R Funksmith

I play vinyl funk & disco & hip hop. It's kinda niche, especially since the town I live in seems to really love the more bangin' electronic djs. I'm not interested in changing what I do to get more gigs, probably because I get lots of gigs playing bass so I don't need the dj gigs. I'll take a dj gig when the client knows what I do and wants that.

I should have added that starting projects is another skill that needs development. That's definitely my weak spot. I can come up with general vague ideas for days, but to actually set up the gear and hit record is somehow very difficult

same here, you are a gentleman for doing it

I'm not sure what the term "creative" actually means to be honest. I really feel like it more comes down to putting in work. If you have some false idea of "creativity" and are constantly wondering whether or not you "have" it, it becomes an excuse to not complete any projects. ...having thought about it for a moment, maybe creativity is similar to open-mindedness. So Steve, your original example, where you didn't know what to do with the 'main meat' of the track... it's possible you have a set of unexamined arbitrary assumptions about what is "allowed" when it comes to creating that part of the track. Perhaps the assumption that your track even needs that part whatsoever is arbitrary. So maybe creativity is similar to an ability to overturn assumptions? An ability to have paradigm shifts? I know the point of this thread isn't to define creativity, but I think it might help. Because I do know of many people for whom "creativity" is this mystical amazing power that some few lucky people are born with, and I think that's bullshit. You just have to do the work.

Dunno why but I really dislike Philip Glass. Maybe because I happen to know he's an awful piano/keyboard player. A buddy of mine saw him live and said he just sucked, but the show was him playing piano. Why would you charge money to perform when you suck at performing? Also I have a record of his, where he plays piano and keyboards with like a weird choir, and man, yes he really sucks at playing. To the point that it's pretty annoying. I listened to lots of classical music as a kid cuz I was a nerd like that. Beethoven's probably my favorite. His 7th Symphony particularly. Bach is pretty special too. I've been digging Eric Satie lately. Also Fantasia is a great movie. I couldn't ever get into the 12-tone stuff (Schoenberg etc). That's a whole other topic actually. Probably would be cool for sampling though.

I've made an effort to finish things. Often I'm not suuuper pleased with the result but at least it's finished and I move on to something else. I think finishing things is a skill that needs development in most of us, just another skill like EQing, scratching, or whatever.

I sometimes drool on the record. And the guitar.

Phil, can you explain that a bit more? That sounds coooool.

I came across these articles 3 or 4 years ago and they have totally informed my approach to composing, recording and even live performance

sick

can't remember what Heiroglyphics track, but Del says "I'm hellah stern but my face is calm" I thought he said "hellah sperm" forever. My girlfriend corrected me.

fresh

Aja is my favorite Steely Dan album. Aja the song is pretty badass, the outro is wicked cool. I just gave a vinyl copy to a friend of mine who consumes music voraciously, and made sure to tell him all about how Aja is held up as a recording high water mark to this day, you can hear everything clearly, the players are all such excellent pros, etc blah blah. He fucking hated it.

yeah, that's what I meant.

bricks & boards, lads

I've never heard the Prince version, though I knew he wrote it. Sinead's is pretty great though.

I agree on an abstract philosophical level with you guys, that anything is fair game for sampling, but at the end of the day I will only sample vinyl. And I have more respect for samples that come from vinyl than if they come from some digital source. I guess cassettes are okay. But you can't scratch a cassette? I dunno. I can't really defend my position... dunno if I should have to anyways. Everyone should just do whatever they want, but don't expect others to automatically ... I dunno, whatever.

I also agree.

...and then deleting this thread.

buddy of mine has a Rane mixer (sorry I dunno which one exactly), and after a gig he was drunk, he carried his stuff out to his car, he had to go back in for his keys, so he stashed the mixer under his car tire, went & got his keys, put his gear in his car (except, you guessed it, he forgot about the mixer), then went wherever to sleep. In the morning he returned, got in his car, drove away, "hey what was that strange bump?" Yup, he drove over his fucking mixer. The extent of the damage was, he had to replace the knob thing on the cross fader. It's his regular gigging mixer still and works totally fine.

yeah yeah I have the free jj, totally for sure.

I finally bought the pad "upgrade" for my MPC 1000 and installed it today. OH YEAH. I got the thick ones rather than the normal ones, which is $30 extra. Also I got these bright-ass yellow ones. My MPC looks shit-hot now. No need to respond, just nod your head and move on. I'm excited is all.

that looks dope.

I just read that either Brian Eno or David Byrne used four Kaoss 3s in series for a recent album. FOUR. I think I'll use five!

I like that you can grab a loop and it starts looping instantly.