Process & Obsession
Ólafur Arnalds on the creative process, creative obsession vs perfectionism and Robert Eggers, thoughts on learning from YouTube, a new tape recorder app
Hey guys, here’s some stuff that stood out from my previous week.
On Creativity
Probably one of my favorite things I listened this past week was this talk with Ólafur Arnalds. I’ve loved his music for many years, from his solo albums to his film scores and Kiasmos. He talks about creativity, process, and the tension between making things for yourself and making things that go out into the world. The most interesting to me in this lecture was how he frames the whole thing around process over product and connects it to the idea of flow. Not flow as a productivity hack, but as something you have to keep earning. The meaning lives in the attempts, the small decisions, the act of doing the work itself. Which also means it’s worth making that process hard enough to stay interesting. For example, he’s had to create new rules for himself once piano music got too comfortable, like trying to make dance music without drums.
“I don’t make music because of the album that comes out of it. I make music because of the process that was creating that album.”
He also mentions ritual, doing the same things before making something until your brain gets it. Then there’s the idea that something amazing can start from exploring how you feel about something. Not necessarily something positive, but something worth digging into anyway. Like he’s done with AI music (which he doesn’t love), but instead of just reacting against it, he pulled out a texture he was hearing in that sound and used it himself.
“Do something that you hate. Like I hate the AI music, but embrace what you hate, because usually if there’s something in it that’s triggering you, that means there’s something interesting in it.”
There’s an interesting insight here for all of you guys into productivity. Sometimes the friction itself is pointing somewhere worth going.
On the Witch
Related to the topic of creativity, I also watched this video about Robert Eggers and “The Witch”. The video uses clips from his director’s commentary, and I was surprising to see how hard he is on the film.
The Witch is one of those movies that made an impression when I watched it. The atmosphere, the tone, the unsettling feeling of it. So it was strange to hear Eggers talk about it almost like he failed to get what was in his head onto the screen. He mentions that it’s frustrating for him to watch his own work because he wasn’t skilled enough, which sounds crazy when I think about how strong that movie is. But I also get it. The audience watches the film that exists. The artist also watches the ghost of the thing they imagined.
This video is just an interesting example of the mindset and struggle that creatives often face. Yes, there are some funny details in there, like how Eggers feels like some shots had too many candles (it had two), or the goats being historically wrong. But more than that, I think I can recognize that difficult line. You need enough passion & obsession to carry you through the whole creative process. But that same obsession can turn into something else… a kind of toxic relationship with the thing you made, where you keep finding problems nobody else would ever notice, and those problems just keep you from feeling satisfied. It’s not really about the candles. It’s about knowing when to let the work be what it is, and when your eye has stopped helping and started punishing.
Actually, I often struggle with this myself. A book that was very helpful for me in this area was How to be an Imperfectionist by Stephen Guise.
On Content
The video I probably got the most practical value from was this one from Red Means Recording about why the way people learn music production (or anything) on YouTube may not actually be working. His main point is that YouTube is an attention retention engine, not an educational one. Creators usually get paid based on watch time, not whether you learn anything. He breaks down five patterns you see everywhere:
“You’re doing this wrong”
“The secret trick nobody talks about”
“How I made this hit in 30 minutes”
“Five mistakes killing your mix”
“Every producer needs this in 2026.”
They all work by creating an artificial gap in your knowledge and making it feel urgent. But the gap is created by the tile/thumbnail alone. The worrying thing here is that you can feel like you’re learning because your brain is receiving new information. But then basically you are just consuming educational content as a substitute for practice. Don’t forget that learning only happens when you apply things.
Super interesting video with some good practical tips. For example, for every hour you spend watching a tutorial, spend one hour creating with the internet OFF. Tutorials or educational videos can become an escape the moment you hit friction. But that friction can also be where real learning happens.
“A good tutorial is a doorway. You walk through it and you get to work.”
