Features

Tech Sessions #17

Musical X-Factor
Over the past installments we've discussed everything from gear to working with artists to compression to sampling and more. It has definitely been a fun ride. But the most important elements of this music thing that we have not really dug that deep into has been how music makes us feel.

I'm a big believer that there is a certain space that exists between the explainable and the unexplainable that makes certain songs special. This x-factor so to speak is what really can make a song timeless. The crazy thing is that you can't read a book, study a manual, or read some dude's column to figure out how to pipe it into your music.

At best, you can allow yourself to be aware of it so when it does happen you can more or less sit back and enjoy the ride. A lot of times you will hear songwriters, producers and artists say that they feel like a vessel or a portal when a special tune pops up and that they are simply executing some sort of gift that was given to them.

There is a lot of truth to this. Often times, I try to avoid going anywhere near my gear if I feel like I "have" to write that day. More times than not I would rather be making music than doing anything else besides the obvious sinful activities, so those days are rare but when they do come I try not to force myself to make music.

On the same token, you kind of have to know that not every beat or track is going to be that special one. Not everything will even turn out all that good but the ones that are good should just be appreciated for being good but when that special wave shows up man… appreciate those moments because that's what we all live for.

I can't even say how many times I have pulled up an old pattern from a ZIP for my MPC that never got finished or found some old Pro Tools session on my hard drive that ended up becoming one of our special tracks. Who knows why on that first day the track ended up being scrap metal and then however long later it did it's thing?

Was there other stuff on my mind? The phone ring? Falcons come on TV? I mean it could have been anything. The good news is that every now and then I have any number of starting points to work from if I feel like it. The bad news is that I have a gang of discs and hard drives full of unfinished data.

It all comes down to allowing yourself to being open to let whatever comes "come." The key word again is feel. I mean shit, the music we make is all about feel and if it doesn't feel right, it doesn't sound right. That being said, there's a ton of blueprints and templates out there that tell you this is what you gotta to do to make a rap or an R&B track. But at the end of the day, it's got to feel right to be right.

Glover is one half of the Atlanta, GA based production squad The Audio Assassins which are founding members of The Elements. You can find them both at Audioassassins.com and theelementsinc.com

Message Glover and tell him what you think!