Part 2
Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility [...] to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?
That’s real and SOPHIE was obviously a genius with sound design. But there’s also so many interesting things to see and do and learn in this world, and only so much time. Sometimes I can’t be bothered to synthesize a bass from scratch, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that–limiting myself sonically may be what is necessary in order to output anything, or to dig into other areas.
Being a perfectionist, I knew I needed to let go of some things in order to get anywhere at all. If I required myself to produce every sample from scratch in order to let myself show up as a “real musician”, would I ever have made anything at all, or would I have gotten bored reading synth/VST manuals and moved on? Limitations can be extremely necessary and useful, whether its self imposed limitations or externally imposed. The paradox of choice is very real, you could spend so many hours just learning how to use 1 VST or synth deeply.
Some people are interested in going really deep with synthesis and that’s great for them, at this time I don’t feel like it’s something I want to dedicate a huge amount of bandwidth to. I’m more interested in making a track that sounds good and expresses what I want to at that moment (and learning in lots of other areas of life!). That may change in the future, though, and I do think it’s important to be continually learning and experimenting in your art form and life, but that can look different for different people.
Of course making a track with all unedited loops is too far when it comes to not actually contributing creatively, but I have overcome the limiting outlook that you aren’t a “real” producer if you don’t make all your sounds yourself. Not to say that’s what SOPHIE was saying there, but I used to feel the sense that I needed to generate every sound to be really valid as a producer, even though I wasn’t particularly interested in that!
Anyway, I do fairly often make samples myself and always am tweaking downloaded ones and making them sound how I want, but I rarely find myself absorbed in one sound for hours like some people describe, and I’m very okay with that.
Do you feel that your music or your work as an artist needs to have a societal purpose or a responsibility to anyone but yourself?
Yes and no. I think in general we all owe each other a lot as humans, and at the same time you “don’t owe anyone anything”. It’s a contradiction, but I take it to mean that you don’t need to let people push you around or treat you badly, but part of being a human and living in a society is an obligation to do things like help others, treat others well, leave things better than you found them, and so on.
I personally find a lot of meaning in that quest to try and continually put in the effort to show up in a positive way and try to impact the world around me as best I can. Not to say I always succeed, but I think it’s important to try. But, I don’t really think my music is explicitly about a social purpose or needs to be, I am expressing what I want to, what I feel at the time, and/or making music that sounds cool to me. Because it’s coming from me & I care about the world, I think many elements of my feelings about society and life and the world are evident in there, but it’s not like a simple 1 + 1 = 2.
And actually making music for a social purpose is kinda corny to me, maybe I’ll think of an exception but I think making music should be about expressing yourself and what you have to say, not using it as a tool for other aims. It can be both if that’s true to who you are and what you want to say, but the fidelity is important in my opinion.
Once a piece is done and released, do you find it important that listeners understand it in a specific way? How do you deal with “misunderstandings?”
I mean, I wish everyone could understand everything I do perfectly at all times, but it’s simply not possible! People often hear and see what they want to.
I guess I haven’t run into this being an issue too much, some people don’t “get” my music and that used to frustrate me, but now all I can do is shrug, find entertainment hearing others’ interpretation, and be grateful and happy when people do resonate and understand!
Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?
There isn’t one in particular that stands out in my mind, but I have cool moments all the time doing things like listening to the rain under cover, listening to the sound of water when you’re swimming, listening to the sound of a stream or creek. I guess most of these are water focused!
Growing up in Texas we would go out to the country many weekends, and hearing the coyotes howl at night was always cool, though scary - it could give you goosebumps, especially when there were a lot of them at different points in the distance yelling with each other.
I don’t know that I would call it musical, but it's hard to define a line between what is music/musical and what is just “random sounds”. Sometimes the sounds of the city or just your fridge humming can sound like a song or bassline. Other times it’s just annoying noises distracting me.
Maybe it's partially about your mood and focus–sound can really be so psychedelic, the way you can experience/hear it completely differently based on mood, what you’re focusing on in the sound, substances, and more.
We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?
The ability to surround ourselves with sound is one of the best things in the present day, to me. It really is miraculous that we can access almost all recorded music with a few taps on our phone. As much as I hate a lot about the present, I am SO incredibly glad to exist at the same time as electronic music, soundsystems, and raves.
I do think silence (and a corollary, boredom) play really important roles in our mental reflection, creativity, and just healing and letting your body relax. It’s a shame that it’s hard to come by silence for the many city dwellers, as things like engine and machine noise do harm our health. It’s also a shame that many of us are so addicted to constant stimulation that we rarely let ourselves sit bored in silence, letting our brain reflect and have new ideas. I know I’m definitely guilty of that, but I try to at least sit in silence now and then.
It’s easy to feel like we are all “mind over matter” and humans have thought our way past our animal origins, but your brain still responds to going on a walk or the sight and sound of running water or wind through leaves and runs built-in relaxation and rejuvenation protocols. Our animal side is very much still there and appreciates silence or the sounds of nature, even though I sometimes kinda wish my brain was primed for 14 hours of bass music a day (arguably it is??).
Typing this actually makes me wonder if the very overloaded and insane industrialised/mechanized society that allowed us to produce electronic music is the very reason why this music exists as a method of finding catharsis and expression in the chaos. Like here I’m saying I would hate to be alive before electronic music existed, because I’d be so bored, but what if I would actually be mentally calm and not need that outlet because I wasn’t juiced up from the relentless pace of the cybernetic economic matrix we are all ensconced in???
Or is it just the latest evolution in a series of musical developments over the years led by people seeking expression, novelty, and euphoria? Would cavemen like dubstep? Do you have to be subject to years of loud machine noise and constant electronic chaos to be able to appreciate electronic music, or is it something that would be relatable across many settings and times?
I guess we’ll never know, but it’s interesting to think about.
Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
Yes, but it’s hard to define the line between what makes something expressive art versus just actions. Someone might find a lot more meaning from their loved one making a cup of coffee for them than making a song for them. Probably most people prefer the song, but my point is that I think you can express a lot of creativity and emotion in cooking a meal for someone, which is arguably a mundane task.
It’s not really the same as music though, because music is truly universal in a way few things are, maybe nothing else? Books and movies are much more mediated by our interpretation and social layers of meaning than music, which to me is pure vibes and resonance. I can vibe to a song in another language in a way I can’t by just looking at a book in another language. I connect to music more intuitively and immediately than any other art form.
