Booze - the other white meat

[Big Karma]

chocolate can be very useful!

[z15]

chocolate is my "anti"-drug

[Bassballjg]

Never on duty, but that's why there's liberty...and why I get so little of it. Imagine the cognitive dissonance when I turn down my own request for a pass...

My take on this topic is production dry, jam sessions wet.

Some people are just convinced that they have to alter to play, to catch their vibe. I cut some slack to the dreads, because weed really is a sacrament to sincere Rastas, and I'm in favor of freeedom of religious expression, and it is integral to that culture(mind you, secular Jamaicans play as sloppy as anyone else when wasted). But I do have a 100% no smoking policy in the studio, however, tobacco or pot. Sometimes the band brings in the booze, and you can definitely hear it. It's very bad for coordination, timing, and hearing. I've even had people pass out. Very, very unprofessional. However, I will admit that a sip or two will loosen you up, and that can improve the morale and feel of a session, but by the time you feel buzzed, it's too late and performance suffers. I can't tell them not too, unless that's part of my relationship as producer, to ride herd, so mostly I hope that the client gets the picture during sober playback at the next session.

On the other hand, I have some hard-drinking buddies who come through for occasional jams. We get a case and pick up our instruments and blow. That's fun, because it's leisure and not production. That's no different than having the cooler of beer at your softball game, part of the fun.

But in general, music production, however much fun, is serious work, and should be taken seriously and therfore soberly.

[ross g]

i'm gonna stay off kvr (after tonight) 'till i got something to show for myself, it's only fair....

Good idea... Hope it works out for you.

thanks a lot guys, and those after this post...you got me this far, you all rule...let's see what i come up with!

rg

[ugo]

i used to have a pianist friend at high school who said he'd developed a SPECIAL TECHNIQUE to play jazz when drunk.

[Meffy]

chocolate can be very useful!

Oh yeah. It's about the only pleasurable substance I can ingest right now.

I drink very little these days, and just a few beers (even the weak American stuff) puts me into a state in which I can't hit keys accurately, forget to push "Record," and so forth. I've never liked hard drugs... never tried most of them, and it'll stay that way. Which leaves -- well, can't get that either.

So: CHOCOLATE!

P.S.: Now that I finally posted to this thread maybe, just maybe, I'll stop seeing the subject line as "BONES: The Other White Meat." =>_<=

[ew]

None- I haven't had a drink in 24 years, and I plan on keeping it that way .
Now, smoke on the other hand...

Sometimes it's useful to pull me out of a creative rut. Usually, I'm chemically free when working on music, though. Maybe that's my problem
ew

[Stupid American Pig]

I think that the smoke makes me use sound textures that I wouldnt have chosen otherwise, and it can be useful for mixing.

[z15]

ugo, indeed!

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I can't play worth a damn when drunk, so no booze when tracking, and none in post-production as it alters my hearing too much.

HOWEVER, I do party on weekends and find my best lyrics come out when I'm drunk and depressed.. not just my opinion, others have told me so as well. I just can't get past the internal critic when I'm sober, words-wise.

No drugs for me, weed makes me feel sick the next day and anything stronger is out of the question due to my questionable stability of sanity (lol).

[intel]

I generally have a few drinks while working in the studio. but even 1 stiff drink will distort my hearing to the point where I never master anything while drinking. I try to do as little destructive editing as possible while drinking and do very little in the way of mixing. all my mixing, mastering and destructive editing is done sober. and that was a sore lesson to learn. since I'm not much in the way of a musician in the first place, drink does little to inhibit my playing. I rarely get drunk enough that I can't crank out the necessary guitar/bass/keyboard/drum line.

with my dark ambient project, its a different story. that doesn't require any technical performance as its mostly turning knobs and throwing switches. I've found that the right amount of drink helps put me in a better mindset for letting things play out rather than trying to force them.