What’s the point of it all?
When Music Flows — and When It Doesn’t
When I make music, the way I see it, it can go either one of two ways. Either it’s a fast, enjoyable session of consecutive flow states, where ideas get metastasized into recorded audio without too much friction or effort. Or it’s a drawn-out process, where I try lots of different ideas to see which ends up being the most interesting to me. And most of the time, I just end up being humbled by realizing that “jamming it out” doesn’t lead to very interesting results.
The first one is definitely where I want to be every time, but yeah, it’s not always possible. I’ve been trying to figure out why and get to the root of the problem for many years now. Most other music people I talk to seem to have a similar experience. They often claim that their most interesting and successful tracks were made pretty quickly, without too much effort put into things like composing or production technique, and instead were kept simple and to the point. Usually, on the flip side, the tracks they spent hours, days, weeks (years?) trying to get “just right,” end up feeling like they weren’t worth the effort in the end. There’s also of course the fact that the listener obviously does not care how much production effort was put into a track.
I think this is true for a lot of people making music, whether they’re multi-platinum selling artists who do nothing but write music full-time, or someone brand new, trying out software instruments for the first time on a laptop after installing their first DAW. So why is that? What’s that all about?
It seems to me that one big difference between being able to flesh out a quick song or track idea in minutes (keeping the momentum going until the main structure is basically done) versus struggling to come up with even the most basic hook for hours, is preparation. What kind of state of mind are you even in to begin with, going into the studio?
I think it’s important to think about why we do the things we do in general.
-What do we want to get out of it?
-How should they get done?
With music, there are lots of different methods for writing a track. Let’s say you’re two people working on a collaboration and you want to meet for a jam session. You might start by going through different sonic textures and vibing along for a whole session, feeding off each other’s input, adding different sounds, sequences, rhythms. One thing added after another.
This is typically an awesome method, not just because of the playful, open-ended jam-like structure, but probably mostly because of the fact that you’re more than one individual working together. To make music in this way while being alone, at least in my experience, isn’t equally successful all that often. I think this has to do with the absence of feedback systems, and the tendency for a single producer/composer to be pretty self-critical.
When you’re more than one person, you can critique and give feedback on one another’s moves. That helps the process move forward by encouraging incremental changes - subtracting, adding, refinements, etc. When you’re alone, the introspective critique many times halts the process completely. You might work on a loop that you absolutely liked and grooved along with, only to decide an hour later that it’s “garbage,” or “too cheesy,” or “probably pointless.”
A few things happen to make you feel this way. One is that it’s simply been repeating for too long for your mind to stay interested, even if it’s actually a great idea. Another is that you don’t have a counterpoint to your critical voice, the way a jamming partner might have offered a different angle. The result is that the idea gets scrapped and you move on to the next. Rinse and repeat, and you’ve wasted a full afternoon on what were probably several good ideas fully worthy of completion. Argh!
So what can we do instead?
Well, instead of jamming solo with an open-ended, experimental mindset, I think the way to go into any session is to have a great idea from the beginning that you follow up with and craft building block after building block as you go along. Oh great—but what about all those times when there is no idea?
I think with practice and repetition, we all get better at having ideas come out. When we go into the studio or sit down at our laptops and open Ableton, Cubase, Logic or whatever else, it’s important to already be decided on what we want to do. First, you need to decide on what genre you’re working in, what subset of styles the track will fall into, and what kind of sonic vibe you’re going after.
Most musicians always have ideas for beats, sounds, or textures floating inside their heads, it’s just a matter of tapping into it. Don’t sit down and start going through sample loops or kick drums to see what idea “pops up.” You should have a clear vision of what kind of sound you want to achieve.
I promise: once you get into the routine of this, you’ll get to the main “sauce” of your track idea much quicker, and finish the bulk of the arrangement before your brain starts to shut down and tells you it’s had enough. The first session of making a track shouldn’t be spent on crafting cool breakdowns, drops, or adding musical ear candy! It’s much better to save that for the next session and instead focus on getting a great, interesting vibe going.
I’ve had MANY tracks over the years where I actually finished everything—including all those little arrangement tweaks—in the first day. But I can tell you, that was only possible because I went into the session already knowing what I had in mind, and was laser-focused on the outcome. That’s how the flow state happens, with no (at least less) obstacles.
Of course, there were lots of times where I had no idea what I wanted when I started. And yup, lots of those tracks still sit on my hard drive to this day. It’s hard to say exactly what the main element is, what the track is really about, or what’s supposed to be interesting about it. No wonder. If I had no idea from the beginning, it’s pretty unlikely that a series of random musical events would lead to something cohesive in the end.
Because that’s what we want to achieve: a solid track that is understandable to the listener, no matter how crazy or unusual it may be.
Happy music making :)