Hello everyone and welcome to the Face Your Ears podcast. Welcome to the new year and the very first episode of 2024. My name is Justin Hola, and I'm joined again by Rich Boic.
Happy New Year
We're excited for the new year and looking forward to many projects, gonna be diving into. So once again, if you need help with your songwriting, your singing, your production uh, reach out to us. Boza Voice Studio's there for your songwriting and vocal. Needs and manmade random is there to help with production services. Just something I wanted to kick off with today. Remind all of you that we are here for you to provide excellent services in those areas. Rich, how you doing?
How's it going over there in New Jersey?
doing well. I'm back to a normal life. With normal meals
Yeah,
that aren't feasts every time I eat, so
Yes. Rich and I actually got to spend some time together in the same place in oh yes. That was great. Yeah, we got to partake in many a feast. We actually had a Thanksgiving style dinner. One night, just casually,
Oh, was great. was great.
to have you guys over and you and your wife and hang out and you guys got to see the family and see the kids here, and we all had a good time.
So we've kicked off the new year with fanfare. We're excited for the year ahead. but let's back up a little bit. So Rich, what are we talking about today in this very first episode of 2024? Face your ears.
in our final episode of 2023, we had touched upon the idea of inspiring creativity or having creativity inspired within us. today we want to go into more depth. We want to talk more about ways to inspire creativity and how we go about that process.
Cultivating creativity is what we're diving into today. one approach I really like to take when it comes to my own creative muse, if you will, is I like to impose arbitrary constraints. So what does that mean? I just arbitrarily pick a constraint,
So do you like handcuff yourself to the refrigerator and then you have to try to see if you can make it to the DAW to record something? Exactly.
exactly. Yeah. Or I only operate my studio with my nose.
Um,
Let's how far gets me. arbitrary constraints for It may seem counterintuitive, but they can really challenge you and make you focus, which can inspire creativity. So for example, you could set a constraint of tempo that, I'm only going to work within a specific tempo because maybe you like
to,
to just use what your job brings up automatically by default.
And so this is a way for you to say, Nope, I'm going to intentionally set a constraint of 80 beats per minute and whatever comes out at 80 beats per minute is going to be the output. Another example would be like using specific instruments like, okay, for this song I'm only going to use a particular synthesizer, or I'm only going to use my voice, or I'm only going to use Samples. So this is just a way to focus you and challenge you at the same time.
And so I think that it can yield really interesting results. Sometimes what I find is with all of the options we have today. So if you look around my studio at, the hardware alone, there's a bazillion options and it becomes tenfold that if not a hundred, when you look at the software options that I have. That level of choice can actually hinder you sometimes, because again, it's overwhelming.
Um, So this arbitrary constraint idea is a great way to say, okay, I'm just gonna stay in this particular space for writing this song or, or just exploring an idea. Uh.
Yeah, I like that. it could
of
streamline the process. Sometimes even deciding on a structure of a song, like I'm always writing songs that are verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge
chorus,
chorus. What if I. Impose a different structure on a song from the outset. What if lyrically you restrict the number of syllables per line, or you wanna work with a specific effect? Things like that.
it could be something you could carry throughout the entire process and you can set boundaries on everything. Or you could just start off with one thing that has a very specific kind of boundary, you get that established, that might inspire a bunch of other ideas. and you could kind of, abandon the barrier and then just build off of where you started.
You could get to a place paradoxically where One of the constraints becomes that there are no constraints, right? because maybe you're so inspired that you want to go off in a different direction. So yeah it's all about inspiring creativity,
This kind of segues nicely into what I was thinking about when I'm working on music, the thing that I'm allowing more of is the process to be messy. So you sit down, you start maybe tinkering with a keyboard, or you start singing some melodies or playing something on the drum kit or whatever, and you. Kinda ride that wave and you allow that to take over and dictate the process.
So there might be a nice riff on the keyboard that you think of and you're like, I like this but I don't know if I could use it right now. Let me archive it. Let me record it and archive it, and then I could Add it in later or use it for something else. Basically capturing ideas whenever they hit.
So throughout the day, you might be walking around and you think of a lyric idea, pull out the phone immediately, jot it into your notes or write it down into your calendar or notebook or whatever that you have with you and.
What you'll notice is over time, if you keep doing this, you're gonna start building up this body of ideas that you can draw from and you could flesh out, or you could combine, or you might never use but at least you're opening up the doors to creativity so that you can allow the ideas to flow and you don't get caught on one idea all the time. What are your thoughts on that?
