How once I decided I wanted to create more music, I suddenly got handed two remix projects, but then… I dropped the ball. Epic fail? Nah. I still learned good lessons.
Tag: creativity
Stuck in a Creative Hole for 3 Years
It’s been a long time.Probably about three years (or more) since I last produced a new Acid42 track.Here’s how circumstance and collaborators brought me out of the creative hole I was languishing in.
I Have 28 Days to Record a New Album
Back in 2010, I joined a month-long music challenge: to produce and record an album within the 28 days of February. The result was my third full-length album, Experimentum Crucis, which I am mighty proud of. I’ve decided to join the fray again this year and align myself with other crazed musicians squeezing their creativity out in a month of quick decisions and quick edits that we call the RPM Challenge 2013.
Creativity Lessons from a Nine-Year Old Boy and His Cardboard Arcade
Nine-year old Caine Monroy built an entire game arcade out of cardboard boxes, tape, brown paper bags, calculators and string — because he wanted to own and manage his very own arcade. And that goal pushed him toward a creative endeavour that fulfilled his artistic need.
Organizing Audio Files, Filenames and Templates
Booting up your computer and then starting up your recording software already takes time away from that idea you had for a killer tune. To make your songwriting and production process more efficient, you need to move away from choosing your instrument patches, effects settings, and mixer setups every time you boot your DAW. Here are three tips that might just allow the creativity to flow.
2 Creative Tips: Capture All, Delete Nothing
There are two maxims I live by in creating music and ensuring there is a constant flow of ideas in my creative process: Capture All and Delete Nothing. A comprehensive explanation follows on my process.
Balalaika or: What to Do When You’re Creatively Stuck
Stuck on a musical idea? Here are 2 possible solutions: share it and sit on it. This is the story of how I got stuck on a song idea and how doing those two actions allowed the song to evolve into something much better than its original.
Creative MIDI Sequencing Tips and “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang”
The track was born during the 2005 recording sessions for my EP “Kodomo”, I asked vocalist Yu:Mi Calderon to sing any old Filipino folk song that she knew by heart. She sang the first verse of “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang” into the microphone, acapella — with no backing track, no fixed tempo and no designated key. I figured, I may someday use it. I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it though.
Musical Dissonance or Purposeful Chaos?
I had been listening to some amateurish Middle Eastern electronic music borrowed from the public library which set some bellydancing rhythms to breakbeats and drum patterns. The results were far from stellar, prompting me to post my disdain for a lot of dissonant music which strikes me as lazy rather than artistic. A chat conversation soon followed with fellow musician and music producer Mark Redito (aka Spazzkid) of MyParasol who reminded me that some of it is done on purpose and we ought not to judge. Here is the edited transcript:
Art Now: Do Something With What You Have
While it’s good to ask around and find out what others use, don’t get so hung up about gear and brands and tools and materials that you forget that dynamic energy that wans to burst out of you because you have something you need to say through your art.
The point I always try to stress to those starting out in any creative endeavor, whether in visual art or music, sculpture or writing, is that you already do possess tools right under your nose that you can utilize in order to create your art.