Musician Diaries

Last time I wrote about them here, I defined "demo", as  "Song that can be played from one extreme to the other". (More specifically, the crappy, one track recording of that song, which then will "feed" the whole audio works that, at the other side of the pipe, will give a full fledged song ready for distribution). Now I've refined the definition of demo by changing it to "Song that could be played LIVE". I consider this definition an improvement because it contains the previous one in a more "organic" way (if you play a song live you play it from one extreme to the other), but also adds the purpose, the endgame (the song must be listened to by someone to become a song), and in addition it allows a playful headroom for experimentation; the application of the definition will be different for every song in the making; you cannot play live something that is too disgregated, but you can play, and it's always great fun, on...

(This time I'm going to pass on music related world news. All I want to say is: some world we're living in. And fuck those guys.) As I get to know my process better, the latest epiphany I've had is that, with my current workflow and equipment, it pays off to split the "rehearsal" concept into at least two different kinds: 1) Rehearsal for arrangements: once reached the demo stage (which I described in an earlier post, "demo" defined as song-can-be-heard-from-beginning-to-end), in this rehearsal I play each of the instruments time after time figuring out ways to flesh out things, adding variations, inviting serendipity to add findings... 2) Rehearsal for recording: once the arrangements have been fully decided, this rehearsal is about building the muscle memory necessary so that you can record the part in the least numbers of takes possible (because I hate editing; in an ideal world no creative person should be punished with this task) This ...

I never was a big fan, but I respected Chris Cornell and I feel shocked by the news and compelled to say a few words in the light of this tragedy. The circumstances surrounding this cannot be sadder: a musician in his 50s-killing himself no matter how you put it-with some dark medication stuff involved-when nothing seemed to show problems and there was even a new album from his seminal band in the wings. Another factor that adds to the shock for me is that I always considered Cornell one of those members of the rock community who "played it safe", in a Foo Fighters kind of way. And this is not said as a criticism, I think the forest needs all kinds of birds and trees, and it's a good thing for the whole if there are a few bands out there that go mainstream and fill stadiums and are listened to and considered acceptable by the "stiffer ones". Different human views create different kinds of music and flavors, and to me both the stances "hey peopl...

A key factor of Lean is that it places a big importance on handouts. (Or: if calling "Lean" to this way of doing things inspired by Ono & Co is pretentious, let's call it "systemic thinking", instead - Seeing everything there is to do like a process, a box or tube where you put something in at one extreme and get something out at the other.) Only as long as each process is well defined you can be sure what the "out-put" will be, and therefore what "in" is the next process going to receive. This principle works exactly the same way when you're working in a factory, with the guy putting rubber frames on the car window that you just fixed with screws, and when you're just working with yourself, receiving a drum track you just recorded, on top of which you're going to add a bass track; if such drum track is handed to you under a certain fixed, predefined parameters, if you know what to expect beforehand, it ...

I'm usually very unusual in everything I do. Some people think that I do it on purpose, but I think more of some kind of astrological thing. For example, one thing that happens to me often is that I find very easy to do certain things that other people can't even think of, but the opposite is also true. Taking this to the realm of music, I find that the problem I set out to solve and I was writing about in this blog, is only a problem for myself. In a way, our current world is "dying of success"; technological success. Lots of eyes and neurons focused on the same field create excellency on that field, and that's what we've seen in the field of information management technology. I wish we had a tenth of the same achievement in the moral field (and moral, from the latin mores, habits, includes artistic creation). In that realm we are in the most absolute of miseries. It's like a person with one leg of 10,000 tons and the other weighti...

I've just finished doing some mixing, for the first time in ~10 days. I hope this system stays stable, in fact I hope this is the last time I have to do reinstallings in this machine (to which I wish a long and prosperous life, btw). Anyways, so far so good. Each day I feel less certain about the point of this blog. At first it seemed like a good idea because it was something nobody was doing; trying to apply Lean thinking to the realm of musical creation. But the thing is, even in realms where Lean is a more common term, those Lean sites and articles are more often than not preaching to the choir. Their role (and very good at that) is keeping the morale high, creating a supportive community of practice, and also point you to the right tool or the right sensei when you are learning. But in all of them you will find often mentioned that: 1) You learn Lean by doing, not by reading about it, and 2) You cannot "do Lean" to someone. Its about practicing until one ...

Creating music is an organic process, part of which is  uncontrollable and mysterious (as a good mental practice, I take good care of reminding myself very often that here I'm the lightning rod, not the lightning, and I pity those musicians who see it otherwise). I had an example of such uncontrollability this very morning, when in the first mists of awakening I overheard distinctly an instrumental tune. I wasn't feeling particularly musical this morning, in fact I was like "What? Now? Couldn't you come back on Thursday?" Anyways, at this point I've gone through the process lots of times already, so I knew the drill; I can moan all I want about it, and it's true that it's cold outside the blankets, and that I have to pee, and I'm hungry, but that chunk of music in my head at that moment is like a beautiful figure of ice that is melting quickly as I stroll, and in the crucial period before it leaves, all that matters is if I will ge...