This blog is, like most of my ideas, not fully-formed. The idea was to document my current forays into the world of producing, mixing and mastering music. It is more for me than for you, and that approach seems to carry me further in my endeavours than trying to please others. Of course, it may end up with me just talking to myself for the entirety of this blog’s existence. But I suppose that’s nothing new.
Okay, let’s hammer out a few things about me, in bullet-points for the listicle lovers:
- I am currently a Latin/Ballroom dance instructor, which is largely where my interest in music has developed.
- I have zero background in music production, and have never (successfully) played an instrument. My current toolkit consists of an ancient MacBook Pro with GarageBand 10, and a whole lot of stubbornness. So it can only go up from here.
- I love the act of creating something that didn’t previously exist. It is why I dance – to tap into some of the innate spontaneity most of us have buried deep in our souls. I hope that someday creating music comes as naturally to me as choreographing movement.
- I am not a naturally social person. I create with dance and music because they provide a welcome substitute for conversations, most of which I find completely exhausting.
I’m not quite starting this journey at the beginning: I’ve been puttering around on GarageBand for maybe three months now, and have already grown tired of squeezing premade loops into the semblance of something original-sounding.
My most-immediate goals are 1) to produce my first song made entirely from notes I’ve created, 2) develop an ear for EQ and compression, starting by fiddling with the two songs I’ve already made, and 3) continue building my loop library, by systematically going through every single instrument GarageBand has to offer, and building riffs from everything that sounds like it has potential. So far I’ve been going through the synths, because I love me a good dance song and it’s relatively easy to make them sound good.
Well, this is what I think:
I believe myself to be a decently gritty and determined individual, and I don’t like announcing a new endeavour to the world unless I plan to stick with it. There will be many discoveries shared within these pages, some of which might even be useful to other artists.
I have a lot of interest in how we as humans inspire ourselves to achieve awesome things. I admire the passion of motivational speakers like Les Brown, Tony Robbins, Eric Thomas and others. I also love books that really flip my understanding of the world on its head, like The Mastery of Love by Don Miquel Ruiz, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, and most recently Grit by Angela Duckworth. If that sort of self-help interests you, trust that I will probably devote at least as many of these posts to that as I do to music production. I’m like that obnoxious religious friend who can’t help giving you a pamphlet from time to time.
And finally, I see the world as primarily oriented towards the extroverts, which can be very frustrating for the quieter ones. Introverts are less likely to have a community of like-minded individuals to push them forward. They are less likely to have jobs offered to them through their connections, and the vast majority of human interaction tries their patience with meaningless small talk. To those of you who found your vocations despite those odds, you have my ongoing respect.
Even introverts need company sometimes. To you, I hope this blog is uniquely relatable.
The title of this blog suggests I’ve likely made a mistake by writing it. It is so easy to be misunderstood through the imperfections of language. Even in the best light, I’ve basically told you I have no idea what I’m doing.
But I’m an experiential learner: Mistakes are simply how I grow. Here’s to making many, many, many more of them on the road ahead.
Photo Credits:
Boy in blue and white plaid button up shirt by Rehan shaik on Scopio
Grey cat sitting on grey sand near blue and red boat by Kanal Budiarto on Scopio
Pathway through mountain by Thibaut Poinet on Scopio
Woman lying alone on bed by Nicolas Pecar on Scopio