Making Music Creative Strategies

for Electronic Music Producers

Arbitrary Constraints

My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have
assigned to myself for each one of my undertakings. I shall go even further: my
freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my
field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes
constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees
oneself of the claims that shackle the spirit.
Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music

Problem:
Music production with a computer offers a limitless field of
possibilities. Any sound can be made, manipulated, re-recorded, re-
manipulated, etc. But while an infinite range of options might sound
appealing, it also means that decision making is hard. The more
options you see, the more you need to make active choices about
which ones to pursue and which ones to ignore.

Limiting the field of possibilities isnt just about making it easier to work. Its also
about making it possible to begin at all. If every possible starting direction is
equally appealing, how could you ever choose one?

Solution:
Apply arbitrary constraints before starting to work. Create a narrow frame of
possibilities, and then act entirely within that frame. Applying arbitrary constraints
helps to limit your field of options, allowing you to move forward.

Its important to note that these constraints really are arbitrary; youre attempting
to eliminate perfectly valid options rather than bad ones. Bad options are easy to
deal with; your own musical sensibilities will reject them automatically. But valid
options need special care because their validity requires you to make active
choices about whether to pursue or reject them. Eliminating them arbitrarily helps
you avoid decision paralysis. Also, the fact that the constraints are arbitrary means
that it doesnt really matter if youre wrong. If you realize during the course of your
work that youve constrained yourself too much, or in the wrong direction, you can
simply choose to remove the constraint.

Here are a number of ideas for arbitrary constraints, both related to the music itself
and also to working method:

Musical Constraints
> Make every sound from one sample. An extreme restriction on available sound
sources forces you to really think about the character and possibilities of the
sounds you choose. Can you make a kick drum sample into a lush pad? How
about a hi-hat? What kinds of processing could you use for these
transformations?

> Completely avoid an instrument that would be expected in the genre. For
example, the untitled Peter Gabriel album commonly called Melt has no cymbals.
Princes classic song When Doves Cry has no bass line. These kinds of
restrictions force your decision making process into new directions. If an entire
functional role is missing, how do you fill the gap? In the case of Melt, Gabriel
had to find ways to propel time forward without relying on mainstays like hi-hats
or ride cymbals. His solution was a range of unconventional percussion
instruments. In the case of When Doves Cry, Prince chooses to leave the sonic
space unfilled. Consider both options in your own work.

Constraints on Time
> Give yourself a deadline. Nothing motivates like a due date. Since work always
expands to fill the available time, its necessary to actually put a limit on that
time. If you find self-imposed deadlines to be too soft, try having someone
else assign the deadline for you, with the requirement that you show them the
work at the end to ensure accountability. Or engage in a collective challenge,
such as February Album Writing Month.

> Schedule tasks as if they were appointments with yourself. Try using a calendar
to restrict specific types of work to specific times. For example:
Sound design: 7-8pm
Form/song structure: 8-9pm
Mixing: 9-10pm

Timeboxing specific tasks serves two purposes: It forces you to narrow your
focus while simultaneously eliminating the risk of non-musical distractions
(Facebook, etc.). You wouldnt check your email in the middle of a business
meeting, so treat these appointments with the same kind of care.

Constraints on Space
> Change your venue. If youre used to making music in a particular place, try
 moving to a different one. Simply moving from your bedroom studio to the local
coffee shop forces your hand in a number of ways. First of all, youre limited by
what you can take with youno racks of external hardware, for example.
Secondly, youre in an environment that is at least somewhat unfamiliar, so
youre unable to fully relax (and thus become distracted). Many musicians avoid
having a home studio altogether, instead choosing to rent studio space so that
they can separate their working mindset from their living mindset.

Although you may not realize it at first, youre most likely already applying certain
constraints to your work. For example, simply making the choice to work within a
specific genre already eliminates a huge range of musical possibilities. To say that
youre working on a house track as opposed to a Balkan folktronica track
implies that you understand certain general characteristics (the instrumentation,
rhythms, and harmonic language that identify a given piece of music as being in
a particular genre) that describe one music as opposed to another.

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