| Author
|
some words of advice on frustration and the creative process...
|
fuzzikitten
Annunaki
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
603
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 18:16
|
Here's a blurb by Mr. Ott on writing tunes, frustration, and inspiration. Lately I've been in a bit of a funk, having sat down on my last day off to write a tune with utter GARBAGE as the result, and reading this helped me feel a little bit better about my whole creative endeavors.
It made me feel better so I'd thought I'd share. Enjoy!
-Alex
From http://psy-forum.co.uk/psyforum/viewtopic.php?p=203104&highlight=#203104
****
After spending 5 years locked in the studio, learning to write songs, I decided it would probably be healthy to have a year or so off and recharge the batteries. Get a bit of fresh air - meet a beautiful woman - stuff like that. I felt I could rest on my laurels a bit because I'd finally made a record I was proud of. Took 20 years but I got there in the end.
Three weeks ago i sat down and decided to get on with making the next one, and although it was slow at first, I'm gathering momentum and now its all starting to flow.
I've started 20-odd tunes this year and finished none of them. As we all know, any idiot can start a tune, but it takes real graft and concentration to finish them. All it takes to destroy my concentration is one phone call, so getting into the right headspace can be difficult when I have to go out and play a gig every weekend. I don't know how anyone can hold down a job and write music. I won't bang on about it but I reckon its an issue for a lot of people.
As my old Granny used to say, "If you have nothing to say, keep quiet". This applies to music too I think. If you have nothing to express, stay away from your studio. Deliberately stay away from it and let the ideas build up. Take up fishing or write short stories - anything. How many times have you sat down at your computer and knocked up some bass and drums in the hope of becoming inspired by them, only to bin them 2 hours later because nothing is coming? This is corrosive, I think, because when you've done that a few times your confidence can take a real beating.
Bass and drums are easy - especially with trance [waits for snorts of indignation]. Its the stuff over the top that requires real inspiration, so rather than starting with, say, a kik drum and bassline, why not start with a vocal or a melody? Work out what it is you are actually trying to say and say it as succinctly as possible, and only THEN add the supporting elements.
If all you are trying to say is "DOOFdubbaDOOFdubbaDOOFdubbaDOOF..." then you can do that in about 10 minutes. Trouble is, thats already been said a thousand times already, so the real challenge [and one that lots of people shy away from] is to say something that resonates, even if it only resonates with you. When you are describing a blinding tune you heard at a party one night, you never say "It was the one that went DOOFdubbaDOOFdubbaDOOFdubbaDOOF..." do you? The bits that stick out are the bits that make the tune what it is - and these are the bits that you should spend your time trying to realise.
That is not to say the drums and bass aren't important, obviously.
A while back I was talking to Simon about my lack of motivation in the studio and he made a great suggestion.
"Sit in your studio and just make sounds. Don't write a tune or anything - just build up a folder full of random sounds made of whatever you can find. After a while, you'll be so bursting to use them that tunes will just start falling out."
So I did.
And they have.
|
|
|
Pavel
Troll
Started Topics :
313
Posts :
8649
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 18:27
|
Nice words 
 Everyone in the world is doing something without me |
|
|
|
jaramogi
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
15
Posts :
918
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 18:40
|
|
koalakube
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
48
Posts :
437
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 18:44
|
|
nice one mate |
|
|
|
EYB
Noized
Started Topics :
111
Posts :
2849
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 19:57
|
Yeah nice
Thanks
Signature |
|
|
|
mubali
Mubali
Started Topics :
71
Posts :
2219
Posted : Jan 27, 2005 22:40
|
|
That actually really helps me. I have been in this same funk. I took some time away just to collect my thoughts but coming back to it, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. OTT's right, anyone can lay down the kick and bassline, but it's the sounds on top that people remember. When I get off work, I am gonna go home and try that!!! Thanks Alex!
An Eagle may soar, but Weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. |
|
|
|
s0ft
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
42
Posts :
825
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 02:18
|
|
wow, those words hit hard. very wise. |
|
|
|
Trip-
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
101
Posts :
3239
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 12:42
|
I've been scanned ! I feel exactly this way... damned.
building random sounds? i'll try that - thank you mr ott
fuzzy, thanks for the post.
Crackling universes dive into their own neverending crackle...
AgalactiA |
|
|
|
Lithium
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
646
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 15:29
|
nice one
i guess that happens to everyone once for a while, that lack of motivation, and you´ve just put it on paper brilliantly
actually it happened to me much more often when i had lots of time to make music, but since i´ve changed my job and i have very few time to sit in my studio alone to make some music, it seems that every time i have is just not enough and things actually come out easier one way or another. i don´t try to make it perfect, i just make things with a much more experiemental feeling, i feel that my tracks might not be better but on the other hand i feel i´m learning much more from track to track, and i feel my tracks step aside the regular patterns i used to use...
anyway thanxs for sharing that feeling with us  |
|
|
|
psypox
Psypox / Bufo
Started Topics :
53
Posts :
768
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 15:36
|
|
FluoSamsara (Oxygen)
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
1164
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 19:23
|
|
Seems we all have ups and downs....good to know i´m not alone hehehehhe |
|
|
|
Hayez
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
393
Posted : Jan 28, 2005 22:27
|
good words, I'll try to remember that.  |
|
|
|
Pypedream
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
45
Posts :
245
Posted : Jan 29, 2005 03:55
|
|
very useful words of wisdom. thanks fuzzi! |
|
|
|
