#42

100% agree. I think there’s something really valuable about reaching out to people when you find those things you really like in someone’s music, or the mix engineer if it’s in the mix, etc. I’ve done this maybe a dozen times and nearly universally people have gotten back to me with great little tidbits that have stuck with me. I think over time, I’ve realized, a small bit about what you enjoy in their music, followed by a pointed question about the specific thing you want to know about is key…pretty easy to find people’s emails. If the cold-call aspect of it is anxiety-inducing, start with people on this forum (they obviously want to talk about the art making process if they’re here!), find something in the releases category and ask them in the thread.

I’ve never had a mentor-type situation, definitely not anything with formalized parameters, but I do have a few long running email threads or local friends that I talk to about art making stuff somewhat regularly, and that’s super nice. I’m definitely of the camp “art is communication” and these types of communications of art between artists is probably my favorite aspect of that.

I think something that’s important to remember is that artistic development is not linear. Everything you create is not going to 100% of the time be “better” than the last thing (if you look at your favorite music, how often is it that the artist’s most recent record is your favorite?) And if you try something new, it’s gonna start out being hard (learning curve to jump over), the output is going to suck, and you’re not gonna know where you want to go with it. It’s all a balance…refine the things that have worked in the past, try new things and find out of that which you want to explore more, taking what you learned and applying that to the new path.

I think it’s very important to find ways to share things (either publicly through something like lines or with friends) that are rough and not quite there, or don’t have a larger context (yet). In my experience there’s kind of a sweet-spot to things where you’re interested in it in the short term as you’re figuring it out, then time passes where it becomes stale in some way or another (or you are burnt out on it), and then eventually you’re able to revisit and fit it in a larger context. It’s like gardening, you put the plants in the ground (record the thing), make sure to give them the proper nutrients (organize your archive, share with others to get some feedback and a sense of where you might want to go with it), and then eventually some will die because a deer got to them (this has become a silly metaphor lol), but some grow and you want to show them off!

That being said, some people can just churn out stuff and it’s fully-formed, mixed and ready to go on an album (of which they’ve released several in the past year), and sometimes I get anxious that I have so many loose ends going at once, but as long as I give myself room to breathe with those and continue to be creative, I try to trust that they’ll get finished when they are ready to.

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#43

I’ve felt this for a while too. I relate to the hunter prototype, but I’d like to become more of a gatherer as that is more sustainable.

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#44

I definitely agree about the joy of sharing unfinished work. I realize the quote from my friend was perhaps at odds with that, because I definitely agree that sharing rough work is fun and inspiring. Someone else in the thread said something about just releasing work into the wild and letting others find it and appreciate it and I definitely agree with that sentiment too.

I suppose I would qualify that quote about not all work being “for exhibition” as simply another way to challenge one to not focus on outcome, but work and see what, if anything, is learned or developed from a session of work. Maybe… lol

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#45

yeah, I agree. It’s like 100% of stuff you make is not gold, and that’s totally okay and good. Sometimes that stuff does have something about it, and you have to press on to figure out what it is that’s good.

I liked the thought that you have to get the 1000 bad paintings out first, it’s good to remember as long as your painting (in the loose sense of the word), you’re working toward that.

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#46

Bookmarked this thread for later reading.
For the past +10 years I’ve had big struggles with personal musical fulfillment. Even if I’ve had moderate success with bands that have led to worldwide touring and releases I still have a big need to create something of my own, something that feels more like me.

I really love what I am doing when I have time to sit down and just doodle out sounds with my equipment, I just have big issues “writing stuff to tape” and sometimes, if I do, I just end up erasing recordings because they are not “perfect”. Looking forward to reading what insights you wonderful people have on the matter.

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#47

These are some interesting thoughts: thanks for sharing. On the subject of material I don’t share, I think this is something I do (I often make something then just turn the setup off and is gone). The mindset that drove this for me was a period of making a track every day (eventually limiting myself to one hour, and requiring a 2 or three section arranged composition) and publishing them all. I didn’t publish them because I wanted to share, so much as a forcing function for completing them.

What this taught me is that, in the course of making music, I’ll hit on good ideas and bad ideas but in the end, what matters is my skill and voice. Specifically, that each track might be unique but, if I can do it once I can do it again. This eliminated the feeling that everything I made was precious (what if I can’t do it again?). I think that is a driving force in over sharing: a thought that what you made is never going to be seen again; what if it’s the best thing I’ve ever made and I just don’t recognise it? I continued to make music daily for some time afterwards, but instead of publishing, I’d just delete it. I go through exactly the same process with every change I make to my setup: spend a month creating things that I’ll just delete.

