Media Composer - Day In A Life + The (amusing) Truth About My Chronic Condition
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- WTF is Mis-En-Place?: en.wikipedia.o...
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...also if you constantly feel tired, often fall alseep in cars, on trains the telly, there may be a chance you too suffer from Sleep Apnea ask a family member or your partner to listen to you sleep and if during bouts of snoring you actually stop beathing then you should check this out: www.nhs.uk/con... it leads to weight gain and high blood pressure and is a silent killer!
Since beating cancer in 2010, I've had a rush of adrenaline...up at 5 and at it through the day. Lovely backdrop, I'm looking at 18 acres in West Highland at the mo...might definately see a move there over the next 12 month's...wish me luck.
Rich de Whittaker oh its so wonderful definitely life lengthening.
Congrats Rich! I'm a survivor as well. We're lucky to have beaten it and been given a new perspective.
So rare to encounter such a down-to-earth individual like Christian. This boss man genuinely cares, about giving real insights to musicians looking to better their craft.
What I appreciate and keep coming back for in your videos alongside the informative content Christian is the red raw honesty. This particular one being no exception.
Dear Christian, thank you so much for your inspiring videos. Just had another afternoon just watching your beautiful videos, well narrated, perfectly cut and edited. This one especially means a lot to me since I've been thinking about how to structure my days lately. There is so much wisdom here and I really appreciate your opennness and your very private insights into your daily routines. I really believe that I am productive in "waves", meaning I have an idea, which turns into a project and then I am extremely excited. This can last for weeks where I am driven and working with almost forgetting everything else (even eating until I am starving). There are phases in which I don't procrastinate at all but then after the biggest amount of work is done I tend to get distracted more easily. That's usually when I feel like I am falling back into my more lazy kind of habits. I am a natural nightowl, and I always feel that it is the evening and night time where I feel focused, where the mood and the atmosphere is inspiring me the most. It's when its dark, a candle is burning, people are asleep, the world is essentially calm and noone is distracting me. I had changed that many times, trying to be more of an early bird, but I really start my work during mid-day or afternoon mostly. Maybe since I've been a professional musician and I have concerts and shows to play this is one reason which I fall back into being a nightowl again and again.
The thing that helps me most with staying organised is the “week in review”. Me, my girlfriend, and her brother meet at the end of every week to lay out our goals for the week ahead. We create accountability by declaring these goals to each other, and track them throughout the week. We also track and compare our success rates throughout the year to help monitor when we’re most productive and what tasks suit us best. Plus it’s a great excuse to get together every week and hang out!
This is a great idea. I think it's not only helpful in terms of organization, but also it must make it feel like somebody has got your back.
Up a 3:50 every morning and own/run a coffee shop, work full time and make sample libraries, have wife, child etc.
The main thing I found that helps yes is planning beforehand but also a 10-20 minute eyes closed between each part of the day. Doesn’t have to be sleep, but a kind of zone-out that I find helps my mind reset and refresh before the next thing rather than clumsily going into something dragging the last thing you did with it.
Does this mean you edit your vlogs? It’s all so impressive already but that would be extra bonus brownie points!
So interesting to watch this, it reminds me of how unorganised I am and how much I want to be an early riser and day planner but have failed so many times. I have with slow and steady success relied heavily on to-do lists though. Inspired to try and wake up early again!
This is a brilliant video, Christian. When I was promoted at college last year I decided to draw a line under my working day as soon as I leave the office. Easier said than done, I know and, I must admit, I do sometimes take work home with me or work at the weekend but, for the most part, I’ve stuck to it. I think one of the major pitfalls of technology is just how readily accessible we are. As you know, my daily commute is a bit of a grind. This commute can make or break my day. If I’m in the office by 7am, I can make a coffee, check and reply to emails and generally set myself up for the rest of the day. If I’m held up in traffic I just generally feel harassed for the entire day and that usually filters its way into my classes. I’ll come away from work annoyed and irritated and probably won’t sleep well that night. Then the dominos really start to fall and I’m exhausted the next day and the whole cycle starts again. The sooner I finally move to Edinburgh, the better!
Hello!
Long time watcher, first time commenting 🙂
I think having an exercise plan is so incredibly important. I’m coming up to 25 years as an in-house composer and for the majority of that time have been pretty sedentary and hated exercise with a passion. That was until about 6 years ago when my wife pointed at my chubby face and asked me what I was planning to do about it 🙂 (she was coming from the best possible place)
So I took up cycling and I absolutely love it! It’s had such an amazing impact on my life. Not just the physical aspect, but my mental health has improved significantly.
