Wooooo - last video before I leave for Paris for a few weeks. In the meantime, do me a favor and go get some sh*t done. Become a Patron ► venustheory.com/patrons

@JCrashB

7 ай бұрын

Happy trails. Coming to Berlin on a sidestep as well? Maybe meet for a Currywurst or a Döner?

@SsgtHolland

7 ай бұрын

Love this video! Good luck in Paris, don't let the bedbugs bite. Literally.

@moolder

7 ай бұрын

Have a nice trip!

@Yuusou.

7 ай бұрын

Just heard, that Paris has countless bedbugs. So be careful and don't carry them back home with you. kzread.info/dash/bejne/omR8uLRsppu_oM4.html

@georgesboutz8080

7 ай бұрын

What are you doing in Paris? I am from Paris.

This helped me a lot : "Highly focused people do not leave their options open. They select their priorities and are comfortable ignoring the rest. If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything."

@jozafax

7 ай бұрын

Great quote!

@RandomVelocity

7 ай бұрын

Lol. Love your sense of humor. Oh btw. I just wrote an entire concerto in Bb. It’s one note. Lol😂

@mrz80

7 ай бұрын

That is a profound statement, and it goes a LONG way towards describing why I can't get off the starting blocks and MAKE anything :P

@AnikoHandpan

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for noting this.

@Jellybeantiger

7 ай бұрын

Highly focussed people go places,Good wants the rest of us gone.

Common misconception about 4’33, it’s not 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence, but rather 4 minutes and 33 seconds of ambience. It’s an encouragement to listen to how musical the world around us already is, and courts the idea that the only thing that separates noise and music is perception. If you watch John cage perform the piece, he usually does it outdoors with life and nature making sounds around him, not in a sterile soundproof concert hall.

@5PawZ

7 ай бұрын

I will always remember his quote from a VHS documentary I watched during high school "what is more musical? A truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?" It kinda opened up my mind to this whole avant garde and modern take on "music" which up until then I shunned it (classically trained pianist since a child). Then a couple decades later I discover Nils Frahm who says he hates sheet music (as quoted in his sheet music books) and just improvised, and it opened my mind a second time.

@ClowdyHowdy

7 ай бұрын

I suppose it could be a common misconception, but framing it as such feels quite closed off to me. 4'33 isn't anything other than 4,33. Also, "silence" is never without ambience. You have to build an expensive anechoic chamber to approximate true silence, so trying to draw a distinction between silence and ambience is like separating water from wet. Further more, your experience of 4'33 might be truly listening to your surroundings in a perceptive manner one day, and on another be a pressure cooker of racing thoughts too loud to give any thought to your surrounding. If I'm emotionally wrapped up that I don't notice the sound of someone uncrossing and crossing their legs or letting out a sigh, am I not experiencing 4'33? Even for John Cage, he absolutely did hold performances of the piece in stuffy concert halls. What it is for him from one day to another is also not set in stone. These things don't require strict definition or pressure to avoid misconceptions about intent. It also doesn't require you adopt the frame of someone who pompously "explains for you the meaning" of a truly abstract piece of art. Let your 4'33 be your own.

@peach_total

7 ай бұрын

@@ClowdyHowdyeven in stuffy concert halls you’re listening to chairs creaking and fabric ruffling as people move, make small noises etc. 4’33 was deeply informed by his trip to Harvards anechoic chamber (one of the most sound-proofed and quietest places on earth). when he left he said that he heard two sounds: a high and low sound and was informed the high sound was his nervous system and the low sound was his blood moving through his body. 4’33 is directly and explicitly linked to the /rejection/ of the concept of silence, and the invitation to spend four and a half minutes actively listening to the world around you

@manolitosanchez

7 ай бұрын

I thought you were going to mention the other misconception about 4'33'': according to the score it doesn't even need to last 4'33''.

@classicallpvault8251

7 ай бұрын

Nonsense. It literally is 4.33 minutes of silence. Silence by the performer. Your analysis doesn't stand up to scrutiny and this is easily proven by applying the exact same standard to any other work which doesn't rely on conceptualism. According to this logic, a Chopin piano sonata includes the coughs of the audience in between movements. It most certainly doesn't. Logic is only logic if universally applicable. Followers of John Cage's insane aesthetic theories can only come up with demented postmodernist gobbledygook in order to justify their cluelessness. The man does not deserve any following and neither do other adherents of postmodernist conceptualism. 3rd rate composers of a bygone era, whose works were already dated when new, like for example Daniel Steibelt or Maria Szymanowska, were all Beethoven-level geniuses compared to these silly postmodernists.

"9 times out of 10 when facing writer's block, it's because you are afraid of what it won't be" this perfectly describes my anxiety around a lot of tracks I can't finish. It's helped me to just give myself a deadline on a track and release it, regardless if it sucks to me or not. At the least, it builds skills for future tracks and it forces me to keep moving forward. Thanks for the vid!

@nightzzmixx

7 ай бұрын

It perfectly described my habits as well. I always want to make music and have it be like a certain song or as good as a certain artist would make it, and when it isn’t I give up on it. I have about 300 or so abandoned projects, albeit some with less work put into them than others, and sometimes I’ll go back to listen and think “This was pretty good, why didn’t I finish it?”

