| Compose Yourself In these days of automation-belt music production -- click Button A to generate a perfectly “correct” (and soul-less) dance track, ambient track, drum and bass track, etc. -- it is absolutely vital that you master the art of composing yourself. Do you have a deep love of 50s sci-fi soundtracks? Reach for the sine-wave generators and plate reverb. Are you a classic pop-song afficionado? Sprinkle your tracks with singable hooks. Did you cut your musical teeth listening to the Sex Pistols? Make machine-gun drum tracks and raging vocals. Is your iPod an encyclopedia of hip-hop? Gate everything and compress like mad. Is Henry Mancini a guilty pleasure? Weave catchy movie melodies into your pieces. Do marching-band drum grooves set your heart a flutter? Build your drum parts around paradiddles. Heavy metal? Bring on the power chords! Ragtime? (I know, it’s a stretch.) Incorporate Scott Joplin tunes into your latest IDM tracks. Noise? Turn up the feedback. Silence? Leave gaping holes in your grooves. Spending years (a lifetime, perhaps) learning how to create clones of
what tens of thousands of others are creating is a profound waste of individual
human spirit. I would go so far as to call it tragic, a snuffing out of
the precious spark of unique personal vision. Don’t let this happen
to you and your music! Instead, identify and celebrate the one-of-a-kind
hodgepodge of musical proclivities, quirks, and talents that is you ..
and no one else. Learn how to compose yourself. |