Always(!) ... "Keep a Tape Running!"

[MikeRobinson]

As I (re-)watched the documentary, It Might Get Loud, I was once again confronted by ... a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

 

Notably, Jack Black switched on his tape-unit before he started fooling around with a wire and a Coke bottle ... and it did not escape my attention that the resulting sound was dutifully listed among the copyright-credits in the finished film.

 

Before I seriously embark upon a new day's work, or perhaps at the end of the day, I often find myself "doodling at the keyboard," and I have learned to "first, mash the Record button on Logic Pro X."  Whether "anything actually comes of it," or not.

 

Likewise – when "an idea wanders through my head" – I reach for my iPhone and its Voice Memo application.

 

Well, I guess that I have enough of those "voice memos" and "Logic Pro projects" to keep my creative juices going for a very long time.  But I have this to say about almost every single one of them:  (a) I do not remember them, and (b) each one was somehow performed with a passion(!) that I now strive to capture.  "It could have been gone forever – but, it wasn't."

 

I guess that musical ideas are somewhat like butterflies:  "grab 'em out of the air, right now, and stick 'em to the board." 

Edited December 19, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[Peggy]

Those poor little butterflies 😉 

 

Because I will forget, I record almost everything I do when in my little studio, just in case. And..I record on my phone any musical thought. I'll write on anything, at any need, when an idea suddenly comes to me.  .  But the amount builds up. I joke that it's like being a hoarder.  

 

Peggy

[Just1L]

I do think that's a good idea. I'm not trying to sound "good" here but I will say I sing just about everything I do and I could end up with 3 or 4 things per day if I were to record them all. So, instead I don't. I only consider that when the same idea/lyric/song keeps popping into my head. Like a self-filter. About the "performed with passion" bit. That's one of those special little things that happens that is hard to re-create. I have used original one-takes of things before because of that passion/excitement. When I'm working on something and a new idea pops into my head whilst working, a certain form of excitement develops that is raw and new. It gives great results and is hard to duplicate if done at a later date. Good post.

[ImKeN]

Have a recorder near by when meditating or sleeping, too.