ABOUT CREATIVITY : 5 things I've learned...
Oct 28, 2020 5:54:16 GMT -5
Post by Erang on Oct 28, 2020 5:54:16 GMT -5
I wrote this long post on Reddit but I thought it might be useful to beginners if I copy/paste it here (link to original post) so here we go:
" At this point, I thought it might be interesting for people who just start music if I shared here few creative tips I realised during all those years.
I will just speak here for myself and about what worked for me.
In my opinion, these tips might apply to almost all music in general. I don't pretend to hold the truth or to have found revolutionary ground-breaking tips: the 5 following points are just things I realised by myself, based on my own experience.
#1 - "I don't make music... I'm building a chair."
When several years ago I was starting to make music, I use to spend too much time (over)thinking or daydreaming about it instead of actually MAKING it. To only think about it could gave me the illusion that I was "working" on my project but it was simply not true. Back then, I didn't know how to start because I was too much thinking from the mindset of an "artist" rather than from a "craftsman" point of view.
I wanted to make art... instead of just simply "make a thing".
And when that switch operated in my mind, it was a revelation!
I don't know why but the picture of a craftsman building a wooden chair came to my mind. And I thought "every morning, the craftsman go in front of his table and start to shape the wood to make a chair. He doesn't overthink, he doesn't want to change the world... he just wants to make a good old wooden chair"
So now, everytime I sit in front of my computer, I start to "build my chair" instead of THINKING about which piece of art I'd like to create.
#2 - "I am my flaws"
Jean Cocteau (french writer) said : " Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.”
When I started to make music, I was frustrated because I had a bad microphone, shitty speakers, I didn't like my singing voice, my recording had lots of room noise, etc.
Of course we are all different: some of us are more "tech" guys than others and the need of a "perfect" sound is for them a core component of their art. And thats cool! Personaly, I like raw art, naive art and spontaneous feelings expression.
So, at some point, I realised that if don't know how to achieve something the way it is "supposed" to be done, I shouldn't stop myself. Instead, I would even exagerate my flaws to transform it into an artistic choice : that's the point of this tip and where it began to be interesting!
" There is some noise behind that sample I can't eliminate?... well, I'll add some more and exagerate it with effects to the point it become personal and a statement"
Of course, I'm not saying that we should never improve or learn how to do something... but it shouldn't stop me to make music. I think you get what I mean here
#3 - "if I can't make ONE masterpiece... then I'll make MANY good songs!"
This one was inspired by a Charles Bukowski quote I can't find again now. He wanted to write ONE ultimate masterpiece novel but, when he realised it didn't happen, he wrote instead hunderds of short stories and became the famous writer we know.
When we start our first album we sometimes want to make an extraordinary & unique masterpiece because we have, as a reference, the record of experimented professional musicians or some oneshot genius that made a masterpiece right from their first album (which, most of the time, is not really their first release but just the first WE know or heard about and 99% of the time they made obscur stuff before but that's another topic)
But everybody must start somewhere.
It doesn't mean that we should release everything we make. We should release things that matter to us! Personaly, I am extraordinary proud of all my albums and I put a LOT of effort and work into each of them. My music, to me, is as important as the air I breathe and the food I eat. I make music almost every single day and dedicate ALL my free time to it.
I care about my albums like my children.
...But I don't pretend that my children are the best on earth or that they will change the course of history : I love them for what they are.
You don't make a child thinking he would be the next Einstein : you just raise him the best you can and hope he'll make his way into the world.
#4 - My "listener" side is not necessarily compatible with my "creative" side
When I was younger, I often wanted to make the kind of music I liked as a listener.
The problem is that I had a wide range of tastes in music and as a teenager I was discovering new things daily.
And, of course, when it came to make my OWN music, I wasn't comfortable nor "talented" in every genre I liked. I was not always able to create a music in a specific genre, even if I loved this genre.
So I was often frustrated " what ? I like this artist that makes this genre and I will never make an album in this genre myself?"
No. And that's not a problem. At all.
Because I'll make MY music in the style and genre where I am the most comfortable with to express my feelings.
