This post is more introspective and less structured than usual. Skip it if that's not your thing.
For those who are curious about my creative journey and creativity in general, I've gone for a stream of consciousness list format in an attempt to be as objective and authentic as possible.
Hopefully you'll collect a few little gold nuggets that help you with your own music making along the way 🙂
Get in !
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1. Thinking about quality when you're in the first stages of your creation is a sure-fire way to get stumped and lose your creative spark.
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2. Quality comes with quantity. The more you practice, try stuff and finish songs, the better you'll get.
How did I practice?
I recorded 30 minute Morning Sessions every day for 200 days.
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BUT…
3. Quality can't come only from quantity. It's not enough to practice. You've got to practice deliberately. Intentionally work on stuff that's not quite working.
Examples of stuff I'm working on right now…
- bass lines
- playing in time with swing
- improvising on the piano
- vocal performance
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4. The more time I spend on the production of a track, the duller I make it. Like I'm sucking the life out of it.
The solution? Short studio sessions and frequent breaks.
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5. My sessions in the studio are more productive when I go in with a clear game plan.
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6. Outsourcing if it's still not working might be another good option to explore….
Something that can help me get to that next level. After all, I'm good at mixing but not great.
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7. I have trouble pushing the boundaries when it gets uncomfortable in the music studio. Meaning what?
Meaning I'm great at making lots of good song fast because I'm having fun while I'm doing it.
But I'm no good at making great songs because I don't especially enjoy working on that extra 1% that will (maybe) make all the difference.
How can I change that?
Well…. perhaps working with someone else who enjoys that stuff but is not so good with melodies and arrangement could be beneficial?
Collaborating is something full-time music producer SHRAi identified as THE ONE THING HE WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY if he started his career now.
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8. My "best" work either took very little time…..
….. or many iterations with incremental improvements every step of the way….
There's nothing much in the middle it seems. It's mostly all intuition or deep exploration.
Note – I consider my "best" work to be the work that stands out. Music that makes you sit up and notice.
It's also music that I enjoy listening to. Other tracks have had more success but, because I don't particularly enjoy them myself, I'm of the opinion that they're not viable creative projects in the long-term.
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9. Every time I take a break from a song and get back to it, I hear it differently.
Sometimes worse than expected, sometimes better. Always with something that can be improved.
What's the lesson to be learned here?
If you don't decide to let go, you never will because there's always something you can do.
What's the solution?
I just decided I wouldn't work on a track for more than around 6 studio sessions and limited each studio session to between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
Something else you might try?
Maybe committing to a release date 3-4 months in advance and launching the marketing efforts to keep yourself accountable?
Harsh! But probably very effective!!
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10. Creativity feeds creativity.
The more I try stuff, the more ideas I have to try new stuff.
The more I WANT to try stuff.
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11. My knowledge of theory is helpful to get unstuck but my lack of improvisation skills slows me down.
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12. The music I make doesn't really stand out. It's competent but not extraordinary. Yet.
I have lots to say but can't seem to say it in quite the right way.
When I do find a way to say it, I'm confident I'll know.
And that's when I'll take massive action to share the music 🙂
I haven't found my sound yet. And that's ok.
I'm cool with it.
In the last 3 years, I've produced a LOT of music, some good, some bad. Some sold, some didn't.
In the next 3 years, I want to find my voice and produce GREAT music. Say what I have to say.
That means I'll have to reconcile myself with words in songs….
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And I'll have to rekindle my love for the piano.
Already working on the piano thing. Now I need to start building a writing habit for the songwriting and singing 😉
Very intimate and humbling. Thx for sharing! I’m still in awe of you!
☺
Could not look through for the sake of time, but everything looks and sounds great…
😉
A lot of your content rings true for me. The stage I’m at is lyric writing. Musical passages come to me. I enjoy creating various progressions, although sometimes more complex; I like movement in the harmonies is why. Thank you for your candidness. it’s quite refreshing!
“Movement in the harmonies”…. Beautiful! Makes me want to listen 🙂
Very personal I hear you, yeah I can relate to that. The process of creation rest assures a demanding journey. I think we need to live out any judgment; only the joy germinating the search of ideas within the sound of motion. Well, I’ve been composing for many years, over the years the music that is coming through with a daily passion imprint an inward touch.
Agreed. During the creative process, I’ll try to leave out my editing and censoring brain out of the way as much as possible.
Having said that, the creation process is, inevitably, a series of many decisions and every time you make a decision, you are in fact emitting a judgement, considering that your choice is the best course of action 🙂
I guess the trick is finding that balance between thriving for the best, most authentic sound/lyric we can find and not being paralyzed by perfectionism and unhelpful judgment.
It is an interesting topic to me, so I’ll bite: What is it about a great song that makes you sit up and take notice? Is it a song with an “attitude”, a song with a beautiful melody, a song with a verbal message you can relate to, a song with a in interesting twist? All of the above? Does the listener in the end determine what makes a song “great” – if you have a song that sells, does that make it great regardless of what you believe?
