Falling into the trap.

It’s all to easy to fall into the trap of finding a workflow that works for you but because you find something that works and always gives you a sound you know will work, is this trusted workflow stifling or even curbing your creative genius and preventing you from stumbling on that one unique idea that will grab the attention and guarantee a legion of fans?

I have fallen into this trap many times, Logic X and audio interfaces are so good at enabling the user (us!) to set up a static workflow that is so easy to recall it can lead us to lazy town. 

It’s all about workflow

When you start writing I’m sure like me you have certain routines or ways of working that is a trusted and tested route, a VI that you go to first or perhaps a drum plugin that you always default to, which is where you write your first beat or loop?  A synth plug that you always start with and stylistic sounds you trust and like.  Any process or steps that you regularly follow is a workflow, a way of working that becomes a day to day routine but is this routine curbing your inner genius?

Logic’s go to plugins might not be the only factor in stifling your creative freedom your external set up might be too?  Always plugging the mic into the same preamp or always having the mic in the same position in your room and never moving it can lead to the same sound every time you sing or pass an instrument through it.  This is brilliant for ease of use and working fast, which is often what we find ourselves doing but sometimes it can lead to a lack of creativity. 

Here’s why I’m bumbling on about unchaining yourself from the the workflow chain.

Bin Day

I recently started work on a new commission and was required to record all sort of percussion sounds most of which was ‘found sounds’ like recording boxes being hit, tables being jumped on (yep really!) and I even dragged the mic out of the studio and recorded my Wheelie Bin.  The mic caught everything including birds chirping away but the sound I created was huge, unique and definitely forced me into a different approach to my usual way of working.  The commission forced me to create sounds that forced my go to day to day workflow to be different and the result was creating something that sounded totally different to what my normal workflow would generate.

So I have decided to wind up my leads, unplug my guitars reduce my go to Logic templates and embrace wasting time thinking about how I can record or create my sounds in different ways every time I produce something new, which might if I’m really, really lucky lead to an idea that might just strike a chord of genius..

..or at least get me a little closer anyway!

Strike a Chord

Try it yourself next time you start a track load a blank Logic project and start writing a beat with a different drum machine or a different synth to the one you mostly default to.  Maybe start in reverse to the way you normally get started for example start with the melody and write the drum parts last?  Even try recording sounds you’d never normally think of recording, I got some amazing snare type sounds from crunching plastic from a chocolate box; who knows doing something different might lead you to strike that chord of genius your music deserves!