creative synthesis

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We are going to talk about music, not design, but don't worry, this will all make sense in the end.

I was watching an episode of Watch the Sound with producer/artist Mark Ronson, in which he interviews various musicians known for their use of synths.

If you are not familiar with Mark, he became famous for his use of horns and very retro production on the records he made with Amy Winehouse. Also, you may know the song "Uptown Funk"-which you probably thought was a Bruno Mars song, but it's actually a Mark Ronson song featuring Bruno Mars.

But anyway, in the episode, Mark tells us that his stepdad is Mick Jones, who founded the band Foreigner, so naturally, he grew up in a house full of synths.

As Mark interviews Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, they discuss the signature sound of the iconic Roland Juno 6. Kevin demonstrates some LFO sweeps and the built-in chorus.

Mark remarks that when Kevin plays the synth, suddenly it sounds like Tame Impala. Kevin says, "Yeah, but to me it just sounds like a Juno."

So there is the medium - the Juno - and there is the individual playing it - Kevin - and both very much impact the outcome.

Saw Tame Impala just a month ago. My friends Cour Design created their light show & stage production

Design and creativity are like this. The medium you choose informs the output, but so do you. When I used to write songs, I would write a very different kind of song if I was using a guitar than if I were programming a bassline on a drum machine.

That's why it is really important to try different things, because you get different results beyond the sound of the instrument. If you are creating a room and you start with Pinterest, it's probably going to end up pretty different than if you start at an antique store.

A buddy of mine, a successful musician, said one songwriting exercise he uses is to make up new tunings. It forces him to do something different with his instrument because he no longer knows chord shapes when the strings are tuned differently.

He's manipulating his medium to force new behavior and achieve a different output.

Mark Ronson also interviews Gary Numan, one of the earliest pioneers of the synth in popular music. Gary makes it very clear that he doesn't know much about synthesizers; he was a punk rock guy who just fell in love with the sound of a Moog synth.

He was not technical; he was just after something new, and he realized he could make a whole rock record without a guitar.​

I thought it would be ironic to share a picture of Gary playing guitar. Music Hall, Feb. 18, 1980 - Photo by Jean-Luc Ourlin via Wiki Creative Commons.

Whether or not you like Gary Numan or synth music, it's an important lesson in just trying things. If you are drawn to something creative, don't resist it; embrace it and go all in. Even if you are not a pro or a technical wiz, you may end up creating something great.

Something tells me we wouldn't be talking about Gary Numan if he hadn't decided to make a synth record.

There's also just the fact that if you practice something every day, you can get pretty good at it in 6-12 months.

And of course, there's almost always overlap between different areas of knowledge. Steve Jobs said that "creativity is just making connections."

I remember talking to my friend Will years ago when he was opening a new fancy cocktail bar.

Will had trained with a master bartender who used to be a pastry chef and brought his knowledge of dessert palettes to cocktails. His thesis was that baking and making drinks were almost the same thing.

I think all the time about the parallels between making a great song and making a great room - contrast, rhythm, anchor, texture, focal points, personality, variety, story - it's all there in a good song or room. Or making a great room and making a great garden - again, a lot in common there.

Chatsworth House Gardens UK. Martina Jordan via Unsplash

So what is your unfamiliar instrument? What will it do to you, and what will you do to it?