Productive/Creative – Analog Man in a Digital World
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you probably know that I am very enamored with Minimalism, especially Tech Minimalism.
I have several reasons for this, but mainly it comes down to Privacy, and Mental Clutter.
If I preach against Big Tech, but I’m still using their platforms, does that make me a hypocrite? Yeah, kind of.
Problem is, how do you get out of it once you’re in? And I’m here to tell you, it isn’t easy- by design. Continue reading “Practice What You Preach”
Over the last week, I’ve been examining my Core Values, and let me tell you, it’s been harder than I expected it to be. You might think “What’s so hard about writing down what you value?” Well, give it a try, and see for yourself.
Ultimately, it boils down to what things drive your decisions and relationships, and whether or not your daily actions line up with where you want to go, and who you want to be.
As I wrote about previously, it’s easy to get caught up in feeling like your worth is tied into what you can do. But sometimes that’s out of your control, so why should you feel inferior for not being able to do something you had no control over? Continue reading “Purpose Redux”
I have spent my entire life not fitting in. When you realize as a child that you’re not like everyone else, it changes the way you think. It leads you down very dark roads, constantly searching for something that will make you feel “normal,” and never finding it.
I’ve been fighting against ADHD my entire life. For decades I saw it as something I had to “work around” or “learn to live with.” I was also smarter than everyone else in my classes (that’s not a brag- I just was). All the school system was geared towards the average learning child, which means it wasn’t suited to me at all. I was constantly bored, ostracized, and miserable. The only time I was happy was in music class. For some reason, my brain absorbed music like a sponge, and I had no problem focusing on it. And then I grew up.
Most people consider themselves “creative” in some form or another. It could be drawing, music, dancing, whatever. And a lot of those creative people use tools to make their creations- paint, instruments, dance shoes, and so forth. They’re the “tools of the trade” so to speak.
Truthfully though, a lot of people don’t create nearly as much as they could because they don’t feel like they have tools that are “good enough.” They might want to produce an album, but figure they don’t have the “industry standard” ProTools, or even a decent computer to run it on. No good studio microphones, no expensive tube preamps, maybe not even a decent guitar.
But defining your creativity by what you don’t have is akin to saying your knowledge is limited because there’s things you don’t know. At some point, you will learn things and expand your knowledge, but just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean you’re not knowledgeable about anything. And saying you can’t be creative because you don’t have the best tools for the job is both wrong, and counterproductive to your development as a Productive Creative. Continue reading “Don’t Use Tools As An Excuse”
There are times when you will go through the most unimaginable trials. These are the times when you find out what really drives you.
For the last 18 months, I’ve been going through wave after wave of difficulties, each one progressively harder than the last. I’m halfway expecting to come up on a “Final Boss” and win some sort of game, and then the credits will run and I can finally rest.
“Why so down?” you might ask. You’d be right in assuming I’m struggling with things- it hasn’t been easy. I’m currently writing this blog post on my phone as I wait to be allowed back into my state. We just survived Hurricane Ida, which directly hit my hometown. There’s massive wind damage everywhere. There probably won’t be power there for weeks. I have no way of knowing how bad the damage to my house is.
It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago we were evacuating for Hurricane Katrina. But 16 years to the day, and here we are.
Everyone will face some sort of storm in their lives, and I’m no exception. Mine are oftentimes physical storms, but the principal is the same- you find out what you’re really made of, and your deficits are quickly revealed.
Everyone has shortcomings. But most people are content to just admit they do, and go on with life, never knowing what they could do or be if they’d just admit they need help.
“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.“
Psalms 121:1-2
As I’ve recently expounded on, my brain is most creative when I’m away from a computer, and the internet as a whole. As it turns out, external influences mostly distract me from creativity, not inspire. Can I get inspiration from a video or song? Sure. But when I’m in the heat of creation, those things pull my attention away from what I’m actually making.
There has been a resurgence over the last few years to make “DAWless” music- i.e. recorded and edited without a DAW, or computer. I’ve seen quite a few Youtube channels using old Fostex and Tascam cassette tape recorders to make albums. If you go on eBay or Reverb, you will see prices for these long-in-the-tooth machines skyrocketing.
Why? Is it the “sound” of analog recording? There might be some validity to that, but what I think is more likely is this: people are learning how to create without computers again. Continue reading “Computerless Music Production”
One of the biggest challenges of being a Productive Creative is finding your creative workflow. There are many ways to do this, but one of the methods I’ve used, and have seen others successfully use, is mentally putting your mind in another location. You may have heard of this practice under such names as “Mind Palaces” or “Memory Mansions.” The idea with those techniques is that by imagining yourself in a very specific physical location (imaginary or real) it allows your brain to connect and remember things that it couldn’t otherwise. The brain’s ability to remember things works better with more senses attached to it.
Creatively, this works the same way. If you imagine yourself in the mountains of Alaska, it’s easier to paint them. Or if you are writing about an adventure in a forest, having those smells and sounds will bring the scene alive in your mind. Using all five senses allows your brain to be completely immersed somewhere else, where creativity can more easily happen.
You may have noticed my blog’s rebranding over the last few months. This obviously wasn’t an accident- so what made me choose the words “Productive” and “Creative” connected this way?
“Productive” means the ability to produce prolific output.
“Creative” means the ability to create something original.
“Productive/Creative” is the idea of creating something original, but with consistent, ongoing output. What’s the point of being creative if you can’t consistently produce things? And what’s the point of producing output if it’s just the same old stuff over and over?
Productive. Creative. Get it? Cool.
But how are they related?
For years now, I’ve been writing about how the rapid advances in technology have backfired on us as our brains have been unable to adapt to keep up.
Creativity is simple- unless you obfuscate it with layer upon layer of unnecessary complexity. This is what the modern “web” has become- a nearly unusable mess of advertisements, cookies, javascript, and plugins. What’s worse is that the internet, as a whole, is rapidly becoming connected to every single aspect of our lives, whether we want it to or not.
When your entire existence is “online” then what part of it is real?
As I’ve said before, I’m not completely opposed to technology- just the way it’s being developed and used. Is there possibility of life apart from the internet now? What would that even look like?
I’ve been pondering that question for years. And I’m slowly (very slowly) having to admit that I am not compatible with the “Information Age” (not technology itself). I like technology when I need to fix something, or create something. They are good tools, in a lot of ways.
But as a lifestyle, “always connected” is not how I function. It’s not how anyone functions. We’ve become so addicted to it, we live in a constant state of limbo- trying to force our analog brains to assimilate more digital information than we’re capable of processing. Continue reading “Death Of The Information Age”
As I recently wrote about, I’m looking at getting away from computer-based music production, for creativity’s sake. I’ve recognized that my brain just doesn’t come up with original ideas when I’m staring at a computer screen.
So understandably, my attention has turned to finding alternatives to making music with a PC. And I’ve discovered there are a lot of alternatives out there- which is both a blessing and a curse.
There is almost certainly a device out there that will serve anyone’s need for music production. But with so many choices, the problem becomes: which one do you choose? What style of device suits your creative workflow, when you don’t know what that is yet?