So I have 3 unfinished tracks that I sort of work on simultaneously when I sit down to produce.
That's the normal mode of operation for me, but it is slow and kind of distracting. This new track has totally taken over and I think is one of my best. There's a particular 8-bars that I'm really happy with, and it might be my best 8-bars ever.
Last night Anna and I had friends over, Karl Travis and family. Karl and I go way back, we used to run around town 10 years ago causing problems and desperately hunting for our artistic voices. Karl and I have always appreciated eachother's creative efforts (still think Karl is the best drummer I've ever seen play in front of me...he's unreal) and he wanted to hear my new track.
Normally, I don't let people in to my process, but Karl is an exception because that bond of trust and understanding runs very deep. Our oldest kids followed us to my computer, his daughter is six and Coleman is going on three. First, Karl listened to the track and declared that it was his favorite I had ever written. Karl's heard a lot of tracks of mine and isn't a "fluffer" so that was a good sign. Karl's daughter then listened to it.
I was truly afraid of what was going to come out of her mouth. She is VERY honest and says things without considering how it's going to make other people feel...PERFECT for finding out if a track is good or not! If it doesn't pass the kid-test, forget it, delete.
Jesus said to be like the little children and I think I understand what he meant. So if the little children don't like the music, I figure at best, I'm not touching on anything universal and at worst, it just plain sucks.
Karl's daughter listened to it and I was shocked at how afraid I was at what she would think, her opinion really mattered to me because I knew it would genuinely be her opinion. She listened, she liked it. She asked to hear it again a little later...sweet.
Then it was Coleman's turn. Coleman has advanced in his awareness lately and in the past week we've been having full blown conversations with eachother. It's so cool. Two days ago we were listening to my favorite internet radio station (Limbik Frequencies) and he asks, "Dad. Did you make this music?" I was trippin that he now understands my music's style enough to know that I potentially would make something similar to the track on the station. "No," I said. It was our first conversation about music that was in context and brought up by him.
So it was Coleman's turn and I've tested tracks on him since he was a baby. He's saved me from a lot of embarrassment I suspect. When Coleman doesn't like it I instantly abandon ship, run fast. Shitty tracks are kept but buried in folders on my laptop that tend to never see the light of day again. What's funny is that when Coleman reacts, he tends to just verify what I already know, so in a way he's really taught me to trust my ear and I've slowly learned how to look at my stuff from a 3rd person point of view thanks to him. I think when you really understand that you are writing garbage, you have the ability to really make something sing.
Coleman liked the track, eyes wide with a little grin under my AKG headphones.
Sweet. We got something. Consensus with the little children. That's all I want.
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