1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,640 this computer. All right, this is the Reading Instruction Show. I'm your host as always, 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:16,000 Dr. Andy Johnson, and we have a very special, special guest with us today, Mr. Sven Johnson. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,720 Sven, how are you today? I'm doing great. Am I on video too? Yep, you're on video. Our video has 4 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:29,360 started. And I wanted to talk with Sven today because Sven is a unique human being. He's very 5 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,480 creative and I want to find out a little bit about the creative process. But before we start, 6 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:41,280 I have a question for you, Sven. Why is it that you hate people? Whoa, hold on a second. This is 7 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:50,720 entrapment. Okay, sorry about that. Why do you kick puppy dogs? So if I answer any version of that 8 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:56,480 question, then I fear that it makes it sound like I kick puppy dogs, which I don't. You do? That's 9 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:03,360 horrible. I don't. Okay. All right, we're talking about creativity. And I'd be interested in how 10 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:08,160 you define creativity because Sven is very creative both in his music, which I think you'll be 11 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:14,480 interested to see how it develops, kind of from the inside out, and his YouTube videos, which are 12 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,560 great. Creativity, it's a type of thinking. And we tend not to address it in schools, but yet it is 13 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:28,480 responsible for our greatest human innovations. And one definition is the ability to generate, 14 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:34,880 invent, or improve ideas. So Sven, that's Andy, the professor. How would you define creativity? 15 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:40,000 What do you think about it? I guess I've never really put it into words or thought of a definition 16 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:46,400 myself, but it's just making something that didn't exist before. Pretty easy, pretty in line with 17 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:55,360 the definition that you had. As a YouTube person, as an online creator, I guess I am both making 18 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:02,000 stuff that hasn't existed before and innovating and capitalizing on trends, especially with age of 19 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:07,920 short form content like TikToks, Instagram reels and stuff. Trends are so important, you have to 20 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,920 hop on something that so many other people are doing and then bring your own little take to it too. 21 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:20,080 Here's my version of this joke. Here's my take on this trend. And as a creative person, I've tried 22 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:28,640 to be as myself as I can, and not just steal other people's stuff, because I fear creativity is kind 23 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:33,600 of lacking in a lot of like, especially video creation nowadays, with the innovation of TikTok. 24 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:41,040 There's so many people are rewarded by just making the same exact video without innovating. 25 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,800 I'm putting it on TikTok. So I've always prided myself in putting my own little spin on stuff. 26 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:53,120 And part of creativity though is embellishing or taking an idea or piggybacking on something. 27 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,800 Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all. If you're bringing your own spin to it, 28 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:06,880 or adding your own spin to it. Okay. Well, creativity is a type of problem solving. How can I 29 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,920 create this mood? How can I write this song? How can I capture this feeling? How can I make a video 30 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:17,120 that will make me a million dollars? Solving problems, creating products in ways that are 31 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:24,080 unique yet practical is highly, and this is what people forget. It's highly dependent on knowledge. 32 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:30,560 You can't be creative in areas that you have no knowledge about. I can't be creative in life 33 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:38,560 insurance. I know nothing about it. And creativity is different than being bizarre. So creativity is 34 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,800 depending on knowledge. Can you tell us about that, your knowledge and how that helps you 35 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:50,400 in the creative process? I guess yeah, you said creativity is can't be, can't happen in a vacuum. 36 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,880 I guess I never really thought about that. I mean, I obviously have to have some knowledge. Like, 37 00:03:54,880 --> 00:04:01,440 if I'm making a song, I have to know how to use a guitar, play guitar. I have to know how to use 38 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:08,640 the digital audio workspace, which is logic that I use, which was the probably the biggest 39 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:16,000 knowledge speed bump for me to get over in terms of like, having my creativity come from my brain 40 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,640 into existence. And that is something that a lot of creative people, I think, 41 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,520 fear because they just want to do like the artsy stuff where they're just making and then 42 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:34,400 creating unimpeded. Yep, like this. But you got to put in the work, you got to have some discipline 43 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:41,120 to teach yourself how to use tools. I've got so many friends who are just so stupidly creative. 