I really do believe though, that it’s about finding the physical activity that works for you and then committing to make time for it...I only wish I’d done it sooner.
Thank you so much for creating this channel Christian...you’re a bloody good’un x
My peak-period in life so far, back in Manchester, wherein I discovered this blog, I found myself up at 5, coffee, videos/reading to bring my consciousness back from the grave, followed by practice until Train time, Uni Lecture, Practice, Coffee, Lectures, Practice, Train home, Giving lessons, clutching for the time to restore some guitars, scraping off for some practice before sleep, then temporary coma until 5 once more. The key, in my experience, is using the momentum. After a while of intense, worthwhile work, our mood and energy seems to learn a method of distributing, without burning out. Once I took a small break from this, its all tits up. Now the building starts anew.
I used to be a morning person.
You are blessed to be able to hit the pillow and fall into deep sleep straight away.
Great to see you having family time in the schedule too. Kids need their dad.
It's not a blessing, it's a sign of chronic sleep deprivation. This is likely the brain hunting desperately for REM sleep, which is disturbed by waking up too early without compensating the other direction.
Refreshing to hear someone else speak about the joys of waking early. I'm also frequently asked how I manage to work on so many projects, meet so many deadlines and yet still remain healthy and content and it's largely down to waking up early. I've thankfully always had a body clock that automatically wakes me very early, so in the summer months can happily be awake at 05.00 a.m. This means that by the time many folks have come into the office at 10.00 a.m. I've frequently finished deadlines already. It also means I can always finish in the studio or office by 17.30 or 18.00 at the very latest and have the evenings to go out, watch films, read, just relax and recharge for the next day! Try to encourage this approach when I mentor other artists and composers too :-)
I have always been an early riser. 3:00 AM. That actually started when my children were young. I am also a jazz saxophonist and university professor, so carving out time to practice and compose without interruption is a priority. Yes, when I have playing gigs that messes up the schedule but, I have been doing that less and less and my composing gigs are starting to pay. I run, meditate, and ALWAYS take an afternoon nap after lunch. Key for me was not watching TV, giving up the pub, and stopping any kind of work on Saturdays at 12:00 PM for time with the wife (who also is quite busy at her work). Summers are for travel, and no university teaching so I am done working most days at 12:00 PM. I LOVE the honesty in your videos and you have inspired me to create similar content for my students, which FYI are all required to subscribe to your channel! With Trump at the helm, sleep has been a bit more difficult, but I my mantra is "This too shall pass"
You might enjoy the Louis Cole song "In the weird part of the night". Particularly the lyric: "Between three and six, when no one can f*ck your sh*t".
Scary parallels!
I'm gonna make a t-shirt of that line!
A couple of comments:
1-Fantastic advice. Getting up early, particularly after kids enter the picture is the only thing I have found to work.
2-Don’t mean to get personal, but Look into turbinate reduction surgery for the sleep apnea. Relatively straightforward and it made a huge difference for me.
I absolutely appreciate your time, insights, and honesty in these videos. Thank you!
Cheers to you, Christian. Was a pleasure meeting Toby at the MixCon event here in NYC. Thoroughly enjoyed Jake Jackson's talk on his mixing process, and he was a great guy to chat with after. Thanks for bringing your company to NYC, and Toby hinted at another event coming up around the end of the year, so I'll be excited to check that out!
As always, thanks for sharing your life with us. I especially appreciate this video here because I, along with I'm sure many musicians and composers, struggle with structure of day, since our lives are simply out of the norm and our days are often varied in nature. You touched on procrastination a bit in this video; can you possibly give any pointers as to how you personally manage to break out from the "rabbit hole" that is procrastination? I find it is especially difficult given that most of us musicians and composers work entirely for ourselves as entrepreneurs, therefore inspiration to get tedious things accomplished may not be the easiest thing to harness. Again, cheers from NYC! - Tom
Great vid Christian, I often feel like I'm wasting to much time in a day with sleeping (I sleep for about 7ish hours), and relaxing whilst watching TV. Working full time (in a high pressure job!), being a dad and a husband and trying to write music is often a tricky balance. Perhaps cut back on TV and sleep and there would more time in my man cave for creative endeavours? But I do like my sleep!
