to past problems (creative and otherwise). The place your mind goes during meditation is the place where creative ideas come from. Give it a try. The first couple of weeks you might just have a bunch of thoughts bouncing around trying to organize themselves but soon enough those thoughts will start to quiet and you’ll then experience something completely new.
If you are stuck on a music idea, may I suggest you hunt down Brian Eno’s “oblique strategies” cards.
http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/oblique-strategies
For Iphone users there is a free application as well. Just search the app store. This is a good description of what these cards do…
“Oblique Strategies Cards came about Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt discovered that they both kept a set of basic working principles to guide them through moments of pressure during the creative process. They became aware that the pressures involved in producing creative work on a schedule caused them to no longer stick to productive modes of thinking/creating. These Strategies are one way they devised to help them get around the problem of becoming stuck in the creative process — when stuck, consult the cards, and then continue with the creative process after considering the card.”
I’ve got no problem with drug or drink enhanced creativity, but just remember that it’s opening a door that you can tap into sober and without the side effects. I personally have given up drugs and don’t even drink caffeine. I drink on occasion, but not too much. I think I am coming up with much better ideas now than i did in the past. I certainly don’t regret my past, but I prefer to create from a true state of happiness and fearlessness (if there is such a thing).
Hopefully this has given you a few things to chew on and that it leads to you creating from a place of joy. Don’t worry, you can still make those angry songs your mom hates. Just put those emotions aside once you no longer need them. 
Happy music making!
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!
Are you a professional if you aren’t using Pro Tools?
Are you still a professional producer if you don’t use Pro Tools or Logic?
I’ve gotten into countless debates and conversations with people who want to talk about which recording software is for “beginners” and which is for “professionals”. Many say that if you are using Fruity loops or Acid, that you can’t possibly make professional productions that you would see on MTV or hear on the radio. Others say the same thing about Cubase, Sonar, Ableton, Buzz machines and the list goes on and on.
Lets shed some light on this little debate. First off, why Pro Tools?
Although the Pro Tools company kicked off around 1989 with a program called “Sound Tools“. They didn’t really start a revolution until around 1997 when they introduced a 24 bit version of their program.
At the time, computers were still very slow with processing. Too slow to process things like a believable reverb or other cpu taxing processing.
Where Pro Tools saved the day was when they came out with dedicated hardware with their software program. This allowed you to do some really intense processing and still be able to run your program on a pentium 1 computer. So at this time, Pro Tools was certainly the only choice for professionals. People using other software were more commonly using that software for midi sequencing and not as much for professional recording processing and mixing. Many at the time would agree that Cubase midi sequencing was head and shoulders above Pro Tools at the time, so many people would use Pro Tools for audio and Cubase for midi.
At the time, it was true that you simply use Pro Tools, or you used something less professional and that was pretty much universally agreed upon. So what did the entertainment industry do?
Exactly! They made Pro Tools the standard format for all Digital recording. If you were going to take your digital work from one studio to another, you better have it in a Pro Tools format or you are gonna be in for a not so pleasant surprise.
As you can clearly see, once everybody got in their heads that Pro Tools was the only way, they closed their minds to any other options that became available with the rapidly growing computer advances.
If you look back and compare the Pro Tools of 1997 to just about ANY recording software available now, you would then get an idea that any movie soundtrack or song that was made digitally 10 years ago can be reproduced to the same quality specifications that were the industry stardard at that time.
Has anybody stopped watching movies that are 10 years old?
Has anybody you know been complaining about how these movies sound?
Of course the answer would be no! Our idea of what is professional and reality of what tools are used for any particular project should be starting to blur for you by now.
Don’t forget that there are still arguements going on about whether digital recording is even acceptable as a recording format which I believe to be a big load of crap. I’ll probably discuss this further in a future newsletter, but lets stay on track here.
Before you get discouraged by what I last stated about Pro Tools and other software, I don’t want to give the impression that programs like Ableton are 10 years or even 1 year behind Pro Tools. That simply is not the case. The only point I was trying to state is that what is considered “the industry standard” today will be accomplished with free software tomorrow. That is how high the quality is getting in sound recording.
Pro Tools is indeed a high quality program. It also has incredible rendering (very accurate mixdown capabilities) and it has some amazing built in plugin’s that in some cases are superior to what comes loaded in other programs. However, nearly all software recording programs allow 3rd party plug ins of the highest quality (Waves, TC electronics, UAD plugins, Izotope, native instruments etc..). There is no longer a monopoly on quality recording software.
