brettworks

(Photo: Quino Al)

Digital tools promise quick magic, giving the impression that we can make musical things happen by pressing a button, turning a knob, or moving a fader. But speed distracts from quality pursuits. The producer wants to capture as much humanity as possible and the way to do this is to do as much as we can by hand. Doing musical things manually is not the quickest way of producing, but it’s the oldest way of composing that promises a thoughtful through-line in a piece. Doing it manually is a decision not to hide–to play the part a hundred imperfect times in a row instead of looping it, to draw in jagged automation moment-by-moment instead of using a smooth prefab shape, to use a homemade sample that’s actually a snapshot of your life. Doing it manually injects craft, personality, and an adventurous I’ve-committed-to-this attitude into every sound it touches. So let the hands think through the details as they unfold and imbue the music with the physicality of a performance.