This video made me think of how media in general tend to romanticise artists with mental illnesses, as if the suffering is what makes an artist excel in their craft. As someone who's had a long history of poor mental health, I can say this is based on pure nonsense; I've been doing music for over 10 years, and only recently have I managed to make songs I feel somewhat satisfied with, and your video made me realize why: I have *never* been in a good emotional state.
I think that's correlation, not causation. I have known musicians who claim they can't write (or even practise bass, ffs) if they're not stoned/high/drunk/tripping. I've known some who swear they can't write unless they're in a bad way, and claim that it's some trauma which causes the work to flow unbidden. I tend to dismiss both as inaccurate. I've never bought into the whole "you have to suffer for your art" thing. It's fallacious. Stewart Copeland used to make fun of Sting for this very stance. Even he said it's bullsht, and I respect Stewart. Incidentally, I've got three anxiety spectrum disorders, and I can tell you that they've never done anything but hinder my creativity by exhausting me. The OCD (clinical) tendencies may help with the perfectionism of mixing/mastering, but inasfar as pure creativity goes, they're nothing but a drain on resources in my experience.
From Wikipedia: Schaffer (2013) proposed 7 flow conditions: - Knowing what to do. - Knowing how to do it. - Knowing how well you are doing. - Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved). - High perceived challenges. - High perceived skills. - Freedom from distractions. Schaffer also published a measure, the Flow Condition Questionnaire (FCQ), to measure each of these 7 flow conditions for any given task or activity
"Knowing where to go" seems to be lacking among musicians, with ideas thrown around without a plan for the session. I try to hear the music in my head before I get it down, or try to plan for specific musical outcome every 10 minutes or so, rather than just pressing buttons randomly.
I've been in this state for nearly 5 years now! (not being able to write or get an idea even going)... And you're right thinking about it I've not been right emotionally for ages. When I started, I didn't think about or overthink what I was doing it just seemed to flow... I NEED to get back to that state.
interesting, something I've never thought about. There's definitely a block of time in the morning with my coffee that I seem to be the most productive and focused.
I keep starting tracks, then never finishing them. In fact, it is impossible to finish them because, as you say, I feel "paralyzed". I can no longer get into the same state because it was a fluke of a magic day, where everything fell into place. This is a horrible place to be in because I can't even riff on any ideas or try new stuff. There's just no inspiration to go back to that mood without the same life conditions being met.
i just found your channel today man and it's amazing, many blessings for you in your path and thank you for your kind words and all the knowledge you're sharing with us
Great video! As someone who is going through a “can’t write music for toffee” phase in my life this is a great video! Thanks man, hope you have more videos coming soon 😊
I’ve found that I’ve been incredibly productive this year - and the majority of the work has come about under very similar situations, usually commuting at the same times of day using the same transport - I couldn’t say how much my emotions have influenced the end product but I’ve noticed it’s become a lot easier to block out distractions and immerse myself into the work - getting the tracks together, or at least a draft of a tune, leaving all critical mixing/editing decisions until later on when I’m at my workstation. Unfortunately a lot of the music has come out somewhat “same-y” feeling... but I’m happy with how prolific I’ve been this year (mostly thanks to COVID!)
I think there's an element of self-reinforcement involved, though, inasfar as music creation vs state goes. Sometimes you have no idea (or at least only a partial idea) of what you're really aiming for, and you luck into something. It's like finding a free lottery ticket. You get a rush, you get excited, and you're inspired to keep going. However, it wasn't something you could easily harness, because it came from a fortuitously happy accident. You can't intentionally plan something which is inherently incidental. Yes, sometimes it happens after working on something industriously, like sound design, and conquering one part, and being inspired to rush forward. However, as starting points go, that particular kind of inspiration *within music-making itself* is not easily reproducible, in my experience. Also, not being exhausted from the day job does wonders.
I have been tackling this same subject for the last 5-6 years ("How to elicit emotions from your audience")? I wish we could hang out because I think we would have a marathon talk. You would agree that though we can influence our state, we can't control it 100% and more importantly we should not try to control it 100%. Why? That's a huge topic. Do you agree?
Really opened my eyes. I struggle to locate and stay in that creative state but this helped break it down. Thank you and please keep making these great videos!
Absolutely fantastic stuff. And interestingly enough I was thinking very strongly just yesterday about what you started off this video with as far as when u break it down greatness in music or any art form comes down to emotion... And really enjoyed where u took the video after that. Thank you 🙏
Underrated channel. Keep up the great work,man and thank you for the content-Looking forward to more videos. I would like to see more “cook up” videos where you breakdown how to remake rave/dance sounds in programs like serum.
