The Flow State

Let me take youuu hiiiiigher

I did a short guest post for Safari Pedals (an awesome digital effects company), and I wanted to share it with you music lovers.

I firmly believe that the antidote to the “AI conversation” is the flow state. It’s place where creativity lives, where time evaporates, and where we humans reach a state that no machine can touch. (I write this literally as I watch Terminator 2.)

Here’s the post:

“How do you approach balancing the creative and technical aspects of music production/record making? Is there one that drives your work more?”

I am a flow-state junkie. In flow, creative and technical meld. Out of it, logical focus takes over. Both are needed to make a record, but one is a whole lot more fun…

I believe that practice in all respects (from running scales to learning Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts) are a means to clear the path for the creative self. Technical, by which I mean the craft, is the place for polish. But it’s easy to get lost in the goop of the polish. Or to polish too early. It’s rare to polish too late.

I think it’s best to find your passion. To let that animism lead you. And to surprise yourself. Surprise is the greatest motivator. However, this state typically requires a dose of technical skill alongside the right level of mindlessness. The flow is where you see 12 steps ahead. Where your leg taps. Where you’re scared when someone walks into the room, piercing your fragile bubble. To enter that space (and protect it) is the most important skill in the creative arts. This heightened state is where you transcend your worldly ability. But in this contraction, your vocabulary remains key. So you gotta shed. But you also can’t second-guess yourself. Otherwise, your flow vanishes like a lucid dream. Spiraling, draining back into a mundane reality. The modern state of constant distraction and notifications and perverted false states of flow, where the infinite scroll replaces your infinite void, where consumption replaces creativity. I live there too, probably too often. It feels good, yet unsatisfying. Flow is the opposite. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes your throat grows dry. But you leave it satisfied.

I think music and speech are analogous; when you truly know a language you cease thinking about grammar. And you play. You speak a sentence never said before. But first, you must learn to speak!

And then after you need to edit! That’s where the logical craft can re-enter. It’s worth it! But I prefer to minimize it. To make it the right size for the right project. The flow is where the real magic lives. Creativity isn’t about restacking lego blocks. Or inhabiting conflicting influences. Creativity is bigger than that. Like the universe itself, creativity is truly transcendent, so I think it takes a transcendental mental state to access fully.

So, let’s go dance in the clouds together. And then come out of a weird warg state like Bran Stark, and apply some craft, some Melodyne, some EQ to make sense of the beautiful mess we made. But don’t pretty it up too much. Sometimes a mouth click or a breath or a hum or a hiss is the magic in the middle.

Thanks for reading internet friend,

Scoob.pizza

Ohh yaa ABI THE PRODUCER who is the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) for Safari Pedals was a recent guest on the Love Music More Podcast which you can watch on the Love Music More on Spotify or YouTube at this here link: