There is art in repetition. It hides in between the cracks of what is seemingly mundane. In every rehearsal session or minute focus on performance of a lead vocal there is a marrying of the power of practice with the fluidity and nuance of alignment with the muse.

Sitting at the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala where we were honored to perform for Brian Wilson’s induction (when I was just 16 years old, Zac 14 and Isaac 18), we listened famously to James Taylor talk about how grateful he feels to be able to take credit for the songs that he writes. He shared about the feeling of picking up an idea from the air and channeling. I couldn’t agree more.

This question of preparation versus inspiration is right in line with the recognition of the muse and the ideas. I see the creative craft so much like the tuning of an antenna, calibrating itself to a clearer signal every time. Maybe at some point the signal gets a boost, and the broadcast can go even further reaching more potentially inspired creators, with receivers up. There are ideas like this, ones that hit the consciousness and it feels like they are on the lips of everyone, as of God’s broadcast a bulletin that needs to be received. There are other ideas that feel so abstract and so alone and so singular that you can share them with people and even when you have written it, documented it and invested a great deal of energy it feels like you are explaining an alien language. Some ideas just resonate at a higher level and some are meant to sit and germinate until just the right moment.

The practiced hand of a piano player prepares. With scales repeating time after time the aching of the wrist fights back against the craving of the mind to replicate the musical trill. The body has to be trained, conditioned, made flexible and to sustain a bit of tension and pain as the training is being carried out. At some point the process of repetition, the patterns of musical arpeggios, scales and patterns stop sounding repetitious because you are able to lean into the nuance and you are able to call on the song at a moment notice. All of a sudden, those patterns are just forms that you can intermingle with new ideas and preparation meets inspiration.

The session player seems incapable of a mistake. He hears a song less than one time and then seems to nail the bass notes instinctively. OK yes, the song is pretty straightforward but still he nailed it so quickly it’s as if he’s not having to remember the song, he is just listening for the patterns. This is exactly what is going on.

Like a math equation to a mathematician, a pile of rock to a geologist or a skeletal structure to a medical dr. there are layers of codes, patterns and ways of thinking that the trained musician develops a deep understanding of. The more he hears it and knows the patterns as if written, the more those elements can be utilized, incorporated, reinvented and even disrupted in order to conceive of new songs. The preparation of the structure of a chord arrangement leaves room for the lack of structure from an idea. The a-symmetrical leans on symmetry wherever it can and vice versa. The symmetrical thinker and even the foundational tools that exist seem to inarguably seek out the opposite of themselves. We are puzzle pieces fitting together.

The traditional dynamic for record making, specifically at a time when recording was still all ear work (no computer screens), you just had to listen and make your notes. This is more novel than you think because all our audio recordings have a visual wave feature that everyone stares at. Particularly in the tape days and the organizational structure was the engineer is the most technical member of the group with a skill set that caters to getting the sonic texture right for each part and to literally mic, and assemble the recording chain which utilizes the recording studio space and ensures that it’s all at the very least being captured. The engineer is part roadie, part creative director, part janitor and sometimes guru.

The producer can also be a full-time recording engineer as well but the role of the producer is more about aiding in the musical decisions, understanding the song and the lyric, and guiding not only the technical process of recording, but the song development, the musical arrangements and the final product.

This dynamic is one that I have learned to respect greatly, having sat in the seat of producer more than any other role besides artists, I know the value of the engineer as well as co producers, great musicians and artists. All the elements come together to capture and crystalize an idea. How much mundane work did an engineer need to do to reach the point of seemingly without thought, being able to set up and record a drum sound and other instruments in a totally new studio with new gear and team? The answer is of course practice, but that is different than just learning in an education sense. In my experience the best learners are the ones that begin doing. The you learn through doing, you have a chance to make a mistake and immediately correct it.

This blog sounds more of a reflection on process that typical stories, but I promise it all fits into the themes we have been sparking. More than anything, we are reflecting on a true love of creating, but more specifically the power of preparation and the importance of understanding and respecting the process to capture great art.

I look at shepherding a project through as the producer and it reminds of the process of an expert golf swing (watched it and heard about, can’t do it), or when you see someone who has a great rapport with an animal, like a horse. What you are doing as you wade into creation especially in the studio with a ton of great gear, an expensive bill per hour and a lot of creative and emotional things flying around with insecurity to boot, so much of the producers job is to hold it lightly and carry the burden of the overall project. There are days where everything is just too tired to think specifically about a whole new arrangement, so that’s the afternoon that you do a bunch of clap tracks. Respect the process, hold it lightly an remember, of all the things in the world you could be doing, you are making music.

Maybe this week I just have studios on the brain as I’ve been assembling and preparing to repair and move around musical gear to optimize creative space. All that is true, but it occurs to me more than anything that the process around this whole line of thinking and this world of record making, is something I just love.

I love the ideocratic qualities that go with chasing a tiny detail, paired with a larger-than-life drum sound, or a choir part of an overarching theme musically that requires 25 channels and a lot of patience. All throughout the process we are playing, trying, reimagining and also trying to keep the spirits up.

After making independent albums Boomerang and Mmmbop, we had some time in the studio and we had done the shoestring version where we didn’t have time or money to be quite as obsessive. As things evolved and we had engineers, collaborators like the Dust Brothers and Steven Lironi (producer) who actually encouraged and celebrated attention to the details. There are points where the plot gets lost. There are times when the idea is killed by all the technical possibilities and it just takes the idea and causes it to need to step aside. All in all, the process is a part of the joy and you just never know what piece is going to make the sonic story all come together.

I hope I am able to spend many more years (collectively) just soaking up the recording process. It is a joy to be immersed in the song, to be able to obsess over the sound of a kick drum and or the arrangement of a simple percussion part. This chance to lean in and at least try to get something truly right, that is satisfying. This feeling of being able to channel a craving or impulse which is with you all the time, into something complex and alive and relatable? That is addictive. This is why I believe we are all creators.

Some people have a stronger inclination to make things. They have stronger desire to chase the possibilities. Some people are just naturally charismatic. Some creatives just really can handle the details.

All in all, it’s the collaboration between the different creative brains, the love of the work and the unique bridge of preparation that ensures that inspiration will never be missed, which makes the process so rewarding.