My creativity

My creative work consists of the following: composing a sequence from several musical compositions and playing this sequence in such a way as to obtain maximum pleasure from listening.

Contents:

1.	Searching for music
2.	Mix
3.	Preparing the mix
4.	Playing the mix
5.	Requirements for the music program
6.	Structure of the music program
7.	Preparing and playing the music program
8.	Postscript

1. Searching for music

I'm not interested in mediocre compositions, good compositions, even excellent compositions, I'm only interested in masterpieces. Therefore, the task is to find masterpieces among the entire array of music. The only way to do this is to listen to the compositions and evaluate them. I use a 4-point rating system: mediocre, good, excellent, masterpiece. After evaluation, the compositions are marked in the collection accordingly: 3, 4, 5, m (masterpiece).

It usually takes two seconds to evaluate a mediocre composition, but in some cases it takes years to give an adequate evaluation of a masterpiece. And this is not a joke - I have had such cases. Just as a significant book cannot be fully understood after the first reading, so a significant piece of music requires repeated listening, one might even say - studying. This is probably explained by the fact that in order to enjoy a significant artwork, it is necessary that the brain has the necessary neural connections to assimilate this information - it takes time to form these connections.

Thus, it is not always possible to recognize a masterpiece at the first listening. In this case, the composition is marked in the collection with an exclamation mark so that later this composition can be easily found and re-evaluated.

At the moment, my collection contains about 350000 compositions. Of these, about 3000 are masterpieces. That is, in order to find one masterpiece, I have to listen to a hundred compositions, and this is despite the fact that I ignore and do not download from the Internet a huge amount of obvious junk, i.e. the products of musicians or labels from whom it is unlikely to hear anything interesting.

Finding a masterpiece is not the end. Next, need to find it with good sound quality. Sound quality is not only bitrate of an audio file - sound has more important characteristics:

*	Noise volume. This mainly concerns digitalized vinyl records.
*	The presence and volume of distortions. Scratches on vinyl records, clipping, etc.
*	Dynamic compression level. Dynamic compression increases the loudness, but at the same time reduces the "volume of the sound scene." I almost always prefer the quietest, but at the same time the most voluminous version of the composition of all available. Since about 1998, music almost always published in an overmuch compressed form.
*	Quality of processing by noise reducers and other "soundgoodizers". Such processing is often used on new (since 1998) reissues of old (pre-1998) music. In most cases, such processing is not a pressing necessity, but merely a tribute to sound fashion, so after such processing, music almost always sounds worse. I almost always prefer the original old edition to the new reissues.

How to evaluate sound quality? The best way is comparison. If a composition was released on different releases (for example, on a single, on an album, on compilations), then you need to try to find all these releases and compare the sound of this composition on different releases. Listening should be combined with visual control of the spectrum analyzer - this will allow more effective detection of audio files repeatedly subjected to lossy compression.

It takes years to create a good music collection, good both artistically and technically.

2. Mix

Typically, a musical composition can be divided into three parts: an intro [A, B], the main part [B, C], and an outro [C, D].

A--B-----C--D

The intro and outro are usually less information-rich than the main part. If such compositions are played with pauses or even without pauses, then at the junction of compositions a lack in information saturation will occur.

track1: A--B-----C--D
track2:              A--B-----C--D

This problem can be reduced or, ideally, completely eliminated by superimposing the intro of the next composition onto the outro of the previous composition.

track1: A--B-----C--D
track2:          A--B-----C--D

The ideal case is rare. In reality, the intro and outro are often too long, so when superimposing, it is necessary to play the compositions not from the beginning and not to the end. In the following diagram, the excluded sections are shown in brackets.

track1: A--B-----C---D'(--D)
track2:     (A--)A'--B-----C--D
time:            t1  t2

In addition, it often happens that at points A' and D' the compositions sound too loud, so at time t1 - track2 will appear too abruptly, and at time t2 - track1 will disappear too abruptly.

To eliminate these effects, at time t1 - the volume of track2 should be reduced, in the time interval [t1, t2] - the volume of track2 should gradually normalize, and the volume of track1 should gradually decrease. To achieve the best result, not only the overall volume is adjusted, but also the volume of low, medium and high frequencies is adjusted separately using a 3-band equalizer.

