Rick Rubin's Advice for Creators

there are no right answers for anything involved in art it's we're all trying experiments to find a way and even for the things that I work on I don't have a set way that I do anything every I come to every project blank I believe we know close to nothing close to nothing about anything if we Embrace that not knowing we'll have a healthier experience going through life in some ways the best uh the best art is open enough where the artist gets to have their experience when they make it and then the audience gets to have their experience when they listen and they don't have to be the same they're no right answers for anything involved in art it's we're all trying experiments to find a way and even for the things that I work on I don't have a set way that I do anything every I come to every project blank and um see I really listen to what the artist plays and says and through what they're through what they explain they want to do um help find the best way to get there I I feel like it's more of a collaboration between people working together to make the best thing it's not a it's not a boss slave relationship at all it's much more of a let's find our way and and we agree at the beginning of the process that if either of us or any of us don't like what's happening we say it and the goal is to keep working until we get to a point where we we're all really happy with it it's like if if we make something that an artist likes and I don't like or if that I like and they don't like we haven't gone far enough I don't want to listen to you and have any reaction happening when you're speaking I want to be as neutral as possible for me for to be my goal is is not to form an opinion it's to understand so if anything I would draw you out further and just ask questions to really understand and if you or if you say something that I um that somehow uh triggers me in a way that that's a you know I wonder how he came to that I would I would I wouldn't challenge you I would ask like how did you find that you know how did you get to that place one of the agreements in the studio is any idea that anyone has will always demonstrate it we'll always try it because I can describe to you an idea and you can think that's terrible idea let's not do that and then I can play you the idea and then you can say oh that's really good and it's completely different because we when we hear when we're told something we have to imagine what that is and the way you see something and imagine it and the way I see something and imagine are completely different there can't be any ego in this it doesn't uh if if if everyone's there with the purpose of making the best thing we can there's nothing else you know there are no um there can't be any boundaries to that I like the idea of getting to the essential and I I have a better idea now that I've done it for a while but at the time it was purely an instinctual thing and part of it is a Sonic there's a Sonic benefit which is the less elements you have uh you can hear each of the ones that are there and they can sound better and the less there are the more um the more space they could have around them and the more you can hear their personality if often in the studio the idea of building upon things and adding adding layers to thicken to make it sound bigger sometimes um the more things you add the smaller it gets so it's a it's a a lot of it is counterintuitive until you just in practice see what what works there's something we we also like to do called the ruthless edit which is let's say you're at a point where it can work for anything but I'll give you the example with an album um we've recorded 25 songs we think the album's gonna have 10. instead of picking our favorite 10 we limit it to what are the five or six that we can't live without so going past even the goal to get to the real like heart of it and then see okay we have these five or six that we can't live without now what would we add to that that makes it better and not worse and um it's just it it puts you in a different frame when you start with building instead of removing I feel like I'm channeling ideas from somewhere else 100 percent but I think have you asked questions about where from I believe we I believe we all are though you know I believe we are um we're vehicles for information that when it's ready to come through it comes through and the people who have good antennas pick up the signal but um if I'm sure you've had an experience in your life where you've had an idea for something and you've not acted on it and eventually someone else does it and it's not because they're doing it because you had the idea and they stole your ideas because the time has come for that idea and if you don't do it someone else is going to do being broadcast by whatever the sources whatever the source is the thing the reason that you're who you are and the reason that you're finding the success you're finding is because you've been true to yourself to get to that stage so to start changing that to con to either conform to someone else's idea what you should be doing just seems like uh doesn't make sense do you have a sense of who you are because I don't necessarily have a I don't know I I know that I really like making good things and I know that I'm crazy about it in that um it's like an obsession and I want things to be as good as they could be whatever it is and if I'm if I finish a music project and I have a window of time where I'm not working on music I might be moving the furniture around in the house you know I'm always looking for prod a creative Outlet to find a way to make something better anyone on the business side who doesn't make things they're excited to do their part you know they're excited if when you deliver the thing the the art that you make to me then we can start the project yeah um but there's nothing to sell if the art doesn't happen in the right way and it has to be protected and it can't happen on the same kind of a timetable that um that business can it's just a different thing it doesn't art doesn't come in a quarterly way I know on the art side knowing how it works isn't what makes it work you know isn't the magic of it isn't how it works the magic is the magic and the magic happens in a way that's intuitive and accidental at times or uh incidental where you're trying many things all of a sudden something works and um and you don't know why and it's okay not to know why it doesn't matter it doesn't really matter why as long as it does the thing that you want it to do whatever that is the only advice I I would have would be to not listen to anyone and to do what you love and to make things that you love whatever it is make make your favorite things be the odd you be the audience make the thing for you the audience and it it doesn't it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks and if you have to get a job to support yourself so that you can make your art that's fine it you can't make art for someone else you can't make art with someone else in mind I don't believe I don't believe it can be good it's like everything is like a a um it's almost like a diary entry everything we make is a is a reflection of a moment in time a window in time could be a day it could be a year it could be a you know it could be whatever window you decide that it is um but if you give it all of yourself and you know if you're not interested in working it on it anymore it's done now you may decide it's not good enough to share with people and that's fine but if it's good enough share with people is no regret looking back

Channel: Glo

Views: 520,402

Keywords: Rick Rubin, Creativity, Creative Process, How to be creative, Lex Fridman, Interview, Studio Production, Collaboration, How to collaborate, Where ideas come from, How to make magic, Life advice, Creative tips, Artist talk, Epic conversation, Making art

Id: MkDndf-WqA4

Length: 9min 14sec (554 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 24 2022