Not sure how many of you are familiar with these strategies, but they are of great use to almost anyone in any creative position whether it be music, art, design, photography, writing, or even something as mathematical as programming. The Oblique strategies were created by producer Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt while working on various projects together, and should help get rid of any creative blocks you may have. The link below has one incarnation of their Oblique strategies, displayed randomly.
(these are rather un-oblique, or straightforward, or mysteriously uber-oblique maybe, nobody knows)
If you don’t know what you’re doing: turn ALL knobs. But mainly to get to know your gear, not to get lost in it.
If you’re curious how something would fit somewhere, stick it there
If something sticks out like a sore thumb, remove it.
If something can be removed without the lack of it sticking out, remove it!
If you don’t know why something is there, it probably shouldn’t be there. Unless you just know it should, of course… Ideally, everything about a song is intentional, either by being created intentionally, or by being created randomly and kept/modified intentionally.
Drill down to the essence of what you currently have, expand it in all directions, drill down again, expand again… (rinse & repeat)
Listen to music you hate and take notes of what you hate about it, do the opposite with music you love… but only if absolutely necessary, 'cuz that’s too easy!
Fix your workspace. Even better, fix all spaces connected to you, and stop trying to fix those that aren’t. Turn your music up really loud and listen to it from next door, send it to someone via email while you’re on the phone with them, point the speakers at the bathroom and take a shower. Notice how it sounds while you’re yawning or wearing a bucket on your head. Let your music play in a loop and walk in on it.
