At the turn of the year I was working another gig where I give introductory workshops on audio/midi editing using a computer. These workshops are about 2h long & geared towards people who have zero knowledge about audio & using any DAW. The age limit was >10y & my oldest participant was born in 1933.
During the 1st hour I explain key concepts & a little theory about how DAWs work in “general” (I’m using Cubase Elements for this) & how to edit audio files & work with midi. In the 2nd hour I start off by having the group create a simple midi drum loop & then let the participants play around & explore on their own while lending a hand & answering questions that pop up.
Listening back to the results after the workshop I often felt that the kids which didn’t play any instruments or had any kind of music background whatsoever tended to produce the most interesting results (the following snippet is by 10y old who didn’t play any instrument).
I wonder, by knowing all the theory needed for producing high quality results in regards to audio or music, don’t we inadvertently lose some of the innocent & spontaneous qualities of creativity?
And if that’s the case, is there a way to go back to & for a moment forget everything we know, and for instance, approach a new softsynth with the playfulness of a 10y old?
What if the tools we use had some sort of “blank GUI” mode, only showing unlabeled controls & therefore forcing us to only use our ears to figure things out?
Maybe that would result in more “Happy Accidents”?
I’m not sure I will ever be able to get back to that kind of complete innocent state of mind in my creative work. I’ll certainly try though.
What about you?
As has come before; many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span…Please bare with us as we traverse the abstract canals of audio musings.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
I think it is possible sometimes to “forget what you know” about professional music production and record some new ideas spontaneously. Usually I see the best results while recording simple jams on synths or guitars during my free time. Sometimes it’s better to create music freely, and use some part of it later in the project rather then create something when you know exactly what you have to do.