Stuck? Make something silly

25. August 2011 · 2 comments

Brain: What’s going on, Kristian? Are you stuck for inspiration again?

Me: Well, yeah … *looks down*, but I have this unstoppable urge to make something I don’t know what yet but I want to make the best music in the universe and history of all things and all times and I want to do it now despite not being able to think of a single good idea A.S.A.P.!

Brain: It has worked for us before, and here’s what to do:

  1. Snap out of the imaginary future, and into the present. The future doesn’t exist yet, and you can’t change the past. Re-read “The Power of Now” or “Way of the Peaceful Warrior“.
  2. Enjoy the moment. Making music was fun when you first inserted the Dance eJay 3 disc a decade ago. It’s even more fun now that you’re a wizard.
  3. Stop taking yourself so seriously. People’s lives don’t depend on you. You’re just a guy playing with sound legos on your computer.
  4. Make the silliest/shittiest music imaginable. Get those GM sounds going, baby! Detune! Music theory is imaginary! You now love those horrible audio effects you never use! Excessive sidechain compression! Jolly blip-blop!
  5. Okay, so that turned out pretty horrible/amazing, and you had a great time doing it. Repeat the process until you unexpectedly get a good idea. Make background loops out of those horrible projects, and insert them to the good ones.

Kristian: Well, the first points sound reasonable, but won’t point 4 and 5 cast me into silliness oblivion?

Brain: Dunno. Maybe the silliness enables the free mindset required for really good ideas? Don’t ask me, I’m just a brain.

Kristian: I suppose so. It has worked before come to think of it. I guess I’ll just keep doing that until I find out how to make good music every single time.

Brain: Making good music isn’t anything to sweat over. Just do as I say – spread and inspire the free and wonderful wizard mindset in yourself and others. This is how it works, trust me on that!

Kristian: You’re just a yucky lump in my head; I have problems trusting yucky lumps, and I suppose many people do. But then again, you do a very good job at keeping me alive and stuff.

Brain: No brain, no gain.

Collections of silly bits and pieces

Firstly, I’ve gathered quite a bit of my tunes dating all the way back to 2000/2001 at my old music site. You’ll hear a pre-teen let loose with Dance eJay 3 and a microphone.

As of lately, I’ve become quite fond of chiptunes and soundfonts. Check out my jolly blip-blop tunes at SoundCloud:

  • http://draconum.net Draconum

    I love your philosophy about music. I wish more people could see it this way.

    Furthermore, I’m somewhat inspired to consider writing my own blog about my music creation process and thoughts about the scene(s). This is a great resource and probably has helped you through your own musical struggles.

    +++

    • http://www.rognalf.com Kristian

      Thanks! Yeah, I share your wish. I’ve seen amazing amateur artists stop making music, partly because they didn’t focus enough on telling a story or experience, but also because they took themselves too seriously.

      My writings have indeed helped me regain focus, especially in the timespan right after making an amazing tune.

      Please do start a blog, and give me the link; I would love to read other people’s perspectives in depth! This guy started something good, but he only has two articles, and the last one was posted in may: http://thejadedmusician.wordpress.com/

      It’s time to bring forth a visual/dream/experience/storytelling oriented focus in electronic music, rather than the current technical focus.

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