Getting back into a creative space again (literally...)
- The Jafro
- Aug 9
- 3 min read
It's been a while since the last one, my apologies...
I've had to go a bit full on into my health to get my fitness back up what with being prescribed the gym last month, as well the usual May to June busy period that comes around each year, with some quite hefty day job deadlines in there as well.
So, consider this somewhat of an update blog.
The main thing from the past couple months for my music work is that I've at managed to get an actual studio set up going finally, with a bit of acoustic panelling going up in the studio to deaden the area where my vocal microphone goes.
Honestly, it's interesting how just putting a few panels up can make a difference to how the room feels, it's gone from "the room where my music stuff is" to feeling like an actual studio now. As well the obvious acoustic benefits of it, of course. I've wanted my own proper creative space for years and it's wonderful to finally have one.
Additionally, I also bought myself a new guitar amp, and an SM57 to go with it. So I can actually apply some of what I was doing in the studios at university to my home set up, which also feels good and in setting it up again it's refreshing to know I haven't forgotten about microphone placement!
All this to say that my set up is feeling a lot more professional as of the last month or two, and also looking and feeling a lot more "me" than previous bedroom set ups I've worked out of. Which in turn will hopefully coax some refreshed ideas out of me.
There's still some more I can do to it, of course, I might treat the celing eventually. But, I should be living where I am for a good few years and now that I've got things to a good point, I don't need to rush through things. Which, I very much have a habit of doing... A lot of this year has involved juggling ticking off The House List, while also trying to be able to walk again, after all...
But anyway, in terms of a general update on the music side of things I'm mostly fleshing out recorded tracks to demo's to cleanly record down the line, and also getting through my massive pile of electronic work as there is a lot of that I need to finish. I've also got a new track out this coming week (at the time of writing), so keep an eye out for that.
I've made it somewhat of a goal for myself to churn through my to-do pile a bit by the end of the year, work, and health, willing of course. As I don't often feel up to being behind another screen after a day of stressing out in the office, or my leg is causing me problems and I need to do some exercise rather than spend even longer sat down.
In reality I'm finding to get the most out of my music sessions I need to be in a very specific, correct, headspace these days otherwise I'm just wasting takes, or, I'll end up never finishing the track I start. It's definitely helped having the studio be the way it is now though but even so I'm quite mindful of "wasting" energy on a dead end session.
I think there's also the fact that I've churned out enough quantity over the years, so I want to start ensuring there's some quality these days.
Something else that I've been doing I've been doing a lot of since getting the new amplifier, or more accurately speaker cab to go with the amp head I bought two years ago, is playing again just... For me? And it's been wonderful...
There's probably another post to come down the line about where I am with social media these days so I'll save elaborating on it for later, but, I got stuck in the social media hole a couple of years ago, where everything I did music wise had to become social media content.
So, just playing for me has been a fantastic reminder of, well, why I picked up guitar in the first place and just the sheer cathartic joy of smashing out some riffs and solos and have them blare out of an amplifier.
Anyhow, this has been somewhat of a disjointed one as it's been a couple of months but the good news is that things are feeling and looking a bit more professional around here, it feels good, and I can't wait to see what this actual creative space I have now will encourage me to do.
Peace,
The Jafro
xx
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