The ol’ bag of tricks feels like it has gotten a significant upgrade lately. Making a list of track names before I have any music at all has been brilliant for tricking me into getting started in the studio because with a working title it feels like there is more of a plan. When I look at the list of titles, I have some idea of how that track should sound and because it’s in a list there’s an apparent functionality to it due to its placement. There are some of us who still believe in albums! But what I’m learning is that although I have motivated myself by believing that there is a plan, there is, in fact, no plan.
I was dead certain that what I was doing last night had to have a certain instrumentation to it. When I read the title I knew, I mean I really KNEW that it was destined to be something in particular. My hands didn’t agree. In fact, nothing agreed. The more I played around the more I saw that it had to be something else entirely. Trying to force preconceived notions onto a muse (or whatever) is a losing battle. Sometimes you’re going to paint the Mona Lisa and sometimes you’re going to paint a helicopter. There’s not much wisdom in trying to make one out of the other.
Learning to roll with it is something that came to me relatively easily. It’s one of the few life lessons I got from doing plays (the other one being don’t date actresses unless you absolutely must). Even as a high school student in front of a crowd of friends and parents the addictive nature of laughter and applause quickly teaches give and take. Interpreting lines or melodies based on reactions and things that are truly outside of your control is an excellent skill to have. Now my home studio is about as far from a stage as you can get but the same lessons apply. I’m the only person in the room but my internal editor, the part of me that does the composing, and my hands all have equal say in what gets done. When two of them are stacked against the other, changes are made. Adapt or go read a book!
Last night I went from wanting to write something very sparse with little melody to something that sounds like Adrian Belew in a surf band. Tantalizing? It probably doesn’t sound like that at all, but when I go to pimp my album you’d better believe I will mention it. I really enjoy the result and I look forward to working on it more today. But it isn’t what I thought it would be. It turns out that’s OK. My new working philosophy is more about doing the work than doing the work I plan or envision. I know I’m supposed to be doing something but until I do it there isn’t much point in fretting over it or getting set up for a particular result. This is something that I will revisit soon.
In other completely unrelated news, it seems that Apple shipped Logic Studio 9 without telling me. I am not the kind of guy who keeps his head in the sand when it comes to software so I was a little unnerved when this was sprung on me by a buddy of mine. I’ve gotten a dozen emails from Apple about Snow Lepoard which will set me back $49 but nothing at all about a $199 upgrade to the new Logic? Not cool, yo. It’s a tradition (since Leopard…shut up, this is Texas and if you do something twice it’s a tradition! Or maybe that’s just A&M…) to go to the Apple store on the day the new OS is released so that three generations of nerds with the same first and last name can buy the best commercial UNIX package out there! I might have to sneak over and pick up Logic while I’m out. It’s not quite like dropping a pack of Juicy Fruit into the cart while mom isn’t looking but the requisite skills for successful execution are the same (does my wife read this blog? I should check the logs). In any case, the new audio editing features are something out of Blade Runner‘s “enhance image” scenes. Being able to push audio around like that is the stuff of dreams for a music tech grad student in 1995. It’s the kind of stuff that will be bread and butter for pop music but a powerful tool for expression in the hands of someone willing to use it in unconvetional ways. And don’t get me started on the new guitar stuff. That pedal board feature makes me giggle. Really, it does. Expect more chatter about this as events warrant.
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