What Composers Could Learn from Playing Golf: #3

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Whenever I'm in LA, my father and I make a point to at least play a few rounds of golf and get to the driving range even more than that to hit a few buckets. When I was a kid, I wasn't overly athletic, so golf is sort of our version of "having a catch"—just a boy and his Pop, outside, having fun and spending time together. Last week, we took the opportunity. Of course, another thing is it was January 2nd—the middle of winter—and we live in Los Angeles where it happens to be 80 degrees, clear and sunny right now. That helps too.

I hate golf. Let me make that clear. I don't hate it because it's boring or tedious or athletic or any of the reasons other haters hate it. No. I hate it because... I can't effin' do it! There is something so incredibly pull-out-your-hair nerve-wracking for me about the fact that I cannot make a small ball go in a small hole with a friggin' stick. I hate that. I should be able to do that, damn it! Why is it so difficult?

But, there are larger lessons in golf that I'm learning, slowly. And that's almost as aggravating as the actual game is. Who would have thought that golf—something I love to hate—would teach me much about what I love to love, which is my own creative concentrations? Like I said, sometimes it just takes an unfamiliar perspective to teach you the things you need to know about whatever it is you are already doing.

In the spirit of that, I've begun this list of things I believe most composers could learn by playing a little golf.

#3) Different tasks require different tools.

Go try to hit through all 18 holes with a 3 wood. It's not going to happen. Well, it will happen, but it's not going to happen well for you, let's just put it that way. In the same vein, no one string library will serve all of your string needs. It's just not possible, so you shouldn't expect it to be. No DAW will do everything you wish it would. They all have their own quirks—their own pros and cons—and none of them are perfect solutions to all the world's audio problems.

A sand wedge or a pitching wedge are clubs that are designed for specific purposes: To get you out of trouble and get you back on the fairway. LASS or Hollywood Strings are designed for the same thing: To get you out of trouble—the trouble being not having access to or budget for a real live string section. Each library has its strengths. Some are better than others at certain things. So you have to mix it up... get good at blending things to make it all sound like it was recorded in the same room.

You're never going to be ahead of the curve on sounds and software. It's just like buying a computer: You get something you think is the be-all and-all today, and tomorrow it's already obsolete. Tech companies are in the business of out-innovating one another, so why wouldn't they try to beat each other to the punch on features? It's just the way it is.

The problem is that a lot of composers sit around in forums and whine about the tools, when really, they should be writing music instead. They are wasting their time sitting around and gossiping about sample libraries or debating the high points of DAWs like old women in a knitting circle. That's not a very sustainable activity. In this career, there is hardly enough time to spend with your family, let alone spend in a chat room "talking" about which reverb is sexiest.

Get the best you can afford now and start working with it. When you can afford better later, make the proper move. In the meantime, stop bitching and start working with what you've already got.

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Deane Ogden