In fact, at the end, I don't think my music really fits any genre precisely and I don't really care: I just make what I want to hear and the music I love.
But it took me some times to understand it and realise "who" I was.
Now, when I like a musician, I find it more interesting to try to understand what is unique in his vision and mindset rather than to know "what genre he makes or gear he uses".
#5 - "The day I started to FINSIH things!"
This one is probably the most important one and you must already have read it everywhere else but, in my opinion, there is nothing more important and it changed my life.
When I started to make music, I always had HUNDREDS of unfinished tracks in my computer. Short snippet of tracks here in there.
Because I was making one track, get bored, started a new one, found a new VST, dropped the track, started a new one with a new VST (Note: we should stop the neverending quest of new VST), changed my musical style, dropped the track again, etc.
We ALL know that.
So, at some point I forced myself and said " I. WILL. FINISH. THESE. TRACKS. AND. AN. ALBUM "
So I took ALL the short tracks and short loops I had.
All of them.
Hundreds of them.
I put them all in one single folder.
And I started to listen to all of them one by one, by alphabetical order.
Everytime I really liked one or found it special, I put it in a separate second folder.
When I was done with all the tracks, I opened the separate folder where there was the selection of all the tracks I really liked. And I did the same thing and selected the one I liked even more and put them in a third separate folder.
I did that until I ended up with 14 or 15 tracks and I forced myself to finish only all of them!
I made my first album that way (I'm not speaking here about my first ERANG album, back then it was not a "real" project of mine, just an album under a generic name)
And I released it on the Internet.
And guess what... some people liked it!
THAT was what gave me the strength to start something better and more polished and with a "larger" scope if I might say so.
To say it short: the feeling of achievement when we finish something completely (from the songs to the tracklisting, from the cover art to the upload & release, etc.) is an extraordinary feeling that gave me confidence and strength to keep it up!
That's it. That's the end of few personal tips that helped me when I began to make music.
As I said, I don't pretend that these are brand new exclusive tips or mindblowing stuff: those are just things I experienced by myself.
Again, we are all different and some things could work with one are not with another.
But I hope that maybe some of these thoughts would help people who just start in music and sometimes feel lost or blocked...
Thanks for reading!
Erang
" At this point, I thought it might be interesting for people who just start music if I shared here few creative tips I realised during all those years.
I will just speak here for myself and about what worked for me.
In my opinion, these tips might apply to almost all music in general. I don't pretend to hold the truth or to have found revolutionary ground-breaking tips: the 5 following points are just things I realised by myself, based on my own experience.
#1 - "I don't make music... I'm building a chair."
When several years ago I was starting to make music, I use to spend too much time (over)thinking or daydreaming about it instead of actually MAKING it. To only think about it could gave me the illusion that I was "working" on my project but it was simply not true. Back then, I didn't know how to start because I was too much thinking from the mindset of an "artist" rather than from a "craftsman" point of view.
I wanted to make art... instead of just simply "make a thing".
And when that switch operated in my mind, it was a revelation!
I don't know why but the picture of a craftsman building a wooden chair came to my mind. And I thought "every morning, the craftsman go in front of his table and start to shape the wood to make a chair. He doesn't overthink, he doesn't want to change the world... he just wants to make a good old wooden chair"
So now, everytime I sit in front of my computer, I start to "build my chair" instead of THINKING about which piece of art I'd like to create.
#2 - "I am my flaws"
Jean Cocteau (french writer) said : " Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.”
When I started to make music, I was frustrated because I had a bad microphone, shitty speakers, I didn't like my singing voice, my recording had lots of room noise, etc.
Of course we are all different: some of us are more "tech" guys than others and the need of a "perfect" sound is for them a core component of their art. And thats cool! Personaly, I like raw art, naive art and spontaneous feelings expression.
So, at some point, I realised that if don't know how to achieve something the way it is "supposed" to be done, I shouldn't stop myself. Instead, I would even exagerate my flaws to transform it into an artistic choice : that's the point of this tip and where it began to be interesting!
