SOUND TOGETHER

Far be it from me to criticize DAWs. As they have brought us in the last decades not only in technical and artistic possibilities, but also in new talents thanks to their accessibility. What I wanted to highlight in this post is how much DAWs can condition us artistically. And quickly make us forget what really comes out of our guts. And above all to prevent us to finish a track.

• Music as a way of expression.
• Constraints, a creative engine.
• Verticality vs horizontality.
• Simple but not simplistic.
• The influence of DAWs on our decision making.

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Music as a way of expression.

“It is very easy to start a new project without even questioning yourself about what you are going to transmit through it.”

Thanks to the almost infinite possibilities offered to us by DAWs and the various digital and technological advances. It is very easy to start a new project without even questioning yourself about what you are going to transmit through it. And you will understand very quickly why I am saying this. How can you have any idea of how you are progressing in your production process, of the work you have to do to finish a track, if you don’t know what you want to express. The similarity between language and music is no longer in question. They both take the same cerebral pathway, which would suggest that our brains interpret music like a language.

Music could therefore be described as a “Vector of emotions and impressions”. Self-expression through music is first and foremost to link emotions that we can clearly identify with our own experience. Our own story, whether it is lived or imagined.

So ask yourself this question and never forget why you are starting a new project.

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Constraints, a creative engine.

“Deliberately choosing to impose constraints on ourselves puts us in a position of creativity, by moving away from our own habits.”

The freedom, flexibility and ergonomics that DAWs provide us to express ourselves artistically without limits can in fact quickly become a nightmare when it comes to finish a track. Indeed, it is precisely this great flexibility and the fact of being faced with almost infinite possibilities that prevents us from choosing a path and moving forward in this direction. Worse, this flexibility can easily mislead us and inevitably bring us back to what we have already experienced in the past. Deliberately choosing to impose constraints on ourselves puts us in a position of creativity, by moving away from our own habits. And above all these constraints will help us to stay focused on the essential, which is what we have decided to transmit through our music.

These artistic constraints that we could impose ourselves can be of different order. A palette of sounds (the choice of 2 or 3 synths, a selection of drums); Inspirations (a movie, a poem, a painting); Technical constraints (sample on vinyl, recording on tape) etc etc. Your imagination will make the decisions. And it’s a part of you, of your personality that will go through the project.

By adding a specific constraint to your working method, you will push your brain to break away from the traditional rules linked to your habits and your musical culture. Reducing the field of possibilities will lead you to take new directions.

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Verticality vs horizontality.

“Composing a track in a loop is to put aside one of the most important components of music, if not the most important: Time.”

I think that composing a track in a loop is to put aside one of the most important components of music. If not the most important: Time. Music is not music without a time scale. Just as a speech is not a speech without the minutes that pass, without the impressions of slowing down, of pausing, of breathing. And when we speak of musical structure, what is it if not the structure of the passing time? Music is about organizing sounds in a harmonious way, but organizing them through time. And it is thanks to the mastery of musical time that you will be able to affect the memory of your listeners.

What would be a melody if we were only aware of the current note ? It is because we remember the earlier notes that the melody comes to life. So you can see how important it is to elaborate from the very beginning a musical structure in relation with the message and/or the emotion you want to transmit. In other words: Work horizontally. Working vertically, you cannot judge the musical efficiency of an arrangement. If you can’t judge then you can’t know if the track is finish or not.

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Simple but not simplistic.

Once again. The field of possibilities being infinite through our DAWs it is very easy to fall into the trap of over-production. To constantly want to add details, complexity, and loose your first instinct, ruining the freshness of your ears and the instantaneity of your music, taking you further and further away from the potential and desire to finish a track. It’s a perfect timing, I talk about this idea of working in a reactive and not a cerebral way in “Mixing Mindset: I Will Tell You The Truth“. And I think that most of you think in this way: “Can I still add something? I prefer to think the other way around: “Can I still remove something? If you can simplify your music, you can be sure that its depth will be revealed.

“Simple” and “simplistic” are two totally different things. Simplistic refers to ideas of ignorance, inattention, or even laziness. Above all, simplistic means “considering only one side of things”. On the contrary, “simple” calls more for the notions of awareness, knowledge, sincerity and sophistication. Simple means “who acts with natural honesty and spontaneity”.

And it’s also nice to admit that imperfections can give life to your productions, I talk about it in this post: You Need to Add Errors to Your Productions.

“What he meant was actually very relevant. When complexity is visible it hides the depth of an emotion.”

I remember as a student at the Superior School of Music of Burgundy. My classical guitar mentor Olivier Pelmoine was listening to me playing the Allegro from the “Prelude, Fugue & Allegro BWV 998” by Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s an extremely difficult piece to play. Fast, physically exhausting, and requires a huge cerebral investment in the interpretation. He saw in my face my exhaustion and the pain in my fingers. He then told me that as a listener the impression of my performance would have been the following: “He played a very difficult piece”. This is what you have transmitted through your performance. You have to give the impression to the listeners that it is simple and their impression will no longer be factual “it is difficult” but emotional “it is beautiful”. What he meant was actually very relevant. When complexity is visible it hides the depth of an emotion.

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The influence of DAWs on our decision making.

Today with our increasingly powerful computers. We have at our disposal an almost infinite number of audio tracks and virtual instruments. The Beatles only had four tracks to record their masterpiece “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band“. The constraints of recording on four tracks forced the band and its producer George Martin to become amazing arrangers. But also to develop an extraordinary creativity.

“When everything can be changed all the time, there is no decision-making, and art is about making choices.”

Here is something else that could be a barrier to the finalisation of a track. It is the constant possibility to go back, to modify the synthesizers, the plugins, to correct, to “improve”. And to constantly postpone the artistic decisions. But how can we move forward if things are not frozen at a given moment. It’s when you decide to freeze an idea, to set it in stone with no way back, that you start to think artistically about the relevance of what you are doing. When everything can be changed all the time, there is no decision-making, and art is about making choices.

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