Print out this PDF (download by clicking image below) to some card stock and then get to a paper cutter (most copy shops have them) and use the dotted lines on this page to cut these out. Have a nice session!
Find the PDF Here.
In 1975, Brian Eno (Tape Op #85) and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt published their first set of Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas. These cards work as creativity resets, prompting breaks in non- productive work patterns as well as inspiring new methods. As we've seen the tools of music recording become more affordable, and now in so many musicians' hands, I think there's also a need to examine the basics of music production. With that in mind, I present my version of their groundbreaking work. Let's call it the Not So Oblique Strategies. Use these suggestions wisely!
Print out this PDF (download by clicking image below) to some card stock and then get to a paper cutter (most copy shops have them) and use the dotted lines on this page to cut these out. Have a nice session!
Print out this PDF (download by clicking image below) to some card stock and then get to a paper cutter (most copy shops have them) and use the dotted lines on this page to cut these out. Have a nice session!
Find the PDF Here.
By 2014, I'd already been transitioning for more than five years from working in traditional studios to almost exclusively doing field recordings overseas. As a result, I'd had some success with groups like Tinariwen, Malawi Mouse Boys, and The Good Ones. At that point, the...
Yves Jarvis is the moniker of Canadian musician Jean-Sébastien Yves Jarvis. His latest release, All Cylinders, won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize for best album of 2025, a record on which Jarvis wrote and performed all of the 16 tracks. Made entirely using Audacity and a half-broken...
In the mid-1950s, Seattle was host to the little-known music recording legacy of Jay F. "Joe" Boles. A fraction of his discography includes The Ventures, The Wailers, Cab Calloway, Big Jay McNeely, Buck Owens, The Fleetwoods, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Ella...
Ever since Rostam Batmanglij burst onto the scene as a founding member of Vampire Weekend, he’s been known for his penchant for baroque and leftfield sounds in pop-leaning indie music. Fresh out of college, he handled production for the first three Vampire Weekend albums (Vampire...
Melina Duterte began recording her own music armed with little more than a laptop, a budget mic, and a fascination with how records are made. As Jay Som, she crafted a distinctive sound defined by textural, layered guitars, and soft, intimate vocals. Since then, Duterte has expanded...