Providing Questions Instead Of Providing Answers

0:59 What's good everybody welcome back to love music more. I am Scoobert Doobert todayI want to talk about asking great questions

1:27 So I think in music oftentimes because it's a very collaborative process we feel like we need to have answersBut I found some of my favorite work has come from asking questions in music and otherwise and so I just want to cover thatWhat I mean by that and how could you actually practically use that in whatever creative workflow or music specific workflow you have going on soinstead ofhaving to always have theanswers

1:58 You can put it back on other people and actually empower them in the processSo something that I've enjoyed as a mix engineer and also working with other mix engineers is not necessarily saying hey at 205 the vocals too loudBut then it to 22 the vocals to quiet I say

2:17 Do you feel good about the way the vocal is being ridden throughout or do you think that you could do another pass just in terms ofLike the way the vocal is sitting in the mix just some simple one 2db automation tweaksSo you're giving likeDirectually what you want to doBut you are putting it back on the expert to implement it and then to think creativelyso you might have heard the

2:48 Pokiness at you know the two minute mark and then the quietness at the other markBut if you turn it aroundMaybe the mix engineer will hear a few other moments that you know they were focused on other things

3:01 And you know mix one a lot of what mix one is is just making sense of some of the chaos because naturally as you're takingMusic from one phase to the next say you've recorded a bunch of tracksYou've produced it a little bit and now you want it mix itMaybe you forgot to give some of the tracks.

3:20 Maybe some of the tracks were too quietMaybe the ways that the mix engineer routed it was wrong Or they were just having to deal with a hundred tracks at onceAnd so they didn't put full attention on to something that you want them to put more attention on to and so the process of going fromMix one to mix two often times is two in the weeds

3:41 It is too focused on hey make this micro change. Hey think about this differentlyInstead of saying okay great. I see where you're goingAnd if it's great. It's great. Just take it

3:54 And say okay, this is what I'd like you to focus more on or do you feel this is developed enough or I really like the way that thebackgrounds are hittingIs there another way that we could carve out some more space for them and really make them pop even furtherLike those kind of notes are creative notes

4:14 And I think a lot about that just in terms of like leadership is the best leaders are those that don't don't actually do that muchThere's a book called the best CEOs are lazyI kind of subscribe to that wisdom of you areYou are like the CEO of your career or if you're in businessJust maybe the CEO of your line of work or even the CEO of the companyBut as a music artist you are the CEO of your project

4:42 You might hire other people like a producer and engineer mastering engineerDesigner whatever thatOur experts in their fieldAnd the worst CEOs are the ones that don't let the experts be expertsThe worst CEOs are the ones that are too busy. They're busy bodiesThey are not asking questions.

5:01 They are providing too many answersAnd what that does is it turns off people's reigns It makes them go right into executional mode right into yes sir modeAnd nobody likes to be there.

5:13 I don't like to be thereYou know, I don't like being a worker be and I don't provide the most value when I am a worker beI am better when somebody throws something over to my side and says you figure it out Same thing can happen in a dynamic with a band like if you're a music director or you're just

5:33 Maybe you're taking your songs that you wrote on acoustic guitar and you're playing them with a band for the first timeIf you said to the drummerHey play this beat instead or you go boom boom gap boom boom gap that's fineBut that's kind of like level one if you instead went to the drummer and said heyI really like the way that this song feelsBut the chorus something just isn't quite right

5:58 I'm okay with moving away from what the recording is what do you think our group should beOr go to the bassist and say heyYou played the wrong noteOr you could say hey are you looking to mix it up in this section or

6:15 Do you feel like what you're doing is locking with the kick drum in the way that you want it toSo now they're thinking of solutions.

6:22 They're not just thinking of like oopsYou know, I did something wrong like it's a testThey're instead acting like partners and you're unlocking their brains I found that part of the reason why simple music brings out the best in players is that they're not having to think about the musicitselfSometimes when you have two complex of phrases or chords or whatever

6:44 You can hear the musicians thinking even if they're very good musiciansBut if you leave a little bit of roomIt's part of the reason why the bestrecording sessions that I've been in haven't had too much sheet musicOne, I'm not very good at reading sheet musicOne of myWeakest suits in music and not not none existed, but not not very existant

7:05 Everybody's got to have weaknesses for sure. That's definitely one of mine, but the

7:11 Best sessions have not just moved because people are about as sheet reading sheet musicI've been with some really good players that are good at reading sheet musicBut they only write the figures that are required the rest is just some chord patterns or maybe some rhythms they leaveRoom for interpretationYou're not like from an AI perspective.

7:30 You're not overprompting You're not saying hey, you do this then that you say this is what I'm trying to achieveThis is vaguely how I want to achieve itThese are some of the things that I've tried before that works doesn't work.

7:44 Here's an example you go trySame thing with human beingsBecause AI stuff is just like managing people, but they're bizarroAnd kind of have dementia, but I digress All of those things though.