@tizoc977

7 ай бұрын

@@nightzzmixx so true! As part of my weekly releases, I’ve been going through the back catalogue and finishing these gems. As you release more you get better at identifying what you could do to finish em too 🤙

@InnocentShibaInu-zi2zm

Ай бұрын

Give alink to your any of your songs or s ill ch3ck it out

"Music is a top down thing. You can't master your way out of a bad mix, you can't mix your way out of a bad arrangement, you cant arrange your way out of a boring song and you cant sound desing out of a fundamentaly crappy idea." man that was just BRUTAL TRUTH!! ❤

"Pixar films don't get finished, they just get released." Handwritten letter to fan, from director of Monsters, Inc.

@mice4890

7 ай бұрын

Wow

@teddy3761

6 ай бұрын

You're a monster.

@InceyWincey

5 ай бұрын

The original quote is by Paul Valéry, the French poet, in an essay in 1933. In the original French he says: Aux yeux de ces amateurs d’inquiétude et de perfection, un ouvrage n’est jamais achevé, - mot qui pour eux n’a aucun sens, - mais abandonné ; et cet abandon, qui le livre aux flammes ou au public (et qu’il soit l’effet de la lassitude ou de l’obligation de livrer) est une sorte d’accident, comparable à la rupture d’une réflexion, que la fatigue, le fâcheux ou quelque sensation viennent rendre nulle. Or in English: In the eyes of those who anxiously seek perfection, a work is never truly completed-a word that for them has no sense-but abandoned; and this abandonment, of the book to the fire or to the public, whether due to weariness or to a need to deliver it for publication, is a sort of accident, comparable to the letting-go of an idea that has become so tiring or annoying that one has lost all interest in it.

@TheToobNube

5 ай бұрын

That's beautiful! Thank you for sharing @@InceyWincey

@jacobjaramillo3192

2 ай бұрын

@@InceyWinceythis exactly explains my entire life of making music.

As an architect and (a self-proclaimed) musician I always try to remember that: The design is finished not when there's nothing else to add, but when there's nothing else to remove from it.

@petermcateer1354

7 ай бұрын

Well said! As a structural engineer, I concur!

@internet_user1131

7 ай бұрын

Well put

@fxberg

7 ай бұрын

or as dieter rams (braun..) put it: Good design is as little design as possible (#10 of his 10 rules of design) ;)

@AiBoru

7 ай бұрын

Perfection is simplicity. Simlest thing that still functions well is perfect. But when you design something, first you need to know what is unnecessary. That usually comes after a lot of practice.

@sagarock1012

7 ай бұрын

​@@AiBoruexactly

For me the thing when I started to finish my tracks was when I stopped pleasing anyone else but myself with my music. This eventually led me to really like my own music. And I'm a firm believer that you need to be your own biggest fan. If you don't like what you create, how do you expect anyone else to like it? But, if you like your own creations, there's a fairly big chance that someone else will as well. And this has nothing to do how complex music I make, I just make what I enjoy to make and make decisions just to please myself. I haven't felt a writer's block since (I've been there back in the days and that was exactly because I tried to please other people, not myself - trying to chase the trends so to speak).

@CatFish107

7 ай бұрын

Way to go (genuine encouragement)!

@fortissimoX

7 ай бұрын

Yep, totally agree with this!

@mrratskins

6 ай бұрын

Absolutely. That is something to keep in the forefront of the mind.

@brutallyremastered4255

6 ай бұрын

One of the greatest things I heard was Billy Gibbons saying "Play what you want to hear".

@vukjovanovicofficial

5 ай бұрын

Actually helped me a lot hearing this! I always let other peoples opinions make me insecure about my own music, recently I played a new song to a friend of mine and he said that i needed more of this, and more of that, but i liked it the way it was, i was really discouraged and this comment helped me a lot! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, sincerely!

Someone gave me this advice today: "If you don't release your music, how am I supposed to listen to it? If you don't wanna release it for YOU, then release it for ME"

Recording everything live as one stereo track is my favourite way of really getting s**t done. 👌

@alexpuicea994

7 ай бұрын

Yep, me too ❤🎉

@georgesboutz8080

7 ай бұрын

That is the way I have always done it.

@Dave-hp4vh

7 ай бұрын

Ah, the Velvet Underground production technique. Hey, if the song is solid, it works.

@chonbaquer

7 ай бұрын

correct

@Heathcliff_hensel

7 ай бұрын

There is nothing wrong with doing that except that you have to pre-mix your track.

I finish my songs. It’s the ‘final’ finish that takes forever. Ears play tricks on you after you’ve lived with a song for too long. Good stuff.

@Abundanc3beats

7 ай бұрын

So true. That polishing phase is my least favorite part.

@yunki_

7 ай бұрын

My teacher says there’s no such thing as the final mix, just the mix that gets mastered. 🤣

@lippi2171

7 ай бұрын

​@@Abundanc3beatsI can second that, I don't know how many of my songs are waiting for me to do like one 30 seconds overdub or sume final touch... but they've been waiting hopelessly for years basically. This is just sad