For myself, I have to trust in a saying I heard, “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”, I think my music is worthwhile because it is at least marginally better than silence. And so I continue, and try to improve along the way.
BTW best of luck with the vocal performance, I know that it is a lot of effort and an ongoing time commitment. I am jealous of you that you are good at mixing, that stuff is frustrating to me!
Hehe, not sure there’s a good answer to those questions 🙂
I’ll share my thoughts anyway!!
As a listener, I consider a song is great if it makes me DO something. Cry, laugh, dance, think, feel happy, dream, calm down.
A song might not be recognized as “great” by my former piano teacher (big Mussorgsky fan) and/or it might not sell a lot. But it’s great to me. At a certain point in time, it made me feel alive.
So maybe not everyone will appreciate the beauty of David Guetta or Spice Up Your Life but I do!! And still I can appreciate Bill Evans and make it a habit to lie down on the floor and just listen when Maria Callas is singing 🙂
As a music maker, I find it much harder to define when my music is “great”. I’ve thought about it all weekend and I guess a few things have to happen for me to consider my music great.
1- I need to have a smirk on my face when I listen to the track a few months after completion. Not sure why, but the smirking part is important 🙂
2- People have to notice, behave differently when they hear it. That could be sitting up and listening when the track comes on in the middle of a playlist. Or it could mean heads start bobbing along. Or it could mean people start commenting or sharing the link. Or someone asks me to work with them after hearing it.
If the track is met with indifference, it could be 2 things: either the music is not good enough, or I haven’t put it in front of the right audience. Either way, I have more work to do 🙂
Now the weird part… when an audience likes the track, it sells, but I don’t especially care for it…. Well then I may be onto something but might not pursue it. It really depends on how much I enjoyed working on the track to start with.
And when an audience doesn’t care for a track that I’m really proud of 2-3 months after finishing it…. Can’t recall this happening actually but if it did, I would have to trust my judgment (2-3 months after finishing it so I have the appropriate detachment) and assume I haven’t done enough work to put it in front of the right audience.
In any case, I’m always happy with the music I make because, no matter how “good” or “bad” I or someone else might think it is at a given point in time (perceptions change after all!), I’m proud of myself for making it and putting it out there. 🙂
Even when the music doesn’t feel “great”, there’s always a mind-boggling realization that I created something out of nothing!
J – thanks for sharing these thoughts & ideas; i’m struggling with the wintertime slump, this is what i need t’ pull out of it. also, nice to connect wth your soundcloud page – good stuff!
Ah yes, the wintertime slump, never easy to navigate :/
Cheers! Care to share a link to your Soundcloud page?
Joyce – If you get a chance to listen, I’d be very interested to hear your comments, and get any advice you could share:
https://soundcloud.com/user-887354704-648577366/sets
best,
Thanks for sharing, Peter 🙂
I really enjoyed the atmospheres you created, very jazzy, very warm, especially Autumn 1.
I would just work a little bit more on the music production side of things, make sure it compares well to other similar tracks played at the same level and check if the mix sounds good on all devices.
Also be careful not to cut off endings to abruptly 😉
One thing I like to do is stick my tune in the middle of a playlist with similar music that’s been commercially released and see how it compares, especially when it’s just playing in the background and I’m not paying much attention.
You’ve got some really cool tunes going on there, keep up the good work!!
Joyce – thanks so much for listening and your good advice!
Great discussion, I love that, well I will bring a forth worth a distinct difference between judgment and creation. I think judging is related to the value we give to something that has been done, in a realization; and creation rests on the idea in itself, unquestionable aspect of the thing-in-itself, again searching the being of it. I think more I develop the connection to the soul of the thing, the being of the afflatus (I just learn this word; I find it beautiful it means divine inspiration) is coming through naturally without any question. The more I do this work out the further I’m hooked towards the essence of the music that I’m creating. The decision is based on the experience that I’m having, the passion, the joy, the unconsciousness, the disconnection to the consciousness the rationality. This remains extremely hard to do, just let it go with oblivion mind. Living the intercourse of creating, the decision initiated is made more within the immersion, the core of the originated vision. I think when I hear the music that I create, and I see myself in it; I think the idea is there; we may like it or not good or bad it does not matter.
It is very hard to say I love or Hate “Katherine X and Michael W” even more they are good or bad, “Katherine X and Michael W” are Katherine X and Michael W. The world is made with all kinds of people, creation and perception of it. We like it or not this is what has been created. Why bad is awful because on fundamental beliefs we kill. This is why I hate so much judgment where we see humbleness, wisdom, tyranny and empowerment. It may be contradictive; all of these words are based on belief value and perception towards others and things.
There is something that I’ve developed in the past 40 years which is also very hard to do and apply is loving what I hate in every aspect of my life. I would say this remains a great challenge that helps myself out in the process of creating, to get deep into ideas. Mostly with perseverance, into within, the chosen path will influence the next creative process and deepen. When something is alive, the joy will arise.