7:55 I think that they're super important to justInnavigating creativity, navigating teams, then also navigating this new weird world of artificial intelligenceI think it's all the same skills And it's maybe one of the best skills for you to develop across the board is how to ask great questionsHow to use questions that are empowering rather than micromanagingAnd inspiring rather than deflating

8:19 Because a great question isn't a gotchaI've seen that too much believe me my boss is in my day jobWhere they are using the questions to show how smart they are

8:33 Instead using a question to highlight something that hasn't been fully flushed outOr to change perspectiveOr to alter the state of the listenerTo one that isn't defensive but is rather proactive

8:51 So yeah short pod today, but I just wanted to get that concept out there because I think it's really important for interactingWith anybody honestly in the entire economyBut especially in creative arts because there's no real right answerAnd if you have a clear thing that you want to do of course go do itBut sometimes you want to save that for later on in the phasesLike that's why I'm focusing on mix one to mix two

9:12 You know when you're mixed three mix four and you're hearing something that's persistentIt's like okay, yeah point that out and fix itbut early onI think it's you can show humility by saying IYes, this is my song, but I hired you for a reasonI want to hear what you got

9:31 And I want to point you in the directions of maybe areas that you haven't focused onBut ultimately this is your jobnot mineSo what are you gonna do to my music that might open up new doors that I didn't even seeAnd then later down the line if you don't like it just fix it

9:48 But at the very least the mix engineer I think is going to be appreciative because I know I wouldFor feeling less like a tool or an instrument and more like a collaboratorAnd I have a lot of great clients to do thatI'm not not saying this because I don'tIt's actually it's it's inverted as I've gotten deeper into my mixing careerI have more clients that have worked with me for years

10:10 And it's changed and it's really really fun and I'm really excitedI hope I can do this for you know decades100 more years of mixing if my ears don't give out

10:23 But the the early on that that was a lot of it or new clients that can be a lot of thisAnd I do think it gets in people's waysBecause I work with a lot of people that are starting out or smallNothing wrong with that I've so been there more times that I'd like to a bitUhBut in order to get out of that I think you need helpI think everybody in this world needs help

10:45 And knowing how to ask for help and knowing how to do it in a way that doesn't bring people downUhCan really pay off in both directionsIt can make life more fun too work doesn't have to be miserable work can be really enjoyableYou just have to structure it rightAnd a lot of people don't structure it rightIt's part of the reason why I don't like corporations is that it's just the incentive structures are weird

11:07 And music at least our incentive structure is we want to make something coolThat we all want to put our name on and share out into the world laterSomething that you want we want to show your grandkids and be like I made this songThat's what I'm here forum

11:21 Something that brings you passion and energy rather than something that just brings you a paycheckObviously you want to get paidBut I do think the passion leads leads somewhereEspecially if if the passion helps you finish the work then you're finishing more work therefore you're gonna get paid moreAnd the questions for me help me

11:42 Drive to a finish line that I'm proud of and then when I'm more proud of it than I want to promote it moreIt's just like a positive flywheel versus the corporate world. Everyone's scaredNo one wants to lose their jobEveryone's trying to position themselves politicallyNo one wants to say or do the wrong thingNo one wants to be too loud.

12:01 They just want to Exist as a cog in a machine that is strong enough to get promotedBut not too bright to be the nail that the hammer falls down uponAnd uhIf that sounds like your jobMusic is a good outlet believe me take it from meumBut also if you ever become a boss or are a boss

12:24 Like think about your employees as the beings of infinite creativity that they are

12:30 And think about your collaborators in that way and if you think about them that wayWith the hard lives and the things that everybody's got going on

12:39 Stuff that you don't know and treat them with their respect enough to ask them a question to put it back on themTo say I don't have all the answers. That's what you're here forThey'll be more impassioned.

12:57 They'll get more stuff doneYou'll have more timeYou'll spend less energyAnd you'll be surprised more oftenThat's another thing that I find reallyinspiring andThat something that drives to more output isSurprise If you just do the same thing over and over againThat's again part of the reason why corporate structures are tough is that there's such rigidity

13:22 People specialize and then they do the same thing for the rest of their livesAnd in music even if you're specialized even if you're a mastering engineer or something like that every song is totally differentEvery voice is totally different.

13:35 I work withMana and Kanna from CHAI andThey're voice just sounds so different the twinsSo naturally they should sound similar but their voices sound so different track track Year to year and it's so fun to be likeI don't know the challenge is always evolving keeps it freshAnd that's what questions can do to keep things fresh keep things creativeIt can be accounting it can be marketing it can be music

14:00 Hopefully you take something away with thisUh next week you'll hear a guest pod so you won't just hear me talking but

14:09 It's fun to have these little platforms these little moments to wax poetically on something as simple as

14:15 Providing questions instead of providing answers especially to your mix engineersI hope you enjoyed this if you want to hear my musicUm, I invite you to check out scoobertdoobert.pizza where you can hear all my stuffPlease subscribe five stars share with your friends and I'll see you next week