I agree. I think that's a really great point of view. it's
sort of
like Capturing lightning in a bottle, right?
Like
not everything is gonna be lightning in a bottle, but what you were driving at was that getting into the habit or the process of jotting down ideas or capturing ideas in the moment is a really good habit to get into creatively
I've heard others say that you think of something, an idea, a lyric, a sound, whatever, write it down, capture it somehow because you will forget it.
Yeah.
like that is just, that is a guarantee and a promise. Uh, human beings, we're busy, you move on to things, we'll forget, you done that so many times where I've, where something and I'm like, oh man, that's really good. Like, I'm falling asleep or something. And I, you like, oh, I should write that down. And then I conk out and then I, it's gone
treat every idea as if you're not gonna remember it. And archive.
Yeah. I love that. another thing that comes to mind. Is sound exploration. So I have said this before in this podcast, I love sound. So one of the things that I love to do is sometimes dive into the well. in a way, it's sort of the opposite of arbitrary constraints. It's sort of like opening the floodgates, So exploring sounds. instruments effects, just focusing on the, on the element as opposed to the end result of a song. as an example of that got a new coffee maker for.
Uh, Christmas and it just makes these really weird, sort of of robotic mechanical sounds and I'm like, I need to sample these, and just experiment with, putting 'em in a logic pro sampler and, playing with them and stuff. but that's kind of the ideas, like grabbing sounds, whether they're preconceived drum loops or synthesizer presets or sounds in the open environment can lead to interesting things.
that's something that, tends to inspire me and, really cultivate a sense of curiosity and creativity in my music production.
Yeah, get into the sound banks in your daws. I know Logic has a lot of sounds that they include by default in the software, and it's easy to just get caught up on one sound like every time you're writing. I know a lot of keyboards too, when you fire 'em up, they start up on the same sound all the time. So sometimes maybe a good thing to do, if you're gonna sit down and you want to write a bit, sit down, fire it up, but immediately change the patch.
Put the patch on something else, like on the keyboard. Pick a different patch in logic after you got your MIDI device hooked up. Pick a different sound and see if it inspires a new idea. There's a lot of sounds in logic that I haven't even touched yet, some of them. 'cause honestly, I'm slightly intimidated that you fired it up and there's this huge synthesizer where you could customize the sound completely and everything. So like I'm, it's a little intimidating at first, but play around.
View that as part of the writing process. Be creative. Turn some of those knobs,
One of the things I love about today's modern Dawes, including logic, is that exploring sounds has become more intuitive. So one of the examples of that is how in Logic Pro, when you're exploring loops, for example, you can browse by genre, and that's a really great way to explore things that maybe you wouldn't have normally explored. Like you're into hip hop, maybe you wouldn't necessarily explore a country. so I think crossing the genre lines is, much easier in, in that type of environment.
And you're right, logic has just an insane amount of content available, like loops and instruments and presets and you name it. that's a really fun thing that's very easy to engage in
Yeah. A little thing that the listeners might be interested in, you guys can't really see it, but in Justin's studio there is. A lot of equipment and there are a lot of external, Hardware synthesizers. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how do you use that stuff in this process?
Yeah I, love tapping into some of my hardware synths. what's nice is that today's software, like Logic Pro, there's a lot of plugins and stuff that make accessing and manipulating these synthesizers much, much easier. So for instance, I have a, rack mounted synthesizer that interfaces through midi. And very tedious to program because it has a tiny window about the size of a stick of gum and diving into it and tweaking the settings is just super tedious.
But I've got great plugins that, that Allow me to tweak the settings, through my, DAW so I can access filters and settings, you know, with my mouse as opposed to, clicking a bazillion times to you know, tweak a, you or three settings. Um, that's one way that I explore it and it just makes jumping through the presets easy. It makes tweaking those, presets really easy. And one other thing that I think is cool.
Is it makes understanding how that synthesizer works much more intuitive because you can sort of see all the different settings as opposed to diving through menus and only seeing one setting at a time. So having sort of everything up in front of you all at once, like for that great. I love it.
Yeah. This is also another side benefit of doing this kind of thing, is you don't always have to feel like you gotta be running out and buying the newest thing. sometimes just exploring more deeply what you have already. There's a lot there
That's great advice that a of producers will encourage people to do is Once you get to a certain point with your hardware, like just stop and start learning what you already have, because buying another piece of gear isn't isn't necessarily going to solve the problems that you have, especially creatively. that. The, synthesizers that I have from like the eighties or the nineties there's so much to explore in there. And like I mentioned before, today's software makes it so much easier.