44 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,320 But some of them don't have the discipline to like teach themselves a skill like how to use 45 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:52,000 logic. Not like I'm even the best at that at all either. But if you really want to take it to the 46 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,320 next level, you have to do some of the book work. And that's what a lot of creative people, I think, 47 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:03,360 are scared to do. It is a, well, come back to that, but it's a process. I like how you say that. It's 48 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:09,040 not a drive through experience. And this is the Wallace model. You have to prepare. Let's get 49 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:16,160 some, let's get in the idea. Incubation is where the unconscious mind manipulates the problem. And 50 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:22,080 that's why, you know, creativity is in a one shot deal. It happens over time. And then the illumination 51 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:28,880 where you suddenly see, oh, that's the way this song should be written or this idea. And then 52 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:34,800 verification, you evaluate, you see how it is, you test your final product. Do you see some of that 53 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:44,160 in the way you create videos and or songs? Yeah, with songs more than videos. Videos just kind 54 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:50,080 of happen to me. It seems like I'll just like have a concept and then I'll film it. And I very rarely 55 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:56,160 see like an illumination process. For example, with a video nowadays, that could just be because 56 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,920 because I get way more creative fulfillment from creating music in this period. But 57 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:07,600 yeah, I definitely there's a process. You got to prepare. You got to, is this incubate? Never used 58 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:15,520 that word before. Incubation. That's right. Bubbling your unconscious mind. Okay, I guess I got to 59 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:20,880 prepare an incubate for my videos as well. But yeah, there's definitely a process that you have to 60 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:28,720 follow. Yep, you're not doing enough incubating. Paul, Doran said there's four types of creating 61 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:36,880 of thinking that goes into creativity, generating a lot of ideas, that's fluency, flexibility, 62 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:43,840 generating different types of ideas, elaboration, making things better. That's where you take an 63 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:50,160 idea and you elaborate, you make it more detailed and originality, thinking of ideas that no one 64 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:58,560 has thought of before. And it's not accidental. It is purposeful, very purposeful. So let me get 65 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:06,000 out of that. That's just the academic stuff that people may have interest in. So how let's look 66 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:12,000 at your videos first, and then your music, the music is most interesting to me. But tell me 67 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,120 about the process of your videos, you've been working with your brother for a while. 68 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:22,000 Yeah, well, my videos, I noticed you had, I think there was one of your little bullet points on 69 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:32,400 your slideshow, on your little slideshow. Since I think fluency, I don't remember which one it was, 70 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:38,400 but said have like a wealth of ideas for videos that has always been the case. I learned this 71 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,360 pretty early on, my brother Gus obviously did videos before me and he was a huge mentor for me 72 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:51,200 to start my own YouTube channel. Anytime you have an idea, you have to write it down. That kind of 73 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:57,520 needs to take first priority because first of all, you just forget right away if you don't. And the 74 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:02,240 second of all, once you have this big list of ideas, you can just return to it in the future 75 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,480 where it's like, oh boy, it's time to time to make a video. It's been a couple of weeks having 76 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:11,520 uploaded on YouTube, just dig into the Idea Bank and you've got I probably have hundreds, if not 77 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:18,400 a thousand video ideas in some semblance of, you know, like whether it's a wine or an entire script 78 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:24,560 right now. And so that's good to have like a pool to draw from. And then that's a great starting 79 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:29,840 point a lot of times. So like usually when I start a video, I'll look into my drafts, I'll pick an 80 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:36,720 idea, I'll embellish upon it. And then I will film a lot of my videos aren't scripted though, 81 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,640 like I'll have a what's called a beat sheet where you have like a couple ideas that you want to 82 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:46,160 like hit some main plot points if you even want to dignify my videos by saying they have a plot. 83 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:52,400 And then we'll just film with my friends. I'm lucky to have some very creative improvisers as 84 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:57,920 friends. And a lot of times when I just have like a rough idea and go into it, the video gets made. 85 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:04,000 And so I found some of my best ideas, like you had the picture of the Heyman video, 86 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:08,640 a frame from where I'm just like making up nonsense words with my brother and then 87 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,960 crazy sounds come out. That one was completely improvised. There was no script. That was a 88 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,760 situation where I didn't even go into my beat sheet. I just filmed with Gus and then we just made 89 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:23,760 this up and we're like, what if, you know, cartoony techno techno sounds came out of us when we did 90 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:30,320 certain dance moves. And that was one of my most popular series on my channel is just almost pure 91 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:36,320 improvisation. So tell me about being around creative people, how that enhances and then 92 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:42,480 being around black holes that sucks your soul. Interesting. Creative people are definitely 93 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:50,800 interesting. I'm very happy and lucky to have creative friends. Wait, you have friends? 