KVR Audio

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:56 am

Anyone here actually deal with OCD ? I’ve often wondered how it impacts their music production and I also wonder if there are any famous artists with it.

Delta Sign · Post by **Delta Sign** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:18 pm

I only have a very mild form of OCD. I check multiple times if I really locked the door, always count money a few times before I go shopping and stuff like that.

It doesn't really have much effect on the music making process for me. It drives me nuts when I can't enter exact values in plugins though

I'll sometimes even save settings of a plugin as a preset, open it up in a text editor (if possible) and edit the values just to get them right

I also have a fairly "scientific" and analytical approach to making music. Weather that's a side effect of OCD or not, I don't know. I think the causality is a bit blurry there. Maybe the OCD stems from being a rather pragmatic and analytical person, or it's the other way around, is hard to say.

lectropunk · Post by **lectropunk** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:30 pm

I had OCD for a while it didn't effect me that much but then it turned to skitzoprenia serious shit but my music has really got better . So I don't think OCD is a problem.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:18 pm

Delta Sign wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:18 pm I only have a very mild form of OCD. I check multiple times if I really locked the door, always count money a few times before I go shopping and stuff like that.

It doesn't really have much effect on the music making process for me. It drives me nuts when I can't enter exact values in plugins though
I'll sometimes even save settings of a plugin as a preset, open it up in a text editor (if possible) and edit the values just to get them right

I also have a fairly "scientific" and analytical approach to making music. Weather that's a side effect of OCD or not, I don't know. I think the causality is a bit blurry there. Maybe the OCD stems from being a rather pragmatic and analytical person, or it's the other way around, is hard to say.

Maybe I have it too, I often check if the door is locked but it's probably down to me forgetting.

I sometimes think to be good at certain things in electronic music you almost have to be obsessive because there is just so much to learn about in production. So this thread is really just a open question into whether OCD (mild or otherwise) correlates somehow with lots of self-taught electronic musicians.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:42 pm

Delta Sign wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:18 pm I only have a very mild form of OCD. I check multiple times if I really locked the door, always count money a few times before I go shopping and stuff like that.

Same here (even though i never check more than once). Not sure if you really can call that OCD though. Rather seems like a healthy way of making life safe to me.

elassi · Post by **elassi** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:11 pm

Not really OCD (I guess) but developed a couple of strict routines due to more or less "traumatic" experiences. For instance, always place my keys at the same place and grab them first before anything else (jacket etc.) when leaving the house. Before closing the door from outside I check again if they're in my pocket. Another routine is triple checking the rear mirrors when starting to overtake a car on the highway (besides having a look over my shoulder). Oh, and when I've finished ironing clothes I place the iron on a table, with the cable neatly winded up, to make sure I in fact switched it off.

Add: There's something music related, too. I'm actually obsessive when it comes to saving projects or presets. Sometimes have 20-30 varaitions of a patch stored, just to make sure I don't lose something.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:15 pm

I always have my keys in the same pocket, same with my wallet, and "special" items which i keep in the left front pocket. Always have handkerchiefs in the inner pocket of my coat. It's not so much OCD though, i'm just way too lazy to search for everything when i go outside, like other people.

(A relative ALWAYS has to search for her car keys when she goes outside. Jeez...)

Talking about car keys: Right outer pocket of my coat. Always.

If no coat is worn, same pocket as my house keys.

Deep Purple · Post by **Deep Purple** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:26 pm

If you haven't been clinically diagnosed with OCD, then you don't know if you have it or not. Being a perfectionist is one thing, but that doesn't mean you have OCD.

@chk071 - I do that with pockets, but it's not being lazy, it's because I have ADD (which I have had clinically diagnosed), and it's a coping mechanism. I don't mind searching for my wallet or keys, but I have to leave things in very specific places to avoid leaving the house without them or spending time looking for things and getting distracted in the process and maybe even forgetting to go back out and do what I meant to do.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:31 pm

Ok, definitely is not the reason here, i just like to have things ordered, to not waste time on stuff i don't want to waste time on (i really hate to search for things i don't have to search for, when everything is in the right place).

And, you're surely right, there's no reason to always think you have OCD, ADD, or something else, when you have certain "quirks" otherwise 99% of people gotta have those.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:32 pm

I always place my keys in the exact same place in the door when I want to open it. Does that count?

Bombadil · Post by **Bombadil** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:46 am

I'll often check my pocket for my keys when I go out, even if it's just to sign for a delivery. One time, I opened our door too hard, it swung back behind me, locking me out. I had to climb over a neighbour's wall to get to our back garden. It was lucky it was warm, and the back door was open. I keep my keys in the same place, usually. Occasionally, I'll worry if I left a stove element on when I go out, but don't go back to check.

As far as music goes, I am a perfectionist, but not OCD. So, no, I am not saddled with that psychiatric label. Major Depression/Anxiety is another story. Both those things interfere with and inhibit my songwriting and recording.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:06 pm

I have it, and it has definitely hindered my musical process. I have the ruminations and the intrusive thoughts and the anxiety. Oh the anxiety!!! Constant religious intrusive thoughts! And the one-track-mindedness that makes it so that all I can do all day is think about making music (to the point that it is very difficult to be engaged in my job and the rest of my life).

Imagine the hell--a person obsessed with everything about music, yet crippling anxiety about it. This doesn't sound like the music I like--it's crap. This sounds like someone else's work, so it's plagiarism--it's dishonest. This music would be displeasing to God--I shouldn't do it. I don't have the right tools--I need to wait until I have the right tools before really starting. I need to practice more before trying to play--I suck. Etc., Etc., Etc. I NEVER get anything finished. I NEVER have anything to show others. I waste year after year and thousands of dollars and hours and hours of time. I often want to quit, but I can't give it up. I can't walk away. Anxiety! Anxiety! Anxiety!

No, Obsessive Compulsive disorder has not helped me with my music. It has only helped me in being empathetic with others stuck in the same hell.

NOTE: Before any of you that don't understand it say anything, let me say this: I KNOW that the thoughts in my head are crazy and not right. I KNOW that logically, life is good and I'm a good person and I'm talented and I have nothing to fear. But it doesn't make it any easier to stop the way I feel. Medicine helps as does therapy, but I will always be second guessing myself for everything I do and I will never be confident in the music I make.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:36 pm

i never had it myself, but once shared a flat with a bloke who did.
worst six months of my life. god knows how he coped.

he would count out cornflakes, coffee beans, pasta...
he had alarms set for pretty much everything, including going to the toilet.
baths/showers where timed.
when watching tv, volume had to be at 5 or 10 or multiples of 5.

i once spilled some sugar, i honestly thought he was having a heart attack, the wail he let out before dropping to his knees and sobbing.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:39 pm

and that's not me being unsympathetic, i have all the sympathy in the world for someone who has to go through that

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:40 pm

I'm definitely not, but (and far too late in life) I found I need to do certain things the same every time so I don't have to wonder where shit is.

I do do shit like think of numbers in terms of consistent principles, or objectively, when I know it really doesn't work necessarily. Weird bad habits out of quirks of personality, but I know enough to work around it.

OCD and music production