Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Posted: November 3, 2009 
Filed under: Music, Through-Composed Music
Tagged: computer music, Generative Music, james anthony walker, Music, music composition, sometimes a cigar
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I just had the good fortune of completing a soundtrack for a corporate short video, and I was reminded of the sheer pleasure of just doing it, and getting your hands dirty.

It was on a tight leash in terms of turnaround time, and I found myself reverting to using the basic skills I know best . . . using the tools I know best: technical composition in whatever medium best suits the task, and my ear.

I love, absolutely love investigating the use of algorithmic tools to support this process. And at least in my studies to date, it can provide some fascinating results. It can also support processes that for any given individual – are either deficient, or otherwise slow in producing. That’s the output part.

The input can be, and is to my mind, another story. It’s not about a flash of inspiration that leads to quick development. It is more about inspiration that leads to translating that thought into a process that has tight enough parameters that will bring a quasi-predictable result in pursuit of a compositional goal. That can often take an enormous amount of time.

The results are often amazing, and surely different upon each rendering. But a quick solution to a musical problem? Not so far.

At any rate, I loved this project. It brought back some perspective that came at just the right moment. It reminded me that composing is just composing, or said another way . . .  sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

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