94 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:56,080 You're supposed to uplift. 95 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:04,880 You're supposed to uplift. You're supposed to tell my mom. Creative friends are great pros and cons 96 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,200 to every type of friend. I'll start with the pros with my creative friends. Like I said, 97 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:15,440 they elevate my projects. I can't do some of the stuff that I do if I didn't have that immense 98 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:20,640 collaborative power with some of my most talented friends. Excuse me. A lot of times, 99 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:25,200 they bring just a different taste to the project. Videos that I do with some of my 100 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:30,560 friends, like especially Joel, my friend Joel Haver, wildly, the guy is just leaking creative. 101 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:34,720 He's one of those types of dudes who just can't help it. Every time I collaborate with him, 102 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:39,600 the project always takes a very different turn from what I had envisioned, but it's usually good. 103 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:48,560 And yeah, I don't know. They're always adding something good to the project. One con and this 104 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:54,400 isn't all of my creative friends, but I've noticed creative friends are some of the least organized 105 00:10:54,400 --> 00:11:04,320 people in my life. So if you ever have a due date or be here at 4.30, most of my friends aren't 106 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:09,680 going to be there until 5.30 at least. And it's just everything is a lot looser. I think that 107 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:16,960 might have something to do with the fact that ADD and ADHD are maybe, I don't know if comorbid is 108 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:28,880 the right word, but. Oh, what did you learn that word? My uncle Andy. I learned that in psychology. 109 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:35,280 Actually, I'm a psychology minor, don't you know? I don't know. Anyway, I've learned that ADHD is 110 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:41,040 kind of comorbid with creativity. And so I think a lot of my creative friends just kind of get 111 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,920 distracted by stuff in their life. And then timelines and due dates are a little harder for 112 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:52,720 them to keep in mind. And that's one thing I try to be cognizant of as well. Cognizant, very good. 113 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:58,080 Oh, yeah. Cognizant, I'm expanding my vocabulary. Okay, go ahead. Sorry. 114 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:06,720 You're good. It's hard to adhere to a schedule for a lot of these, a lot of my friends. So 115 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,320 I try to be the best in that way. Okay. What gets in the way of creativity? 116 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:20,640 Like any period in my life when I'm like, if you ever down, if you're depressed, 117 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:27,200 it's hard to be creative. It's hard to like put new, especially like, well, for the term, 118 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:32,240 for the stuff that I do, it's harder to be creative because I mostly make silly funny jokes on the 119 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:38,000 internet. Just stupid stuff. And if like you're ever like feeling down on yourself, it's hard to 120 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:46,480 try to be on camera. But music has been a great outlet for that too. Because like sometimes, 121 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:52,960 like if you're not feeling like super happy, you just make an emo song as you like to call them. 122 00:12:53,600 --> 00:13:01,360 And then I can change the world with my emo music. So it's good to have two different 123 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:07,440 outlets for that for when I'm in like either mood. There is a certain joyfulness of creativity, 124 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:12,880 a certain playfulness. And you're when you're with people you like, when you're happy, you feel good, 125 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:21,280 you just seem to be funny all the time. Yeah. When I'm with you and Gus, my wife says I revert to 126 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:28,800 my 12 year old self. I'm a different person when I'm around you guys because I like you, sadly enough. 127 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:34,800 And you guys are funny and you make me want to be silly. And it's just this goofiness. 128 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:41,360 So you talked about schedule, you know, you're out there in Hollywood, living the dream. 129 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:48,560 What the hell is your daily schedule like? Oh boy. I try to keep the schedule as much as possible. 130 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,600 It's really hard. Even if you wouldn't have had this interview today, I probably would have slept 131 00:13:53,600 --> 00:14:00,400 until 10 and then wake up at 10. And I have this is like the most routine that I've added to my life 132 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,800 in the last few months. So I'll go out and I have a rule if I want to be on my phone in the morning, 133 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:09,680 I can't do it in my bed. I have to go do it in my backyard. So I can get like the light, 134 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:14,400 the sunlight in my photo receptors in my eyes and then it wakes me up and then I don't feel like a 135 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:20,640 piece of garbage. I'll go back in the yard and do my daily stretches in the morning for like 10 136 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:25,280 minutes and then just kind of take it in, take in the sunlight because it's always sunny in LA, 137 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:31,200 which is also another fortunate thing. Then I come in, eat breakfast and then I go to the gym, 138 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:38,160 shower and then I usually