" There is some noise behind that sample I can't eliminate?... well, I'll add some more and exagerate it with effects to the point it become personal and a statement"
Of course, I'm not saying that we should never improve or learn how to do something... but it shouldn't stop me to make music. I think you get what I mean here
#3 - "if I can't make ONE masterpiece... then I'll make MANY good songs!"
This one was inspired by a Charles Bukowski quote I can't find again now. He wanted to write ONE ultimate masterpiece novel but, when he realised it didn't happen, he wrote instead hunderds of short stories and became the famous writer we know.
When we start our first album we sometimes want to make an extraordinary & unique masterpiece because we have, as a reference, the record of experimented professional musicians or some oneshot genius that made a masterpiece right from their first album (which, most of the time, is not really their first release but just the first WE know or heard about and 99% of the time they made obscur stuff before but that's another topic)
But everybody must start somewhere.
It doesn't mean that we should release everything we make. We should release things that matter to us! Personaly, I am extraordinary proud of all my albums and I put a LOT of effort and work into each of them. My music, to me, is as important as the air I breathe and the food I eat. I make music almost every single day and dedicate ALL my free time to it.
I care about my albums like my children.
...But I don't pretend that my children are the best on earth or that they will change the course of history : I love them for what they are.
You don't make a child thinking he would be the next Einstein : you just raise him the best you can and hope he'll make his way into the world.
#4 - My "listener" side is not necessarily compatible with my "creative" side
When I was younger, I often wanted to make the kind of music I liked as a listener.
The problem is that I had a wide range of tastes in music and as a teenager I was discovering new things daily.
And, of course, when it came to make my OWN music, I wasn't comfortable nor "talented" in every genre I liked. I was not always able to create a music in a specific genre, even if I loved this genre.
So I was often frustrated " what ? I like this artist that makes this genre and I will never make an album in this genre myself?"
No. And that's not a problem. At all.
Because I'll make MY music in the style and genre where I am the most comfortable with to express my feelings.
In fact, at the end, I don't think my music really fits any genre precisely and I don't really care: I just make what I want to hear and the music I love.
But it took me some times to understand it and realise "who" I was.
Now, when I like a musician, I find it more interesting to try to understand what is unique in his vision and mindset rather than to know "what genre he makes or gear he uses".
#5 - "The day I started to FINSIH things!"
This one is probably the most important one and you must already have read it everywhere else but, in my opinion, there is nothing more important and it changed my life.
When I started to make music, I always had HUNDREDS of unfinished tracks in my computer. Short snippet of tracks here in there.
Because I was making one track, get bored, started a new one, found a new VST, dropped the track, started a new one with a new VST (Note: we should stop the neverending quest of new VST), changed my musical style, dropped the track again, etc.
We ALL know that.
So, at some point I forced myself and said " I. WILL. FINISH. THESE. TRACKS. AND. AN. ALBUM "
So I took ALL the short tracks and short loops I had.
All of them.
Hundreds of them.
I put them all in one single folder.
And I started to listen to all of them one by one, by alphabetical order.
Everytime I really liked one or found it special, I put it in a separate second folder.
When I was done with all the tracks, I opened the separate folder where there was the selection of all the tracks I really liked. And I did the same thing and selected the one I liked even more and put them in a third separate folder.
I did that until I ended up with 14 or 15 tracks and I forced myself to finish only all of them!
I made my first album that way (I'm not speaking here about my first ERANG album, back then it was not a "real" project of mine, just an album under a generic name)
And I released it on the Internet.
And guess what... some people liked it!
THAT was what gave me the strength to start something better and more polished and with a "larger" scope if I might say so.
To say it short: the feeling of achievement when we finish something completely (from the songs to the tracklisting, from the cover art to the upload & release, etc.) is an extraordinary feeling that gave me confidence and strength to keep it up!
That's it. That's the end of few personal tips that helped me when I began to make music.
As I said, I don't pretend that these are brand new exclusive tips or mindblowing stuff: those are just things I experienced by myself.
Again, we are all different and some things could work with one are not with another.
But I hope that maybe some of these thoughts would help people who just start in music and sometimes feel lost or blocked...
Thanks for reading!
Erang