There’s a thought regarding this that came out around 10 years ago that creation is an act of love and Judging an act of hate. I’ve been reflecting a lot about this. There’s a real paradox about the presentiment. We could say the same thing reversibly, my observation from what it came out from the notion. What it comes through from judging is always related to social and value aspects of the doowah, even with a constructive criticism; as for the counter aspect from creating is the space of the living revelations. The awkwardness of the oblivion ideas that was unknown in the instance before, the birth of a living thing, the meaning when I create I’m consistently a baby of something.
The other facet that is related to the judgment, remains helping the next ideas, is the improvement of the subsequent creation, where the criticism is useful to get better in the craft, we do. Best, improving, strengthen, moralize, humbleness, wisdom, shape up these are words relate by value singular perception. Regarding the examination, evaluation, crucifixion, condemnation (maybe too much, you get the point) criticism view; this is where it becomes important to judge without crucifixion and condemnation.
I can keep on talking about this subject endlessly, regarding the text that I’m writing right now, its processed even more so about the space of creation this is something in itself. I found that everything is about space. I must put an end to this wonderful subject and get back to reality. I need to go to the supermarket buying food for dinner.
Have a Great Day, keep on creating no matter what.
Robert
I like your intuitive approach 🙂
Have you read The Artist’s Way? I think you would enjoy it very much.
Yes, I have a copy of the book the French version from Julia Cameron calls “Libérez votre créativité” that I have for almost 20 years. When I saw this book in the book store, I went over, it caught my attention on the intuition part. I remember talking with the clerk about the subject passionately. There’s some great exercise to follow like writing daily anything that comes to your mind, she calls it the morning page in French it says, “page du matin,” what we need to write, the sense it does not matter, only writing without in spite of thinking. The exercises are mostly to overcome the white page, judgment and even making choice, just write. Ultimately by doing this it liberates your mind. Consequently, will seed an idea that will spark. I did the exercises for many months in 2001, came back few times after that.
Yeah, I really love this book; the reason why it catches my interest on the purchase. I’ve been interested creating music intuitively since my youth, by the mid ’80s, I’ve incorporated some sense of structure. The first work mixing structure with intuition was in 1984 when I wrote a work for percussion ensemble based on a poem about memory. After that I’ve done different kinds of works this way. Nevertheless, I was applying ever since that approach on everything that I was doing; in my day job on the computer writing reports by dancing on keyboards creating choreography with my fingers and my hands following the sense of a story teller. I’ve learned so much by doing this, after, when I was getting back at the piano, and playing, the form gave structure to the timing with the notes and came itself intuitively. What strike my mind an unrelated practice over something that is not related that make all sense.
I think your 200 days creating a song; I can see similitude.
EXACTLY what I needed to read right now.. thank you!!!!!!
Perfect! You’re welcome 🙂
also, if you need ANYTHING in the vocal dept I can help you out Im also a vocal coach, happy to give u some tips!
That would be great!! Can you send me an email at joyce@creativeandproductive.com so I can get in touch?
I’m glad it resonates to you, sharing thought is always gratifying and enriching; I learn a whole lot through that. It’s nice of you to offer some coaching and tips. Regarding the singing, I have not been signing since the celebration of my wedding many years ago. Maybe I’ll get back to singing, mainly I create instrumental works in diverse genres. Cheers!
I’ve been a fan of yours since like forever hehe, great personal and vulnerable post. I do have a question, how do you think it affects my music being accepted on libraries if they’re also available on iTunes/Spotify etc? If I’m selling a track at .99 on Spotify music libraries might not want to work with that track, correct?
Cheers, Priscilla! 🙂
Not an issue at all.
iTunes/Spotify = selling your sound recording to individuals for personal consumption.
Music libraries = giving people the license to use your music (composition and sound recording) in their audiovisual projects that may or may not be for personal consumption.
These are two very different things. (Have been meaning to write a post about the difference, thanks for the timely reminder!)
What can happen is that some libraries or supervisors want to work with unsigned, fairly unknown artists to get an indie edge BUT…. aside from custom music made for a specific project, most of the music you hear in commercials, movies, on TV, YouTube, etc. was released publicly before it was licensed.
Thank you, you’re so helpful as always and I love your sunny vibe. Music licensing can be a little confusing at times.😟
Regarding my question, it’s good to know, iTunes here I go lol 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂 I know how confusing music business stuff can get at times!
great post Joyce, love it when experience does the talking – thanks for sharing!
I’ve found that collaboration is indeed key and often helps get things from good to great – it’s the combination of energies I guess.
anyway, I’m writing a lot of lyrics at the moment (in addition to music) and as ever could use help in the mixing and production department, so would be happy to collab, if you’re interested!
keep them coming!!
My pleasure 🙂
If you’ve got some stem files or demos you’d like to share with me, feel free to send via email.