Tag Archives: Creativity

Today’s Music Business vs. Artistic Vision

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

I just read the Bob Lefsetz article on Today’s Music Business.

The short of it is that data on social media dictates the business above any of the music. Record labels capitalise on that which already gains traction.

And usually what gains traction needs that viral train wreck, shock value so it’s instantly shareable and can catch fire.

That’s not music anywhere near in it’s full art form.

But labels, don’t care about that, they care about money.

So, if you are keen on garnering as much attention as possible, getting mindshare and being talked about so much it leads to a major deal and beaucoup bucks, get cracking on with your short hooks on Tik Tok.

Otherwise, the better approach is to accept the reality of the situation, then ignore the business trends of today and steer your own path with your own vision.

You might not make any money at all, but you’ll be fulfilled knowing that you’ve made that which you want to make without pandering to any of the lower common denominator nonsense.

You might build an audience, a small viable audience that appreciates you for who you are and respect your integrity and willingness to dance on the edge. And if Kevin Kelly is right, 1000 true fans is all you need to get somewhere.

How I organise my sessions

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

I think I’ve recovered from last week’s adrenaline rush of a recording session.

This is my sixth album, and producing them are always an enormous undertaking, especially the ones I do on my own so I have to have a system in place to which I can organise everything because otherwise, I’m drowning in hundreds, maybe even thousands of audio files! I thought I’d share some of the administrative processes I have in place.

Here goes.

1. Title everything properly

Give each song a working title that’s clear and distinct. It’ll save you time as you won’t be trying to remember what the name of the demo is when you’re trying to open it up!

2. Mark all arrangements

Write in where your intros end, your verses, your choruses etc. Visualising the arrangement of your song makes it so much easier to get a macro view of everything!

3. Colour code everything

This is another essential visual aide. You’ll be able to see your drums, guitars and vocals etc. much more clearly. Also use different shades for different things of the same instrument, for e.g. clean and distorted guitars. Also colour code your files! Mine are red.

4. Write up documentation on track progress

Track what progress you’ve made and outline what you need to do next. This could be a tick system. I like using tables these days. It is an aide to helping you see how far you’ve come along on your creative journey and what’s to be done next!

5. Journal conceptualisation

Lyrics, track titles, orders, artwork, additional personnel. Keep it in a handwritten journal and document all your thoughts. It’s a great way to gather your ideas and make concrete choices moving forward.

6. Have a ‘Finals’ folder

Final mixes, final masters, final artwork, final liner notes. Move it all to a designated and clear folder to which you can scrutinise every detail with a fine tooth comb and declare that it is all ready to launch!

7. Back everything up!

The much needed contingency for accidental deletion or computer malfunction. Back it up on an external hard drive and back it up on the cloud. It’s an act of kindness for your future self!

Dreams to Ashes

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

Track 1 of my solo debut album was initially written in 2015 and completed in 2018.

Musically, it’s a progressive metal track through and through with 5/4 being the opening time signature amongst other jagged rhythms and riffs.

Most of the track is guitars, bass and drums but there are moments where I use acoustic guitars, synths and other textures. The ending is particularly dense.

Lyrically, the album is about what has been called by some as the lost decade. The growing chaos and division that occurred from 2016 onwards and futures being determined by lack of upward mobility, soaring house prices and inequality, prejudice and hatred.

This opening track was one of the reasons I wanted to include the word ‘disillusion’ in the album title.

Amidst all the frustration I expressed in this track, and my observation of it all, I throw in an element of hope in there. The problems are definitely there, but many of us see them and are doing something about it. Here is to changing things for the better.

Collaboration

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

A few weeks, ago, I hit a brick wall.

I’ve spent lockdown relentlessly creating and whilst I’m proud of that, I’m also susceptible to getting into mental knots, especially when so much of the work I am doing is in solitude.

Cue a rest day, recharging my batteries and a walk for clarity. All of which helped, but when it came to moving my project forward, the key to unlocking it was two phone calls with my collaborators.

They were able to see things I could not, they brought a new level of energy, excitement and feedback that made me realise the further potential of the work I am doing.

Everyone who has ever made something, especially if it’s successful has had an environment and community around them to levitate their work, which is why the idea of lone genius is a myth.

Creative work happens when we do the work, but it also happens when we know to ask for help and welcome on board the expertise and insight of others.

Frustration can be a good thing.

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

If you are working towards a goal and trying to achieve something, feeling frustration is a natural part of the process.

The frustration of not being able to succeed in what you are doing (yet).

If you are frustrated, you are working towards flow and conscious of the fact that you are making mistakes and not quite where you want to be (yet). It can be a useful motivator, a challenge to overcome and it is very often that moments of frustration also can lead to moments of a high level of learning.

If we can perceive the process of frustration as a good thing and use ‘yet’ as a useful lever to move ourselves forward, we will reap the rewards.

Keep going.

New creative paths.

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

I’ve made 5 studio albums and I’m proud to say that each one of them is unique and different.

There are processes I repeat on a routine basis but there are other things I’ve moved away from, be it because my tastes have changed or what I did before was naive.

I’m working on my 6th album and I’m adopting new things I’ve never done before and it’s exciting. One thing I’m working with a lot more is synthesis and it’s uncomfortable because I’m working in an area where I’m not entirely sure what the creative outcome is. But that is part of the fun.

