My gift to you: a new Ableton instrument every month
My gift to you: a new Ableton instrument every month
and the value of having a creative practice as a music maker
I’m really excited to announce my monthly Ableton Live instrument series. Each month of 2024, I’ll be releasing a new instrument rack for Ableton Live. These instruments will be thoughtfully crafted sample instruments made from my own collection of field recordings, acoustic instruments, synths, and drum machines.
These will not be run of the mill instruments. Nobody needs another vanilla string library or piano library. Instead, my goal is to offer something evocative, strange, or unfamiliar each month. Useful, but unconventional. These instruments will very much be in the same vein as my Vibrator Piano (which you can get when subscribing to this newsletter for free btw!).
A gift for my paid subscribers
Each instrument will be available to purchase on my Gumroad for $10. However, my paid subscribers will get access to each month’s instrument for free. I can’t thank all of you enough for how much you support me but this is at least a start. For my free subscribers reading right now, this offer will stand in perpetuity so, if at any point in the future, you feel like this newsletter has provided that value to you, the entire archive will be available once you’ve subscribed.
Subscriptions are $8 a month, so you’ll save 20% on each instrument. If you get a whole year’s subscription for $80, you’ll end up saving over 30% on a year’s worth of instruments.
I am excited to share this part of my music making process with you. I already have the first several month’s worth of instruments ready to go and have ideas for so many more. It’ll be a mix of tonal and percussive instruments. Each instrument will stand on their own with the only major through line between them being the fact that I made them. These instruments will largely be standalone affairs.
Why make instruments at all?
I talk often with students and colleagues about my penchant for making my own sample instruments and some end up quite surprised that I do it at all. We live in a world of endless presets and sample packs. There is certainly an abundance of options available. There is a completely valid argument to be made about not needing to make anything custom at all.
As I wrote in a recent edition of Keep Living With Music, I sample for many reasons. Chief amongst them is a desire to self-document my life and my environment. I take photographs and videos of so many things, why not audio recordings as well? Simply having the recordings are worthwhile in and of themselves. I have recordings of conversations with family members that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. Sometimes sound alone can capture the essence of a moment and the people who shared it far better than photo or video ever could. Something deeper is achieved when I incorporate these recordings into my music, however.
It’s about creative practice
I believe that, as a whole, music makers are far too concerned with output. I think the worst offenders in this regard (myself included, btw) are composers and music producers. Our value is in our output. In what we produce. What most often gets lost in the production cycle is a sense of practice.
I should say that I don’t entirely mean practice in the same fashion as an instrumentalist might practice their scales. When I say practice I mean something that is inclusive of that concept but far larger in nature. When I say practice I mean, in essence, lifestyle.
Your practice as a music maker is how you choose to live your life with music. A practice-centered life shifts the focus away from your output and towards your process. It is an understanding that your output isn’t the goal but a by-product of a thriving creative practice. It is a re-wiring of your creative life that focuses on the long term over the short term.
The graphic above highlights the daily routines of numerous famous creators, some of which are music makers. Beyond the fascinating insight it provides into how each of these people chose to live their lives (I would die if I had Balzac’s sleep schedule.), I can’t help but feel inspired by the consistency these people maintained. These people’s creative output, regardless of how voluminous it may or may not have been, was only made possible by the schedules they kept. The focus is practice, not output.
A quick aside: one benefit of making your own instruments is getting to craft unique sonic identities for you work. At least one instrument I’ve made this past year can be heard in my music for the Keyword 2: Nightfall announcement trailer.
What does your creative practice look like?
I make instruments because it’s a part of my creative practice. It is a process that enriches my music making without directly pointing towards the output. It helps to shift the locus of my musical practice away from my .wav output which, inadvertently, increases my .wav output.
When I make sample instruments out of these recordings, it tangibly ties my life into my musical practice and in turn allows me to think about my musical practice in the context of my overall lifestyle. The relationship is entirely symbiotic. I believe that the closer I tie these two together the more holistic my existence will be.
This isn’t the only way to achieve a consistent creative practice by any means. In fact, I don’t think achieving a consistent creative practice as a music maker is done through any singular act. It is simultaneously more fundamental and nebulous than that. This is what makes it so difficult to achieve and articulate. It’s not only your worldview but how you act on it within your own life. It’s not a destination to arrive at but a journey to maintain.
I’d love to hear what your creative practice looks like. Is it practicing an instrument? Composing short pieces? Producing beats? Designing synth patches? I am always eager to learn.
Until next time.
Quick Hits
I was interviewed on the Sound Business Podcast. Akash and I chatted about how to break into games, finding clients, and a lot more. Listen here.
I wrote music for the first VR Barbie game. This month, Peeka and Mattel released Barbie: You Can Be a Fashion Designer VR. Learn more here.
Do you need help with your music production or composition skills? I offer private one on one lessons over Zoom. You can sign up for lessons here.