chemicals and producing music

4am · Post by **4am** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:38 pm

some drugs like weed and xtc can help when listening to music. i mean they can help to "decode" the language and amplify emotions, they also increase the motivation. but i think they don't help at all when making music imho... eventually for your personal fun, but for sure not for the production...
but as we all react in a different way to drugs, this is not the case for everybody.
that said when stomach is empty i can't make music, i also don't want to

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:56 pm

i also think that it depends to some extent on the 'psychedelicness' of the music you're making. personally i see techno as pure psychedelic music (not as in psychedelic trance which to me is very un-psychedelic)
for instance i consider jamaican dub to be psychedelic music, and i cant imagine a single dub tune to have ever been composed, recorded, produced, without the application of the herb.
before i made techno i was in a psychedelic rock band, and all our contemporaries were constantly immersed in a cloud of bong smoke, many bands such as ozric tentacles simply couldnt perform without a smoke.
on the other hand, i find some of the current minimal techno very unpsychedelic, and clinical. this wasnt the case when i first got into techno, it was a very smooth and easy transition for me to go from acid rock to techno, as it was for many of my friends who made the same journey.
the early minimal techno such as robert hood was to me psychedelic in a very pure form, whereas some of the music which is called minimal today doesnt seem to bear any relationship to its ancestry, and is more akin to design. maybe its better to be in a state of sobriety while making certain types of music that require maximum concentration, and multi-tasking, and maybe the opposite is true if your aim is to make music specifically for heads.
i think what works best for me, is something in between.

Storlon · Post by **Storlon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:33 pm

High on... coffee & cigarettes, here.

Storlon · Post by **Storlon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:41 pm

High on... coffee & cigarettes, here.

robert lowell · Post by **robert lowell** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:18 pm

Storlon wrote:High on... coffee & cigarettes, here.

so high in fact, you double posted.

scratch baker · Post by **scratch baker** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:24 pm

Very nice thread here , I have tried loads of variations mentioned here ,hash mixed with tobacco for years ,joint after joint although i did get stuck in a lot of loops , two years ago i quit the tobacco completely then it was hard to get inspiration , then i would smoke some grass in a pipe or a single skin which after one puff i would get lost in playing records for hours with no craving attached .
Then after a while with no craving for smoking i would make cookies and eat one and after one hour without smoking anything i would get lost in selecting and mixing records for hours .
Sometimes i do think that i couldnt mix or make music without dope and that they are both totally connected ,but i want to free myself from these thoughts , so for the last two months i havent smoked a pipe or a bong or even eaten a cookie , i havent taken any drugs or alcohol , only coffee ,and i am searching for energies from within , I have started programming again and i am going to see how far i can take it with natural energies , i have taken up road cycling to use up any excess energy and to charge me up with good old fashioned positive energy .
I will smoke and eat cookies again , to get lost in what i am doing but this seems like a whole new avenue for me .
ps.
Steevio ,i liked your bit about the psychedelic music which is my driving force.

mlexicon · Post by **mlexicon** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:36 pm

im loving me some tea

Robot Criminal · Post by **Robot Criminal** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:47 pm

steevio wrote:i also think that it depends to some extent on the 'psychedelicness' of the music you're making. personally i see techno as pure psychedelic music (not as in psychedelic trance which to me is very un-psychedelic)

spot on.
about psychedelics though, once tried to tweak something when on acid... Just absolutely couldn't listen to it the next day. Horrifying. It was an instant delete.