For balance and productivity I've been tweaking my personal schedule over the last year. I'd never bothered to organise my life before, and this has made a surprising difference. The challenge was to create repetitive and predictive structure without being so rigid as to become stultifying and tyrannical.
The were two concepts I've tried to keep in mind. The first is that people overestimate what they can do in the short term, but underestimate how much they can achieve in the long term. The second was that slow, consistent and sustainable progress was preferable to a cold-turkey enforcement of structure that caused burnout. That second concept was especially difficult because it always looked like my goals weren't getting any closer. I stole one of Jordan Peterson's 'rules' to make peace with that issue: "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today." Hard to accept at the time, but in hindsight it was absolutely the right call.
The first step was to set a basic morning routine:
- Start the day with a 'win.' Get out of bed as soon as the alarm gets off and make the bed.
- Get up at the same time every day and be in bed before a certain time every day.
- Eat breakfast every day, have lunch every day.
This seemed trivial, but turned out to be important. It meant I was getting enough sleep, it meant I was clear-headed and productive throughout the day. My focus was better and my memory improved. It also provided a necessary break in the middle of the day.
Once those habits were embedded, I tried to work structure into the workday itself. Initially I allocated whole days of the week to specific tasks, but that didn't work. It was too inflexible. If I didn't get everything done on that day it meant there were 2-3 days until I'd have a chance to finish it off.
My second attempt was more effective. I solved the above problems by splitting each day into two parts, with lunch being the line of demarcation between the two. The first half is all music - writing, studying, orchestrating, app development. The second half is everything else - things that pay bills, personal administration, anything else on the to-do list. Saturday is household crap (cleaning etc.) Sunday's a day off, but the morning routine stays in place.
Once that was in place I took stock of the time-sinks in my life - those things that lead to procrastination and distraction. That meant no social media during work time, no taking the phone to the loo, and no using coffee to extend breaks.
Initially the concept of routine was difficult, especially when I was enthusiastic about continuing a task past it's block of time. But in hindsight it's been the right tradeoff. Having allocated blocks of time mean that I'm constantly making progress on everything I need to do, rather than bursts of progress followed by periods of stagnation and inactivity.
In summary, good and bad habits seem to have a compound effect. Things are slow to get better, but the better they get the faster they get better. So take stock of what needs to be done and take small, but consistent progress to address it. Same with the good, capitalise on it without neglecting the less savoury things that have to be done. Don't forget to pause and reassess your plan, and change it if necessary.
Very timely subject for me & really helps to know others go through similar things. Recording my activity hour by hour was a big reality check & is so helpful. Early mornings are always my best time for creativity catching myself before self doubt creeps back in & the world gets noisy. I think the 4pm composing thing is to do with time running out in the day deadline kicking in mixed with a childhood back from school type of reaction
I work and live in a noisy environment, so I tend to work when it’s the most quiet. At the moment due to this massive heatwave, synths/amps getting uncomfortably hot, and drunk neighbours drinking beer and singing Oasis songs badly all afternoon...every afternoon; I’ll work from around midnight until midday. Not ideal, as a bit of sunlight would be nice. But I find I seem to work best working a solid 12hr block with the odd 20min break thrown in here and there. Given a few years of royalty cheques, I’ll move somewhere quiet, and buy an air conditioner. Mtv Cribs will have nothing on me 😂
Getting up early is still my biggest challenge. I would get so much more done if I could just get up at 6am! Unfortunately my cloaked composer tends to come out of the shadows at 1am, so it’s hard to go to bed before that.
But for me, fitting at least 7 hours of sleep, 1 hour of physicial exercise and eating right every day is what I need to stay productive and healthy. Adding a pint and family time to that is the key to staying happy!
Good for you, Christian, for sharing the fact that you have Sleep Apnea. I have it too, and I've been using a CPAP machine for nearly twenty years, since my late forties. I probably should have been diagnosed ten or fifteen years earlier than that. So many people are suffering with this affliction and don't even know. It will destroy your health if left untreated.
I tried the CPAP machine but it was terrible. How can you sleep like this? Perhaps I should try again, always so tired... There is a study about playing didjeridoo each day, it seems it can help...
It is difficult to get used to wearing it, no question about that. Even now, there is only one type of mask I can wear (they make dozens of styles). However, you do not want to be on the highway with me if I haven't used my CPAP the night before. I can be driving and feel wide awake, and then suddenly doze off. It's scary. Plus, untreated Sleep Apnea is very bad for your heart. I keep hoping technology will give us a better solution, but for now, the CPAP machine is all we've got.
