Technical Knowledge vs. Imagination

[Mad_EP]

...with painting, modern art and instrumental music you deffintily dont need the technical knowledge...

I don't think I would agree with this. I can tell from the rest of your post what you are getting at, but I think it is important to realize that "technical knowledge" can imply many different things to an instrumentalist.

Sure - it can be theory, ability to read music, etc... but it can also mean proper means of even holding the instrument and producing a sound. That seems rather rudimentary, but different instruments require varying levels of technique to even get a simple sound. Sure, there are advanced ways to play basic percussion instruments (like shakers or tambourine) - but pretty much anyone can get a basic sound out of a shaker on the first try. That's not the same for say... the oboe or trombone or even most string instruments. Or, even if one can get a half-decent sound out of cello... if the bow is being held improperly, there will be severe limitations to what the person can play technically, no matter how much they practice.


As for:

From my experience creativity has decreased as technical knowledge has increased.

I used to make mad creative tunes that sounded terrible, now my technical knowledge outweighs my creativity.

I hear this excuse get bandied about over and over - but it simply isn't true. Technical knowledge doesn't decrease creativity. One may find themselves not experimenting as much or trying new ideas - but that isn't the fault of increased technical knowledge. That is due to getting comfortable and complacent in one's workflow.

[shoot2stun]

To me the technical skills provide a set of tools. However, these tools tend to shift the direction of my imagination in new and different ways. Unfortunately my brain does not think in terms of things like oscillators, eq, and filters when an idea is first conceived in my head (I give props to those who are able to do that from the subconscious realm)...the step of converting it all to the technical side often changes the idea I had but not necessarily in a negative way...just a different way than I originally imagined it.

[lloydy]

The way i see it is gaining technical knowledge makes the creative side of music easier.When i first started making music i had all these brilliant ideas that i had no idea how to get down.Now i understand most aspects of what i want to achieve i find the creative part of making music liberating.
The technical side is a must for the avenues that we all want to take,be it mixing,mastering,making beats,reading music or even composition.In the end once you learn a bit of most of it the creative process in theory should become much much easier.
Just like to say i am talking from my experience but yeah technical knowledge is pretty important.
Another good way to look at it is painting,some off the best painters the world has seen would of been noobs once.
I'm not a painter myself but feel that there must be a type of technical knowledge involved in painting too maybe?

[JTMMusicuk]

...with painting, modern art and instrumental music you deffintily dont need the technical knowledge...

I don't think I would agree with this. I can tell from the rest of your post what you are getting at, but I think it is important to realize that "technical knowledge" can imply many different things to an instrumentalist.

Sure - it can be theory, ability to read music, etc... but it can also mean proper means of even holding the instrument and producing a sound. That seems rather rudimentary, but different instruments require varying levels of technique to even get a simple sound. Sure, there are advanced ways to play basic percussion instruments (like shakers or tambourine) - but pretty much anyone can get a basic sound out of a shaker on the first try. That's not the same for say... the oboe or trombone or even most string instruments. Or, even if one can get a half-decent sound out of cello... if the bow is being held improperly, there will be severe limitations to what the person can play technically, no matter how much they practice.
.

True but say if you aquired a trombone or string instruments and didnt know how to play it but instead used creativity to find a new way to get a good noise out of it then that would be what i was trying to get at.

Think of pink floyd rubbing their guitars on tables to create atmospheres (i know pink floyd can play their instruments); thinking outside the box and all that.

Obviously if the person was wanting to play the instrument the way it was designed for then your right in what your saying.

[NinjaEdit]

Maybe it's a matter of knowing WHEN to think in a particular way. Like now I'm being creative, now I want that to sound technically good.

[Sharmaji]

Technical knowledge doesn't decrease creativity. One may find themselves not experimenting as much or trying new ideas - but that isn't the fault of increased technical knowledge. That is due to getting comfortable and complacent in one's workflow.

nailed it.

and it doesn't negate the whole thinking-outside-of-the-box thing either; knowing when, and having an idea how, to break the "rules" is equally important. if you don't test those boundaries, then you're forever stuck in the comfortable, complacent, and absolutely mediocre world. You'll sound like a student forever.

when I was 15 i was much more interested in the technical stuff; it's easier to be wowed by, easier to digest, and easier to explain. I could bring some complicated drum part to my teach and we'd chart it out. Tracing an idea as inspiration is a much more difficult task.

great ideas with great execution are few and far between, but that's the amazing stuff--everything from businesses to symphonies, paintings to buildings to rock songs. Then there's plenty of compelling indie rock that's long on ideas and short on execution; there's plenty of not-so-compelling, but exciting, prog-metal/post-2000 d&b/brostep that's long on execution and short on ideas. and the world is awash in shit ideas that were badly executed....

[legskeattch]

From my experience creativity has decreased as technical knowledge has increased.

I used to make mad creative tunes that sounded terrible, now my technical knowledge outweighs my creativity.

Creativity doesn't decrease, but maybe the increase in your technical knowledge means you are now focussing more on the sound than the idea.

Yeah you have definitely put it the way I meant to put it! ha

[Kit Fysto]

It seems that without knowledge, obtaining your creative visions would be much more difficult. Say I envision a sound in my head. If I understand synthesis well, there's a good chance I'll be able to replicate what I imagined. If not its a long shot and a long time consuming process unless you get extremely lucky. That's just one example but I think they both add value to each other as they grow stronger individually.

[Bassf4ce]

As a Fairly new producer, I am running into the problem that I got all these creative ideas but it is just hard to apply them cause I do not know all the guidelines. The only technical things I know are how to use a synth/plugin and side chaining, I guess that is what all the youtube tutorials are there for though.

[travis_baker]

i find myself never really using any ideas i orriginally start with. i normally will mess arround with different things till it sounds right. in short iv never had the satisfaction of being able to produce the tunes i have in my head. for me the daw does most of the magic...