start my day around noon or one in terms of doing work. Work can be 139 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:43,040 anything from filming and uploading a video. Recently, since I've been getting into short 140 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:49,200 four more like TikToks, like I say, I try to get up about four or five videos a week. So that's a 141 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:54,080 big routine thing for me. I'll come back and I'll just pull through my drafts, you know, my list of 142 00:14:54,080 --> 00:15:00,880 ideas, film something that I think is good and those take a lot shorter to film and edit and then 143 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:06,880 I'll edit it, upload it and at that point it's I'm kind of a free agent. I'll maybe go golfing 144 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:13,120 with my buddies. I'll excuse me if I don't have plans, work on some more music. I've got a list 145 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:19,520 right now where I'm trying to get at least one song either started or finished or make big progress 146 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:26,160 on it in a week because I'm trying to also get an album out. So I've got my life works in terms of 147 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:32,640 like due dates that I impose on myself. My short term daily due dates of like TikTok uploads, 148 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:39,360 my weekly to bi-weekly due dates of a YouTube upload and then right now in the next month, 149 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,880 I'm really trying to get this album out. I've been working on it for about a year or two. 150 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,600 And so I'm imposing stricter due dates with like music stuff like that. 151 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:52,560 Okay, that's good. Yeah, I mean that's it. That's pretty much. 152 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:58,400 That's a good transition into the music part. But how many hours a day would you generally work? 153 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:06,400 Would you say? Oh man, it's so tough for me because even when I'm not working, I feel the stress of my 154 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:20,160 job because my job is kind of as much work as I put in. Your job. Yeah, my job. What I get out of it 155 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:26,320 is kind of dependent on how much I put in to some extent. So I feel like I always should be working 156 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:31,680 and I'm frequently stressed because of that. And I don't, I'm not the hardest worker. I know that. 157 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:38,160 I'm trying to figure out how to be my own boss with zero schedule in my life. I found that like 158 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:45,600 having some little pieces of schedule help line up everything else. So I go to volleyball, open gym 159 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:51,520 once a week and my lifting, like going to the gym is like another routine thing to kind of like 160 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:56,960 line up everything else. I've had part-time jobs too and creative fields as like a pitch writer 161 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:04,480 for a larger YouTube channel that helps like keep all the rest of my stuff in line. But yeah. 162 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:11,200 There is something about routine that enables you to free yourself. So you're not having to think 163 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:18,000 about daily stuff as much as you're able to think and expand. All right. Well, I'm interested in how 164 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:25,200 you write music. And I come from a background where to write music, you have theory and you know about 165 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:33,680 keys and chords and signatures and time things. And there's a staff, a treble clef and a bass 166 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:40,800 clef and you use a pencil and you write notes on the page. You write notes and then people see your 167 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:50,160 notes and they play them. And when I asked Sven about such things, he said, I couldn't believe he 168 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:59,840 was writing music but wasn't putting any pencils to page. What the hell? How do you get your ideas 169 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:08,160 and how do you write music? Well, that's a very good question. This might be a visual aid necessary 170 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:13,120 conversation. So do you mind if I see if I can share my screen with you? Okay. 171 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:23,760 Because like I say, or like you say, I don't have much knowledge in terms of like the language. 172 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:30,640 I don't know music theory. I don't know what I'm doing with like time signatures. I can kind of 173 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,560 figure out for the most part. I've been around music most of my life. I've been a band and choir. 174 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:42,400 And I've absorbed a lot of baseline knowledge about music there. But I don't know first thing 175 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:47,920 about like traditional music theory or anything. So I'll show you my digital audio workspace logic 176 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,880 here if I can. Do you know how to share a video on this? I don't know how to share a video but you 177 00:18:52,880 --> 00:19:01,920 can share your screen. Yeah, that's what I hear. Yeah. There you go. And you get an idea. Say you 178 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:09,120 get an idea, a writing idea, a music idea. How do you capture that idea? That's another good question. 179 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:16,480 Same as like the video idea thing. The second I have like a melody coming to my head or 180 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:22,240 like a line that would be good for a song. I just write it down or I go into my phone and I record 181 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,720 it in the voice recorder app. And a lot of times I write it down. How do you write it down without 182 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:32,000 having notation? Write down a line. That's what I'm saying. Like if I have like a something that's like 183 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:40,240 a lyric. Yeah. Okay. A lyric. Like I canceled all my other dates through their numbers all away. 184 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,920 That's what that's like a line that I wrote down and I embellished upon it later that day and I made 185 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:52,000 a song out of it. Do you start with melody or sound or chords or do you start with lyrics or does it 186 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:59,840 change? It can work both ways. With that example that I showed you, I believe I've shown you this 187 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:05,920 before. But like I'll take you through my project on Zoom here if that's all right. 