Category: Creativity

How I Make Music

Times have changed since the days of going to the 4-track recording studio. I have more musical options at my fingertips today than the Beatles ever did. So, here’s how I make music.

I’m not a minimalist by lifestyle, but I do use minimalism in my creative work. For music, although I’ve got a room full of guitars and such, I most often simply use an iPad Pro with GarageBand. I do have a few other apps in my toolbox, but I keep it limited.

I compose music in a simple and fairly linear fashion. Anderhill music isn’t really written or played as much as it’s programmed in real time. If you know anything about digital audio workshops, (DAWs), you may understand the editor function. That’s what I use. I simply play a few notes on the keyboard on the iPad in GarageBand, and then I go into the editor and program the rest.

Most tracks take from one to four hours to create, but I might keep editing and mixing here and there for a couple of days.

I make a purposeful attempt to limit how many instruments I use, and I shy away from pop-sounding beats and melodies. (And believe me, I can make those, too. It’s almost a curse that I have to continually fight.)

I often sample everyday sounds like fans, washing machines, cars, and squeaky doors. I also sample instruments such as guitars, banjos, mandolins, and drums. I haven’t done much for lyrical content with Anderhill, but quite a few tracks still feature samples of my voice.

That’s how I make music. In the end, it’s simple and fun, and I usually like the results. – dse

Bones

Bones are what hold us together. Bones are also the core of good rock & roll music.

Every kind of writing, art, and music has its bones, the core structure that keeps it from falling apart. Bones might include a primitive beat, a sketch, a pentatonic scale, or a simple sentence. They’re simply the basic building blocks needed to make something.

Don’t mistake formula for bones.

I’ve been known to rail against formulaic art and writing. Rail I will. Bones and formula are two distinct things. Bones are the basics, the building blocks, the primitive qualities to any type of work. Formulas are preset rules and templates in which we can organize the bones. Formula gives way to mediocracy.

This website is based on formula. Most popular music is based on formula. Sometimes, we need to adhere to formula to make our work make sense. I might argue that the most admirable goal of the true artist is to do away with formula as much as possible and get back to the bones of it all. – dse

Watching the Clouds

There are two things I really love about watching the clouds.

1. Clouds are always changing.

While at Discovery Bay near Port Townsend, Washington last winter, the sky went from mostly blue to white and fluffy to dark and misty, all within a 12-hour period.

I’m sure you’ve spent time watching the clouds and seen shapes that reminded you of babies, dogs, and dragons. Twenty minutes later, the shapes have changed. There’s nothing like an ever-changing phenomenon to help promote creativity. As an artist, you can be like clouds, forming and reforming your ideas. 

2. Clouds are dreamy.

Studies have shown that our minds are at their most creative right before sleep, when you’re tired, or in a meditative state. 

If you’ve ever just laid on the ground and watched the clouds float by, you know how it can make you feel: calm and relaxed. It’s good to just let everything go.

Spend a few minutes watching the clouds.

You might be surprised at how much that simple pleasure can promote and increase your creativity. – dse

Be the Wave

This is a simple concept. The wave does not resist. It moves with the ebb and flow, yet remains part of the greater body. If you want to be more creative, be the wave.

Often, we don’t let our creativity flow. We subconsciously fight it. Something in our heads tells us that what we’re creating isn’t right, or that it’s not good enough. We resist.

The thing we should resist as creators is perfection. There’s either no such thing as perfection, or everything is perfect just as it is. In either case, that makes aiming for perfection a moot cause.

I have times when I feel like nothing is working. But I’ve also discovered that those feelings are a lie. A wave does not stop until it reaches the shore and has completed its journey. It flows. Creativity is of the same nature. If you don’t stop, creativity will happen.

Sometimes we try too hard. So try this.

Don’t try. Just do.

If it works it works. If it doesn’t work, just keep going until something clicks. If all of the ocean is creativity, and you are a wave, creativity is always flowing through you. – dse

That Constant Thing

I’ve been a creator since I was a young boy. I wrote a few songs with my brothers when I was eight years old and I’ve loved to write ever since. It’s that constant thing that never seems to stop.

Throughout the years, writing has taken on many forms for me. Songwriting has included pop, rock, country, blues, folk, spiritual, and varying combinations of all the above. I’ve written poetry, essays, blog posts, books, ebooks, plays, and theses. Musically, I’ve composed ambient, house, deep house, drone, symphonic, and music from all the songwriting genres listed above.

I often try out different kinds of writing, change my style of music, and play with new combinations and ideas. Occasionally, I might slow down or get stumped. Some call it writer’s block. I don’t. But through it all, that constant thing is there. Call it the muse if you will, but it’s something more.

It’s happiness, loneliness, playfulness, faith, hope, love, and adventure all bound into one. It’s both the light and the darkness. Sometimes it comes in the morning and sometimes it comes in the middle of the night. She’s (let’s call her a she) always there when you really need her. She tickles, she heals, she distracts, and she makes you ponder. She’s that constant thing behind all of the songs and poems and books and essays. Sometime’s you want her to go away because she comes around so often. But, NO.

I’ll never tell her to go away, and I pray she never does. She’s that constant thing that’s keeping me alive and I love her. – dse

Cool Find

Yesterday, I went to a local vintage shop that has all sorts of cool old stuff, including a crapload of vinyl. I’d come to see if they had any Tom Waits or Nick Cave on vinyl. (Yes, I’ve been fixated on Waits and Cave lately.) Nothing. But I did find a copy of Bruce Springsteen’s, The River. I bought it and that was okay, but it wasn’t the cool find.

There was a record crate on the floor marked Spoken Word and Sound Effects. The records were cheap, just a few bucks each. I found poetry, sound effects, the sounds howling wolves, race cars, and a bunch of other oddities. I bought a handful of these weird records including spoken word from poets and authors such as Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Dylan Thomas.

Here’s why this is such a cool find for me. Sure, I’ll listen to these records, but that’s not why I bought them. I’ve been composing experimental music as Anderhill for the past few years. Sampling a variety of sounds, words, and voices has become part of the Anderhill sound. You probably know where I’m going with this.

Look for some new Anderhill music in the near future; music that incorporates the sounds and voices of some cool finds from a vintage record store. – dse