I have literally spent my entire life trying to master state control, but not just for making music. I just want to be happy and doesn't everyone? To me this is such a basic concept, but very few individuals even know it's possible. I want more videos like this and would love to get Owen's thoughts about mental flexibility; in that when producers are making music we must not only find sounds and rhythms that elicit feelings, but we also must use critical thinking and logic to identify and adjust our project's MANY details. What is the best strategy for not letting this delicate balance power in our minds tip too far to one extreme?
i can see the appeal of thinking like this, but firstly this is very much geared towards making music successfully in streamlining your output, so in a sense strictly business. secondly i think its so important to teach people that music is art and the approach you choose is the correct approach as long as it allows you to produce and practice it. doing art or music is so intrinsically connected to your personal outlook and perspective and should transfer exactly that. so this might be a valid technique but its not even close to being a vital secret thats legit for everyone. for me eg the main reason i make music is to explore my emotions. i might infer an optimal state i want to find in there, but it would be useless for me to always be in an optimal state or anything like that. for the intention youre laying out its absolutely valid tho. just think this is something i find very important to point out.
Great piece of work Owen, I've explained this to singers who fail to embed emotion into a vocal performance with a simple explanation like this. I tell them to envisage an actor having to tell a stranger, off-screen, that they love them and have the audience believe every word. It's that they prepare that emotion beforehand so at that precise moment it's needed and they covey it and for that one moment, it's real. One of the reasons that an onscreen romance can become a real romance after being caught up in the moment of it all. I then have them go find the memory's within that evoke the emotion's needed. Simple...
This is one of the best videos I have ever come across. It is so deep and spiritual in a way that absolutely blows my mind that I'm not intact with emotions which prevents my inspiration. Truly appreciate these words !
Thanks for sharing that. What I was missing a bit, was that this also helps/can be applied when it comes to actual performance. If you are (a bit like method acting) trying to get into the mindset of the song and imagining the setting it can greatly help to convey what you want to say with deeper emotion.
All I know is that "tired after work" and "you've got two hours, make them count!" are not ideal states. Often good enough for some technical exercises, though.
This video really really got me thinking about a lot of stuff like even picking the cover arts for my songs and intentionally trying to push certain kinds of emotions in each song... I love your stuff bro. I don't know why you left but I can't wait for you to come back...🙇🏾❤
@@OwenTheGeek Thank YOU for being an inspiration to us and an awesome musical mentor, I finally managed to make my own hoover synth the other day thanks to your tutorial, had to alter a few steps as the vst I use doesn't have the same features as serum but I got there in the end.
@@hicki9834 Brilliant! That's the best kind of feedback cos the whole point of doing that hoover tutorial in the way I did it was so that it could be translated to other synths. What synth did you do it on, by the way?
@@OwenTheGeek I used Brainstormer, considering it's a free vst it's pretty nifty, it was difficult to find one with three oscillators. I had to make the basic what the? Sound, run it through ableton's sampler, apply the pitch envelope then sample it once more
Appreciate this video. I've been focused on improving my emotional state overall in the last year and becoming more emotionally aware of myself. I appreciate the focus on channeling emotions to create music as its one of my main pursuits in life, as well as creative productivity in general. Looking forward to more videos!
Very nice video. If you manage to get around to it, there are some fast arppegiated synths that appear in the cenobite record label and I was wondering if you have any tips on getting the whirling feeling with them. Archatos - The Strength of Unity, has a good example.
How stupid do I feel knowing all of this yet not grasping the idea of MANAGING things to produce the needed emotional state instead of WAITING for it to happen. Good video as always. Keep it coming!
Another cool video with some insight into direction and focus, rather than a regular 'paint by numbers 200hz snare drum' video. I enjoy multiple aspects of music production, be it sound design, composition, sampling and editing, and then take a break and focus on some other form of art or craft. Always keeping busy, sort of the way you take abreak, go for a walk so your brain fog clears and sometimes clarity hits like a lightning bolt :D Keep up the good work!
I know you said it varies for different people. But are there any universal things anyone can do to help them get in that ideal flow state. Off the top of my head i can think of removing distractions like your phone. Do u have any recomendations?
Hi Owen, I've watched every video of yours and gotten an enormous amount of value from them. I've tried to join your website multiple times, but I never seem to get a confirmation email (even in spam). Not entirely sure what to do. Would love to engage with you further and thanks especially for this one. Cheers
Hi mate, your videos are in my opinion among the very best tutorials for production on the whole of RU-vid. I work night security and have 15 hours to myself a few times a week to do a lot of research so I have seen a LOT of videos by different people. I was gutted when I went on to your channel to find you had stopped making videos... I hope you come back - I have a video suggestion that might pull your arm: advanced house music drum loop creation. We all know the standard house drums of kick, hat, clap etc. But, some tracks have very complex sounding drum sequences. I have been trying to perfect this for years but I just can't seem to hit it as well as what I can hear going on in other tracks. A very specific sample that I would like to get in the ball park of is the Klubbheads remix of Power Woman - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nzt3ez5v2LI.html
This was/is a lovely comment to receive. Thank you. I don't take requests, but it just so happens I have some house drum production videos in the works.....
