The Unofficial Access Virus & Virus TI Forum - since 2002 - What motivates you to program sounds?

im on a low ebb at the moment like some other people here so inspiration is low at the moment. but it picks up eventually. always does. its a bit like a continuous sine wave of cant be arsed. whoa! moment of inspiration! must design sounds! and pretty mocu everything in between.

but hmmm. motivation to design sounds? emotion is definitely one. i tend not to visualize sounds and i find it difficult to think of auditory sensation in terms of images. i definitely go on what feels right. i do write mostly dance oriented music and when everything comes together and works i get this really uplifting feeling. very odd.

for instance, the first time i hear a life changing type of song i get this shiver that travels all the way down my spine. thats always a sign of a great sound. so when im sound designing and i stumble across something that really works, the good ol tingling sensation is always a good pointer.

the other good pointer is the zone.

im not sure if ive explained the zone before. but i always describe it terms of mario kart.

i used to be pretty damn good at mario kart (if i dont say so myself :O ). the zone is a weird phenomenon that i experience most evidently in racing games. if you are racing and the pressure is really on. you are racing your own ghost, which is at this point practically unstoppable. i noticed that sometimes i would literally zone into the game. sometimes i could take corners and just swing round cleanly and i would capitalise on this momentum. other times i would just fuck up and its hard to capitalise on the momentum of a great race when you havent even got the kart up to top speed. when you are taking corner after corner and you are gliding round them perfectly - and you are on for a record time. racing mario kart at this kind of level puts you into a sort of trance like state. thats the zone. basically when im playing mario kart in the zone im barely in control - im not even really thinking about what im doing and what buttons im pressing. im just racing. i often perform very well in the zone. however. i can very easily fall out of the zone. if i start thinking about it. see. the zone isnt about thinking. its about doing. as soon as i start realising 'holy damn! im having the race of my life!' i invariably spiral out of the zone and screw up because my concentration is no longer on the race - its on what i great lap ive just done.

hold that thought.

now think of that in songwriting/sound designing terms.

i get ebbs. sometimes i get really fired up and ideas are going off all over the place and designing a patch with a drum track going in the background and you just lose yourself in the rhythym. hence why i like trance type music. i dont mean this cheesy euro shit. i mean music which induces a kind of hypnotic, zone like consciousness. typically i find this in goa trance, certain psychedellic trance, hardcore and old school trance. typically the best patches are the ones i design on the fly in this frame of mind. other times im too aware of a specific part of the sound or im overdoing something and im aware of it. and i flog a dead horse until i just need to take a break. times like this im trying too hard to get into that state of mind. sometimes it just happens. other times not. i notice that you can get into the zone about everything. atheletes i imagine mentally prepare themselves for races and so forth in a similar way. anything that demands focus and attention i suppose could eventually induce that kind of state of consciousness. i think this is why trance based music has a very spiritual connection with eastern ethnic music - especially goa trance.

so yea. what motivates me to make sounds? a moment of zen like clarity probably.

Quote:

I know it sounds a little new age-y, but for me, my synths are a doorway to the Divine. It's what happens when I paint also. I disappear into something much greater and let it happen. Feelings, images, timelessness.

this is kind of what i would describe as the zone ;) its a wonderful feeling when you are there. things just happen. i also produce my best paintings when i am in this frame of mind. i dont paint much now - music has displaced that unfortunately. but yea. not so much thinking about what im doing or doing wrong. not really hesitating to apply colour and so forth. i just let things happen. and very often it works out. not necessarily in the way i intended. but it works. my greatest difficulty in painting and writing music is overcoming this hesitation. when im in the zone it is a very productive and exhilirating experience. i can see certain similarities with religious experiences and inner peace. when you literally zone in something everything else kind of just receeds. its just you. the sound. and nothing else. i think alot of people in any creative activity get this feeling although they may describe it/analogize it in different ways...its my way of articulating total concentration - beyond even thinking about it - hence why i love trance and trying to find trance like states.