Power Attitudes Part2 (Hattrixx)

[cAAc]

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not
enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
- Leonardo da Vinci (artist, architect, engineer, ninja turtle)



This issue is a follow up to Issue 5 (Power Attitudes Part I).
These are some of the most important attitudes & beliefs that
have helped me with my music making. Again, this isn't universal
wisdom, only ever-changing personal attitudes that have helped
me. You may find a few alterations work better for you.


If you want to get the most out of these nuggets, I suggest you
write them out & stick them somewhere easy to read from (maybe
on your wall, or on the inside of your door). Then when you feel
you want something to boost your creativity, they'll be right
where you need them.


#4 IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT BOB THINKS, BOB ISN'T YOU:
Nobody can tell you what you're doing wrong in terms of artistic
expression. It's a great idea to get someone else's opinion, but
remember that it's ONLY an opinion. Always trust your own gut
instinct FIRST, before blindly taking on the advice of others,
regardless of their background & experience.

^Even some of today's music technology can get a bit big for it's
boots in terms of indicating where you're potentially going wrong
(poor spectral analysis, anyone?). I'm not the first person to
say trust your ears before trusting your eyes. If you can't hear
something that somebody else thinks is wrong in the same way
they're hearing it, change it for comparison, or stick with it
until you CAN hear where it's wrong. Nobody reached a decent
level of any art by relying on feedback, without their own sense
of what works. If they did, innovation would be impossible.

But it works both ways. Nobody's opinion is worthless. I like to
think of new opinions as new perspectives for me to learn from.
There is no linear learning curve for any aspect of music, so
someone who has achieved far more than you may still appreciate
your perspective on something. At the end of the day, though, if
you're writing music that you want to enjoy yourself, then your
opinion must be the dominant factor in your decisions.


#5 START WITH A FOCUS. KEEP YOUR OUTCOME IN MIND:
When you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, your
mind will provide you with more resources to help you get there.
While your desired outcome is on your mind, it will supercharge
your motivation.

^What it says on the tin. When you start a task, or even a whole
project, it's important to have as specific an idea as possible
of what the results should sound like. The less clear your
vision, the longer & harder it will be to reach your goals. I use
this theory for learning & creating every day. If you're thinking
that narrowing your tunnel of possibilities might be a bad thing,
well done. You'd think that if you had a clear-cut vision of your
outcome, you'd have little room for experimentation & creative
freedom. That's not what I'm talking about! If along your route
a better version of your outcome appears, make the necessary
adjustments to make follow the new outcome. The point is not to
restrict your results. The point is to always have a definite
direction so that you can get there better, faster & more easily.


#6 GO SLOW AS YOU LEARN NEW SKILLS, SPEED UP AS YOU PERFECT THEM.
Be patient with yourself as you achieve new levels of skill for
the first time. If you take your time now, you'll learn better,
& that's the path to the ability to do things quickly & with
little effort in the future.

^I have always found that counter-intuitively, the slower you
learn, the quicker you pick up new skills. That probably sounds
very odd. What I really mean is that if you rush learning, you'll
only have to go back to learn again. In the long run, that takes
more time to reach a decent level of skills. If, however, you
start slow, you'll form a good foundation to learn exponentially,
which means you'll get to where you want to be a lot quicker.

Let me give a practical example. When it comes to songwriting or
learning to EQ, you could bypass all theory & get straight to
the practise, but you're probably going to be practising a lot of
bad habits. Bad outcome! However, if you take the time to study
the technical aspects what you're doing, it might take you a lot
longer AT FIRST to come up with a melody, or set your EQ (because
the process will involve a lot more conscious & logical
thinking), but your unconscious mind will pay close attention to
the process & will find ways to automate it for the future. In
other words, you might be thinking about harmonies
mathematically, or setting your Q width to the guide of a chart
while you're learning, but this will teach your subconscious so
that the same processes are there for you outside of your
conscious awareness. It's like learning to drive - at first you
have a hundred things to pay attention to. Once your unconscious
mind gets the message, you can do it later on without having to
consciously think about everything you're doing at once. It's a
process of altering your neurology, it might take a while, but
it's easy.

http://www.hattrixx.co.uk