My jaw is on the floor right now. I'm almost in actual tears. Goosebumps! I've been producing for well over 20 years. I'm currently 40 years of age. In the last few years I started to really get burned out when it came to producing new music. I just didn't feel like sitting down and spending countless hours on making new music anymore. Especially due to the fact that I never really "made it" as a musician. I've made some awesome music over the years, but never was able to make a career out of it. The way I'd envisioned all those years ago when I pressed my first key. Because of that, it's lead to me getting burned out. And because of that, as well as NEVER making it within the industry, it lead to catastrophic depression! The feeling that I'd just wasted 20+ years of my life for almost NOTHING! Especially when you factor in all the naysayers throughout the years. The people telling me to "grow up.." or "get a real job.." or... "you better have other options than just music!" With that said.. I stumbled upon this video and it completely blew my mind. Similarly to the way you said you felt when you were 15 regarding the white canvas. For years I would make a beautiful song.. but always left the project in an unfinished state.. simply assuming it needed more! And not just more as far as vocals, but MORE sounds, more instruments.. MORE MORE MORE! I think we come to that point because these days instead of having a guitar, a piano, a bass, and maybe some drums.. we quite literally have thousands.. if not hundreds of thousands of different sounds/instruments/vst's to choose from. This has always made me feel like my instrumentals were always lacking, or that they NEEDED MORE! When in reality, some of the best songs I've ever heard in my life maybe have 3-6 different sounds in them. Including most rock bands etc. that are out there! I appreciate you for this! This may help me relight the candle that has been fading away for the last several years.

@wedaringu667

7 ай бұрын

I share a lack of commercial success over the course of five decades now and I want to thank you for relating your story. What I found about music I also found true about every endeavor in my life: I'm doing this for my own enjoyment. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, we are under so much pressure from ourselves and others to perform to rather arbitrary expectations that we actually traumatize ourselves and kill our joy of working altogether. Some of us need more scrutiny or support than we can easily find. I keep relearning this essential practice of turning something monotonous into a game, then finding joy in it. At least, that's what I tell myself. Sometimes it works, and other times I just give myself a greater sense of liberation by giving up and doing something else. That's when I'm most grateful that I'm not considered a success, because when I do go back to playing, it's totally authentic and free of any pressures or expectations.

@fecklessmovies

7 ай бұрын

@@wedaringu667yes it would be preferable to be a commercial success. But if you’re not you should definitely enjoy and make the most of not having the pressure that comes from success, ie having to create a follow-up that is equally successful (and in the fickle world of showbiz who’s to say what will and won’t be commercially successful, however good it is). If you have no record company or contract or expectations from anyone you are free to make exactly the music YOU want in the way you want. And with nothing much to fear from it being unpopular.

@trevorwilliams2797

6 ай бұрын

@@wedaringu667 Im 27 and been writing raps since 7. What I'd say for older folks with so much knowledge on music is that there is a lack of musical engineers/producers that singers need. I believe in working with a talent for free and set up the ownership percentage. Blow one song, then start a career from there. This is what Drake's producer "40" did. Work as a team like a band would

@thomasfrench149

6 ай бұрын

In your boat and this was the comment I needed to hear to get back on the horse. Of course thanks to the video creator as well. Happy Thanksgiving to you! Thankful for this sentiment!

@a.nobodys.nobody

3 ай бұрын

Yuuuuup

Filmmaker here, I couldn't help but feel how many parallels I could draw between music production and filmmaking. I think all of the ideas presented in your video can easily be applied not only to filmmaking, but many other art disciplines.

@fecklessmovies

7 ай бұрын

And cooking too 👨‍🍳

@jayashp3855

7 ай бұрын

i agree

@BrendanMiranda

4 ай бұрын

They fit together like a dovetail. Both are structured storytelling methods that can be built in a non linear fashion in order to convey emotion.

I’m 61. I’ve been recording songs for 45 years. And I’ve learned as I’ve (arguably!?) gotten better at it that the stronger the song (as in the copyrightable bits: melody and lyric), the less you need to support that melody and lyric. Great video, Cameron. Well done!

@RutgerSteenbergen

7 ай бұрын

Agree, it's all about the story you tell. If the story is poor, you have to add a lot to make it look like something. And vice versa, too. With minimal means, you can tell a great story.

@dumb_as_rocks

6 ай бұрын

then best songs sound good even stumbled through by an amateur on a partially tuned acoustic

@stevenpagano

4 ай бұрын

well said

Really like your style. You're not only a good musician and producer, you are like a creativity philosopher, always pushing people forward to create, without fear. Best respect. Have you written a book? You should.

@RichyRich4

7 ай бұрын

Dude quit kissing this guys ass lol

“Rule of 3” *The White Stripes have entered the chat* I’ve come to think of minimalism as “it’s not about fewer things; it’s about the right things.”

@Gigusx

2 ай бұрын

The line between right and not-right can get very blurry, especially right at the edge because anything can be beneficial (but not necessarily cost-effective). If you impose a hard-limit you can avoid a lot of ambiguity.

Talk about timing! I'm in the midst of recording an instrumental album by myself and I can't tell you how much this resonated with me. In the past I've gotten stuck so many times due to option paralysis, over thinking things and trying to add so much to a piece in order to make it "enough" that they started falling apart and eventually gave up on them all together. There is something to simplicity and intent. A solid melody doesn't need much to spice it up ❤

"Never fear simple ideas" - 🙏🏻

@DoctorNemmo

7 ай бұрын

That's how fascism arises

@petersangre

7 ай бұрын

@@DoctorNemmo This actually makes sense lol

@Psyshimmer

7 ай бұрын

the irony of such a simple premise provoking an overly simplistic conclusion@@DoctorNemmo

@Gigusx

2 ай бұрын

@@DoctorNemmo That's how freedom and democracy arise too 😉

@DoctorNemmo

2 ай бұрын

@@Gigusx Democracy is a complex thing ! How do you organize millions of people to vote at once? It's impossible, I tell ya

"So that's it. That's your homework. Get out." 😂 Awesome as always, Cam. Over complicating projects is definitely something that I struggle with quite frequently.

