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The Visual Aspect: Music is more than you hear, by Fjern/Rognalf
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| Owsey2008 |
First and foremost, this thread is about a blog that my friend wrote on the visual side to music. I'm going to chime in with my thoughts, too.
I want to share with you a creative process that I believe is quite overlooked.
In many of the forums that I browse, often do I witness an abundance of people who appear to frequently move in and out of a creative block, or people who have been stuck in one for a drawn-out period of time. I know how tedious and exasperating it can be.
Anyway, it has been quite ubiquitous lately, which is why I think this is an appropriate time to simply suggest, not force, my thoughts on how to escape such a rut. I will also be posting my friend's blog, who also speaks on the subject. His thoughts are presented in a much more impressive way and he has elaborated much further on the subject than I will. His methods sure have inspired me to work in a way that I never used to. For this, I shall keep my thoughts extremely brief, as he is really the guy you'll want to check out.
My quick 2 cents:
Some people claim they were more experimental starting out in the world of music; on the contrary, I was confined to a set of rules and all I wanted was to sound like my favourite artists. Needless to say, I was devoid of any originality, and whilst some may argue that it's productive to imitate sounds/elements (which I can understand and appreciate), it did not work for me. Albeit my technical skills were becoming increasingly developed, I was not accelerating musically. That is until I took a whole new approach...
For me, creating music became a much more exciting and rewarding process when I began associating it with scenery/thoughts/dreams/images etc. The fact that I could convey stories, experiences and even my thoughts, through sound, really made things a hell of a lot more interesting. It was quite simple, really. I began making notes of visions and dreams that occurred so that I could elaborate further on them when I had time to sit down at my PC and keyboard to make music. I also tried creating fitting music for a friend's video, which resulted in one of my best pieces so far.
Now, I always have a sense of direction. It's been a year or so since I last abandoned a project. This is because it's much more easy to finish something when you know exactly what you want to do with it.
In B4 "cool story, bro". And for the record, I am not insane; this really does work.
This is what you really want to read:
The Visual Aspect: Music is more than you hear, by Rognalf/Fjern
And here are some results:
Fjern's Soundcloud
Fjern's/Rognalf's game/film soundtrack showcase
Farewell. |
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| 19503 |
if i wrote down my dreams id probably end up in mental-home.
but i totaly agree that its much easier to write something after some sort of vision or idea. |
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| Beatflux |
Great post. It couldn't come at a better time for me. I've been a rut for quite a while, I have a lot of ideas but when it comes it trying to write nothing comes out or it sounds very forced.
I think I tried this approach one time, and I thought to myself,"This is how the pros must do it." From what I remember, it seemed easier because whatever you were going to do next was based on some kind of abstract connection between your images and your audio pallet.
I don't remember why I didn't repeat the experience.
Whenever I do with creative pieces of audio in my head, they are usually only bits, little 4 or 5 second chunks of songs. |
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| Rognalf |
Very cool of you to post this, Owen! It is very nice to hear that I'm not the only one who has lived by this realisation lately :D
@19503: I actually write down my dreams. It's in norwegian, but Google Translate will give you the gist of what I write there: http://kristiansdraumer.blogg.no/ - To call it madness would be an understatement!
@Beatflux: I did have a few such experiences before the final turning point. It just never occured to me that I was doing something profoundly different than usual.
Thanks for reading, all of you; you make me happy :D |
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| 19503 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Rognalf
@19503: I actually write down my dreams. It's in norwegian, but Google Translate will... |
im norwegian :p |
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| EddieZilker |
| Just read the blog entry. Great writing. I definitely relate to having a visual component with my music making. It can be thematic - I'll imagine I'm driving in the car to it. If I'm working with vocals, the imagery comes quite easily, relevant to what or who they're singing to. It can also be an almost synesthesia relationship between elements in the music and what I'm imagining in my mind's eye. I'll see an instrument, such as a ride cymbal, in a visual relation to the other elements I have in the mix. |
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| Kysora |
Not to sound like a dick, but is this honestly not what most people do? Every single track I've ever made has been based on some kind of backstory or mental image. Why try to convey empty emotions? Or none at all? This doesn't seem groundbreaking to me.
Not coincidentally I've only given up on about 5 projects in the last three years, and I never consider myself to have artist's block at any time, so apparently this works if you guys have never really considered doing this. |
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| Owsey2008 |
From what I witness daily on forums, apparently not. It's definitely not a groundbreaking, nor an unprecedented way of working; it's just one that tends to have great success for us and a few others, that's all we're saying.
For what it's worth, I'm not talking about this forum so much. I know a lot of you guys have backgrounds to your tunes, and it's certainly evident. If you ever spend anytime on the Anjunabeat's "making music" section, you will see what I mean. |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by Owsey2008
From what I witness daily on forums, apparently not. It's definitely not a groundbreaking, nor an unprecedented way of working; it's just one that tends to have great success for us and a few others, that's all we're saying.
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It's groundbreaking to me. I've never read it on any forum or book. |
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| theterran |
Thought about this actually! There were even some winamp visual presets that made some of my tracks more enjoyable to listen to...while I had something to stare at.
In terms of the track itself...most really successful tracks tend to stir up an emotional response...with trance it's mostly visual. Somewhere you were at when the song was being played, some kind of atmosphere or event that the song is trying to portray...These things typically make the difference so I've heard.
Anyway...
Might have to look into this further :) |
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| Kysora |
| quote: | Originally posted by Owsey2008
From what I witness daily on forums, apparently not. It's definitely not a groundbreaking, nor an unprecedented way of working; it's just one that tends to have great success for us and a few others, that's all we're saying. |
I know you meant well with the way you presented it, I'm honestly just shocked at the response. I just would have thought more people here worked this way.
Hell, if I don't have any ideas I just take a concept and try to convey it through music. One of my favorite songs I've ever written was done just by thinking "Hey, I want to write a water-themed song":
http://www.tindeck.com/listen/xfrn
It really is a great way of working, and if most of you don't do it regularly I seriously suggest you give it a shot. |
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