188 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:13,120 That specific song started with just that lyric that I told you. It was just that one line and then 189 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,240 I was trying to like put a little melody to it and I just figured you know. 190 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:27,200 And then I developed a melody. Once I had that I came back and then I put chords around that melody 191 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:34,400 just to like make that little catchy interval fit. And then once I had the hook, which is like the 192 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:40,960 harmony or the chorus and that melody and that line and the chords then I built the rest of the 193 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:48,640 song around it. Most of my songwriting process starts with the chorus or the hook. So let me see 194 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:58,080 if I can show you here. Here's the song I wrote the other day. This is one of the instances. 195 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:02,080 Can you see my screen here? Yep. And you're still able to hear me. That's good. Okay. Yep. 196 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:10,640 This is one of the instances where a lot of hard work paid off and I was able to make this song 197 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,680 so quickly because I've been working and studying logic, which is this program for 198 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:21,120 a couple of years now, a year or two. And my knowledge of just general music production has 199 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:26,720 increased so much over the last year specifically as I've self taught myself how to use this by 200 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:32,640 just watching videos online. I made this entire song tonight. And you can see there's a lot that 201 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:42,080 goes into a into one song because as I expand this, these are all separate instruments. And I'll 202 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,760 show you what that sounds like here. But there's vocals, there's guitars, there's synthesizers, 203 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:53,760 there's MIDI drums and stuff. This was all born from that one lyric that you asked me about. 204 00:21:53,760 --> 00:22:00,080 Just I canceled all my other days through their numbers all the way. Did you play just the vocals? 205 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,760 Start with the vocals. I'll play just the vocals here. Yeah, I'll show you what like a little track 206 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:11,200 like this sounds like. I'll take you to the hook. This is what I told you about this is that little 207 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:18,320 snippet. Oh wait, sorry, that's the guitars. Did you hear that though? No. Okay, here. 208 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:25,360 And there might be an issue. Bear with me for one second. 209 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,600 Share sound, that's what I wanted to do. 210 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:39,600 Sorry for the dead air. That's okay. That's not a radio. 211 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,120 All right. Okay, can you hear this? 212 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:50,320 Nope. 213 00:22:53,600 --> 00:23:00,720 Darn it. That's all right. It might not work. I've had issues sharing audio in the past, but 214 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:10,560 the visual cue is or the visual aid is somewhat helpful too. Yep. This is how my logic program 215 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:17,920 works. It's super easy to do stuff in it because like I say, you don't need to know music theory. 216 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:24,240 You don't need to know how a time signature works, all that stuff. I can just take my microphone and 217 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,880 I can record each one of these tracks that I highlight here is a different audio recording. 218 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:35,360 These are all my vocals in this folder here. There's, you can see 10 tracks. I was just able to just 219 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:42,240 have stuff come out of my brain into the program. And then if I wanted to record some, here I've 220 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:48,160 got a synthesizer here. Look at this. This is a perfect example of me not having to know 221 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,880 how music theory works because there's a tool in this program that I can pull this up and then it 222 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:58,720 puts it into a piano score right there for me. So I can have all the music if I want it to then 223 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,280 give this to someone who knows traditional music and play it. I could just print this out. I could 224 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:09,680 give it to them. But with my limited knowledge of music theory, that's not a barrier for me at all. 225 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,160 Here's the drum track. You can also put that in notation if you like. Yeah, that is really interesting. 