This is one of the big pro's of recording real amps and drumsets, especially to analog tape; at some point you'll just have to say "this is good enough, we're all done", rather than constantly blending amps, trying out different IRs, time align, autotune and harmonise everything into oblivion until every audible frequency is stuffed

@CatFish107

7 ай бұрын

Similarly, I just run a stereo out from my modular to a field recorder. When I'm messing around and stumble my way into "hey this is cool" territory, I hit record. Problem is remembering to cut the recording so I don't end up with half hour jam songs.

@sgtmusic

6 ай бұрын

Yes.. recording in an expensive studio helps too! Get in, get it finished

@wilhelmtheconquerer6214

6 ай бұрын

@@sgtmusic sounds like throwing away money to me. Big studios are as dead as record companies

@sgtmusic

6 ай бұрын

@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 I record at home now.. but can’t finish any songs! When I used to record in studios.. I’d be done in a few days then off to Mastering

@PKFlashBeta

3 ай бұрын

Alternatively, your name could be Kevin Shields

This was something I noticed years ago when I got my first mastering gig. It was for an IDM compilation, and most of the artists on that album had been producing for 20+ years compared to my 5 years at the time. So I had the opportunity to listen to these tracks from much more experienced artists and force myself to think about how they were structuring their songs so I could bring the best master to each song, and inevitably I compared what they were doing to what I was doing. Without fail, I could tell that they had less stuff going on in their songs than I did, but there was much more intention (or at least the appearance of intention) behind every thing in there. It's taken years, but I feel like I've gotten much better at that now. When I sit down with an idea, I try to put only that down in the DAW with no other embellishment. I get that base polished up and then see if I hear anything else. My average track count hovers around 10-20 tracks (with half of those just being dedicated channels for each drum hit, and another quarter being FX sends). Average number of inserts on each track is 2-3 (EQ - often just a simple 3 band bus EQ with compression and/or saturation as needed). My most recent 3 tracks were finished in 4-6 hours each, and I'm still enjoying listening to them too.

@bygmesterfinnegan6938

7 ай бұрын

Such a stupid generalization. Richard Wagner, the greatest genius who ever lived is nothing but minimal

We all look like fools when we dance, but we are all fools, so we may as well dance

@jatadoxjatadox1371

7 ай бұрын

Not everyone, trust me

@FracturedParadigms

7 ай бұрын

@@jatadoxjatadox1371 🥴

@ergkj

7 ай бұрын

That’s beautiful. Is that a famous quote?

I'm an Italian native language... But your video is pure poetry. You are a musician, have a beautiful deep voice and an incredible story teller. Keep it up.. I think you make videos better than the previous.. And I go suddenly finish my sketchy tracks !!! Cheers!

@Byron101_

7 ай бұрын

I prefer italian language but I don´t understand this so sad

@notsure1135

7 ай бұрын

Io non posto palare Italiano.

Every time I come here I expect to learn about music. Instead I always get a philosophical answer to life in general. 😅

@aaronlewis7182

8 күн бұрын

Art is life after all, isn’t it?

@jenstornell

8 күн бұрын

@@aaronlewis7182 It's a bit of a stretch by yes, kind of. Both answers apply to both music, art, life etc.

I’ve been doing what I consider to be a type of minimalist electronic since 2019. In the beginning it was due to the fact that Live Intro only allowed 8 tracks to be recorded easily. But even tho I graduated to Studio, I felt compelled to make music with fewer elements than most people. I have a 14 track mixer (Tascam Model 16) and, except for EDM, I never use all the tracks. And somebody must be listening, I have over 750,000 plays.

"Only having what you need" as a definition of minimalism makes perfect sense and can be applied to many things in life, including music production. This not only cures those from hoarding VSTs and unnecessary synthesizers, libraries, and MIDI controllers, but it also amplifies the likelihood of completing a musical piece or any given project. Thanks for the homework. Enjoy the wine.

It’s strange when you hear exactly what you need to hear at the exact time you needed to hear it. Some form of synchronicity perhaps… I’ve had such a creative block that I haven’t touched an instrument nor booted up a DAW in almost a year. The ideas in this video somehow changed that and I’m actually excited; something I haven’t been in relation to composition in quite some time

@BaltimoreReese

7 ай бұрын

I was just thinking that

any time I need to compose, I have a personal challenge! compose it with magical 8 bit plugin! give myself 3 channels. square, triangle & noise drums. does it sound good? export as midi, import it back in. EXPAND IT, MAKE IT BIG, MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL. :D

Everything, from camera work, recording quality, editing, narration style and concepts delivered makes this an amazing video. This is premium quality content and it could easily be a whole paid masterclass by itself. Well done Cameron.

Very important to remember. Artists. Don't "follow" rules. Might know them, might learn ourselves techniques. But each is their own freak, let it out, let it leak. Never fear, keep on, otherwise you will go wrong.

I like to mix while I’m composing, it helps me think about the space. If you’re wondering how to do more with less instruments think about the space they’re existing in. Don’t have every instrument front and central, pan things, or have them in the background if they’re not the main focus. Even putting reverb or delay on an instrument can help it fill up space and you can really do a lot more with less! When I’m picking an instrument I’m thinking about what it’s purpose is and where it exists. I feel like this definitely helps with minimalism and doing more with less!

I think, in my hearts of hearts, minimalism comes down to understanding, and letting go of your fear, of space.

