Changing your mind every 5 seconds

Babz · Post by **Babz** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:05 am

This quote captures exactly what I've been trying to put into words for a long time.

“Changing your mind every five seconds doesn’t necessarily get you better results.”

It comes from an article about the slow death of 35mm film, the last bastion of analog, it seems. But the same feeling rings true for us in the audio realm, where the days of tape are a long-buried memory at this point. It serves as a reminder, as I spend 2 1/2 hours auditioning 6000 kick drums, why it's easier than ever to make a record, but harder than ever to get anything done!

Here is the full quote in context, as well as a link to the full article:

"However, photographers have a phrase—“spray and pray”—for the hyperactivity that “cheap” digital technologies inspire. Some argue that digital cameras can breed indiscipline on a film set. Why aim for one perfect take, when a flurry of ten or 20 won’t cost much more? By contrast, the whir of a film camera in action is the sound of money burning.

Working with film imposes a rigor, traditionalists argue. As one Hollywood post-production expert tells me, “Changing your mind every five seconds doesn’t necessarily get you better results.” "

-- http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1194 ... -35mm-film

Sigh,
Babz

crduval · Post by **crduval** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:19 am

That's a great post. When you have multiple options and seemingly infinite resources so that you can tweak everything and can manipulate time and pitch, it is so easy to dive into incredible time wasting minutiae. Limitations help keep me focused on the end game. Sometimes I impose limitations to avoid too much audio navel-gazing!

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MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:09 am

There are "technical" considerations and there are "artistic" considerations. Once you commit to a technical aspect such as film v. digital you have to live with the consequences. On the artistic side (you're 6k drum samples are a great example) it's more of not actually knowing what you (the editorial you, not you, per se, Babz) wants or is trying to finally arrive at. It's just throwing crap at the wall and hoping something will stick. A very bad way of working, IMO, lacking the most important thing a creative artist can have: vision. Vision is not trying many things hoping it pops out of your speakers or from your performers like a homunculus - fully formed and ready to go.

IMO the "trick" is having a fairly strong image of your final product and only including those aspects that support that image. As Brahms famously said: the notes I put in my music are not as important as the notes I leave out. Pursue options, for sure, but only pursue options that support your vision. Then it's not a matter of "changing your mind" but rejecting what doesn't contribute to the product you can already see formed inside your mind, and that is like a homunculus - if you're lucky.

ps- leave room for mistakes! Sometimes the "wrong choice" is exactly what's needed to breakthrough to a new level of artistry.

Jackson Pollok comes to mind...

Babz · Post by **Babz** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 9:38 am

I believe it was Brian Eno who said something like "You don't need a zillion choices, only a few really good ones."

I try to practice this, MLC. I really do. For example, reverb. I use the same hall reverb 90% of the time. Years back, I spend an afternoon auditioning hundreds of reverbs, found the one I liked best, and now I don't have to waste time on that choice most of the time.

As for "the vision thing" … I come from the tape-o-zoic era, so I am used to conceiving it all in my head first. Even still, I may know I want strings, or piano, but I don't currently have a go-to option for those that works 90% of the time. (I used to have an actual Steinway, and an actual Rhodes.)

At least I don't waste time on tuning now.

Then there is the question of the type of project. Nowadays with electronica-based projects increasingly de riguer, discovery (with all of its Cageian aleatories and Jungian synchronicities, and yea even Pollockian accidents), discovery is often at the heart of the process. This leads to an ever-bloating sound palette, and severe GAS rationalization, which is why you end up with 6000 kick drum samples, because only punks use those cliched presets, so every subatomic audio boson has to be hand-crafted by artisan Keebler elves. In other words, I need a team of unpaid interns to do all the bricklaying so that the maestro can get back to the supreme throne of high concepts and opiated visions of Xanadu. Instead I get to be the unpaid intern AND the unpaid visionary.

Babz

Tobor · Post by **Tobor** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 9:52 am

LOL...let's opiate!

Nice 'vision' response, MLC. Suddenly it came to me why I have 350 unfinished 'full length' songs that started as explorations or spur of the moment paint flinging. Some good ideas to be sure, lots of happy accidents, but as I listen to them to figure out where to cut and edit, I end up enjoying them for what they are...even though I wouldn't dare play them for anyone because they're....unfinished.

OTOH, I do a lot of jingles. In this realm I am disciplined. I picture the entire theme beforehand because that's what I want to be remembered by the listener. Only then do I start looking for supporting instruments and grooves. I finish the projects by the deadline and rarely have to re-do them because they just work.

Thanks for planting the idea to use the same concept in my long form compositions. At least some of the time!

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:09 am

I was going thru some scores I wrote in the early 1970s yesterday. Some are 2 and 3 measure "sketches" (yeah, I was as green as they come) which would make better fire starters than song starters.