226 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:23,200 Yeah. And so what about the guitar one? Can you put that? Now that's a, and if you might be able to, 227 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:29,520 but I'm not, I probably know 20% of what this program has to even offer. I said right now, 228 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:37,600 I don't know of a way that you can. Okay. Do you play your own guitar? I do. Yeah. So this song 229 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:43,280 is very acoustic guitar heavy and then like rock sound heavy. So I was able to play the acoustic 230 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:48,800 guitar for a lot of the verses. Like this would be a verse right here, this yellow section I 231 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:55,120 highlighted. And then in the, in the hook, there's some light acoustic guitar, but then I added a 232 00:24:55,120 --> 00:25:00,800 lot of like MIDI synthesizer stuff here to really give it like a heavier sound. And that's just like 233 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:06,160 a combination of instruments that I figured out after years of tweak or tooling around in logic 234 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:12,640 and garage band. For the bass, you use a synthesizer and it gives you a string bass sound. Is that 235 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:18,480 how? Yes. This is, this is the string bass right here. And it sounds like I can go in this program 236 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:22,880 and then choose from all sorts of different basses. So like I chose the liver pool bass, 237 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,960 but there's muted bass, pick bass, all these options on the left here. And that's just, 238 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:32,640 you know, in one category, there's all these drum kits, guitars. And you use a keyboard to do the 239 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:38,800 bass? Yep. So this is how MIDI works is I just hook it up to my electric keyboard that I have 240 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,440 sitting right next to me here actually. Got a shirt on it right now. Yep. I see it. And then 241 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,760 you can just do whatever you want. So I'm like, I'm able to play a thousand different instruments 242 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,800 by only knowing one, the piano, because I can just hook it up to my computer and then rip, 243 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:59,360 which is so valuable to me because I can fill out an entire like musical landscape with very 244 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:05,200 limited knowledge. I could play a little bit of guitar and a little bit of piano, but my brain 245 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:12,000 is able to work unimpeded. What do the vocals look like, the score for the vocals? The vocals, 246 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:18,480 I mean, again, with most audio tracks in this, there's not a way that I know of to like transpose 247 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:25,040 it or what's the word, just put it into musical notation. Okay. But these are all my vocal tracks 248 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:30,320 here, these highlighted ones that you see. At the end, I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, 249 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:36,000 seven, eight, nine, and then 10 here with these two backup vocals, 10 vocal tracks going at the 250 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:41,200 same time. I've learned this is a strategy to make your vocals sound like really unified and 251 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:47,600 distinct and it really makes the project sound great. You're double tracking, meaning you're 252 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:56,640 on each one? Very good. Andy, good job, Gold Star. What's interesting is when we think of the Beatles 253 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:02,080 back in the 60s, you've got more power on your dinky little thing than they had back then. 254 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:07,040 I was watching the Beatles documentary get back on Disney Plus the other day, 255 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:13,200 and it's about them recording their final studio album, getting ready for a show, and they brought 256 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:18,560 in an eight track recording device from George Harrison's home studio. And that was a big deal. 257 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:23,440 If you could have eight tracks in a song, record a bunch of different stuff simultaneously, 258 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:28,640 that's drum, guitar, bass, a few vocal tracks, and then you get some extra stuff to work with. 259 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:34,560 That was a big deal. Look at this. I got here on my project, 38 tracks, and I'm just some kids 260 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:39,920 sitting in his bedroom. The tools are so much more accessible and so much wildly powerful 261 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:47,360 nowadays. So much more. Why do you double track your vocals? Good question. That's double tracking 262 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:53,200 is a technique where you can see like, here's two orange tracks. It's the same exact vocal line 263 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:59,920 for these orange tracks. So it's the same melody, harmony, blah, blah, blah. But one of them, I pan 264 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:04,480 all the way to the left ear and when I pan all the way to the right ear. That way it's like two 265 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:10,000 different people speaking in each different ear. That adds so much more of a fullness to the sound. 266 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,680 And it, like I say, it helps you understand, helps the listener understand what I'm saying, 267 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:22,560 because you get more consonants, just more notes. So I've got like, here's the orange is going to be 268 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:28,960 the melody. The green is like the low harmony, dark green is high harmony. And then these blue 269 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:35,200 tracks down here are like the backup vocals. And how do you know what harmonies, how do you know what 270 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,720 notes to sing with the harmonies? How do you know what sounds good together? This is another example 271 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:46,240 of me being really lucky to have had so many experiences. So I am at the point where I can 272 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:51,200 just pull from past experiences. I haven't lived in a vacuum my whole life and I can create, I can 273 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:58,320 innovate because I was in choir for most of my life in college was, I was in a very good college 274 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,800 choir. And that was maybe one of the biggest things that brought my musical understanding to the next 275 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:07,360 level. It took me about four years to learn how to read music to some extent, and I've forgotten 276 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:12,560 