this will probably sound like ekt nonsense

when you jam -- not compose, but do music live, jam -- do you have a little ritual you do before going? do you jam around for a few minutes, get warmed up, then hit record? or do you stack all the decks, put the pieces in place, hit record and let rip immediately?

while jamming - how do you breathe? what mental state are you going for? where is your mind?

do you plan out what patterns, noises you're going to work through, or do you deliberately avoid making any decisions beforehand?

i've been experimenting with variables like this. everything i've mentioned effects my recording. i'm curious what watmm thinks.

me too

it sounds really funny but when you sit up very strait in your chair as if you stand up against the music the result is totally different as if you for example shake your head very fast

thats mostly the reason why I want to see people doing some music live I like - its so interesting seeing them perceive it and how their perception / personal word clock works :)

it's one of my deepest secrets, but i regard my body as essentially a memory aid when i'm jamming... just let it drift off into the motion of the sound, and if you ever lose your place, just feel how you're moving.

i feel a lot of music is essentially the "program" for a style of dancing...

Masturbate

  hahathhat said:

everything i've mentioned effects my recording.

affects

i make sure I have all my all the sequencers, effects, and synths are ready, then I press record, input some sequences, change variables,etc.. I generally keep all the sequences simple and try not to worry about any mistakes.

1. light joint

2. hit record

3. cry into my beer i'll never be as good as insert electronic music artist here

  Rubin Farr said:

1. light joint

this is usually a problem for me when trying to start new tunes. if i have a strong thing going i can usually get some good work done on a track while bolloxed.

i can come up with some cool stuff on guitar though. me and guitar get along pretty well. i just have to make sure i record it before i forget.

i pretty much just push the button pictured in my avatar, and the rest is history

  A/D said:

  Rubin Farr said:

1. light joint

 

this is usually a problem for me when trying to start new tunes. if i have a strong thing going i can usually get some good work done on a track while bolloxed.

 

i can come up with some cool stuff on guitar though. me and guitar get along pretty well. i just have to make sure i record it before i forget.

when sober, i'm a lot more self-conscious. i have trouble letting go of doubt. if i mess up, i might just stop instead of working with it. weed also, of course, makes everything sound better, so i feel better about what i'm doing, and there are ideas instead of nerves. maybe i'd do better stuff if i didn't smoke, but more likely i'd simply do less stuff. someone on this board had an ODB quote in their sig i thought was a nice little koan for the situation: "i don't fear because i know when i touch the mic rhyme will be there" or something.

going back to my original point, the issue is state of mind. when i smoke a j, getting into a jamming state of mind is like rolling out of bed after sleeping in on a saturday afternoon. when sober... well, aphex said something about his best stuff percolating to the surface when he's bored and alone for days at a time. this works. too bad it's hard to get that much space in your life.

so, just trying to figure out other ways to drop THE FEAR and help myself focus. weed works quite nicely, but it'd be nice to not have to depend on that. i've been trying a bit of meditation, get myself a tad high naturally, and it helps.

other suggestions?

when i start on something i begin with putting my headphones on

usually i got some synths and drums running thru FL, then i throw some samples into audiomulch, load up some fx and whatnot and let 'er rip.

i play around for 10 minutes to hours, with various ideas, until I find a good combination of sounds and ideas, then I will play that idea through a few times flush it out, then I press record. It's all improvy though.

  hahathhat said:

i feel a lot of music is essentially the "program" for a style of dancing...

this is why i like you hat