Mise-en-place - always love a good cooking metaphor, and for myself, this is even more important than an early start.
My own schedule tends to be more fluid. I usually work through weekends, but the payoff is a slightly more relaxed weekday, where I can also knock off and take a few needed hours. This really works for me, vs. bunching and binge relaxing. That said, we don't (and don't plan to have) kids, so that makes a big difference. My wife also works from home so spending time is sometimes a spontaneous pop-in and suggestion that we take a walk.
The first hour of the day is spent with positive, inspiring, high quality input. I try to avoid email/social media entirely, and read, listen to podcasts, or watch this Christian Henson bloke wax philosophical :) This primes the pump for creative work, and I can feel the energy rise up - once it hits the red, if I have the studio humming and my mise-en-place prepared, it's a great way to encourage flow-state.
I do need a long runway to get airborne in the mornings. I've always been nearly useless and feel like a dump truck has run over me twice, despite a great sleep. Early mornings are OK, but I have the problem of sleep onset insomnia. My brain isn't turning, I'm not anxious, but my body just won't shut down. 2-3 hours of laying there half-tired and bored but helpless is common. I think this ruins mornings for me. On days where I do get a super early start, the trade off is that a nap around 2pm becomes necessary - and cruelly, I fall asleep in an instant for that one. Generally this works out, and when I'm in a flow state, working later is not a problem. I used to be a night owl but in the last decade or so I've switched over and do good work earlier in the day.
Because of my ruinous mornings, I don't exercise then - that's a double whammy and really puts me under. So instead, I go for a run, cycle, and/or work out at 4 pm. It's usually around that time that I feel the energy waning, I've used up the creative juice for the day, but my body wants to be active. This is a sweet spot for me. I usually return refreshed and relaxed, and can do things like edit, perform outputs, write emails, and do admin stuff.
But as I said before, the best thing I did was finally figure out how to manage my gigantic To Do lists covering all facets of my life in business. In Trello, it all funnels down to one Master board, which also funnels down to one 'Today" card. This is the mise-en-place, and when I'm doing it right, I know exactly where I'm at and what needs to get done - no decision making required first thing, just jumping in and getting going. It's been absolutely amazing - I'm more energized, focused, and clear.
That said I will try and get up a bit earlier :)
Thanks as always for starting a great conversation, Christian.
I should add, since we're talking chronic conditions - I've been living with Type 1 Diabetes for about 20 years, which means health has to be a top priority for me. Even with great control it's hard on the system, and can make you feel like you're running a constant science experiment with yourself as the subject, where success is always elusive and brief. Because your schedule of eating, exercise, and managing blood glucose levels has to be strict, working from home as a freelancer is actually a great thing, because you can make healthier choices and fit your schedule around your requirements.
Thank you for sharing your tips Christian. As part of my own time management efforts, I find that I need to factor in daily exercise and access to nature (I often combine the two) and ironically some silence in my life to give me the headspace I need to think creatively.
I feel exactly the same about the hours of productivity.
having a new business (a studio) which needs both a lot of admin time but also proper productive work, I tried your early bird method a few weeks back but the lack of sleep just made it impossible to get to the end of the week.
so I now try to get in and do the productive stuff as early as possible but not too early, more importantly I do it closed without too many distractions i.e no internet and no phones for a few hours. then around 11:00 I get to the emails and distractions and let them carry me on. This is followed by another short run to get the composer/creative burst in the afternoon and then back to a bit of late admin to get that mis-en-place done for the next day before I get to family time.
haven't found a better way yet...would love to try others ways to increase the in-the-zone time.
Thanks for the video, as always :)
This is great. I’ve always wondered how you managed to be so productive - idly I assumed it was ‘owner of a successful company, free to sod around a bit’, although your past as a baker made me wonder if you’d just learned to get by on ‘shift work’ sleep of 4-5 hours a night. I’m in my mid-30s, married. I work 8-5 as a high school teacher, and around the periphery manage an overly-full rehearsal/performance schedule in musical theatre/opera as well as fitting in freelance composing/music technologist duties. I run at 150% speed for about 8 months of the year then become a virtual hermit for the rest (outside of my day job which pays the mortgage). I can’t drink alcohol much - it ruins my sleep and means it takes 3-4 hours to wake up and get up to speed. I generally don’t caffeinate after 12pm for the same reason. I’m about to start another mental week and you’ve inspired me to document it for my channel.