I've been producing for around ten years, with some of those as a composition major. I've "finished" like 3 tracks, with literally 3 2TB harddrives (2 of them corrupted) of music started and not finished. It's gotten to the point I think something is wrong with me. I quit music after performance anxiety/medication and depression led to a bad car accident and traumatic brain injury and now work in the Emergency department. I still produce, more so these days now that it's more fun again. But it really still weighs on me greatly not having something finished that I feel proud of

The differences between those times when those older compositions were made and now less distractions that's the difference between 30 & 40 years ago no social media not smart phones you could actually think and enjoy life honestly I feel bad for younger people nowadays their lives are centered around these things and that's not a good thing.

Man, this is some life-changing philosophy right here. Thank you. I've been trying to finish the 2 songs i'm working on right now for around 12 years because i wanted them to be too complex and epic. Now i'm inspired to just let them be and finish them. Great video bro!

@pinealdiamond6692

7 ай бұрын

Hell yeah man! I have had some tracks I spent so much time on only to remain unfinished or me being unhappy with how they turned out and I've noticed time and time again that my favorite tracks that even other people liked were finished in hours and not even days.

@GRAVEAUDIO

5 ай бұрын

12 YEARS... WHAT!

@just2comment2

2 ай бұрын

@@GRAVEAUDIO he is from the Sade and Kate Bush school of music making lol

I pissed myself laughing at the school teacher retort… ‘but they did it!’ I’ve been messing around with a track, adding stuff… suck it, getting bounced, it’s finished, move on and ponder the all the other stuff I’m struggling to complete - thank you!!

@bangthebore

7 ай бұрын

Reminds me of an account of a conversation between John Cage and Morton Feldman. I forget which one said it, but their response to the comment "Anything could do that!" was "So why didn't they?"

Another One Bites the Dust & We Will Rock You, are two songs that I often think about when I begin complicating things, at that time in Queen's career they could have done anything they wanted, they had access to the best producers, engineers, and musicians, while these tracks are well executed & recorded their bare bones simplicity is the only thing that sticks. Let's go! Steve walks warily down the street With the brim pulled way down low

Everything comes down to having good ideas but how do you know an idea is good? I think that's what happens to me most often. I start an idea that sounds good in my head and as I try to execute it, I'm met with the gap between my ideas and my skills. Then I'm left with the feeling of, "Was the idea bad or am I just bad and can't execute the idea properly?"

@blok31092

7 ай бұрын

I struggle with the same. I think a valuable comment another made is to focus on you enjoying the idea and making songs for yourself. If you like the track, there's a chance someone else will too. But I think making music for others is the wrong approach, because we can never please anyone and there's no way to generalize what people like. I'm trying to move forward with this mindset. If I like it, it means it's good and it's deserving of others to hear it.

Minimalism is not about the music, it’s about the mind of the listener. It provides an opportunity for an uncluttered moment. It’s a gentle nudge towards the oceanic peace of ‘being nobody, going nowhere’.

Almost like i waited for this 1 from you - i do minimalist songwriting, embrace looping, 4-6 tracks max etc & that's how I released 1 EP a month since 2 years, making it 100 songs by the end of this year.

Totally agree. Got caught up in buying gear that looked cool as opposed to providing me with maximum value. Now I’m sitting with a beat machine and a Hydrasynth and have been having way more fun and producing more than when I had all my extra equipment

Frank Zappa reckoned that minimalism was about getting orchestras performance-ready in less time and for cheaper. Given his own insanely complicated music, which he had to pay orchestras to learn and perform, that's an understandable position.

While I have to appreciate your point of view and something like the "rule of three" when striving for productivity, I think something is lost thereby. I love when one can listen to music and discover a new detail everytime. And how these "discoveries" change upon whom you ask. For instance, I myself am a guitarist and find myself suprised to find another new melody or detail everytime I listen to the Dark Side of the Moon Album. A friend of mine is a drummer and he has a totally different musical focus so that his three perceived sounds might be totally different from mine. To find that indivualism in a song is hardly possible with the minimalism approach in my opinion.

Historically, I've had a "make the most of what you've got" approach to music-making. I tried to make each individual element stand on its own and sound as good as possible, and contribute to as much of the sound as needed. Thus, I needed fewer elements, because each element was "bigger." But lately, I've gotten away from that. I've been looking more at layering, at making tiny little things that add in the background. And it... makes things more complicated. Maybe I can return to my roots and try to simplify my pieces.

My problem is that I get too repetitive in a piece. I start strong, and then it just gets boring quickly because I don't know where to go from there. It's like the road just suddenly runs out in front of me and then I'm just sent careening into the woods...

@stevesoucy5932

7 ай бұрын

I know the feeling. 😅 Or I have one epic sounding 8 bar loop that I can't figure out how to progress from.

@1800KLIENFELD

5 ай бұрын

As a repetitive music maker I tend to get my idea and loops together for 8 bars and I record everything straight away into my arrangement. Once that’s done I double the loops to 16. Double that to 32 x 4. That’s my track usually. Then I’ll go fishing. Come home. And listen to the arrangement and begin removing items in the beginning and end like a pyramid left to right. Once that’s done I’ll go do something else or start a new track. I’ll come back to it the following day and check it for elements I can heighten with filter automation reverb fills or delay. Once I gather those ideas I’ll record it all as a track and drag that out of the Daw upload it to SoundCloud privately and listen in the car. Then I’ll continue adding or removing elements or adding silence (which makes everything exciting). I’ve realized that trying to make a nice techno track cannot happen in a day. I mean it can but it will feel rushed and you’ll regret it. Good luck!

