This quote comes up often in a discussion with a good friend of mine, and I am remiss to not remember the power of its truth.
“What you need are fewer possibilities that are more interesting…It’s not more options you want; it’s more useful options…“
Brian Eno, Imaginary Landscapes
Recently while on a short trip, I took my travel rig (consisting of a Macbook, some cheap external speakers, Reason 4, a Korg nanokey, and a few refills). I had a few hours to myself in my hotel room so I decided to putz about and work on a new piece. Because I had a limited set of tools on hand, when I “heard” in my head what was needed for the piece, I couldn’t launch into this mad search for a “close” preset from one of the thousands in my library and flit about to god knows how many VSTs and VIs. Nor could I delve into the vagaries of some little used plugin in both the hope of and search for “the answer”. I had to work with and focus on a limited palette (relative to the home studio space).
What I distinctly remember is being forced to “stop and think” about what the hell I was trying to do. The experience was very revealing: Over time (and unconsciously) the way I work has been influenced by the proliferation of my studio options and the contraction of available time. The result is that I no longer take the time to really understand most of my tools. Don’t get me wrong: I’m quite proficient with the operational aspects of most of the tools I own. I have a grasp of how to use them, how to navigate them, how to modify them to accomplish a given task; but that is not the same as having a deep understanding of them or being proficient in their use. (Proficient: [adj] skilled, skillful, expert, experienced, accomplished, competent, masterly, adept, adroit, deft, dexterous, able, professional, consummate, complete, master)
Lack of time and the proliferation of choices works against developing this sort of deep understanding and for me has fostered a “grazing mentality” wherein I search presets or soundfiles for something close to what I want (which is fine), but then I often fail to take it the next step and begin really working what I find into something unique. Instead, I move on because maybe I’ll find something “even closer” to use as a starting point. Problem is, I run out of time so the end result is that I have simply “grazed” and the piece is left with far too many IGB2I placeholders (I‘ll Get Back 2 It).
Grazing has perhaps become an end onto itself…
