The "Infinite Question"

There’s a concept I like to call the Infinite Question - and it’s one of my greatest sources of inspiration that keeps my passion for music alive.

The question is simple:

"What is the one strand of DNA that everything comes from?"

There is no answer. Yet, there are countless answers.

Let’s explore this to give you new perspectives you can use when producing music.

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The Infinite Question Gives Birth To Everything

I believe every piece of music can be simplified down to one core concept.

It could be anything… maybe it’s a motif… a bassline… or even a rhythm.

But once you identify it, you can begin to see how it “gives birth” to everything in the piece.

• How do the chords “create” the melody?
• How does the bassline “create” the drums?
• What kind of sounds is the melody “asking for?”

Because it’s important to remember that we may be able to break music down to individual parts… but when we listen to it, it is one whole organism.

And this organism only works because of how each element seamlessly works together.

It’s the same as our human bodies.

We are hearts, brains, blood, bones…

But none of those things are us.

You are just you.

The human being that is living, breathing and reading this message.

Music is the same.

It has parts - but none of those parts are what it is.

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How To Use It When Producing

There are countless ways to use this in practice… but one of the clearest comes back to why I talk about the Sketch to Production technique being one of my favorite workflows.

The Sketch to Production technique works by starting with a simple but strong musical concept - like a chord progression or melody in a basic piano - and then asking how we can bring it to life through our sounds, performance, and other elements that get naturally added on to support it.

It forces us to start with one really good stand of DNA - and then build everything to serve that.

But we can use this line of thinking throughout our production process to not just create, but troubleshoot.

For example, I remember being with a student who was struggling with a song idea. It was good, but something just felt off.

He thought maybe his problem was the mix, or he needed to add more elements. He had been wasting hours in this process.

I took a look, and began muting elements one at a time, seeing how everything was interacting.

Most elements were pretty good, but then when I got to the kick pattern I realized it was not communicating with the melody - it was hitting in spots that felt out of touch with the whole.

So we eliminated every unnecessary kick, and nudged the ones that were left to feel like they were working with the melody…

And like magic, the entire piece was now a “perfect loop.”

It wasn’t a mix problem.

It wasn’t that he needed more elements. (That would have been very bad, because the problem would have been hidden even deeper.)

It was that what he already had was not in seamless communication with itself.

It was an organism out of sync.

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A Key To Your Unique Flow State

The Infinite Question is both technical and logical, as well as emotional and spiritual.

It requires you to develop your skills to the point where you can keep up with your intuition, becoming an open channel for whatever the music wants to have happen.

You could call this the Flow State.

That’s what keeps me hooked - because the infinite question leads to you using music - or music using you - to build a connection with reality.

It is reality curiously playing with itself.

This experience is unlocked within the Flow State.

Each of us has a Flow State we can unlock.

For you and I, it may happen through music.

But it can happen through anything.

For some it happens through painting, and finding the Infinite Question in how each line on the page gives birth to the next.

For others it comes out in the practice of being a Lawyer, and finding the Infinite Question in discovering the one opening thread of dialog that can control the outcome of an entire case.

Everyone has their own version of Flow State - of the Infinite Question.

And I believe part of your job in this life is to find where this happens for you.

Where reality activities itself and uses you to curiously play.

It’s not something we get to know.

It’s only something we get to experience.

There is no answer to the Infinite Question.

Yet it holds all the answers.

That’s what keeps me hooked.