You’re the most beautiful madman I’ve come across in my life
I'm reading Raymond Carver's "Fires" right now and he quotes Isak Dinesen: write a little every day, without hope and without despair. I like that. I'm trying to live by that now. The whole essay "On Writing" has many truths I find applicable to any creative process.
Dear Christian,I love your videos.You can't change who you are,so enjoy,I think you do.
I find a short walk before I try doing anything productive in the morning really helps wake me up and keep concentration. An afternoon 20 minute nap also helps if you're an early riser.
Jim Sanger totally agree with l’nap!
Hmmm... I'm going to try this gentle walk idea. I always find I feel like a trash fire in the AM; maybe I just need some more oxygen? And yes, the nap is sort of an inevitability for the super early riser...
I'm naturally the same, I've found anything to wake the body up a little helps me keep a clear head
I feel a nap is also inevitable after a certain number of birthdays...
I got a sit/stand desk a couple weeks ago, and it may just be the honeymoon phase talking, but it has made a world of difference. I'm so much more eager to work now that I know I'm not going into a situation where I'm crammed in and hunched over, and I have so much more energy while I'm working. I honestly hadn't realized how much an uncomfortable working space was affecting me, mentally, until I changed it up.
Dan Rosen it’s also great for keeping yourself from dozing off!
To composers who forgo sleep, especially chronically:
peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker1/
For anyone who thinks sleep deprivation is a virtue, consider that it's as much a virtue as is smoking or eating sugar. Chronic sleep deprivation is as *causally* tied to early mortality as bad eating in the scientific literature. Consider that seriously. Also, alcohol ruins your REM sleep, by the way. Sleep not only provides memory consolidation but also the ability to form new memories (which is why most parents don't remember the first few weeks of having a newborn). I actually get angry now when I hear people bragging about not sleeping, recommending it, or otherwise treating sleep as lazy. It's blatantly irresponsible and is killing people in many ways.
When it comes to sleep, most of us aren't different. The absolute majority of people need about 8h of consistent quality sleep. There is a VERY small subset of human beings who only need around 5, and as such it's probably not you who are reading this.
Some take-aways:
"Drowsy driving kills more people on the road than drugs or alcohol combined." Not "falling asleep at the wheel", but half-second microsleeps.
"I think we'll look back at late-night media use and being sleep deprived like doctors who used to recommend specific brands of cigarettes to pregnant mothers" (paraphrased).
People might have pride in "sacrificing their health for their craft", and while there's certainly room for occasional compromise, you are literally trading years of your life, mental health, and time with your family for probably-not-productive extra hours awake. It should be worth considering that most people at the end of their life usually regret working too much and not spending enough time with family, rather than the inverse.
This kind of lifestyle is cumulative and ultimately unsustainable. Efficiency seems to be more reliable and productive -- what can you cut out? For me that's social media and generally paying too much attention to the kind of crap big media companies want you to pay attention to that have zero impact on your life.
As we do in our research lab with essential gear: maintenance, calibration and a good old reboot to keep it perfectly running, one ought to do that to the essential gear I. Your body, including our brains 👀
Christian, when you talk about developing ideas in the pub or on walks or what not, how do the ideas present themselves to you? What I mean is, can you hear individual notes and specific harmonies, or is it more cerebral, where you think "ok I want a low drone slowly coming in, and then a solo horn..." Etc.
I also endorse the DeSantis book. Great ways to break a non-creative pattern. It is also a beautiful book. I am lucky because I can easily employ short naps. I nap on a problem, it clears my head and usually a new strategy emerges.
Great video. Thank you.
I'm an insomniac so almost all of my production occurs when most in the Western Hemisphere are asleep. I honestly started cutting out the stuff that wasn't very fulfilling or didn't a lead up to a pay-off of some sort (knowledge gained, project completed, etc.). I rarely, if ever, watch TV. I do spend time watching my favorite RUclips channels, but that only adds up to about an hour to two hours of that activity a week. I do spend time in the garden meditating - I live in Washington State, so you can deduce what that might mean. Seeing after your mental health is the most important thing you can do. I'm fortunate that I can switch creative activities to prevent burn-out. I treat it like ear fatigue. That might be a way to look at your video making?
