Let Things Be One Thing
I’m really trying to silo what I do over here—making all kinds of different music—and trying to make sure that everything I have doesn’t do everything. Maybe this guitar just goes with this, and this synth just goes with that, and that can be OK.
Case in point: I had a rehearsal last night with Daphne Falls, and the Dave Smith Mopho X4 is perfect for it. So that’s just what that synth is gonna be now. It doesn’t have to be a sound-creation, sound-design kind of thing. It can just be the live synth and live in the bag. When I wanna practice, I can take it out and work on those tones and patches.
The Teenage Engineering samplers can just be for fun and to play with the op-1 style stuff. They don’t have to serve any other purpose. Everything doesn’t need to earn its keep in ten different ways.
If something is serving no purpose, you need to get rid of it. Like I sold a bass today. It was a tweener. I hadn’t touched it in a couple months. It’s a Mustang bass. Craigslist is full of them. If I need another one, I’ll get another one there.
The other point with all of this is that sitting around and thinking about what to do with certain stuff will drive you crazy. You need to get to the doing as soon as possible. If you’ve decided on something being the tool, get at it. Because if you don’t get at it, you’re gonna start getting different ideas and buying stuff, and that’s just a recipe for misery.
So, rambling today, but these are the thoughts. I’m coming off a demo-a-day and a bunch of gigs and such, focus-wise. And I have to admit, I’m kind of enjoying the non-focused farting-around month of February. It’s delightful.