30+ years on, I'm still a sucker for the Windham Hill holiday albums. This is one of my go-to streaming options on Pandora this time of year in addition to my extensive collection of WH CDs.
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Hey Chris - really excited to share our new single "No Reason" in this season's Creators Drop: https://pandora.app.link/PIK8lkWyJXb The song is a bit of a departure from our usual downtempo indie electronic stuff, landing a bit more in the dance/house realm, but we're really proud of how it came together. The incorporation of full vocals and lyrics is a relatively new aspect of our production process, and we hope it resonates with others the way it does with us. Thanks as always for all that you and the AMP team do to support these efforts!
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Hi Jamie - I just tagged Pandora AMP on Bluesky for the release of our new single, No Reason. I noticed Pandora AMP's Bluesky link was not included in your post above, so hope that is still a good way to give a shout out to you all. We really appreciate the consideration to participate in Fresh Cuts for the first time!
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I'm part of a music collaborative that is bicoastal, so thanks to digital technology we are able to share ideas and produce together with 3,000 miles between us. It's not without its challenges and compromises, but in the end we all feel more fulfilled from working on music together.
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In a cabin in the mountains is what comes to mind...but it really could be anywhere. I have a very simple app on my phone with a keyboard that allows me to sketch out rudimentary song concepts and save them, because as we all know those can pop out of your head as fast as they appear. It's fun to rediscover these ideas later, many of which I've completely forgotten about, and some of them become my "gold nuggets" as composer Aaron Copland called them, to build a song around.
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Agreed, Chris - it's only after several years of learning and experimentation that I feel like I'm starting to bend the sound to my will as opposed to having to settle for "pretty close" to what I want. That's a big motivator for me.
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All good points. I like to take a shower and make a cup of coffee 😄 For whatever reason that ritual tends to help me get into a deep flow state. Also, creative constraints can be helpful - for example, limiting the number of presets/samples/tools I use initially to see how far I can get before doing a deeper dive into sound selection, processing, etc. keeps my brain from getting overwhelmed by the endless possibilities when starting a new song.
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Yes, we have started incorporating vocal samples and sometimes full vocals with lyrics into our music just in the last year or so. There's no denying that many listeners connect more deeply with a track that includes a more overt human element.
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For me it's all about closing the taste gap between my work and that of my favorite artists. It's frustrating to fall short over and over, but motivating when I get a little closer in terms of song composition, arrangement, sound quality, etc. Creating any type of high-level art is extremely difficult, and it should be.
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I always get a kick out of the audience map - I wasn't previously familiar with Dunedin, FL but it looks like a beautiful place. Not sure I really understand the underperforming/overperforming metrics though. Why would one location be expected to perform better than another?
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Chris I think you're right in terms of releasing complementary songs that work in sequence and general tone/style. However, I'm starting to lean more towards releasing singles or 2-3 song EPs as opposed to full albums. I just don't think in this streaming era that there is as much intentional listening (let alone re-listening) to full albums. And artists have become incentivized to get new music out more often, so unless you are a big name artist, it seems like keeping your releases more streamlined and frequent makes more sense these days.
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Honestly if a track makes it past the initial idea stage for me and the arrangement is working, I'm finishing it with the intent to release it. You never know what's going to resonate with listeners, so I think the focus just has to be making the best music you can rather than trying to write hits. Consider how many classic songs have been described by artists as basically throw-away tracks that almost didn't make the album.
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Great question - as a fellow producer recently said, growth isn't linear. For me it's more of a process goal, in terms of having a more consistent schedule of finishing and releasing music. And of course, making it onto the Pandora AMP Fresh Cuts station! 😎 📻 🎶
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Couldn't agree more to treat your creative endeavor as a craft rather than a hobby. Put the time in, learn as much as you can, experiment, get frustrated, try again. And find a mentor if at all possible to help you navigate through and around some of the common pitfalls.
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@AdamPandora it's a good question, and I agree with others in that you have to be open to deriving creative ideas from different environments and life experiences. For me though I've learned that I can't wait around for inspiration to hit me in the face. It's putting in the studio time and getting into a state of deep focus for at least 30 minutes to an hour with minimal distractions. It doesn't always yield amazing results every session but it reinforces habits and skills that allow me to capitalize on good ideas when they do materialize.
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For me it's almost always a melody or riff that I build everything else around - I'm amazed that some artists can, for example, first create a beat as their foundation to construct a song. That would almost never work for me - but as was pointed out, everyone is different in their process.
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