I've been using a rule of 3 for a while interms of limiting influences. I like it as an arrangement tool though, so I'm gonna try that. I've been reducing my production tools like plugins, guitar tones and synth patches too. It's really streamlined my song writing and made it a lot more fun.

@paulbaker3522

7 ай бұрын

I had an arranging mentor once tell me that there are only two things going on at a given time - foreground material and background material. Everything is one or the other. Either it's the main thing or it's accompaniment.

A few years ago, I discovered how to multiplex minimalistic projects with more complex projects in my own production process. Minimalistic projects are like little loops and they keep my mind fresh and in shape. They are easy to complete and prevent me from getting stucked. It makes me feel constantly productive. In this way, I do not get impatient to finish or get lost in the project while executing complex projects.

Steve Poindexter - Computer Madness, That is a very important record in the history of dance music. Recorded with just a Yamaha DX100 (small cheap synth) and a Roland Tr-505 (small cheap drum machine) he managed to make a house track that was more minimalistic than ever before without losing anything important for the listener or dancer. Producers today seems to lack the courage it takes to release a song with just two tracks, two tracks of perfection and minimalism.

Sitting down staring at a canvas and having all of the options in the world has always been my biggest struggle. I greatly appreciate these videos. I love you boo-boo.

You hit the sweet spot between life-optimization, philosophy, sound design and comedy for me... thanks for being here and doing what you do! 🙌 You are awesome, Cameron! Enjoy your time in Paris :)

Stripping things back is a great way of working, sometimes I'll start with a loop, duplicate the whole thing and start removing. Then I'll duplicate that and remove more, and it becomes much clearer what the song needs and what direction it's headed

Another advantage of minimalistic approach is that when you are almost a no-name, you could put a lot of effort and time in something that will not get as much attention as you want. By the way, recently I started playing simple "traditional" sets of chords instead of inventing something new. It just works...

Your videos are timely as ever. Thank you 🙏 I’m opening my DAW to work on something I started yesterday. I’m going to keep this one simple and see what happens

I really love these kind of videos. It‘s inspiring for me, when You talk about the process of making music in general. Very refreshing between all the tutorials on small detail here on KZread. Thanks for sharing Your experience and information!

This has been my thinking for a long time but have I actually fully pursued it? Not so much. Ego (meaning, in this case, that part of me which fears judgment) still haunts me, and I know that’s true for all of us at any age. I’m still compelled to project intellectual sophistication into what I write. Because I’m fascinated by and love composers, authors, and artists of all sorts, who dazzle who can create worlds that I can inhabit and learn from. Sure, I can talk a good talk about a lot of great art but my creativity is often self-suppressed because I’m not a genius, and if you’re not a genius, then why bother, right? Why does that linger in me when I know it’s a total cop out? Maybe that’s part of what draws artists to minimalism; the desire to get off of that wheel. It’s true that simplicity is deceptive in terms of the skill and artistry required to achieve it, but it’s at the heart of any worthwhile art. So, I’ll take the advice of a much younger teacher as good advice - which I’m receiving, I think, more as permission. I have sketchbooks full of nascent chord combinations, Melodie’s, textures, etc. They don’t need to be useless because I can’t find a way to turn them into great art. They can become something much simpler. I think I’m about to get some shit done. Thanks for your thoughtful and truly useful presentation! Have a great time in Paris!

Learning to become a great writer has been more of a spiritual journey for me. A lot of the obstacles I faced, i believed that making a great song was having a specific eq or a plug-in. I thought there was a short cut for everything!! My focus was not even on the music itself. I wasnt having fun at all. I was overwhelmed. Im glad to say that im doing better now and this video really nails it hard, especially when you're starting out. But this is a great reminder for me to focus on the right things and not lose the vision along the way.

Found your channel recently and your production videos (from a moral perspective and feelings, like this one) got really deep into me. These videos are not only about music, but how to be successful in any other hobby or any other thing. You say such simple but very important things, and this blows my mind. Your videos really bring a new wave of motivation and self-confidence. I don't really know who you are as a person, but as a teacher and psychologist you are the best. That actually makes me think a lot and now I have no fear of my music being shit as hell. I was really scared of it but still wanted to hear what people think about my music. I have no fear and it's time to shine. Thank you.

I started watching your videos back in the days of "what's the cool new free plugin this week?" You don't make those any more. Thank you. The changed focus is a better focus. These videos are worth watching. They're worth watching now, and unlike the cool new plugin videos, they'll still be worth watching ten or twenty years from now. Music changes, but why we make it doesn't.

My biggest challenge is not being satisfied with 'good enough'. I spend (or waste) so much time looking to see if there is something better AFTER I've already found 'good enough'. Before you know it, I've lost my starting point and have to start back from the beginning. Sounds stupid, I know, but this video helped me realize that so thanks!

My counter-argument to the rule of three is that some of the music I find most enjoyable employs techniques that I don't even notice until my third or fourth listen. Some of the things that even a solo guitarist like Ed Gerhard managed to pull off will fly completely under my radar the first time through. It's what gives some music an inherent replay value in my mind.

