2010
I've got this thing in my head that needs to get out. Unusually (for me, anyhow) it's not music, but rather a piece of actual physical art. It is driving me quite crazy; to say I'm obsessing over it would be to understate the matter mightily.
Now, I have absolutely zero training in fine art, unless you count surrealist experiments in grammar school with construction paper and paste. So I'm not entirely sure how to realize this particular piece of... what? I guess it'd be called sculpture, except it will hang on the wall. See? I don't even know the word for it.
But the whole zero training thing has never stopped me before. I didn't know how to sing, play an instrument, or write a song before I started a band (one which, let's be honest, was rather derivative but still managed to move quite a few albums), and I didn't know the first thing about code, 3D modeling software, or Photoshop before joining with Adam to start a plug-in company (and we all know how that worked out). As a rule, I don't consider prior knowledge or experience particularly important to the realization of any given goal.
I've always found people that are highly trained and skilled in one particular facet of creativity to be somewhat intimidating. Being a Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None sort of person, I admire the singular drive that creates mastery, but only as a spectator. I'm simply not wired that way, as far as I can tell. I often set out to learn a particular skill, but I'm always distracted by the Shiny at some point in the process, and end up traipsing off in to parts unknown.
Anyhow, as a return to the subject, in order to realize this particular piece of wall-sculpture, I need a fairly large supply of a very particular thing: 1" x 6" boards that have been in the Arizona sun for several decades. You'd think this'd be relatively easy to find here, what with the preponderance of abandoned dwellings and businesses that dot the landscape, but so far in my travels around the state I've only found one suitable source, and these were still being used as a roof. I was tempted to take 'em anyhow, but I thought about how pissed I'd be if I lived out in the middle of nowhere and some Big City douchebag stole my roof while I wasn't there, and that tempered my acquisition syndrome somewhat.
So the search continues, and I'm left with the lingering understanding that the creative process is never easy, nor should it be, no matter what form the end product takes. There ain't no autotune for this particular endeavor, and it has made me appreciate my normal creative process immensely. Don't get me wrong: if you work for a commercial music house, get your looptastic autotune on, by all means. But in the comfort of your own home studio, is "easy" the best path? Does the end result lack credence because it was easy to make? Or is the one that fights the hardest the most satisfying in the end?
You might want to try to find some material that’s close to your needs and throw it out in your yard or some spot in the desert you can remember. I’m from AZ and you might not realize how quickly the sun does it’s work out there. Not by next week, but soak them in some water and throw them out in the sun and see what they look like next year. Meanwhile, keep searching. Your boards may be ready before you find the right ones.
There are people who can’t be happy unless the creative process is difficult, and make everything harder than it needs to be. Those people make me nuts in the studio. They usually hurt themselves and the final result, but are convinced they’ve made it better.
On the other hand I don’t understand premade loops and such (excepting Bud commercials and such). There are people are the KVR board about a recent Sampletank soundest buy who are complaining about the vintage keyboard samples. Apparently the Arp is a sampled Arp, and that bums them out. They are expected to add their own compression, eq, effects, etc, and the reaction is mostly “WTF?”. If you’re going to use mix ready sounds and loops, what part of the process is yours? The melody? I’d be surprised if any of the complainers actually have one.
bb
posted June 27, 2010 by bongo_x
maybe it's a midwestern, puritan work ethic thing for artists to inherently question the validity of their work simply because they cannot say exactly where it came from or that it wasn't work like digging a trench?
if the journey is the thing, i'm just grateful i've chosen a creative pursuit that is so all-consuming and without clear direction. i can do this the rest of my life and never know if i'm getting anywhere. there are no maps for these territories.
i wouldn't want it any other way.
posted June 27, 2010 by tngregory
I am on a similar path for a particular sound I am trying to find.. it is a metallic pipe breaking (ish) type of sound... hammer smashing it against concrete, blah blah blah... I know I have heard it somewhere, but just can't find it, even though I have been searching for months.
However, I am getting ready to try my own experiment... as I happen to have a spare large diameter metal pipe (well, I will, as soon as I fix the fence that has collapsed underneath the massive hedge separating my neighbor's and my lawn)... my neighbor has some spare concrete slabs, and the alley in between our brick houses has a nice ambience to it. I already cleared my eventual plan with him - and he certainly looked at me with weird concern... but then again, he is very used to weird sounds coming out of my house.
posted June 27, 2010 by mad ep
I'm the same kind of Jack rather than Master. I find I'm always thinking of doing Ableton-type things in After Effects and After Effects things in oil on canvas. Something that wouldn't necessarily occur to a Master.
posted June 27, 2010 by shagrake
But that's neither here nor there. As tngregory says, the journey is the destination in this case.
-CR
posted June 27, 2010 by Chris Randall
Like this link [4.bp.blogspot.com]
posted June 27, 2010 by bassling
posted June 27, 2010 by ZombieStomper
I realize that question might sound strange to anyone outside the American west, as antique shops are supposed to contain finely polished priceless old lamps and credenzas and armoires and such, but there's a certain type of antique shop I've run across in Utah, Oregon, Texas, and Idaho that has tons of old farm implements, rusty old whatsits, and bits of old barns.
The more rural the area, the more likely a shop will have that sort of thing.
Good luck!
posted June 27, 2010 by Michael Moncur
I'm definitely on the right track there; just have to find the correct scenario.
Just to be clear, I won't be purchasing any old wood, from anybody. It's like buying loops. Just not something I do. But that wasn't really the point of the post, was it?
-CR
posted June 27, 2010 by Chris Randall
![link [4.bp.blogspot.com]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q1iaVSxRBPs/Sc9T7zZPZZI/AAAAAAAAAGY/wxqYn-Zvsdw/s320/Rosalie_Gascoigne.jpg){kind=link}
One facet of my creativity where a similar search has taken hold is in my sampling. I'm not talking just about the using of some random break I stumbled across just cos "it happens to work" or what have you... I am talking about having an exact idea in my head of the exact timbre and punch of a single drum hit that I am looking for - and sometimes, if necessary, I will dig for months until I find it. Almost worse, is when I KNOW I have heard an exact recorded sound that I want to sample... but I have no idea what it is, who it was by, when it was recorded, etc etc... just somehow it snuck in to my sub-conscious sound-roledex, and I just keep searching in earnest till I have found it. I have had tracks stay on the back burner for over a year or two for that exact reason. A bit over-the-top, perhaps... and to anyone else, it might not make a difference. But if it makes a difference to me, then the struggle is always worth it.
Sometimes, some sounds I have in my head are just generic guidelines, but others, they are absolutes that I cannot make due with anything but the exact sound I am looking for. "Sounds pretty close" simply will not do....
posted June 27, 2010 by mad ep