Interestingly, the reason I am subscribed to Jeremy’s channel is because of his music tutorials 😄. They really stand out as amazing on the platform, and I can tell you he practices what he preaches.
Now, to be honest, as someone who sometimes creates content myself I’m still trying to figure out what the point is. A lot of what’s out there feels shallow to me, and I hate the idea of chasing attention or optimizing creative ideas for likes or stats. I don’t think YouTube is a bad place to learn. But I do think there’s a real difference between putting something out there with intention and just feeding the machine. For me, most of the time the question is how to make something personal and still useful to someone else. And as a consumer, I want to get better at quickly filtering out the stuff that’s just there to distract me from the actual work I want to do. That’s why stumbling across Jeremy’s video felt like a small win and happy to share it with you all :)
On the OP-1 Field
These days that I got a bit more free time I’ve been slowly coming back to playing with my OP-1 Field. I like how it pulls me away from the computer and forces me to be “musically creative” in a different way. This is still a digital tool, of course, but the whole workflow feels very analogue. A big part of it is because of its workflow built around how traditional tape recording works: committing ideas, working with limitations, and letting accidents stay in the piece. But wait… this past week I discovered they recently introduced an undo/redo feature that changes the core philosophy of this instrument. So, for me, this has been a chance to come back and experiment once more.
Wihle looking around I also discovered an iPhone app called Reel, which works like a small four-track tape recorder. It complements the OP-1 Field perfectly, and even though it currently may not be as powerful as Koala, I think it still expands the possibilities when playing with ideas on the go.
By the way, up until now I’d been using 4track, another 4 track recorder which has fewer features, but it’s free. May be enough for some of you.
On Cinema
This Is Not a Film (2011). I have a lot of respect for Jafar Panahi, and knowing the context around This Is Not a Film makes it almost impossible to separate the work from the situation that produced it. He was under house arrest, banned from filmmaking, and still found a way to make something that questions what a film even is. In that sense, it works as an act of rebellion, but also as a portrait of a director locked inside his own apartment, trying to see how far imagination can go. As a film itself, though, I have mixed feelings. I respect the experiment, and I liked how political context enters naturally through conversations and small moments, the way it often does in Panahi’s work. The work is important because of what it represents, and I’m glad I watched it. But purely as a viewing experience, it felt just okay to me. But that’s alright. After all, this is not a film. Synopsis: Renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi received a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban from filmmaking and conducting interviews with foreign press due to his open support for the opposition party in Iran’s 2009 election. In this film, which was shot secretly by Panahi’s close friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and smuggled into France on a USB stick concealed inside a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, Panahi documents his daily life under house arrest as he awaits a decision on his appeal.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023). A delight for those who enjoy slow cinema. I can see how for many people this could feel too slow, or maybe too quiet, but for me, the rhythm was part of what made the whole thing so immersive. It reminded me a lot of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, in the sense that the film becomes almost like a meditation. You just follow the journey, the silence, the conversations, and after a while you just feel part of that world. Almost like a dream. Half watching, half entering some other state of mind. If I had to summarize this film with one word, I think it would be “depth”. Incredible debut feature of this director. Synopsis: After a Vietnamese woman dies in a car crash in Saigon, her brother-in-law and her young son transport her body back to the former’s hometown in rural Vietnam, where they plan to give her a funeral.
The Drama (2026). It seems like with Borgli’s characters there is usually some unhealthy obsession, some idea or insecurity that takes over and starts guiding the whole story. Here, that obsession doesn’t only transform the character, it changes the entire dynamic between a couple. One thing I really liked is that the film makes you think the secret is the point, or that the big dramatic revelation is what you should be paying attention to. But somehow it ends up being beyond that. The real drama is what happens after… the whole judgment, the reaction, the way people start seeing each other differently, and (eventually) the “recovery”. A film that stayed with me after watching, which is always a good sign. Synopsis: A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.“
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