Where I believe Pro Tools falls behind is that I find the workflow to be pretty tedious compared to other programs. I see Pro Tools as a real pain
in the ass myself. It’s so sterile and tedious that I can’t have fun
with it. It has 4 modes that is works in and what seems like a gazzilion tools. If you have the wrong tool or are in the wrong mode, you are not going to be able to perform the task you want. Ableton, for example, has basically 2 tools and one mode. Depending on where you hold your mouse, the right tool will show up for the job. Simple and intuitive.When I’m in a creative mood, I don’t want to jump through hoops to do what should be a simply process. I know there are experts on Pro Tools that know all the quick key shortcuts, but many are starting to rewire Ableton or other programs into it because the workflow can be so much faster. In fact alot of Pro Tools users only use it for rendering the final mix which they feel gives their mix an extra “sheen”. There are also artists like Daft Punk, who run all their sounds through Ableton because they feel Ableton gives a certain sound they love. It all comes down to personal opinion.
24bit and beyond:
To be perfectly honest, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between 24 bit recordings and 32 bit. Many of the top engineers admit that they can’t tell the difference, and that true recording beyond 24 bit that is not done completely in the digital domain (without recording any outside equipment or using a microphone) is still not possible. You may be able to do 32 or 64 bit processing with your internal effects, but you can’t get much better than 24 bit recordings from an analog source.
The reason you are being sold on beyond 24bit record capabilities, is that people buy in to the hype and it makes the industry money.
I urge you to pull yourself out of the hype and just make music.
Listen and listen carefully….
Crappy producers make crappy
music, period. Creative people will always be able to create mindbending works with tools many of us would find outdated or useless.
One of the most respected producers out in the
electronic scene makes music on a free program called buzz machines.
My
original songs were done on Fruity Loops on a pentium 2 300mhz
computer. These songs went on to be play by the biggest DJ’s on the
planet. Have a listen target=”_blank”>here and target=”_blank”>here. (yes, I knowYouTube has lower quality..but if you have any imagination in you, you’ll get an idea of the production on these songs).
I’ve just signed a target=”_blank”>track that was done completely in Ableton. I
have 2 songs on the market that you can buy at amazon or best buy
(Innerstate – Sidewinder on Hernan cattaneo’s Masters series CD andWest Indian Girl’s song “Rise From the Dead” remixed on their remix
album 4th to the floor). I know countless producers making banging
tracks without ever touching Pro Tools.
I’m so sick to death of this
discussion of people thinking of one program as cheap and another as
professional.Aren’t you?
The recording medium is simply a tool.
You can build a house with simple tools or with complex expensive ones.
Don’t believe me? Read about this Castle built with only hand tools by one 97 pound man. To this day, nobody really knows how he did this. It remains a modern mystery. There are certain tools that everyone needs, but the bottom line comes
down to your own skills.
These days most people have expensive studios because it looks more
impressive to the customer. Also because they have equipment left over
from before computers were as powerful as they are today. Yes, some
hardware compressors, preamps and digital converters can improve your
recordings, but there are many of us that do just fine without any of
that.
I hope you keep on track and continue to build up your skills without
getting discouraged. Some choice samples, learning your software of choice inside and out and a good ear will get you
solid beats no matter what you are using.
So.. should you get Pro Tools, Logic, Sonar, Ableton, Cubase, Fruity loops, or Reason?
The answer is …. Yes ….. now stop stalling and start making music already!
happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!
Mindset for big and small projects
The Mindset for Big Projects and Small ones
Have you ever been paralyzed by a project that seems too big for you to take on? Do you find yourself with too many choices and a lack of confidence in making the right ones?
How about those projects that you feel are mundane? You were excited when you started but now you have the mindset that nobody is going to care if you finish this project either way. I have an approach that I wasn’t completely aware that I did until I was able to step back and take a look.
This is an approach I take to either get myself excited about a creative project that seems mundane, or to take a task that seems too big or important and making it feel like a walk in the park. At the end of the day, all projects big or small should feel like a walk in the park and should feel pretty effortless.
Making a simple mental shift can make all the difference between you completing a project with a level of excitement and confidence or putting another idea on the backburner as too small or too large.
