We were lucky to catch up with Digital Garden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Digital, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My way of learning how to do things is more often than not a result of trying stuff without knowing what’ll happen. A specific example of this would be listening to plug-ins on audio software programs to hear what sounds come through, and hearing alternate sounds by configuring said plug-ins. I don’t know the technicalities of these very well (which is why I’ll never be a good music production teacher), but I can recall how to make changes just by the more mental/physical application of hearing and doing. The same is true with video software programs, which I’ve more recently been using to add to my creative portfolio. I tend to understand more about the skills I use after a hands-on approach than I do from tutorials or step-by-step guides, though I occasionally look one up if I don’t know what the first step is for something. If there’s anything I know after years of expanding my craft, it’s not the learning process that needs to be sped up, but the doing process. I still have trouble convincing myself to learn something new or begin new projects, so really I strive to speed up the time it takes for executive function to kick in. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to worry about it, but in this one it’s normally what holds me back.

Digital, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I make music under the name Digital Garden. I’m a music producer, composer, video editor, and enthusiast for all kinds of sound. My interest in production began when I started making beats for fun on GarageBand at the age of 12. Since then, I’ve tried loads more DAWs and now I use a mix of Logic and Ableton. My work is mainly electronic as there is a ton of variety and fluidity to that side of music, and just about anything can be combined with it. My goal is to highlight the joy and fun of creativity in electronic music (and perhaps music in general), and showcase as much as I can of it through the strange directions I take my music in.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The main thing I found myself unlearning lately is perfectionism. When I started to release my own music publicly, I thought a lot of people were going to find out about it, and that I needed to make a great impression on everyone. Turns out that NOT a lot of people were listening to me – not even many of those who knew me – so after years of setting this expectation for myself, I realized I had to let loose. I decided that making music should primarily be for fun, for kicks, without worrying about what is noticeable or what isn’t. Once I started to free myself in later projects and not look too deep into everything, it became both easier to make and more fun to listen to.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

That there is something fun and productive I can look forward to every day. Even if it were only a hobby, it keeps me inspired and expressive, and I end up with an original thing to show for myself. I am able to exercise the joy of being a human by turning my thoughts and ideas into something bigger. Creating lately feels like having a purpose, now that I’ve graduated college and still have something worthwhile to turn to as I’m looking for jobs. There are other lifestyles I could have chosen to escape the mundanity of life that probably wouldn’t be as fruitful or reward me as well, so I’m glad I have something as healthy as a drive to create any chance I get.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/digitalgardenmusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/@digitalgardenmusic
• SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/digitalgardenmusic
• Other: https://digitalgardenmusic.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
Sierra Fisher