One of your best videos. Thanks for the insight
I totally get it. My day is much like yours ....and then sleep ... but I would not exchange my lot for anything else ..if it isn’t over the ramparts ..you ,me ,us are lesser ..you said it let’s all become something in a labs aD....let’s do it 🙏🙏🏿🎩👏👍
Great vid! I've been having much success and more productive getting up earlier. Going to sleep is the easy part though its getting out of bed which is the problem. Even with alarms I'll sometimes just sleep through it.
Thank you Christian......for some reason I'm having a fallow period were I've produced fuck all for about 4 months, I've not been in the studio or even sat and listened to any music. I recently started a new job working nights 4 on 4 off, great pay, maybe this is the reason why, I'm even thinking to myself...how the fuck do I use my DAW, it's like I've forgotten everything...how do I automate a track....its all gone, lost never to return.....what I'm trying to say is when I was in the studio I worked all mad hours, nothing set to any solid time schedules, family really not getting a look in, all my time time was taken up producing music...but since I started this job it somehow, unconsciously, gave me a break from my mashed up head, it's like I can breath again, I go the gym, I'm eating better, I spend more time with the family and my mates, watch football.....the past couple of days I've started to get the bug again about going back in the studio but its not an emergency, I'm not panicking, in fact I'm very calm about it, I've actually done a time table just to see if I could fit everything in without the alarm bells going off and yeh know what I've got too much time for music, weird, I'm not worried about outcomes or whether my tracks are shite I'm now just going with the flow and seeing what the day brings..I'm more in the moment.....so the answer is get a job on nights.....nah, just saying I'm lucky its given me the opportunity to escape from my musical mind...don't know if I'm talking shite or am I the only one who's going through this....god I go on....sorry chaps take care!!
Another brilliant video thank you so much for these.
up at 8 am -> morning things -> 2 hours walk -> 11am - 2 pm work -> lunch -> rest/30 min nap -> 3pm - 7 pm work -> snack -> hobby/family/rest/pub -> 1 am sleep. That's my approach ;)
I can never get up early. My current alarm goes off an hour before I need to get up, I listen to the headlines, switch off the alarm and snooze for 45 mins or so before the *second* alarm goes off. Those 45 mins of sleep are sometimes the best and can set me up for a day.
There is a great book called The Miracle Morning that discusses squeezing extra creative time out of the early morning before the rest of the world wakes up. It's not always easy, but I've found it to have a huge impact on my productivity!
Ah the Clock House in Peckham Rye, the lovely home of my own personal Lord Pinty McPintyPintPint...
Here's a major thing I can recommend for your mental health as a composer: Build a trust relationship with your employer that allows you to ask straight up: Am I still performing well? and you'll know for sure you're getting an honest answer. If you don't have this, odds are you're going to end up pushing yourself harder than you need to, or should, because your idea of how much you need to get done in how little time in order to live up to people's supposed expectations of you is probably way more extreme than reality. Get an honest answer to that question and you can let go of much of the pressure you put onto yourself.
This is magical.
Hi Christian, I’m Luis an 18 year old from frankfurt, germany.
I’m still in school full time and I’m recording an album at the moment in my basement studio.
I also am chief editor of a magazine and I do composing for short art house type films on the side. I dont work crazy like you do but I’m also nit waisting my time or anything. I also founded a recorded label recently.
My girlfriend and mom tell me that I need to look after myself more and appreciate myself more and so on but I dont think they really understand that it this anmount of dedication is required in order to be succesful in both the industries which I’m thinking about joining professionally(music production and journalism) .
I know this is very hard question to awnser but I would like your perspective as a musician and composer on this:
When should I stop myself and when is it ok to listen to your friends and loved ones if they tell you to take it slow?
Have you faced those situations before and did you change or slow down in your attitude towards work?
Cheers and thanks for all the amazing inspiring videos
Luis
Great video.
“Farting out some dots” - brilliant... gotta remember that one!
i tend to split a work day into 3 sections...
a 3 hour morning from say 9-12 or 10-1 (with small breaks in the middle) where I'll do the predominant amount of my "heavy lifting" ie overhauling the day before production or mix down etc from10-1, then 45 mins off then another 3 in the afternoon. Break for dinner or some kind of exercise early evening then to get my 8 hour work day up ill tend to do a lot of my emails in the evening (my label is LA based so it makes sense)
ill also allow for "the magic to happen" in the evening so if between 8 and 10 i get inspired and im around to mock up a demo i can, but i dont HAVE to work through that period. Anything after 10 is really a no-go for me as i wont be able to sleep if im wired.
weekends ill tend to be on the road with shows so i generally get that defined split, sundays ill very seldom do any work at all, if i have ill take the monday off so i at least get 1 full day to myself.
