KVR Audio

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:42 pm

Does music creation and expression help you through your daily struggles ? I think most of my better stuff comes out when I'm translating those emotions into music or sound.

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:00 pm

I could NOT translate my emotions into music or sound. I wouldn't even try.

What it is; what any art is to me is the zone where I can manipulate things to my satisfaction. While it may not be the best (and often it might be the worst), I know what I do. I know how to do what I do - and if I don't I can find out.

Most of the time art is the only thing in my world that works properly. THAT is what helps. At least SOMETHING works.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:07 pm

V0RT3X wrote:Does music creation and expression help you through your daily struggles ?

I enjoy darkness.

Bring on the night, I couldn't stand another hour of daylight

AsPeeXXXVIII · Post by **AsPeeXXXVIII** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:12 am

Most definitely.

Bombadil · Post by **Bombadil** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:07 pm

I dunno. I haven't written any lyrics for a long time, and have at least 6 full songs of music ( with lots more odds and ends) at a loss for words, literally. It's not that I can't write, but I am kind of afraid that I'll be far too negative, like Roger Waters at his most misanthropic, or in pain, like Lennon's 'Plastic Ono Band.' So, yeah, I have plenty of Darkness. I am a haunted human being. At the same time, I find the Darkness boring, and making a fetish out of it, kinda like Waters, is probably what I fear the most about getting on with it. In the meantime, I've wanted to just either do new-agey Omnisphere-driven soundtracks to videos, or impromptu improvs with some drum loops, guitars, and soft-synths.

lnikj · Post by **lnikj** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:21 pm

I am an aspie and have suffered career ending major depression in the past.

Audio dabbling, and a little music production, has been very important in keeping me sane, along with a supportive partner and lots of dog walking.

What is important for me is to keep my mind constantly occupied, which stops its tendency to wander off into the darkness.

I'm a very poor musician but the audio world keeps me constantly interested with new toys and new things to learn. When I'm walking I have an earphone in one ear, listening to audiobooks (factual of course, I'm an aspie

).

My partner has suffered a lot of health challenges in the past few years so I am in and out of KVR only when time permits.

But, yes, audio dabbling helps me navigate the darkness, even if my limited music production does tend towards moody and dark ambient.

The GAS for new toys to play with gets pretty expensive though

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:35 pm

del, nevermind

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:51 pm

Oh, most definitely.

I spend a lot of time conflicted, worried, and not in a very happy mood, and it bleeds into my music, art, and writing. Sometimes I feel more upbeat and something less dark will surprisingly pop out, but that's a rarity.

I think my Muse prefers me in "tortured artist" mode, which is bullshit, but.. it is what it is.

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:55 pm

SODDI wrote:I could NOT translate my emotions into

..kvr forum posts

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:30 pm

I'm not trying to express anything in music. When I'm working on it, I forget about everything else, so there's that.

Perimeter Sound · Post by **Perimeter Sound** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:10 pm

Something I've noticed over the past few years, is that the more angry/melancholy I am, the more mellow or "lite" any music I do sounds - at that time. Kind of ironic, well, to me anyways ha-ha. As far as 'expressing an emotion', sometimes I suppose it does - despite itself/my self. But as with my example above, the emotion that comes out isn't necessarily the one I was feeling.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:33 pm

V0RT3X wrote:Does music creation and expression help you through your daily struggles ? I think most of my better stuff comes out when I'm translating those emotions into music or sound.

+1

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:08 pm

SODDI wrote:Most of the time art is the only thing in my world that works properly.

This.

Sometimes I just sit down to play with synths when I'm bored, and sometimes because I want to try something specific. Every once in a while it's for a particular purpose (emotional or otherwise).

Most of my inspiration comes from sound exploration, though often that gets cross-referenced/cross-contaminated with other emotions, ideas, impressions. If I start liking what I'm hearing it usually winds up as a song.

Sometimes I am pissed off at the world and afraid humanity is going to ruin everything, and I start making enraged noise. But the result isn't necessarily that far off from music I'd have made anyway even if I was feeling okay.

When I am really down, the chances I'll make music are pretty slim. I'm more likely to find solace in listening to someone else's. Nihilistic walls of noise, something rebellious, or music that I know will calm me down and make me feel better (Cocteau Twins are really good at that).

mevla · Post by **mevla** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:51 pm

I do not try voluntarily to express certain emotions. I play, improvise, and emotions might happen by themselves, spontaneously. Certainly not all the time. There is a moment after playing for some minutes and getting into it where one forgets himself by enjoying the flow. It's in that moment that emotions can rise up w/o calling them specifically. And then the door closes back but the playing continues. I always thought that it could be possible to share that moment and I still look for a way to materialize it so that others can also enjoy something similar. Unfortunately it 's not easy at all, with one obstacle being the record button.

And then if the record button stress is dealt with somehow, there's the nurturing of that moment through the possible addition of other instruments, structuring into a piece, mixing, all steps where anything can get lost in small ways that cumulates in such a way that the end piece does not reflect that much the 'moment' that happened which after all started out as a re-creation of the real moment where the record button was not enabled.

One approach might I consider would be to record everything from an improvisation session, start the recording and forget about it. And then go through all of it and edit the recognizable parts where the 'moment' happened and try as much as possible to use it as is for further development. Not even replaying it. Maybe.

funky lime · Post by **funky lime** » Wed Apr 26, 2017 4:34 am

jancivil wrote:I'm not trying to express anything in music. When I'm working on it, I forget about everything else, so there's that.

I can relate to this.

A recurring criticism I've received from others about my music over the last fifteen years or so is that much of it lacks relatable, emotional hooks. It's just cool or trippy sounds and chords and beats, that isn't trying to tell a story or convey any sort of emotional state or imagery. I mostly just write music I would have wanted to hear on psychedelic drugs in my twenties. It just helps me get my feet off the ground for a while.

I think writing about being depressed would only make me more depressed, because it would mean actively spending my free time embracing and chasing the feelings. However, the leader of the band I drum for is in recovery for a decade-long struggle with opiate addiction along with the loss of a child and some other unfortunate stuff, and he definitely channels it all into the music he writes. And sad/depressed people have reached out to him saying how much they connected with the music.

The potential problem I see is that, if you do your best work while you are at rock bottom, you might start subconsciously looking for more ways to get there.

Navigating the darkness with music production.