Nice video! I personally think it's not a matter of how much you write, or how many elements you use in a piece of music. I think it's a matter of how much control you have over what you write: Do you have a clear form and structure in mind? Do you elaborate and derive the elements of your song, either melodic, harmonic or structural, from essentials building blocks that you decided for your song (es. An interval, a melodic phrase, etc)? I believe that, aside from an aesthetic like minimalism or any other aesthetic really, it's a question of how much you are aware of your process and how much you're conscious about what you're doing and what you're working with. ✨

This is a great video! I'm in my 50s, so when I started out, the best thing I could get my hands on was a cassette tape 4 track machine. It was amazing being able to overdub and I had so much fun making music. Now, I have pretty much unlimited tracks, the ability to edit, cheap or even free software versions of effects or synths that would have been well out of my price range as a teen. This is fun too, but can be massively overwhelming. Recently I've been going back to recording live as a single stereo track, or picking 3 instruments and allowing one track for each plus a vocal, playing from beginning to end rather than comping.

Man, discovering this channel made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was very scared that my music was not up to some modern standards of music, not having the same sound quality of many other producers, always felt like it was never good enough or that it was maybe too simple. I'll say this with utmost sincerity thank you man, I needed something like this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! You have an amazing community here, seeing how much positivity and support people in your comments give to each other has encouraged me to keep on making music! Thank you fellas!

“I would argue that nine times out of ten, whenever you’re facing some sort of creator’s block or writer’s block, it’s just because you’re just afraid of what the thing you’re doing won’t be.” That’s a good line right there.

This felt like a massage for my brain. I’m tired of making complicated music. Thanks for the tips! 🙏🏾

i feel like minimalism is excellent when you're starting out creating a track. as in, you want to make the core idea (chord progression, melody, whatever) so good that it could just be played on its own. then of course, you'll add parts, mix, master, etc but the goal is to find/create something so good in the beginning as a core that it feels EASY to add all that stuff on top. if it feels like a chore to add stuff to a song, maybe go back to the drawing board

My friend owns a local gallery. He told me one one way an agent and gallery “promotes” a young artist is to pay a third party to buy a painting for a large sum. Journalist who are also connected to the agent and gallery cover the “hot, upcoming artist” to create a buzz. The artist has 20 more paintings in the same style to sell to people who primarily see the purchase as an investment (not so much as artistic expression). What goes on in the art world is far more complex than “but they didn’t.”

@theleastsignificantbit4794

6 ай бұрын

More complex and more driven by economics and the hype machine.

I make electronic music and I’ve learned to never use the same drums for two songs in a row. Also, don’t use more than one instrument from the same manufacturer or even the same country in one song. Easy to say when you own a lot of synths, but it works for me. Great video as always.

@heavyglassglass

7 ай бұрын

Seems kind of silly and arbitrary but I guess most people's processes are like that

@robbiewabisabi

7 ай бұрын

Music is silly and arbitrary. It's fun and it keeps the arrangement simple. In the 90s I was in a band and 90% of the gear we used was Roland, and a lot of our tracks sounded samey as a result. This keeps every track from being a different texture than the previous one. @@heavyglassglass

The Beatles are a fantastic example of a large catalogue of music created with minimalism in mind. With guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, and sometimes keys, they made an impressively diverse range of songs.

@klapsigaarenbasgitaar1931

4 ай бұрын

Did you ever listen to Sgt. Pepper?

a wonderful post! Thank you for that. I've been trying to reduce my songs to 8 tracks or less lately. This also applies to 8 or less instruments. It's very liberating and fun as hell 🙏🏻✨🌈🍀🕊

Tracks often get abandoned when you add too many parts and elements, the complexity of getting it all work together increases dramatically and often it's just impossible

one thing that changed everything for me was Robert glover saying he didn't publish his book for 10 years until he "gave himself permission to fail". the biggest thing holding me back is this belief that things must be perfect and complete and so that everyone will like them before i could show them to people... which of course just froze me in a place of permanent procrastination. I've wasted like 15 years of my life being afraid

Great video! The philosophical ones don't always land with me because I'm an amateur philosopher and I've got 20 years on you. But this one, I needed.

This helped. Thank you

Thanks for the inspiration. For me, the issue is “buying out the time”. Once I’m in the chair, ready to work, half the battle is won. Maybe I should schedule it..

Simpler doesn't necessarily mean it's worse, and more original or complex doesn't necessarily mean it's better. If it works, it's good.

bro i was literally about to search for some shit from this channel this video being in my feed is divine timing🙏

A friend of mine gave me the best advice ever a few years ago : the song is done when there's nothing left to remove. And I've released 1 album and 3 EPs since.

I feel like too many producers and artist focus too much on their music being perfect. But they don’t realize that people are willing to ignore small imperfections in a song if the musical ideas are well done. The biggest example I can think of is nirvana, their music isn’t perfect but the musical ideas are executed really well.