This is all mixed around going to the football, which ill tend to shuffle my diary around.
The thing is, the vast majority of the very talented musicians/composer lives way past 27. Pretty damn good isn't it?
Nice one.
Strength comes in friendship and being social. (Being social DOES NOT MEAN BLOODY FACEBOOK. FACEBOOK is NOT a SOCIAL LIFE). New people = new ideas. Meet people in person, maybe in the pub, at a party or out at gigs. Talk to people. We're social animals so be social. Every single time I meet up with my musical friends I get a huge buzz of adrenalin and an avalanche of ideas. They don't mind sharing and it helps everyone. Don't have any musical friends? Go to the nearest pub and watch a couple of bands play. Providing you're not a total piss head / idiot you'll end up with a boat load of new friends in minutes.
Good point about 'most people'. My original view is biased. I probably tune out 'most people' because, as you say, 'most people' don't have anything original to say except rehash ill-informed bollocks they've read on Facebook. When I tune someone in, they generally tend to have something interesting to say, usually music or science related, so they tend to stick up on the radar.
I would disagree with your view of TV in the 70's and 80's. All I really remember of 70's TV was a seemingly endless run of American cop shows, Nationwide and Coronation Street. Oh, and ITV trying to squeeze in high brow dramas with lots of tits.
Certainly something to ponder during today's heat wave.
Please do some Bayne impersonations next time)
Thanks for this! This popped up in my feed at a much needed time after a hectic week. I was going to make a comment about my schedule but what I connected with this mostly is the "in the moment" feelings of panic, procrastination (not always staying on point) and other such judgements and after having one hell of a few weeks, I could have just thrown my hands in the air and not make the deadline for a weekly project I am currently working on.
I did and just got it done, reserving severe judgement for the autopsy this weekend before cracking on again on Monday.
What are your thoughts on "finished is better than perfect" and meeting deadlines? maybe you've addressed this already and I've missed it :/
Also... maybe this has to do with the fact I have physical day job but I can't get by on anything less than 7-8 hours sleep, maybe on occasion I can for a few days otherwise I am hopeless without it.
I'm still trying to figure out a schedule that works, and one that encompasses the day job. Interesting that you get the 16.30 burst of inspiration - I get that one too and would love to know how many others do. Maybe I should focus on that one?
I also have sleep apnea and find i sleep much better at night but feel like i have become addicted to nasal sprays and your channel..please do more in the bunker and using some of those old synths you always say are under used...maybe with the fuck box
Great!
Dear Christian, if I would live your life for only one week, I would be completely f...ed up. It seems, that your candle burns at both sides. As a person who survived a severe illnes (...I hope so...) and changed completely his life, I recommend, that you delete some tasks of your day. Imho. Life is too short. And I'm shure, that economic sucess is not your fuel. This is your best vlog, imho. It seems, that you reach the limitations of your health. Be careful. Only a better work-life-balance, will not be the solution. And to start early in the morning depends of what type of sleeping you have. The early bird won't catches the worm if it is deeply exhausted. It seems, that you need a sabatical or something else. Inspiration needs a clear mind and relaxed mindset to be able to dive into the story or film. As you said, the best ideas will not come at the desk. And these vlogs, I am thankful for your work, will cost you time and energy. As a multi-platform strategy of social media, they are for shure a part of your marketing for your brand. But I think we all here love your and Pauls products of spitfire, so it is unnessessary to convince us about the quality. Ask yourself, if you have the power for this task. I would. Perhaps I'm wrong. This is my first advice, and I'm shure, also my last. Please don't get me wrong. But the picture of your apnoe frightened me. I wish you all the best. Tom.
great shots there at the end
Christian mate, I think you missed out the travelling portion of the pie chart, which would be the biggest chunk taken up from your day I guess.
You did say to tell you about our day as followers on your channel, so here goes...
I used to spend up to 10-14 hours or more writing music in Logic. Not everyday, bjt getting the sense from the days not spent being productive, or using it as a form of escape from reality it can become addictive to progress more and more until the tiredness kicks in. I am a typical musician. I struggle to sleep at night, so think of when you are asleep there are people out there watching your videos. I get up around 10-11 because of getting to sleep at around 4 eventually. Neighbours would not be impressed if the music was being written during the night, so I find myself being stuck in limbo and fitting it in when I can as a carer for my mum who sleeps a lot through the day. A long walk with the dog helps to get a good night's sleep. I know I'm lazy because of the effects insomnia have on me and an erratic sleep pattern. A purpose in life and regular routine helps which is non existent to some of us due lack of work opportunities. Cue the 'that's life' classic, Ha ha.