Eventually I’ll find my voice in the new setup and find a way to use it for my purposes (Vs just doing what the so seems to do most readily). The process then repeats: I changed my setup to better match my voice, then I find my voice in the setup. Only peripherally related, but I’ve found it helpful to try and clearly state and define what I want to achieve musically and in terms of how I create music. Things like: Embrace the ephemeral nature of sounds and ideas; favour the complex and opinionated over the simple and generic; or your musical setup should be allowed to influence you as much as you influence it. Having these touchstones really helps me make choices and deciding if I’m moving in the right direction.

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#48

I feel like I’m constantly in a similar situation, but what I discovered that helps me is this:

Sit down, prepare your a patch, setup, or instrument, improvise something with and record it with no judgement. Treat it like a performance, try to give it a beggining, middle and end. I almost exclusively record this live to a stereo mix (though that’s changing recently). What this does is force you to be in the moment and make decisions. Keeping it to a stereo mix allows you very few changes post-mix. I bounce the track to Google Drive and check it out the next day. Whats happened is that over the course of the last three years or so I have hundreds of these tracks and every few months I sort through them and just by pure percentage I have enough stuff that I like enough to release on Bandcamp. Even if you don’t release it, it offers a document or journal to watch your progression.

I used to be the type of person that would overdub everything and be so picky about stuff that it would take me a really long time to get it out, so long that I’d actually hate it before it was done. This method doesn’t give me time to hate it because of overwork, I only hate it if I didn’t like the performance, then I just move on to the next one in the next sitting.

What I’m moving to now is doing the same thing, but recording everything live in Live as separate tracks but with automation, so the live performance is maintained, but I have the ability to edit things later if I choose. I’m allowing myself this option for now, even though I haven’t really taken advantage of that type of editing yet.

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#49

“what you receive depends on what you give. the workman gives the toil of his arm, his energy, his movement; for this the craft gives him a notion of the resistance of the material and its manner of reaction. the artisan gives the craft his love; and to him the craft responds by making him one with his work. but the craftsman gives the craft his passionate research into the laws of nature which govern it; and the craft teaches him wisdom.” - de Lubicz

“but he learned more from the river than vasudeva could teach him. he learned from it continually. above all, he learned how to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgement, without opinions.” - hermann hesse

thanks for sharing everyone. I feel much softer having read your replies and stories. a few quotes that have stuck with me over the years

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#50

Such a beautiful thread! Thanks to you all for sharing your insights…

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#51

So, my artist side is doing ok (I remember to hit record these days!) I practice. Could practice more. But the editor/curator side of me is totally MIA. I have a really hard time going back and taking stock. It just feels very squicky to me. Like I might be about to form an opinion about something I did in the past. I guess it scares me.

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#52

Lots of good comments here.
I would like to say that this year, for me, has been very good musically speaking because I have recorded a lot of new tracks and videos. This travel can be very hard sometimes when you don’t have the expected results you wanted. Its hard work, but looking back is very rewarding when you see in the distance all the music you created.
As others have said: do work a lot and finalize your tracks.

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#53

This has been such a good thread. Thanks, everyone.

I, too, really grapple with this, and actually recently have been trying to pull myself out of a funk about it by two things: really getting to know a single instrument, and consciously playing and throwing things away and not worrying about it (yeah, I know the advice from most people is to record everything).

My thinking has been something like this.

  1. I began in electronic music after playing flute my entire childhood and about half of my adult life.
  2. I have never bothered to record myself playing flute.
  3. I have seldom played flute in public, and when I have, it has been to a largely deaf audience (literally; a Celtic trio I was in made the rounds through local retirement homes).
  4. Since learning piano, I only record myself playing when my instructor makes me (i.e., Zoom concerts).
    I don’t really worry about how I “sound” or “completing” pieces on the flute or piano, except for the assignments to master by my instructor, and that’s very much a pedagogical exercise, not a “cut a track and post it to Soundcloud or YouTube”.

I think I really need to see my electronic music making as ephemeral, in the same way that I see my noodling at the piano. Making sounds for sounds sake, which is restful to me, not as something I need to map out with goals and milestones.

Just play every day and be happy with it. If something comes of it, great; if not, that is OK too.

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#54

I was gifted 2+2=5. Seems pretty good for helping get the creative juices flowing.

84 direct and practical prompts and strategies to inspire innovative music making.

When you are looking to create something a little bit different but don’t know exactly what to do, this book gives lots of practical suggestions and options to progress with your music and to make your composition stand out from the rest.

It’s a book to have with you at practice, jam sessions or in the studio to refer to and give you new inspiration to complete a new musical composition.

It is full of clever and innovative suggestions to aid the contemporary composer and musician

Amazon link

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