Are you a creative Consumer or Producer?

[innerstatejt]

Hey guys,

I recently posted a blog on a minimalistic approach to songwriting. I wanted to look at the art of completing songs from a slightly different point of view.
This might be a long post, so feel free to skip it altogether if you don't have time to read or just aren't into the subject matter. I post it here in full so you
don't have to leave the forum.... enjoy.

Are you a creative consumer or producer?

Let's face it. We've all become information junkies. We constantly feed our faces with new tricks and new toys. We are constantly looking for the next thing. The new synth, that new effect, the new, well... anything.

Here's the problem folks, it's slowing you down from the real goal. If you aren't finishing songs, soundtracks or projects, now you have your culprit.

In an attempt to become more productive you read blogs, watch videos and buy whatever seems to give you more power than you already have. The problem is that the appetite is never quenched. I'm of course referring to myself as well. I'll use information gathering as an excuse to not create and then I'll convince myself that without this new tool I can't create. You end up in a constant cycle of upgrading instead of finding a consistant workflow.

Have you become an addicted consumer instead of a creative producer?

Now I am all about new technology, no doubt about it. I am also all about finding new information that I can put to use, but that is where the flaw is. We watch the videos, we read the blogs, we download the new plugin but we are pulling in more information than we can possibly put to use?

A change in thinking

If this behavior is going to stop we need to accept that too much information works against you. It gives you too many choices. It also takes away your sense of discovery when you are in a creative mode. By the time you have a situation that would benefit from a certain technique, you may already be bored by it or paranoid that this trick isn't modern enough or is overused.

I think this behavior happens with a lot of musicians (something I've already stated that I am not). The reason for this is that many musicians learn how to play before they just start playing. They learn all the rules and they learn all the chords. By the time they actually start making music, they are trying to reach outside their current level of skill because they are bored to tears of all the things they have already learned. They restrict themselves from many of the basics in search of that magic, but rarely find it.

When I started playing guitar I tried learning from a chord book but tossed it after only a few days. I had learned a few basic bar chords and I was off and running. I had confidence in simplicity and wasn't afraid to do something just because it's easy. Luckily for me, I was drawn to bands that used simplicity to their favor. If I had something in my head that I couldn't play, then and only then would I hunt for a new skill, technique or expand my chord knowledge. This gave me the ability to feel the magic of every new discovery and tool. I didn't feel forced to grow any more than my natural pace. I rarely heard a song and had to rush home to learn how it was played. I was just doing my own thing and developing my own sound.

Now I find myself getting into the trap of information gathering. I'm constantly working on skills that I'll never put to use. another downside is that I rarely have the exciting feeling of discovery when I finally use a new trick. Being a blogger and a producer (and a DJ), it's easy for me to get caught up with what is new, but I feel it would be more beneficial to myself and my readers if I put to use each new thing I learn or each new tool I access before hunting for the next thing. I also think it's going to be important to wait for a problem before I go hunting for a solution.

Ask yourself, is this a tool I am going to use today? Does the project I am currently working on require this tool or information to complete it? Does filling my head with this new information make me more productive now or less productive? What information and tools do you have right now that you still haven't put to use? Might it be more beneficial to implement some of those one at a time? Maybe you would benefit by removing several tools to open up some space to new ones.

Just because a tool is great for someone else and has them super excited doesn't mean it's going to work that way for you. Realize your addiction might be to someone's excitement and not necessarily the information being presented. Another trap is trying to fit this new tool or idea into your work. This can be frustrating and slow you down because in your head you may be thinking "this is supposed to be amazing, what am I doing wrong"?, when the real issue is that it's not a match for your way of creating.

A challenge

Make a deal with yourself. If you spend 30 minutes learning a new trick, you've got to spend at least 30 minutes putting it to use. If the skill requires more time, decide whether you will dump the new trick or take the time to perfect it. Don't make the mistake of putting this on the backburner while hunting for new information or tools.

I hope this brings you closer to a very productive 2010.

To your continued joy and productivity in your creative works!

happy music making,

Jason

[mholloway]

I read this instead of finishing my music.


but really. I don't know. I manage to get lots of songs done and keep up on the all the trends and invest time and money in new gear and tricks with that gear, too. I feel pretty good about it all. not trying to slam you here, but I think people constanstly struggle creatively with "the delicate art of finishing material" and while it's nice to try to blame something obvious and clever like in your thesis above, i think it's ultimately a really idiosyncratic issue and everyone just eventually figures out on their own what makes them get from point Start to point Finish. I know that in my personal case I regularly employ the shit that I learn from forum posts, online articles, videos, what have you. it's been a great help and I feel like daily my arsenal of tactics increases, and it comes through in my music. it's a huge realm, electronic music creatio and production; if it didn't challenge us, if it wasn't such a rabbit hole of constantly evolving and improving technique, I think we'd feel stagnant and repetitious in our work and in our goals. I WANT to always be on the cusp of learning the next new trick, knowing meanwhile that the search is never-ending. I accumulate a lot along the way. And the hunger for more propels me ever deeper down the rabbit hole. And my music changes and evolves along the way. If I didn't "waste" time on the internet in forums and reading mags and watching videos, this process would be seriously hindered. I'm thankful I have such a stellar and huge community of like-minded geeks who want to write and share in this process. it's stimulating. it's inspiring. it actually -keeps me focused- on what I love.

I don't doubt you're right that some people struggle with this kind of thing, always learning more instead of using what they learn. So I'm not saying your post doesn't have an audience it might be useful for. But I for one like taking in more than I'm putting out; the toolbox should be massive, should feel powerful, and then you draw from it at will, taking what you need in a given moment, knowing that no single track will use everything in that box. but bigger the toolset, the more varied you can be in the tricks you employ for each project.

etc etc.

i'm basically just wasting time at work here, not trying to start an argument or anything . more like, reflecting on what you're saying and seeing where my time and energy fits in.