When I was younger I didn’t have much to work with to make music.
*Juno 106(possibly my favorite synth) as both a synth and controller
*Roland u220
*kawai Q-80 sequencer
*$20 pair of headphones.
I would lay out my equipment on the living room floor and pop the headphones on and starting plugging away on the carpet. I’d just get lost in the whole experience. I didn’t have too many options at that time.. a couple drum kits, 128 tweakable sound patches (in the u220), and my juno for extra synth sounds. I think it was a good thing to not have too many choices. Back at that time I had the mentality that it’s best to know whatever equipment you have really well and make the best of it instead of using a bunch of equipment you aren’t familiar with. I still agree with that perspective today although it’s easy to get sucked into all the choices available.
When you are in writing mode it’s important to be able to actually write without having to make too many choices. Think about classical music, there are only so many instruments to work with. The composer gets to the point where he/she knows the sound of each instrument so well that mixtures and combinations can easily be worked out in ones head without much trouble. This I believe is the key to consistant songwriting.
Many artists will start a song on an acoustic guitar or piano before translating it to another form or style. This gets the basic arrangement, rhythm, melodic structure and chordings out of the way. Then you have an easier time filling in the blanks with less contemporary and more experimental sounds. It’s all basically the same concept though whether you start with a small collection of “go to” sounds, a guitar, piano , or a piece of equipment you are very familiar with . I have discussed this before in another newsletter but I think it’s something you may find yourself always coming back to as I do.The important lesson is to make your songwriting choices as simple as possible so you can get to the writing phase quickly.
Now back to the reason for this newsletter. We want a solution for the projects that seem too intimidating or perhaps ones that aren’t challenging enough or have lost their steam. Lets take a look at this:
Lets say you are asked to score a movie for the first time and you are crapping yourself a little (or alot). You are probably thinking of the “bignes”s of the project
and wondering if it’s a pressure you can handle.
One thing I would do is get the video for the movie and put it on the smallest device I can that plays video. Scoring video that is playing on my ipod seems much less intimidating than on a big 24″ screen in an equipment filled studio, don’t you think?
Of course once you get the ball rolling and build some ideas and confidence, you can switch gears and still maintain your confidence.
On the other hand, you may be losing inspiration on the project and then find the need to really tap into the bigness of the project. I would start thinking about how many people are going to appreciate this score, and how your work is going to positively affect the feel of this movie. You work will be up on the big screen, available in video rental store and on netflix giving the whole world access to your work. Can you see how this can build the excitement?
As another example, when I write this newsletter, I might feel a responsibility to inspire and satisfy everyone on my list and trying to work out all of the difference personalities I am writing to. This is just going to get me wrapped up in second guessing and I may never actually finish anything. Trying to be perfect for everyone makes for a pretty uninspiring “midle of the road” newsletter. A much better approach for me is to write this newsletter as if I were writing to a friend who I am very comfortable with and just be myself. Then again I may be writing and become bored with my own words and feel like it’s pointless to write about a subject that people might not even care about. In this case I might imagine how people will be able to read my writings for years to come. I can see my mailing list grow and grow and imagine how many people are going to be able to put some of my suggestions into practice. I can think about the difference that can make in peoples creative lives.
Now that is something that can get me moving. This also allows me to be myself and not try to be perfect all the time.
As a basic rule, if something scares you.. make it smaller. If something bores you, make it bigger
Making the big .. small:
*Use a limited amount of equipment that you are completely familiar with
*Use a smaller computer screen or simplify your workspace
*switch from your full studio to a laptop
*create on your bed or on the floor
*Sing or hum ideas into a portable handheld device for ideas instead of only letting ideas flow in your “professional” studio
Making the small big.:
*Picture your song on the radio, or being played to thousands of people live
*Throw a party in the name of your new project, song or album. Invite everyone and make it a big deal, because it IS!
*Picture your song or project hitting the top ten or getting awards
*What kind of music you would make if you were playing an enormous venue in a month?
*What kind of album would you make if you were signed to your favorite music label?
*Picture the lyrics of your songs being referenced in books, magazines, movies and sit coms.
As you can see, making the small things big has everything to do with your mindset. Making the big small tend to be easier when you simplify your creative environment.
I can tell you that these principles have had an enormous impact on my creativity and I hope they have an impact on you as well.
Until next time,
Happy music making,
Jason
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