After an album release, I’m back in the studio crafting sounds. I’ve come to realize that a large part of my process is making sounds from scratch, but sometimes I spend too much time creating material from nothing, so much so that not a single idea gets recorded.

Stuck in a rut, I listened to Surround by Yoshimura and was struck by its beautiful simplicity. He used few instruments and repeated many ideas but still created interest. I wondered if he too slaved over each little sound, or if he scrolled through some presets (apparently he used a DX7, an iconic FM synthesizer).

I took some inspiration from Hiroshi and decided to limit my palette, at the very least. I decided, for example, to use only triads with a Xylophone patch I had made prior. A couple chords felt uninspired but eventually something clicked; I just let my hands improvise some chords on the piano. Then I decided to use silence intentionally by spacing out the chords. I even kept the rhythmic idea fixed—no crazy modulations and changes. With that out of the way I was left with the question of what next? At any rate I got an idea down much more quickly. The constraints freed my mind to respond to the music rather than toil over sound choice. And if I hear my brain go “this needs a soft choir in the background,” I can resist the temptation to make it from scratch. There’s a time and place for that, but in the moment anything will do.

Ultimately, I think the most basic restrictions can lead to interesting results, or not, but at least an idea gets recorded. Limiting my choices has helped me finish an idea faster, but it also made me question why I equate originality with creating everything from scratch. As a guitarist, I don’t worry about playing a Gibson through a Fender amp. I didn’t build the instrument, but that doesn’t make the music any less mine.

There is pressure, though, to be unique. But I don’t think a sound I’ve crafted myself is the only answer to creative autonomy. Do I really care that Daft Punk made much of their music from samples? Not really, and I doubt anyone else cares. As long as it creates a vibe, who cares where the sound came from. Well, that’s what I tell myself before spending hours making a sound from scratch.

But that in itself is a constraint, making the sound yourself, which I’ve argued is good. However, if it stops me from getting the ideas in my head in the computer, then something needs to give, and having a couple of pre-built sounds can be helpful. Ideas need to simmer, anyway. There have been many times where I’ve spent hours on an idea that lacked legs—polishing a turd, the saying goes—to the detriment of other worthwhile ideas.

So I’m trying to get music into the computer quicker, and I’m spending more time sitting in silence, letting ideas form without all the decision-making and noise. Now, hopefully I don’t build folders full of hundreds of ideas that I don’t know how to organize. Maybe that’s a better problem.

Listening to: Surround by Hiroshi Yoshimura

Reading: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Quick Links:

• Eno talking about the creative process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUL8kNYmgsA. He talks about how getting songs finished requires deadlines, a similar type of restraint as limiting note choice or instruments.

Email me: benno.collabs@gmail.com