-M

[Bagatell]

Thankfully I'm an amateur musician and can make whatever noises I like (or not as the mood takes me). All this talk of product and production smacks of "dark satanic mills" and you're welcome to it.

[sporkles]

Reading this post puts me in a sort of existential crisis. I'm on a web forum instead of producing. I'm reading that I should
not be reading, but producing.

Seriously, though - I know exactly what you're talking about, and step one for me (or was it step three? I'm sure step one
must have been denial) was to call off the search for the perfect controller. I can do what I need to do with the tools I've
got - now all I have to do is check out some Youtube clips on how to do it.

No... Wait. Bugger.

[Pitch Black]

Einstein said that mankind suffers from a profusion of means and a confusion of aims.

I think you speak to "neomania", a common condition in Western consumer society: an obsession with what is new, as opposed to what is best. Fuck, Western consumer society is built on it.

I believe that after you've been making music long enough (or playing tennis, or being a CEO, or writing software, or being a professional athlete, or whatever) you come to realise it is the internal journey that counts. Everyone faces the same internal challenges and shortcomings. Everyone can develop their techniques, given enough time, but what will you do with that technique? Ultimately its the internal journey that makes the difference. Everyone has the same skills/software/information-as-you-put-it at their disposal, but its what you apply it to that counts. What are your motivations? I'd liken it to becoming fluent in a foreign language... but what do you actually have to say?

I think its ultimately facing your own fears and shortcomings and hollow places that will make a difference. I have this bit of rhetoric: "Within your greatest fear you will find your greatest reward". And I truly believe that. I can't say I'm there yet, or that I can conquer every time, but I believe its true.

[gjm]

One thing that was very helpful for me was to admit that all of the researching, DLing, Demoing, trying, buying, returning, swapping, tweaking etc was actually part of my musical hobby. Spending a morning traveling to town to hang out at the music store is always more than just about buying an item. Its about time out, or spending time with one of my kids, or an out of the blue discovery. There is a very enjoyable element to just mucking around with stuff in my studio. I admit that what saves me too much grief is the fact I have musical deadlines every week. So I have to get on with making music and I am ALWAYS saved by the KISS principle. However, I would hate to think what would happen if I was left to aimlessly wander through this vast landscape without a goal...

[continuous]

For me buying shit, setting it all up, etc. is the fun part. The other part, trying to make songs or compositions is engrossing sometimes but often leads me to frustration, disappointment, and ultimately depression. I have almost zero understanding of theory and that is what I lack most but just don't have the background or discipline to build it. So I set things up, twiddle, tweak, get toasted, save that shit and forget about it. People that studied music when they were younger seem to do much better imho. So, ya, I'm more of a Consumer than a Producer.

Ultimately it's better than watching TV though.

[dinaiz]

Also keep in mind that tons of people are PAID to make you want to purchase a new stuff instead of using what you have
Welcome to a consumerist society ....

[h_double]

I ran across an idea a while ago, I wish I could remember where, that a creative medium is defined by its limitations. A poetic form like a sonnet is given character by its strict metrical requirements (similarly, the rigid rules of musical counterpoint). Old blues recordings from the 1930s wouldn't have the same character and soul without that scratchy lo-fi sound. Less is more.

Whenever I start to get restless about "if only my studio could do xyz", I like to remember how the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" -- one of the most brilliantly and beautifully produced albums ever -- was recorded on four tracks of tape. Or all of the great techno and house records which were laid down in somebody's bedroom with only a couple of primitive synths and drum machines (half of it not even MIDI).

I also always try to keep in mind something Wendy Carlos said about production, that every parameter you CAN control, you MUST control. If you don't completely understand every detail of your signal chain, and know how to USE those details, you're flying halfway blind.

[pepezabala]

Old blues recordings from the 1930s wouldn't have the same character and soul without that scratchy lo-fi sound.

wrong. Blues can indeed have character and soul even when it sounds good, for example if you are listening to someone playing it in front of you.

[h_double]

Old blues recordings from the 1930s wouldn't have the same character and soul without that scratchy lo-fi sound.

wrong. Blues can indeed have character and soul even when it sounds good, for example if you are listening to someone playing it in front of you.

I didn't say "blues", I said "old blues recordings from the 1930s". The point is that the technological limitations of the time have become an appealing trait of those recordings -- see also the profusion of lo-fi + vinyl distortion plugins out there.

[LoopStationZebra]

Funny. I read that entire post and was positively certain that the last paragraph would be something like..

"I can help you become the minimal techno producer you've always wanted to be.
For €350 your dreams can finally become a reality."

[jimi_k]

Thankfully I'm an amateur musician and can make whatever noises I like (or not as the mood takes me). All this talk of product and production smacks of "dark satanic mills" and you're welcome to it.

+1

[innerstatejt]

I appreciate all the replies and think each perspective is valid. It all depends on your creative goals and what inspires you. Getting out with friends and just dorking out on music can be incredibly liberating even if nothing comes of it. Staying in the studio and not opening yourself to new ideas is a very bad idea of course, but an addiction to information you are never going to put to use can really hold you back as well(at least in my case).

Hell, I have no problem telling people not to bother with my tutorials if they are just feeding an addiction to information. Since finishing songs has been a challenge for me I just like to share what tends to work for me. My approach is by no means the only way, but if it helps a few people, that's very cool.

cheers,
Jason

[logic_user99]

Thankfully I'm an amateur musician and can make whatever noises I like (or not as the mood takes me). All this talk of product and production smacks of "dark satanic mills" and you're welcome to it.

+1

+2

I can't afford new gear, and am never going to be a full-time pro at it; staying amateur FTW!