Rolling in the Deep

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Risk/Reward

This week I'm reminded about how much art and creativity, especially when paired with business, is based on opinion.

What is a good song?


What is a great song?


What is a bad song?

To be a creator in such an environment takes courage and resilience. The songwriter must, must, must pour their entire heart and soul into each and every song they write. Nothing can be held back in fear. The easiest way to hold back creativity is to rely on a tried and true form (or formula) of creating. This is where originality is abandoned in hopes of safer ground. Be bold and don't be afraid. There is treasure to be found.

Keep writing (and exploring),
Ben

Otters vs. Butterfly

Just for fun...




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Quote of the Day - Rand

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."

- Ayn Rand

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Synchronized Gymnasts

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A Lesson in Collaborating

From Stephen R. Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

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The Beatles - "In My Life"

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Co-writer Characteristic #7 of 10: Preparedness

Know yourself. It's that easy, and it's that complicated.

Knowing yourself allows you to best be prepared to show up and create with another person. Not only will you have a clear view of your own strengths and weaknesses, but you'll sense how your unique creative vision and voice can blend with a collaborator's. You will be able to mutually enhance the song by entering into each other's creative space.

Being prepared includes: 

• Getting a good night's sleep 
• Keeping an organized schedule 
• Researching your co-writer's style and voice 
• Keeping a list of melody and lyric ideas to use as a launching point for a song 
• Showing up on time 
• And the list goes on... 

The most prepared songwriter will write the best song possible. 

Keep writing (and preparing),

Ben

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The Joy of Books

This took commitment.



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Quote of the Day - Camus

"The society based on production is only productive, not creative." 

- Albert Camus

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Avoiding Distortion

Back when tape machines were the main way to record audio, it was important to get as loud of a volume to tape so that the signal to noise ratio would be as high as possible. There was a little thing called "hiss" that wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear in a song. When it comes to digital recording, it's now possible to raise the volume gain within software without adding noise to the track. This being said, the last thing we need to try to do when recording is have the volume level right up to the edge of distortion. With tape, a little distortion sort of sounded cool (ie, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"). But digital distortion doesn't really have much artistic value. 

Just make sure you're not maxing out the input level and causing distortion on the track. If you have an undistorted recording that's pretty well in time and in pitch, you can always have someone else help mix it later on.

Keep writing (and recording),

Ben

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow

Say that name five times fast.



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Quote of the Day - Jobs

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things." 

- Steve Jobs

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Nashville Day/Night

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10,000 Hours

10,000 hours. That's how long Malcom Gladwell says in his recent book, Outliers: The Story of Success, it takes for someone to master a craft.

The Beatles did it performing live in Germany before they reached world fame. Bill Gates did it in a computer lab while he was in high school. And you can do it too.

Broken down, 10,000 hours is roughly 2,000 co-writes (considering the traditional co-write time of five hours, about 10:30am to 3:30pm). Let's be honest. It takes years to become an expert co-writer. But the cool thing is, a lesser-experienced co-writer can write a better song on any given day than an expert co-writer. Basically, an amateur can hit the bull's eye on a lucky shot, but an expert will have better aim and more control over where their arrow lands. And the more control over where the arrow goes, the more fun the creative process becomes.

Keep writing (and aiming at the bull's eye),

Ben

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A Little Magic

This is how to engage an audience. A great performance should leave the audience in amazement...




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The Life & Work of Robert Sherman

The songwriting world lost one of the greats a couple days ago. Robert Sherman, along with his brother Richard, penned some of the most memorable songs of all time.

If you have ten minutes, I highly encourage you to listen to NPR's recent story at their website.

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Jonsi - "Go"

One of my favorite artists as of late:




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Interview with Luke Laird

In a recent interview, songwriter Luke Laird shared insights into his journey from Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania to the top of the country charts.


Read the full article here.

Brittany, Barry Dean, Luke Laird and me at October's Songbird Camp

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The Disappearing Car Door

Here is another example of re-imagining an everyday object:




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Quote of the Day - Einstein

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science."

- Albert Einstein

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Seminar @ Belmont

Last week Gordon Kennedy and I spent an hour with Belmont students, singing songs and telling stories. Basically, we had a mini Songbird Camp experience!


 

 Check out more photos from the seminar here.

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