With each new project is an opportunity to try something different, follow a new path and evolve.

Judging creative productivity

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

There are several traps that cause creatives to feel anxiety.

One is writer’s block or more specifically a fear of bad writing. The other is getting the most out of a day and feeling that you have done a substantial amount of work.

There are four stages of creativity:

  1. Preparation
  2. Incubation
  3. Illumination
  4. Verification

All four of these happen interchangeably and I know that I can spend ages on the fourth one where I am listening back to work I have done and trying to find ways to either develop it or affirm that it is finished. My first solo album took 6 months of post-production before I could say it was ready to release.

I remember hearing acclaimed singer songwriter Diane Warren talk about how she spent an entire day working on a couple of lyric lines because they were important.

That statement itself reveals the importance of revision, rewriting and giving time and effort to a small amount of quality material.

There is also some reassurance in that statement. Especially if you feel you aren’t producing enough. Giving time to intricate details can allow them to blossom with profoundly rewarding results.

The Ravel Affair

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

I am currently attempting to write my first string quartet. It is a significantly new creative path for me and very challenging but nevertheless rewarding.

Upon my research of different quartets, Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major is one of my favourites. I consider it to be a beautiful piece with extraordinary passages and details typical of Ravel’s musical personality that would continue to evolve later on in his career.

What I find remarkable about the story of this piece is that it was his final submission to the conservatoire de Paris and Prix de Rome competitions to which both rejected the piece. Aside from having mixed reviews from the Parisian press, his teacher, Gabriel Faure, to whom the piece is dedicated to, dismissed the last movement as ‘stunted and in fact a failure’. Ravel himself believed that the quartet was an inadequate realisation.

Thankfully Debussy, whose own string quartet piece, which was written ten years previously and most likely had some influence on Ravel, wrote to him a letter with some words of encouragement and insisted he did not touch a single note of the piece he had written.

From what I’ve read, the truth appears that Ravel was an unconventional character with unconventional approaches to musical composition that was difficult for the conservatoire’s ultra conservative director to accept. He had enough resilience, or indifference to any other criticism than his own to keep going on his own path and it just so happens that the frustrations and failure he dealt with led him to propelling forward in his career and eventually being revered as one of the greatest French composers of all time.

Sometimes, art and the work created just so happens to be received in a time where the culture is not ready to accept its value. Some works find that appreciation is manifested at a later date, in some cases even beyond the life of the artist. Ravel’s String Quartet is now one of the most played chamber pieces.

The reason I like stories like this is that it reaffirms that steering your own creative path and focusing on what it is you want to achieve is better than changing what you do and who you are merely to fit in.

More often than not, innovation comes from the outside.

Thrashing through bad ideas

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

One of the interesting things about teaching composition is that it requires students to get used to exploring sounds, options and ultimately dealing with the fact that initially a lot of what they try isn’t going to work straight away.

There is a criteria you can set, you can work within parameters and music theory and other knowledge can certainly help in making choices that are suitable, but with that knowledge is also the willingness to take the rulebook and throw it away as that leads to innovation and originality.

Some students are so fearful of this, that it requires a Herculean effort to put anything down. To create, we need to get used to putting down bad ideas and then thrashing through them.

Almost always, there is potential to find something worthwhile amidst the ideas that are laid down, that is where thrashing can happen. What is worth keeping? What can we develop here? Will this work better if we get rid of this part or save it for later? What if we try this or that approach? How can we make this better? A myriad of questions to ask and plenty of creative possibilities.

Being open to the creative possibility is key and it comes when we give ourselves an environment where we can thrash through what we have without any judgement from the outside world. Just you and the work, and maybe some trusted people to advise you along the way.

Any worthwhile path

Posted by Ryan Mark Elliott Music on

Any worthwhile path will probably involve risk, discomfort, adversity, suffering and pain.

It is the reason why people don’t write a novel.

And systems have made sure we avoid that pain, that we stay comfortable, avoid risk and stick to complying, showing up and doing what we are told and expected to do without finding our own path.

I see it happen all the time. I hear people say they won’t do something because they are setting themselves up for disappointment, I’ve seen children denied a pathway because they parents are scared stuff of the risks involved.

The pain is real and it’s only natural to avoid it.

But the things that that part of us dares to do, feels compared to create is hard to ignore when we dig deep and listen to our desires. And I think it’s worth leaning into the tension to pushing ourselves to do it. There are choices to be made.

And one choice we have is to build the skills necessary to achieve what we want. With that comes the acceptance that if we want to write something good, we are probably going to spend significantly more time writing stuff which is bad. It’s only through the ongoing process of attempting, failing, failing more, failing again that we find ways to make things better. It may take years or decades to achieve your best work, but it can happen if you’re willing to pay your dues.

I thoroughly dislike the way ‘talent’ and ‘genius’ are used. As if a scarce amount of people are blessed by external force. Nonsense. This kind of limelight success story is more a tangled web of exceptional hard work, a supportive environment, benefit of the doubt, luck, being in the right place at the right time and often privilege.

You have the potential to create and make something. You just need to decide whether taking the path with many dips is the right choice for you.