The Reason it ain’t easy
Published by on December 31st, 2006
Last night I had inspiration. Musical inspiration for a change. Grab the keyboard, boot up Reason, off we go… well at least that was, as always, the plan. The result, as always, was frustration.
When I have an idea for a visual image, I can express that idea rapidly - a thumbnail sketch or a scribble - and then build on it, making progressive decisions about where it goes. ADD usually kicks in and other ideas can form during that process, so another thumbnail or two quickly records the notion for possible future consideration, and so back to focus on the original idea.
I struggle with this workflow when trying to get music out of my head. Internally I will often visualise complex, multi-layered rhythmic mixes, sometimes even with melodies or specific sound textures. Usually only a bar or two loops through my mind, and in there it all comes together beautifully. But how to get that out..?
There’s no swift and dirty means that I can see to make a record of a musical concept - beyond a simple melody or beat that is. Whenever I sit down to try, it becomes immediately clear that what is in my head is going to take many hours of development just to get the basics established. That’s enough of a problem in itself, but add to that the constant distraction of discovering new rhythms and sounds which reflect new emotional responses and spark other creative avenues, and within an hour or so I am so saturated with possibilities that it feels like a thousand great ideas all hammering at the doors, smashing the windows, dialling the phones, emailing, podcasting, broadcasting and just plain screaming at me at once. Are you grasping a hint of my frustration here?
This is why I only attempt to be musically creative once every couple of months or so - just enough time passes to forget the utter frustration of the last attempt!
If you have any musical creative workflow suggestions, I’m all ears.
3 Responses to “The Reason it ain’t easy”
January 1st, 2007 at 2:06 am
I can sympathise! Here are my tips:
get Ableton Live - much, much easier to be spontaneous and get ideas down quickly
don’t try and replicate the musical idea that’s in your head - sketch it and then follow the winding paths and alleys down which the machines and your own ideas lead you …
but only allow yourself a pre-set period of time to do this.
Use the resulting bits and pieces to create a full arrangement.
Then and only then worry about the sound, the mix, the fx and the embillishments.
I always find it hard to get out of the first 16 bars of a track … it’s as if I got into loop mode. The above approach has helped me. But each to their own.
January 1st, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thanks Alex. I’ll try and get my hands on a demo of Live and see how it feels. Must admit I’m not well versed in the different tools for this as I’ve found Reason so easy to approach overall. But who knows, Live might help release the floodgates!
January 16th, 2007 at 7:56 am
I’m on the same boat I got writers block the same day I starte making music. I seem like I can’t make a simple melody, why me?…