I just started out producing music and I sometimes get anxious about my ability to fill out a song with interesting movement. I eventually decided to write something simple and making the most of just a few tracks and suddenly I felt inspired and was able to go for longer before abandoning the project

"9 times out of 10 whenever you're facing some sort of creative block it's just b/c you're afraid of what the thing your doing won't be" Absolute gold

A good practice to keep in mind is that some songs are just accoustic. and when you think about it, you are layering synths and textures to mask or enhance the starting thing because it wasn't "good enough" when a guitar, you are able to take multiple takes with different mic placements and hundereds of different textures and tonality that ends up being recorded and comping it all together. So the thing about minimalism with synths is that the pieces inside of a minimalistic home stand out a lot more, which is why they need to have the right quality to stay in the home or in this case, people's minds. Therefore. Minimalism requires more careful design. At least that's what I've found. understanding the fundamentals of plugins and actually getting the warmth or depth you want from the synth really stands out above the next song playing.

i just had this experience where I took an idea I had initially laid out in an alternative/punk style, switched it to an irish jig with literally a lute and a whistle/flute, and finished the whole thing with a surge of creativity I've rarely experienced. i was honestly pissed at first 😂

This was really great, as are most of your videos. I've been recording my own music for over 50 years , and now that's it's possible to do so much, I always think about what's necessary for the song. I think about serving the song, more than just adding things because I can. (Like strings - because I like strings). A solid song is the key, and if it's a great song, it should work with just piano or guitar, and vocals. I always think about this. I see people here asking how you know if you've written a great song, and after all these years I have an answer to this question. I cry. When the tears come to my eyes... I know.

@TarzanHedgepeth

7 ай бұрын

Hey… that’s right.

this state of mind helped me to get back to releasing music....I struggled so much the past years - focusing on little things noone hears or cares about and finally I often ended up in procrastination. right now, I try to just let it flow, I produce "bullshit" (great advice by the way - thx! ;), I restart without hesitation or frustration from the scratch and at the end of the day I do always have sth like a good sketch or even more.

recently gotten into making sega genesis music on furnace tracker. only 5 FM channels, 2-3 Pulse Channels, one 8-Bit PCM channel and 1 Noise channel. these limitations are fun to work around, considering every channel is monophonic. I’ve made some of my favorite tracks under these conditions.

When I first started writing and recording in 2012, I spit out songs like crazy. Now that I have a family, I can barely write more than a 16 bar loop.

String arranging objectives: 1. Aid the form of the song especially if original track has a weak form 2. 5 voices, sometimes divisi right before bridge, often unison or fewer voices at bridge 3. More is more on transitional elements, embrace maximalism on the space between the spaces

"Never fear simple ideas". This is so, so important. I often (99%) of the time think something is too simple and then I make it overly complex which in a lot of cases just ruins it. I need to remember this.

I feel that not sharing you’re music, or art, whatever you make, is the biggest roadblock to not finishing anything. When you decide to share, you put a little bit more effort in. A lot of the time, it was just that little bit extra that was missing.

I rarely comment on videos, but this was exactly the message I needed to hear - right at this very time! I suppose if you always start with a minimalist mindset, then the chances of getting overwhelmed (which is my problem) are reduced.

i always felt bad or that i'm not good enough because most my songs don't got past 25 or 30 tracks, but they sound fine anyway, i felt i wasn't doing enough. but now i understand i am doing only the necessary in my music and if there's no need to go bigger, i don't need to

Remember: "art is never truly finished; only abandoned" ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

The great big band arranger Sammy Nestico (Count Basie) would complete an arrangement, go to bed, wake up, then go back to the arrangement and start erasing. He erased all unnecessary bits and pieces. It’s difficult to throw out your “babies”, but the result is a streamlined, logical work of art.

last sunday i just challanged myself to finish and release a song by end of the day. it was suprising how many aspects got easier. i would have spent countless hours on the song probably not release it if i didnt have a deadline.

My problem I think is that I love bands which have 20 layers at once, such as Depeche Mode 1993’s record, Petshop boys 90s, Royksopp, Arcade Fire epic tracks, Kesha, Gaga 2010s, Michael Jackson 90s output, Madonna’s Ray of light… for me having 200 sounds is what makes those productions stand out. So I have internalized that idea, I’m trying to fight it and enjoy more calm and minimalistic music too. Piano and ambience tracks, classical contemporary like Olafur.. this inspires me too. I have too many musicians inspiring me at once 😅😅😅 and I need to set “fake” deadlines to publish the tracks. Also, not having feedback and having so many possible targets in mind is a problem. I love making music for fun but at the same time it brings about too many headaches 😂😂😂😂

Everyone can "finish" a hundred compositions like 4'33, but not everyone can spend his whole life to explain to everyone his concept and vision on music, so that they realize that 4'33 is not just some nonsense, but really an artistic work. This answers the question at the beginning of the video "why the hell can't you finish anything". Many examples of really successful but technically simple compositions are in fact the hardest work of shaping and communicating your concepts to others. In a way, it's much easier to make a track that isn't minimalistic, but one that no one has to explain why someone should like it, for example, to just spend time and write a good track in the style that's trending at the moment. I'm not saying it's the right way, but objectively, it's much easier, and most do it that way.

Love it. Simple and focused wins. With more than 27 years as a composer and sound engineer I can attest that simple is significantly more challenging than complicated, because every part is exposed and now suddenly matters. But when the piece/project is done it's done well and will have much greater longevity. Simple melodies also have potential to become the most memorable, Think John Williams scores like Indiana Jones and Almost everything from Taylor Swift.

biggest take away "Get out, go home" i forgot everything he said before this important quote. LOL

My 'solution' to this was turning to something else for my main income. I now have a full-time job in a a non-art related domain, and now whenever I make art I can just work on whatever I want, without the pressure of it being successful. The only drawback is indeed having less time to do so. The goal for the next years would be to find a way to work less hours, so I can have more time for making art. Now, I guess there's also the question of "Do you feel like you need your art to be quantifiably successful to feel like it's worth doing?". That feels like another can of worms entirely, as in what is THE main thing that drives you? Is it the fun in the process, or maybe the feeling like you're achieving this dream of becoming a successful professional artist?