My Editing Playlist: David
Uttering the words “Hey siri, play some music” is how I like to start most of my days. Notice how I said “some” music and not anything specific. You see, I like surprises in life. Some know me to walk into the local deli and simply say “surprise me” – excited to see whatever sandwich comes out the other end. Vacations as well, I’ve never planned one. Aside from lodging arrangements, I’m known to show up in a new city and just explore, knowing nothing about where the road will take me next (ask my girlfriend, it drives her nuts.) Some call me crazy, I call them boring. A sense of adventure is key to an interesting and fruitful life!
Bringing this back to the topic at hand, music is one of the easiest ways to bring variety into your life.
When editing, variety is good. Not only does music bring variety to life, but it can encourage creativity. As someone who has to be professionally creative, I appreciate this very much. Even while writing this, I became stuck multiple times, but my music helped me power through. Music makes me think and feel different emotions and that brings me to an important point. From a creative standpoint, I think it’s important to listen to a variety of music while editing. It allows you to approach a problem from different angles and with separate ideas. The emotion or inspiration you may feel from one song may cause you to create with a different mindset. Obviously, I don’t find myself listening to music while editing crucial audio points, but if I’m working on graphics, organizing files or really anything that doesn’t require my ear's attention, I’ll go ahead and hit shuffle. Personally, I’ll listen to anything but country. Wagon Wheel is my only exception. I’m not sure if listening to everything makes me interesting or means I have commitment issues, but like I said, variety equals creativity!
I know some people like podcasts as well, but those are too distracting, so I tend to steer clear. I’d list some of my favorite songs, but there are too many to count and are constantly changing – so I will simply list some of my favorite bands in no particular order as they come to mind.
Queen
Bon Iver
The Black Keys
The Lumineers
Pink Floyd
Hozier
Kaleo
Daft Punk
Action Bronson
The Milk Carton Kids
Sigmon
Ed Sheeran
Frank Sinatra
Khalid
Marvin Gaye
City and Colour
Jamestown Revival
Atmosphere
Roo Panes
Gregory Alan Isakov
The Rolling Stones
Post Malone
I will stop here, but rest assured, there are more. While we are on the subject, I am also a huge audiophile. I’ve never encountered an audio system I haven’t tried to improve. In fact, I just bought a new car and I’ve already sourced a new amp, dsp, woofers, tweeters and sub for it. It’s another passion of mine that makes listening to music that much more worth it.