4K Freelance yes as I said “the best day I could hope for” which would naturally have no travelling whatsoever!
This is an honest and VERY real question: when do you find time to do the mundane things that are required - IE cooking, cleaning, laundry (FUCKING LAUNDRY), taking care of bills, etc? Perhaps I am overthinking it...
... No, I am not, FUCKING laundry.
Been wondering for a while now if you are familiar with the Dennis DeSantis book Making Music ? Quite a few of your vlog subjects, things composers 'struggle' with are very well covered. Very enjoyable video :)
elowine next on my list! Just finishing secret DJ it’s an awesome read.
I usually go to bed at 4 AM, getting up at 10:30. Don’t know whether or not that is a bad habit though it works best for me.
I wonder if us creative types all have forms of sleep apnoea; apparently I lurch for breath in the night often waking myself and my wife. Couldn't do the mask thing, though. I am an early riser, and when my day shift was 6 til 3, I could get loads done in the PM, now it's 9 til 6 I get less creative time, except tons of ideas come whilst shovelling crap into a bag and posting it (Dispatch). I find if I put my mind to it, I can bang out a 4 minute tune in about 2 hours. 6 hours to refine it, record it and probably another 6 to mix and finalise. Even if it's junk it matters and will be stored away in the vaults for release when pertinent. I intend to immerse myself when I have built a bespoke studio later in the year. The cost alone forces me to have new found respect for the craft and to stop procrastinating.
Do what Morricone does. Write a big suite that contains 70-80% of the cues you need. Then just reduce, edit and remix and you'll be at the pub by 4pm.
How do you guys surround yourselves with people who inspire you and you learn from? I myself work at a music store and still find it hard to surround myself with musicians alike myself. Also ones that are productive as well etc.
Lord Pinty Pint speaks to me too.
3mins 50 gave me a real laugh 😂
Some of this cuts too close to the bone for me, so I’m going to keep living in denial. One thing I am starting to notice is how small the window of real creative, productive time I have in a day is. When I really think about it the grind doesn’t produce much. I wouldn’t call it an 80/20 game, but it serves me well as analogy.
great place to live !
Me too. Unfortunately, the CPAP machine doesn't work for me. Looking at other options. Already had nose and throat surgery.
Richard Dillon the CPAP didn’t work at first but I switched from mouth to nose mask and now I’m ok with it. I fucking hate the thing though.
Looking at something called a BI-PAP. Tired of being tired. Seriously addicted to you guys! 40 libraries on their own SSD.
Bought an Apple Watch out of curiosity. On an average night I get 18 minutes deep sleep. About 30 minutes on a good night. Got my attention. Pulse drops to low 40s during the day. Waiting for insurance company to approve a second sleep study.
My partner has one. Major issues at first but it did eventually work.
I'm an video editor, established 1998. Shall I edit your vlogs? Will give you some extra family time.
For me, THAT time is key.
Have you ever had your T3 and T4 thyroid checked? Could be possible hypothyroidism... That shit can reek havok on ones life...
Impressive.
I want a LABS sticker
I wonder, Christian, where travel is in your schedule?
fantacist as I say... the best day I could expect! But I do at least one trip to London a week.
Also for sure watch this ruclips.net/video/pwaWilO_Pig/видео.html
And what if your Sleep Apnea wasn't THE disease but the symptom of an other disease, stress, that is today acknowledged to be the most powerful diseases' vector? Ironically it's also what fuels you. Take care of yourself Christian, people need you.
:D
I got an unnerving whiff of either Parkinson, dementia or stomach cancer as soon as I saw that tiny slice of sleep you're slipping yourself. Good Christ Christian, you do know you're setting yourself up for a later-half life of hospitals and home nurses? Apart from the very detrimental effect chronic sleep deprivation has on your mental acuity.
Your vids look and sound like professional English television. I enjoy them. You could be more on point though, I feel like you talk a little bit too much.
warius1 tell me and everyone I know something we DONT know! Waffle is my middle name! I think the main diff between me grabbing a moment in between boats trains and planes to add to a monologue and prof TV is the latter is scripted and takes a lot longer and the former is me genuinely catching boats trains and planes to get somewhere!