|
Happy Accidents result from experimentation, something which you should always be doing to achieve any kind of individual artistic expression. Once you stumble upon certain "accidents," they might contribute to your evolution as an artist, etc. You'll use these new-found accidents to further evolve and shape your unique soundscapes.
I don't think it's possible to "reliably sculpt a great sound you had in your head from scratch," although you can definitely start with a certain percussion, perhaps, and then let it go where it will go, as it were, by experimenting further. That's pretty much what I'd done with my earlier stuff; trying to emulate the early-mid 90's acid sound, for instance. Some of the tracks may be decent, and even better than my later, more "experimental" work, but they may be less original, too.
The thing I find with experimentation is that, although you may not produce something good immediately, you will definitely grow as an artist, and eventually you will stumble upon certain "accidents" that will click.
But yeah, ultimately, talk is cheap and the only thing that matters is that, if you want to put out some decent work, all you have to do is practice, practice, practice. It sounds like a cliche, but it's quite true. The more you keep busy working, the more familiar you become with your equipment and what it's capable of, and the easier it becomes to put out track after track. You'll be less concerned with achieving the "perfect" sound, and just keep busy working, resulting in a varied output, some work being better than others, etc.
That's basically why certain artists are so prolific and are able to play live performances. They practice virtually every day and become so familiar with their equipment, that tracks and sound structures can come at relative ease. I found that perhaps some of my best and most "original" work was produced when I didn't really think about it, and just kept doing it, not obsessing over minor details.
It's those moments of heightened inspiration, where you're not really aware of what you're doing and are becoming "one with the machine" that you may produce some of your best stuff. But becoming fluid requires constant practice. It's like a former acting teacher told me: art is at once the most simple and the most difficult thing to do. All the great artists, who also happened to be prolific, achieved what they did by constantly working.
So, to make it short - less thinking and more doing.
And please, forget about the notion of "achieving a killer sound." You should be your own worst critic, and the more you work, the less you'll settle for what you once thought was "killer." There are infinite sonic possibilities, so if you happen upon what you consider a decent sound, just expand on it and work your way into a track. Some of my own stuff that I thought might be "killer" was actually hardly noticed, whereas some stuff that I didn't much care for ended up being released.
Last edited by AlphaStarred on Jan-08-2015 at 19:30
|