that, but I'm a big ear listener. And so just like listening to how different chords locked in 277 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:18,160 in choir, and how like, you know, music flowed, I just absorbed a lot of that knowledge. So I'm 278 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,400 at the point now where if I hear a good melody, I can just a lot of times on the spot as it's 279 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:31,200 happening make up a harmony that sounds good. And then, yeah, I make the, I make the harmony on the 280 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:36,560 spot basically, and then I can tweak it. Here's a tool that you might want to see this. This isn't 281 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:43,360 exactly like the, what's the word for scoring? This isn't like the scoring that you saw where 282 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:48,960 there's like notes on the staff. But each vocal line you can see here, you're not going to hear it 283 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:57,440 because of, because of the audio issue. But these are the notes that I'm singing. So after I record 284 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:02,880 something, if it's not exactly what I want, I can tweak this and go, does I can't set all my other 285 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,840 days through my numbers all the way? If I want this to go up to here, then I can bring up there. 286 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:13,360 And then it'll, it will play that back in the recording as me having sung that note. 287 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:18,720 It's hard to like kind of visualize, but Mr. Smarty pants, I want to, you said something, 288 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:25,120 I want to put you to a test. I'm going to sing a melody and I want you to sing a harmony with it. 289 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,520 Okay. Okay. Just be a short one. 290 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:43,600 I saw you standing alone without you dreaming my heart without a love of my own. Okay. 291 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:57,040 An easy third of just blue moon. You saw me standing alone. That really sounds shitty. 292 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,200 It's not good over the zoom. Yeah. 293 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:06,480 Have you been lying to me? That sounds horrible. No, no, no. If we were a person that would sound 294 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:15,600 beautiful, you really put me on the spot there and I delivered. Oh, your emo music, 295 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:22,640 your emo music. Oh, I don't know your career. Oh, that's horrible. My career was ruined on 296 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:28,720 the Andy Johnson reading podcast. It's called the reading instruction show with Dr. Andy Johnson. 297 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:39,120 Sorry. Yep. And I want you to know I get tens of listeners. Whoa. Not up to the dozens, Eshalon yet? 298 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:46,720 Tens means 20, 30 or 40. Okay. No, I attract some listeners. I have an audience, nothing like you, 299 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:53,840 who probably get more listeners in one silly podcast, Wiggling Your Hips, and I get in five 300 00:31:53,840 --> 00:32:01,680 years of podcasts. But that's a statement on our culture, isn't it? What is the statement? 301 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:08,880 People would rather engage in a tall skinny man wearing diapers than a short bald man talking 302 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:19,440 about things that impact society. Oh, yeah, likely. Yep. On the shallows. All right. Well, 303 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:26,000 I'm getting bored with you now. Can you turn off your screen or take that away? Yep. 304 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:32,000 Because I want to... All right. This is the big finish. This is where you say something significant. 305 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,560 Tell them how much that I write your material because I am a registered 306 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:47,600 comedologist. Oh. And because of the people in this room right now, raise your hand if you 307 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:58,080 were voted class clown. That proves it. Darn it. Mandy's got that one accolade to hold over my head. 308 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,560 I've been doing it for how many years now? As long as I can remember about... 309 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,760 Ever since you remembered, that has been something that you bring up to me. 310 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:13,520 And this is something you told me. Jokes get funnier if you tell them many, many times. 311 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:19,760 Didn't say that either. Like 27th time. It's just funnier than the 26th. 312 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,680 Andy's going... There's a quote. I don't know who said it, but 313 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,360 my brother Gus will say it all the time. Quantity is a quality in and of itself. 314 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:40,000 So that's what Andy's relying on for his humor. Yes. Quantity. Very good. Speaking of humor, 315 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:45,680 I'm doing Dancing with the Stars here in Mankato on February 10th. If you're listening 316 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:52,480 from Mankato, there are tickets still available. Okay. And it's for the Red Cross. And you can 317 00:33:52,480 --> 00:34:01,120 make a donation for poor people. Remember poor people? I do. Yeah. So is that a yes or you're 318 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:08,560 going to make a donation? Oh, I can make a donation. Oh, man. What time is it? 9.36. I really got to be 319 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:15,520 going. All right, sirs. Thank you. This has actually been pretty good. I loved it. It went 320 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:20,560 better than I thought it would. Wow. You must have had pretty low hopes for it. Well, I didn't get to 321 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:27,760 show you my song. Next time when you figure out how to do, you know, to share, that is still 322 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,720 intrigues me and that would be really good. Sure thing. Well, yeah, it was a breeze doing this 323 00:34:32,720 --> 00:34:40,000 podcast. So I hope it does well. Thanks for having me, Andy. You're welcome.