There's so many great software developers out there who have created editors and plugins and stuff that make accessing the, sort of buried features of these old synths. So easy to do.
something we had briefly talked about, I think in that end of year episode is the idea of going out and taking in other kinds of experiences and art to inspire you. Have you done any of that lately? Have
Yeah, I saw Depeche Mode uh, in November. That was awesome. And, you there's more shows than I'm looking forward to going to this year. one thing I did recently though was I actually was inspired by a book that I read. one of the, ideas in the book was this thing called Terminus, and I won't get into it, but anyway, Terminus was just sort of thing about like a parallel reality and universe and stuff, and it was just very ominous the book is called The Gone World, and it's by Tom Sweetish.
And the synopsis of the book is Inception Meets True Detective. In the science fiction thriller of spell binding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind. So a very ominous sort of for this book and it inspired me. To write this music in the song Terminus. I have to finish mixing it so I showed you a demo of it, A Rich, but, I'll post it here in one of these days and uh, let people check it out.
But, I just wanted to, to give a little more context for that. 'cause taking inspiration from other things like books, like shows, like whatever is, such a great way to cultivate, creativity. What about you? Is there any, shows or anything like that that you've partaken in or looking forward to explore this year?
I've been allowing the algorithms of YouTube, the recommended list to guide some of my listening lately, the suggested stuff which is very inspirational because I'm. listening to things that I normally wouldn't have gravitated to myself. It's like a curated list based on my listening history, which is pretty cool. So I'm discovering new artists. I'm discovering different sub genres and allowing myself to take that stuff in.
I'm also going back and listening to artists that I might have skipped over. You know how like you hang out with people and they're always talking about a certain band or artist, like constantly and you don't really think much of it. Sometimes it might be a good idea to be like who is this person? And then go and take a look and it could just open up this whole treasure trove of music that you never knew was out there, and it could lead to other things.
Also a thing that I like to do is I like to look at music from around the world, like what are the metal bands in Africa doing? What are the metal bands in Japan doing? And just seeing what people have posted and watching and seeing the kind of sounds that they're thinking of in other parts of the world.
you turned me on to Dear and Gray. I would've never come across that band, I'll caution anyone that wants to go explore deer and gray they're pretty extreme, but they're, an awesome metal band from Japan. And, that's something that I a great example of like something that you wouldn't have necessarily found that on your own, but I think somebody
yes.
it to you,
I had a student years ago who came in and he was a metal singer and we were working on all of his stuff and he just kept mentioning this band, dear and Gray, you gotta listen to this band. They're so awesome. And I didn't think much of it at the time. I I had my listening habits and I was just focused on improving and singing and whatnot and Years later, during the pandemic, I went back and I was like what is this band? I dunno, it just came into my thoughts and I'm so glad that it did.
And you know what was cool is I, went and I messaged him and I listened to Dear and Gray. This band is awesome. Thank you so much for this recommendation. And we just got into a dialogue again and just talking about music. And he started sharing more music with me and I started sharing stuff with him that I was listening to. as it is with all this stuff with music, once you find someone who's into, something, you're into, they're gonna be able to give you other recommendations
I've had this experience on YouTube where This band called ung. It was recommended to me. And I want read you a description of this band and you need to go check them out. Rich, by the way, I think you would really love this band. So is an experimental folk music band made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Their music is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic Peoples of the Iron Age and Viking Age. UNG describes.
Their music as amplified history from early medieval Northern Europe. Their music is usually about Germanic deities. The nar and Valkyries. Is a German noun, meaning healing in English. And so their genres are described as folk, neo folk, ethnic music, industrial. And they even have influences of like metal as well. And there's some really cool guttural, like throat singing in it like that, that kind of sound. It's awesome.
their stage presence alone is it's like you've stepped into this fantasy world and it's almost like you're looking at these musical vikings on stage. It's awesome. And so that they just popped up on my feet and I was like, okay what is this? And I just, started listening. And it's one of those things where you listen to it once just get a taste of it like, what is this? And then the more I listened to it, the more I started to understand what they were doing. And what they were about.
And I'm like, this is amazing. Like the, nothing really exists like this in the world, So that was what was so exciting for me and just getting inspired by that. another topic that I wanted to talk about is collaboration. So I think collaborating with others and seeing how their ideas make you respond or just allowing someone to react to something that you've created is a really great way to cultivate curiosity and creativity once again.