If the compositions have a strongly expressed rhythmic structure in the sections [C, D'], [A', B], then the superimposing should be carried out with synchronization. Roughly speaking, this means that if one foot stomps in time to one composition and the other foot stomps in time to another composition, then both feet should move in sync.

When superimposing with synchronization, it is necessary to change the playback speed of the next composition before starting it so that its tempo becomes equal to the tempo of the previous composition. If the speed is changed too much, the music will sound ugly, so the composition's own (unchanged) tempo should be close to the tempo needed for synchronization.

Playing songs with superimposing is called mixing. A sequence of mixed songs is called a mix.

For brevity in the following exposition, let the sections [A', B] and [C, D'] be called the initial and final sections, respectively.

When compositions are played with superimposing, the character of the next and previous composition should not differ too much, otherwise it will sound ugly. Since all the compositions in the mix are played with superimposing, the character of the music cannot change very much throughout the mix.

3. Preparing the mix

The preparation of the mix consists of two parts.

Part 1. Selection of compositions for the mix.

The selection is carried out taking into account the following:

1.	The first composition should be calm in all аspects, i.e. not too energetic, not too aggressive, etc., in order to have sufficient reserves to enhance these properties in the future.
2.	Under the influence of long-acting and unchanging stimuli, emotions become dull and cease to be vivid, so the properties of music in a mix should change from composition to composition. Properties can change both in the direction of strengthening and in the direction of weakening. The weakening of some properties must be compensated by the strengthening of others (for example, the weakening of energy and aggressiveness can be compensated by the strengthening of melody). If such compensation is not provided, the composition will sound weak in the given context, even if it is excellent in itself.
3.	The properties of music must change without returning to what was previously heard, otherwise the effect of repeating what has already been heard will arise - this always sounds weak.
4.	Each previous and next composition must allow for mixing, that is, have initial and final sections that will sound harmonious when superimposed. At the part of selecting compositions, in order to save time, only the presence of suitable initial and final sections is checked, without determining their exact boundaries.
5.	If a composition will be mixed with synchronization, then its own tempo should be close to the tempo required for synchronization.
6.	The energy of the music should first increase during the mix, then it can remain at the same level, then it can decrease, but after decreasing it should not increase again. Increasing energy after decreasing it always sounds weak.

Part 2. Determining the exact boundaries of the initial and final sections.

The boundaries of the initial and final sections should be chosen in such a way as to best eliminate the lack in information saturation at the junction of compositions.

4. Playing the mix

Playing the mix is done as follows:

1.	Start playing the first composition.
2.	Listen to the initial section of the next composition, the final section of the previous composition and the surrounding areas of these sections using headphones to determine the mixing method (without or with the use of volume controls and equalizers, and if with the use, then how exactly).
3.	When the previous composition has played to the beginning of the final section, start the next composition from the beginning of the initial section.
4.	Perform mixing.
5.	Repeat steps 2-4 for all remaining tracks in the mix.

5. Requirements for the music program

The ultimate goal of my work is to get maximum pleasure from music. To achieve this goal, the music program must meet the following requirements:

1.	The duration of the program should not be too long or too short. Because if you play too long, you will become overtired, and if you play too little, you will not get the desired satisfaction. The optimal duration for me is 90-120 minutes.
2.	The character of the music throughout the program should change within the widest possible range - this will allow the range of emotional experiences to be expanded as much as possible.
3.	All compositions of the program should be perceived as one integral work.

It would seem that points 2 and 3 contradict each other. This is not a contradiction, because beauty is unity in diversity.

6. Structure of the music program

It has already been said that the character of the music cannot change throughout the mix within very wide limits, therefore building a program from only one mix violates requirement 2.

To solve this problem, the program is built from two mixes and a final composition (hereinafter referred to as the finale). The character of the music in the mixes and finale should be as different as possible - this will ensure that requirement 2 is met.

Since the music in the mixes and the finale is very different, pauses are required between them. Pauses are needed to give time for some emotions to subside and make space for new ones.

