Change is good. While there is something to be said for sticking with what
works, there is more to be said for refining, or even reinventing, our
methods and ideas.
Let‚s start with technology. Except for those of us dwelling beneath rocks,
it‚s clear we‚re going through some profound changes in the way our studios
are built and operated. For example, I used to do my drum loops with a
traditional rackmount sampler. Then I switched to doing loops in my
sequencer, importing the audio directly. Now I‚m using a hybrid of methods
and tools, including REX files in Propellerheads Reason, Native Instruments
Reaktor, Emagic's EXS24 software sampler, time-manipulated digital audio, the
fantastic but often overlooked distributed wave function in Nemesys
GigaStudio, Max, Ableton Live, and Kyma: Everything but my hardware sampler.
Not that samplers aren‚t fantastic tools for this sort of thing. But I felt
the need to move on to new methods, and each one I tried offered new
advantages, more flexibility, and new creative possibilities. I get excited
and inspired with the new possibilities that each new tool provides, and I
invariably get pleasing new sonic and musical results as well.
These cool new tools and methods cross over to every facet of music
composition and production: sampling, synthesis, audio recording, and signal
processing of every imaginable kind. There is also an unbelievable number of
sampling CDs now available for composers to use in creating their own
personal sound palettes. With each new tool, technique, method, or instrument
comes a new way to approach our work. We make our music differently, and as a result our music changes. Rhythms and sounds that we couldn‚t have made
before are now available to us. So now what?
Well, we begin to make our music. We stop tinkering for a bit, and try to
write something. And we try to finish what we start. If we have deadlines, we
meet them head on. Right? Of course. But if we change our tools are we going
to write the same music? Absolutely not. Does that mean we forget who we are
as composers and musicians and simply become machine operators? Of course not. If a songwriter puts down his or her guitar and goes to the piano, are they a different songwriter? Many people found it shocking when Bob Dylan first used an electric guitar in his music, having firmly established himself
as one of the most important songwriters of his generation on acoustic
guitar. I find that amazing. Why are artists expected to remain standing in
one place for their careers? No artist I know ever does, and yet with every
change come some sighs and disapproving frowns, along with new fans or
critical acclaim.
I believe that as the world changes, so must we all, lest we become relics at
an earlier age. Each day presents us with new ideas and inspirations. Not
just from the technology and tools we use, but from everywhere. I believe it
is vitally important to stay in touch with every facet of our global and
local culture via the radio, records, performances, TV, and movies; the work
of new artists and new works by established artists; the sky, the sounds
around us, books, magazines, friends, and good sex (maybe even bad sex).
Change is normal, natural, inevitable, and ˜ most important ˜ necessary.
Isn‚t every kind of personal improvement a type of change?
When I first began writing music for film and television I had a method and
approach that I used based on my musical abilities, insight, and intuition.
It was also based on my own observations of how the composers who inspired me
handled putting music to picture. These affected my musical choices. And it
worked fine. I had a blast writing everything I did in my first scores. Some
parts of it worked better than others, but I got through it all successfully.
The technology was simpler than it is now, so things took longer to do. I
made it my goal to write music that was fresh, ambient, and melodic, but
unconventional. It was based on what I had inside me musically, as well as
all the things that inspired me. I had a good sense of the emotional impact
of my music and made choices as to how it would fit into the stories I
underscored. But as I was still new to it all, I would step back as I
completed each piece and try to hear it for the first time just as the
audience would, so I could decide if I had succeeded at my goal. Then I would
move on, fix it, or scrap it and begin again.
But every time I listen to my earlier works (anything older than one week)
I also hear everything I didn't do: The musical ideas that I hadn't thought
of, and the ideas that weren‚t technically possible yet. In my earlier music,
I don‚t hear the styles, approaches, sounds, rhythms, and beats that fed my
musical mind and developed in the intervening years. There‚s a synergy in our
relationship to the rest of the world. As the world changes, so do we, and as
we change we change the world. As I have continued to practice my craft, I‚ve
learned new ways to achieve the results I desire. My style has changed. My
intuition, while still based on the same feelings, has been honed.
Athletes practice the same moves every day in order to do what they do
better: a little higher, faster, or farther. Lift weights every day, and
you‚ll be able to lift a little bit more with each new workout. So it is with
our creative muscles. Every piece of music you create makes you a greater
musical force. Every one. The act of composing one piece results in less
wasted energy and more capabilities to do what you want on the next piece.
Sure, there is still the issue of talent. Having it helps. But so do
inspiration, enthusiasm, and hard work.
The way you approach every decision you make will change every time you do
it, whether it‚s about a chord change, a melodic direction, a sample CD, a
compressor plug-in, the way you score a dramatic transition, or how you use
loops. We listen to the world, and if we are lucky, the world listens to us,
in a kind of musical feedback loop.
What inspires you? How has your music changed over the weeks, months, or
years? Log on to www.reelworld-online.com, click on Exchange and share
your thoughts and stories. Read what others have written. I‚ll add the best
entries to a special Web page.

Change is good.