Inspiration, not perspiration

Since the excitement of Marcus Intalex picking up ‘Interference’, I’ve been having a bit of a wierd time in the studio. I’ve been working late most weekdays, and lots of weekends too, inspired by the vote of confidence given by a producer I respect highly.

That’s great, and the motivation it’s given me is wicked, but I found after a few weeks that I was struggling to get anything that I was happy with. The problem? As usual with me, several things collided at once – the pressure I put on myself to come up with another DnB tune that matches up to the power of Interference, and the fact that before Marcus’s call, I wasn’t actually in a full-on Drum and Bass state of mind; those who know me will agree that with me the music I make follows my personal vibe, drifting from Hip Hop to downtempo, to Drum ‘n’ Bass, to breakbeat, almost seamlessly, as my mood lifts and falls (generally with the moon, but that’s another camp-fire conversation altogether!). The call from Marcus knocked me from downtempo mode, straight into DnB mode, out of the usual Bluze flow – it was great, and i loved the ride, but my mind was somewhere, and the rest of me was somewhere else – not good for creative work at all!

The result? I’ve had to let go of the stuff my mind was dealing with, and go back to the thing us creative lot have to do at the start of a project.

No intentions
No pre-decided outcome
No thoughts
No ‘I’m going this’

When you’re doing something creative, you have to just let go of everything, and empty your mind, and when inspiration hits, just go with it. A Jay-Z said in ‘Fade to Black’ “if you’re not inspired, you’re thinking hard, and when you’re doing that, you’re not going to make good music”

I don’t think I really realised that I was uninspired, or trying to force the music by thinking too hard, but a chat with a friend in SL about the old ragga sound systems suddenly got me so fired up that I had to log out and start making music right away – and a new tune was written within the hour. Up untiil that conversation, I hadn’t even realised that I’d been less and less inspired to make music, and more and more forcing myself to write tunes – the opposite of what Jay-Z said shoud happen.

So, my tip to all you producers out there who aren’t happy with the tunes they’re making – go look for inspiration, and when it hits, ride with it – don’t think ” I’m gonna make a drum ”n bass tune now” or “I’m gonna make a hip hop tune like ‘4th December'” Just site down and start flowing – see what comes out, and don’t think too hard! – I reckon you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what happens next.

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