Don't misunderstand my earlier post. I'm a huge fan of experimentation and serendipity, especially when it comes to electronic scores. And I also believe that one can severely limit oneself if too "set" in what the results "should" be. Probably the biggest problem we composers and designers have with producers: they want a John Williams score and that's that. I have no problem telling them to either get Mr. W himself or pay me what they pay him and I can deliver a wonderful score for the Boston Symphony to perform. I'll even throw in conducting it for an extra mil or two. And no, they aren't buying it out. LOL.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:38 am

I like this better:

... it's easier than ever to make a record, but harder than ever to get anything done!

I feel that every time I do a drum track in software. Composing it on my RX11 was always easier; playing it on my kit was easiest. Sold the kit when we had babies and needed the room; sold the Yamaha when something newer! better! more versatile! came out. Sold that when I found it a time consuming pain to program.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:07 am

Maybe a Trigger Finer or other pad based input device would help?

Tobor · Post by **Tobor** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:13 am

mikehalloran wrote: I feel that every time I do a drum track in software. Composing it on my RX11 was always easier; playing it on my kit was easiest. Sold the kit when we had babies and needed the room; sold the Yamaha when something newer! better! more versatile! came out. Sold that when I found it a time consuming pain to program.

I don't know if you use EZDrummer, but EZDrummer2's timeline drag and drop is really nice and intuitive as opposed to dragging to DP. It's essentially the same thing but with more information and just seems a whole lot easier.

BKK-OZ · Post by **BKK-OZ** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:05 pm

A work of art is never finished, it is abandoned.
- da Vinci

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:20 pm

Here are some things I've learned since I was originally excited about all the possibilities in the digital world:

• Don't seek out the best sample. Just look until you find one you can work with. Nobody else is ever going to know the difference.

• Over time you will collect some favorites. They are your favorites for a reason. Use them and respect them. Don't think you have to change because someone else comes along with "better" ones. Change when YOU need to, and when you know WHY you need to.

• A virtual instrument that is easily playable, that takes nuance and expression well, is far better than a more expensive one that "sounds" better. That better sound, when played stiff like a starched shirt, will distract even someone with a tin ear, and people will say "I can always tell when it's done in MIDI." The one that plays like a dream may sound less real when naked and exposed without nuance, but in action, and especially in ensemble, it will convince the best ears that it is "real."

• Try to do it in one take. Really push yourself as a performer, and push your performers, too.

• If you don't get it in one take, keep trying. Don't just say "I'll get it in post." Editing stuff is WAYYY harder than playing it right.

• Only give up and resolve to do it in post when it's obvious that no amount of persuasion, confidence building, fear of death or intimidation is going to make it happen while the recorder is rolling.

• Ask for help. People love to help. But they won't help if you don't ask. Especially if you are the one with the intimidating snarl on your lips.

• Some of the best art is produced through collaboration.

• When collaborating, remember what the word means. It doesn't mean you get to tell your collaborators how you want them to do it. That's not collaborating, and it doesn't bring you any of the benefits of collaboration. For collaboration to happen, your fellow artists must have free rein to do what they do best. Trust in that. 99% of the time, that makes it better. The other 1%, maybe you chose the wrong partner, or maybe you just can't see their vision. Give it a chance, anyway. After all... maybe THEY chose the wrong partner, and are giving YOU a chance.

• Don't talk about it until it's done. Talking about it is like letting the air pressure out of a tire. It just won't drive after that.

• There are two kinds of tools: YOUR tools, and BETTER tools. Use YOUR tools. Why? Because the better ones, in your hands, become mediocre tools, until you learn them. You got a couple years to learn them? I didn't think so. Use YOUR tools. Oh... and those better tools aren't really better. It's a "grass is greener" kind of thing.

• Always know people like Babz to rock you off high center when you get stuck. Their intellect and wit are indispensable in this world.

• Avoid working with people who are overly litigious. But it's still a good rule not to speak directly about any project you are doing or have done with anyone. It's just too easy for someone to say "you violated our NDA; we're suing you." (been there multiple times for "infractions" that I never DREAMED would "violate" any agreement.) Litigious people take away all the reasons for working other than getting paid. It's just not a good way to spend a career.

• Quit procrastinating. If you aren't sure of yourself, fake the first moves. Once you fake it for a little while, you suddenly realize that you aren't faking at all. You can do this. And that goofing around you were doing while faking it? Those are what we call ideas. They will help guide this project to a far better conclusion than if you'd just started doing what someone told you to do.

And speaking of that, I've got recordings to make, and I'm procrastinating. Bye for now.

Shooshie

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:08 pm

Great post, as usual, Shoosh!

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:38 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Great post, as usual, Shoosh!

Yep.

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MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:54 pm

I changed my mind. It's just an OK post.... no, wait, it was mediocre, no, no it was fantastic... no, it sucked...

DAMN! I"VE STARTED CHANGING MY MIND AND I CAN'T STOP NOW.

Where's my Strife Alert button when I need it? (Don't answer that.)

BKK-OZ · Post by **BKK-OZ** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 3:57 am

Shooshie wrote:...Quit procrastinating...
Shooshie

But that is the only thing I know for sure I am good at!

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