Definitely not. Cool samples put together do not always sound good. and it depends on the samples… I use loops and oneshots… they can be played chromatically on a keyboard, so its not like Im taking parts of a construction kit to make a song, which I also do.
And great art can be made from trash… I think an art group called Fluxus did stuff like that.
Great dialog, though!
edit:
I like to add, Im on Maschine, so you use the controller to operate soft synths… like Diva… So alot of my compositions that I make that are sample based are also mixed with synths and drum sequences.
I don’t believe there is any distinction on how to generate music. It is all the same to me… playing live jazz, or smashing loops together… this is all still a small percentage of ability that the general population of earth even tries to tackle, and all have its own merit.
It doesn’t happen every time, but I think some of my best ideas have come from days where I’m not feeling it, but I just force myself to continue anyways and then stumble across something I love after fucking around for hours
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightening to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.”
Chuck Close
*I cite this excellent and insightful quote as a total not-hard-working amateur myself
I also think it’s important to recognize when you’re not inspired or creative and decide to spend the day on chores like project management. Or just going through presets on a synth that got dusty and see if it sounds different than you remember.
I can also relate to the work quote. I was lucky to have three days of music making this year. I’ve spent it jamming for hours with no particularly interesting results but having fun. In between sessions, I’ve watched “Get Back”. On the final day, I’ve decided to work on one of the jam ideas. It only took me an hour to get something out of it I really liked. I then just called it a day and went biking.
That one hour was more productive than two days before it, but they’ve led to this. I’ve recognized the same with my duo. We used to hang out in a dark room for a whole day till we got to the good ideas. Last time, we only had one to two hour jams, but they were all so full of ideas that we decided we’re done with music making for a few hours, as it will only get worse.
I get days, weeks and months like this. I’ve found the best way around is to learn a new technique or bit of gear. Then something will normally come out of what you’re learning.