And I think it can validate sometimes just to let someone hear something and see if it resonates with another person or, sometimes, opening the door up. For collaboration can lead to like actual Hey, I want your input. I want you to play guitar on this. I want you to sing on this. That kind of thing. And invariably, that person's gonna do something that you wouldn't have done yourself because they're not you.
been working with my friend John on some Depeche Mode and it's been amazing because he's coming up with things, he's doing the vocal work, he's doing all the heavy lifting there. And rich, you've been working with him and helping him with his voice, and it sounds phenomenal. Sounds absolutely incredible. And I love the vocal arrangements he's doing and the sound of his voice is fantastic.
And he's also a guitar player, so I've asked him to Hey, try some guitar stuff here or there, or a solo like this or that and, just kind of let him do what he does. what works really well for John and I is that we give each other absolute freedom. Whatever he comes up with, I'm like, cool, I'll just use it. And he's Hey man, do whatever you want with this. And that's just kind of how we roll with each other. Our, our collaborative relationship in that regard is just so free and open.
And I think that just leads to some really interesting creative results and and a lot of fulfillment and joy for the two of us as musicians. Just allowing both of us to express ourselves use our talents as naturally and as freely as we can. So it's just something I love to do. I love the collaborative process in terms of how it cultivates creativity.
Absolutely. That's a great point. Within my studio, I try to encourage students to collaborate with each other, maybe singing duets or Putting together a show with regard to writing. Uh, I think sometimes asking people who might be even in a different genre that you're in and being like, Hey, do you wanna try to write something together? That can be a nice collaborative experience that can.
Be very fulfilling because you have someone coming at it in a completely different way, with a completely different perspective and maybe education than you to do some things together. I think more of that should be happening. Some people are lone wolves so don't be offended if you ask someone and they're not into it. But don't hesitate. Still ask, There are a lot of platforms online too, to collaborate with other people.
I've seen stuff on Instagram where someone will be like, here's this piano part I thought of. Can someone think of a vocal line? And then you'll have a bunch of people reply. With the original video, and then they'll film themselves singing over it, which is kind of a cool thing. Sometimes even on YouTube I'll see stuff where producers will post a track and be like, can someone think of something for this?
maybe you message them or whatever, and they'll send you the necessary tracks to be able to complete the project. there's a lot of Options out there, even if you don't know anyone in your circle, who does what you do with regard to music creation Doesn't always have to be just about recording too. It could just be about jamming with other people and playing music together, and then that could inspire some creativity when you're off on your own with writing.
You know, As you were talking about that, one thing that stuck out to me is this idea of a lone wolf and a couple of really famous artists that come to mind for me are like Prince. Trent Resner as these supposed lone wolves, they're famous for doing everything on their album. Trent Renner's debut album with Nine Inch Nails, pretty Hate Machine. He did the whole thing basically as, the story goes. And Prince was, very famous for that as well. But the reality is both of those.
Musicians collaborated heavily with other artists. And I would argue that as their career progressed, they collaborated more and more with different people just sort of naturally. I think that's when some of their best music was happening, when they were working with different producers or artists or, whatever. And so I think that. In general, humanity is better when it's collaborative. That's just my philosophy.
I think we're better when we do engage with other people and we do cultivate relationships because then we get inspired and we inspire others and really cool things will happen.
That's great. Just to recap what we talked about here today we talked about the idea of imposing arbitrary constraints. We talked about the idea of allowing yourself to be messy in the process and just capturing ideas as they come. Sound exploration. Dig into those old devices, dig into the DAW and find those sounds that you've been avoiding, and then get out and see things and experience things and live life.
Get together and allow your relationships, allow your work, all that stuff to inspire and To help create. And don't be afraid to collaborate. thank you Justin for me today and I hope all of our listeners are going to maybe try some of these things out.
Yeah, I wanted to pitch one other thing too real quick. Uh, We've got this great resource on our website. It's a book by gentleman named Dennis DeSantis. It's called Making Music, 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers. nowadays we're all electronic music producers 'cause we're using our computer we're using electronic, instruments and so forth. so don't let the title dissuade you.
there are really great ideas and approaches in this book, and the great news is that this book is free. So check out our website. We'll put a link in the show description. You can explore it to get some more interesting creative ideas for how to approach your own music. With that, we'll say goodbye for now. And thank you for, checking out our very first episode of 2024. We will catch you in our next one. Bye for now.
Take care.