The second mix should be shorter than the first - this will create the effect of speeding up the events in the program. Having a final composition, that is naturally shorter than the second mix, allows this effect to be expressed more strongly. The inverse ratio between the lengths of the mixes sounds unnatural.

When composing a mix, you need to get a sequence of compositions where none of them sounds weak in a given context. In other words, the mix should not be boring to listen to from beginning to end. The longer the mix, the harder it is to achieve this. Including two mixes in the program allows, in addition to expanding the range of emotional experiences, to create two shorter mixes instead of one long mix, which is much simpler.

The strong difference in the properties of the music in the mixes and the finale allows these very properties to be enhanced, just as white stands out most strongly against black. Thus, the whole program brings more pleasure than its component parts separately. I find this circumstance sufficient argument in favor of the fact that dividing the program into 3 parts does not violate its unity.

So, the structure of the program is defined:

*	the program consists of two mixes and a finale
*	the second mix is shorter than the first
*	the mixes and finale contain the most different music
*	there are pauses between the mixes and the finale
*	the total duration is 90-120 minutes

7. Preparing and playing the music program

Preparation of the program consists of 2 parts:

*	Selection of compositions for mixes and finale.
*	Determining the exact boundaries of the initial and final sections (to save time, this is done last).

It takes from 1.5 to 5 days to prepare the program.

The program is played according to its structure: first mix, pause, second mix, pause, finale.

That's it! What's the result?

"The most powerful, most varied, most dramatic succession of events and activities, but only in time, consisting only of time articulated, filled up, organized. How all that is brought in and transformed and put before you, how one theme is led up to and another left behind, taken apart; yet in the process something new is getting ready, so that there is no empty or feeble passage; how flexibly the rhythm changes, a climax approaches, takes in tributaries from all sides, swells like a rising torrent, bursts out in roaring triumph... It is good, good in the extreme, it could not be better, perhaps it ought not to be better." (Thomas Mann "Doctor Faustus")

8. Postscript

From the description above it is clear that during the playing, I only launch the compositions at the right moment and perform mixing, and the main work is carried out during preparation for the playing. I didn't come to this method right away. Previously, preparation consisted only of defining mix styles and preparing a sufficient number of compositions in these styles, and all other operations were done directly during the playing (selecting the next composition, defining the initial and final sections, mixing). All these operations, except mixing, distract from listening to music and, thus, interfere with enjoying it, so I decided to do them in advance. (Recently I feel the need to completely separate the processes of creating and listening to a music program, because everything I do during the playing has already been planned in advance down to the smallest detail - all the creative work is done before the playing, and during the playing there is only mechanical work, which only distracts from listening to music.)

I play a very different music, any genre except boring, so the range of emotional experiences I feel while playing is truly colossal. Every time before playing, I feel a strong sense of excitement, anticipating the bliss that will overtake me as soon as the magical sounds flow from the speakers. Immediately before playing, I go through a cleansing procedure, that is, for about five minutes, I am in silence and calm, so that, having cleared my hearing from extraneous noise and my mind from extraneous thoughts, I can begin to hear and feel.

Among DJs, the practice of using effects is widespread. It consists in the fact that they do not simply mix compositions, but simultaneously process the music with effects (for example, echo, filtering, looping). My opinion is that if there are no empty spaces in music, then it is impossible to add anything else to this music without spoiling it. Therefore, for such music, effects are useless and even harmful. Effects are needed to fill empty spaces in mediocre compositions. In addition, effects are needed so that the DJ can keep his hands busy and doesn't stand in front of the crowd like a statue.

After acquaintance with every new masterpiece, the habit of the extraordinary grows more and more. Simultaneously, the aversion to everything else also grows. Because of this, it becomes more difficult to find new music. Even forces to exclude some compositions from the collection, because the idea of these compositions is expressed much better in other compositions. In the end, it turns out that there is so little interesting music that it is impossible to play it more than once a week.

For me, listening to music is a self-sufficient and all-consuming activity. I never combine listening to music with other activities.

If music starts playing in my head, I immediately try to stop it. There is very little interesting music, and I don't want this little to become boring.

I don't use music as a phone ringtone.