The Inspiration Myth

[doghouse]

The more often you sit down and work on something, the better you get at it.

When someone says "I can't finish a track", well stop working on that one and start another.

When someone says "I need to get <insert gear or software name here>" go back and figure out how to use what you have already.

If you just take all the preset content in Live you should be able to whip a tracks out every day. Toss a few loops into session view and start jamming, Live beat matches and adjusts the key for you, after all. Save the resulting arrangement, then go start up another session. Do that once a day for an hour or two and if you will slowly start making better tracks unless you are completely tone deaf and rhythmically challenged. Skip endless hours trying to get the ultimate kick drum sound, that only matters if your raw track is rocking anyway.

The only reason anything I record today sounds better than what I recorded a year ago, five years, ten years ago or back in the 70s when I got my first tape recorder is because I've been playing music all that time and I'm more skilled at playing music. It wasn't like I got born with any great talent I just kept working at it. If I had spent even more time at it, I'd be even better.

There's no short cut, do the time.

[dbfs]

Chuck close can hug a fucking dick. You can tell his ego is in the god damn stratosphere by the first sentence. Just another elitist prick generalizing and labeling people based on his own ideals and agendas... If you're not doing things "Chucks way" you're an "amateur." Another typical blow-hard who needs to feed his ego by putting down a large population of people he doesn't know. What a fucking douche. He needs swift kick to the nuts to bring him back down to reality.

Newsflash, Chuck! No one will remember a god damn thing about you when you die. So stop acting so fucking important. You get to die just like everyone else, buddy!

[simmerdown]

wow! hah, someone skipped their nap today

[Bagatell]

Who is Chuck Close? I say f*kc him too but he has a point.I've found if I just hit play and go with it stuff happens. If I think about it too much, shit happens.

[simmerdown]

he's a painter, quite well known, wiki him, you might recognize his stuff, but it really doesnt matter who he is, its the message, the idea...either way, not a dick, he's humble, the 'amateur' line is the attention getter, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater...pretty much everyone here is and amateur, dont take it the wrong way, meaning: not making a living at it, thats all

on this topic...last night i saw 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' on netflix..great doc, about the most inspiring argument for a work ethic leading to inspiration/innovation i have seen

[supamonsta]

art / craft
session / arrangement

[xenomachino1]

i guess i have a "hybrid" theory on this.....

Put in the time, YES, as much as you can. Always work on something, always learn something. Follow your curiosity to the End, learn how to "get that sound".

Truth is, inspiration can strike, yes it can, and it can be really good, but if you don't have the skills to "drive" that inspiration into a finished track, you have nothing. When we work on a track we hear it sooooo many times, that we get bored and discouraged if we work on it for too long. It gets to a point when it doesn't sound "fresh" anymore. We hate it, we move on to the next one. Solution? Have the skills to give it your all quickly. Know what the track needs and produce it in seconds, imagine a sound and bring it to life with the tools at your disposal in no time. Make that track your b*tch!

I always look at it as.......you need to learn 3000 things to be a good music producer.....when you start, you suck at them all, but as the days go on you now suck at 2999, and then 2998 and so on. One day you will actually get quite good! It's all about learning, learning, learning, and executing when you need to.

that's my 2 cents......kinda scattered but it applies to me 100%.

Peace Abletonerzzzzz.

[simmerdown]

nice one xeno, yes it definitely does hit occasionally...i keep getting zapped in the shower, or when im doing the dishes

[ian_halsall]

Chuck Close was also the name of an amateur wrestler from Barnsley in Yorkshire who was reasonably famous in the mid 70s.

He recently died after a long battle with wanking addiction.

[oblique strategies]

nice one xeno, yes it definitely does hit occasionally...i keep getting zapped in the shower, or when im doing the dishes

I was walking on an empty beach one evening & it hit: I started singing a song, complete with melody & lyrics. I had to get home to record it! So the entire time I was walking back to my car & driving home, I kept singing it so I would not lose it! It's still one of my favorite compositions. And it came out of nowhere, completely formed.

That's the muse.

[xenomachino1]

what i just started doing, is going back to my old unfinished projects. I've saved them all, i have like 100 of them. The actual sounds are usually garbage, of poor quality, but the midi parts, composition and interplay of the melodic elements is quite good. A lot of great ideas! I mostly replace all drum sounds and compress them properly. pan things differently and play with their spatial imaging in the mix, and off i go..... "new " track in the works.

What also helps is to work on about 5 projects at once. Once you feel like you've given more than enough to one, just move to the next. keep rotating them. But rotate before you get fed up, you don't want to attach "bad feelings" to a track, lol.

hope this helpssss

[rasputin]

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

That's outstanding! Can I quote you on it?

/sarcasm
//please have the courtesy to attribute when you quote other people, like the first poster in this thread did

[rasputin]

Chuck close can hug a fucking dick. You can tell his ego is in the god damn stratosphere by the first sentence. Just another elitist prick generalizing and labeling people based on his own ideals and agendas... If you're not doing things "Chucks way" you're an "amateur." Another typical blow-hard who needs to feed his ego by putting down a large population of people he doesn't know. What a fucking douche. He needs swift kick to the nuts to bring him back down to reality.

Newsflash, Chuck! No one will remember a god damn thing about you when you die. So stop acting so fucking important. You get to die just like everyone else, buddy!

Perhaps, but when he dies he's going to leave behind a huge body of work which will be collected, exhibited and admired for many years.

You're going to leave behind this quote, and possibly, a handful of half-assed tracks on reverbnation.

You're way projecting. I didn't get arrogance from his statement at all. As a matter of fact what he's saying has been stated by many artists and musicians forever.

Unless you really are just a troll, in which case I've been majorly trolled, in which case shoot me again.

[H20nly]

let's look at the first sentence again in slow motion:

The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration.

the audacity of this guy!

[Valiumdupeuple]

Well there's art & there's craft. Craft can be done at any time. Art sometimes does result from inspiration & the Muse showing up, just as it sometimes does result from working on the craft.

That said, I do agree that ideas often arise from being engaged in the work/craft.

One side feeds the other.

Thanks.