MetaMindMusic

As music producers, we are often are hyper-focused on our craft, the next best idea or another glimpse into the genius of the divine muses. However, we often overlook some of the basic foundations for our music-making: 

Health!

You may not have been into health before, but right now everyone on planet earth is reeeally into health.

As you know we are in the midst of a global situation, almost overnight everyone has now become 100% focused on health. Which I would argue, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You can’t be productively making music while you’re sick after all!

Although this circumstance can be scary I invite you to try to change your perspective on the situation. This is an opportunity (especially if you now have more of a free schedule) to direct your attention to improving your health and your craft.

This is the perfect time to unplug from the stress of the mass hysteria and direct your focus inwards.

Your Personal Body Guard

Your number one defense...

I’ve been staring at a dreaded blank screen for a while now, struggling to come up with an idea worth writing about.

I looked through my list of blog ideas, yet none of them really inspired me to pursue them at this moment.

Sometimes when you want to be creative, you hit walls.

And that’s okay.

What trumps crystal clarity, or the passion behind a great idea, is simply this: consistency

Developing a commitment to show up regularly and engage in the creative process is the pathway to all great works. It is the rhythmic relationship you have with your creativity that will spawn your moments of genius.

Law Of Rhythm

Let’s go down a little rabbit hole (a small one I swear!)

The Hermetic Principle of Rhythm states this: everything goes through cycles, yet everything has a rhythm or a pattern.

In today’s world, we see and praise great things, while often overlooking the process it took to achieve them.

That process, aka your...

Heyo! I recently got back from NAMM 2020 in Anaheim California!

I thoroughly enjoyed the weather, especially since I was avoiding -30 blizzards back home.

Winnipeg = A frozen death hole in winter. It should be called Winterpeg. For Realz.

As you might know, NAMM (National Assembly Of Music Merchants) is a trade show of all things music in one giant convention center. I’m not kidding when I say enormous, over 100,000 people attend this thing with several thousands of exhibitors and merchants.

Throughout the weekend I saw all sorts of new gear: guitars, pedals, drums, recording devices, plugins, software, amplifiers, microphones, etc. I also made a bunch of new friends!

As cool as it was to see all these new products, nothing (thankfully) really tempted my G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome). 

In this article, I’m going to talk about how G.A.S can be the symptom of a deeper underlying problem in your music productions.

Inside Out

As music producers, we’ll...

Matters Of The Mind

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room…

Yeah, I’m talking about the elephant meme I saw on facebook of course.

More seriously, let’s address the heavy words in the title that always leave an impactful impression—Mind Control.

As shocking as this masterpiece animation is, it encapsulates the insidious truth. I’ll be honest, the imagery in the video fulled this article, so it may be a bit more freaky than my typical post.

The perfect article for your Halloween celebrations.

We Don’t Need No Thoughts Controlled

You can look at investigating mind control simply as observing what influences your thinking and influences your actions. If you have developed enough self-awareness, you can guide and moderate your thoughts and actions; you harness mind control.

However, if you don’t have control of your own mind, it’s a different story. Now you must begin to question the origin and intention behind your...

What if I told you that achieving greater creative freedom, developing your authentic voice and finishing more projects, are all directly linked to your flow state?

You know you’ve experienced it. It could be described as an ecstatic bliss; the liquid moment when you are actively engaged in creative acts.

When you “lose yourself” in the moment.

Flow state is what drives the creative process of music’s most gifted artists. A sort of transcendental experience that gives rise to raw inspired creation.

Your authenticity will show itself when you allow yourself to create from that place of zen.

The question is, how can you tap into your flow state on the regular?

The Flow, Defined

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a major contributor to positive psychology. His research spawned many discoveries that contributed greatly to creativity and mindset. Cool dude.

Being a psychologist, and author of “Flow: The psychology of optimal experience” he founded the...

You know you’ve felt it…

Harnessing an insatiable desire to create and express yourself. The constant presence of a melody, a drum beat, a lyrical metaphor or even a whole symphony orchestra singing in your mind’s eye.

You think deeper. You see different. You feel… passionately.

Behold, the diagnosis of an artistic mind.

The Artists Struggle

Most definitions that are made about being a musical artist are those who write songs, create sonic expressions, sing, play an instrument, entertain, experiment, and are a free spirit. All can be very true!

What’s often overlooked is the internal conflict of being an artist. It's difficult in general to process intense emotions, and an even bigger struggle to express them in your craft.

Getting caught in a spiral of writing music seamlessly void of meaning, writer’s block, life on the road, fruitless efforts, hesitation, self-doubt and feeling isolated are all common symptoms of the artist.

The struggle...

Three languages in one title? Come on Alex…

“Raison d’être”. You may have heard that expression before, which means a reason for being. You’ve got to give me that one… cause I’m French.

As for “Ikigai” its a Japanese concept that also means “a reason for being”.

Funny how both of these very different cultures have concepts built around the idea of a reason for being. A life’s purpose. Maybe they’re onto something?

Your Music’s Purpose

I’d like to take that idea and apply it to YOUR music.

I believe that to best embody the role of a musician, producer or artist is to establish a way of life built around your craft. If your beliefs, values, habits, lifestyle, passions, purpose and ambitions, all express your essence as a human being…

Where does music fit in?

The purpose and meaning of your life’s journey should guide your creative pursuits. The more you can answer the...

Have you ever listened to something so attentively that you start hearing layers that you never heard before, or perhaps that aren’t even there in the first place?

Thank goodness hearing music in your head is a lot more socially acceptable than hearing voices!

When you synchronize your mind with the musical pallet you’re working with, it sparks ideas. It enhances your sensitivity to the dynamics. It gives you a new perspective. It magnifies details. Which leads us to the question…

Can mindfulness enhance musical creativity?

What is Mindfulness?

Have you ever been the passenger in a vehicle and couldn’t remember a single thing about the directions you took to get to your destination? Or forgot someone's name within 5 seconds of learning it? Or read a paragraph without remembering anything you just read? (Hopefully not this one).

That would be the opposite of what we call “mindful”.

As humans, many of us aren’t actually “present”...

In our current information age, we have never before seen access to create and listen to music. As a music artist, how do you stand out? How do we remain memorable? How do you pierce through the veil of information fog that surrounds us?

Authenticity.

You want to be original? You want to be different? Unique? There’s one surefire way, my friend…

Be yourself, exceptionally.

Then, all you need is the confidence to consistently share YOUR own experiences!

Know Thyself

Partially pioneered by rock, punk, and metal in popular music culture, authenticity could be described as “@#$% you, I’m gonna do what I want” or“being yourself”. Familiar themes are challenging the status quo and ignoring the mainstream mass appeal.

What’s ironic is, that’s what’s appealing!

I can sense your left brain urging to comment “Alex, being authentic is a completely subjective concept. There’s no way to objectively measure or gauge it, how...

The creative mind has always been an enigma. Abstract, right-brain thinkers and artists usually are the first to come to mind when the subject of creativity arises. From fanciful euphoria to self-perpetuating depression, creatives explore themselves through their expression.

The truth is that everyone has the ability to be creative. Yes even YOU!

If you think about the formation of celestial bodies or the process of making wine, the act of creation in itself aims to break the mold, explore different states, to destroy and combine things to produce new results.

In other words, ALL creation is a form of transformation.

I’d like to show you how unlocking your own musical creativity, through the lens of the ancient practice of alchemy, can spark new perceptions and reveal the hidden genius inside you!

Artistic alchemy is truly the leader in self-transformation.

A paradigm for creative, personal and spiritual development.

“Art is not a thing, it is a way”—...