Opinion: Houg on doing it yourself
Singapore-native and Melbourne-based chill-wave artist Houg has just released his latest single, Boy. Here, he tells us about doing things DIY and what’s he’s learnt:
A lot of what I do on a DIY basis started from a simple place, or rather, a simple mindset. “Look, I don’t have enough money to get a pro on this, so what’s the best I can do for myself under that circumstance?”.
But I’ll be honest, it isn’t as simple as “putting your mind into it” and immediately being a god/goddess at something. There’s a couple of crucial ingredients towards creating DIY work that make’s sense for the aesthetic or visual/aural vibe that you’re going for.
First up, I believe that having a clear identity or vision for what you’re trying to achieve is crucial. Having that allows you to seek out the appropriate skills without making things too messy or confusing. For example, if you’re going for a home video type vibe for a music video, do you really need tripods and high-end cameras for the shoot? I wouldn’t suggest that because that would only confuse the viewer eventually. They might assume that the video was shot to look high budget but then some scenes look a bit too home video-y and that could cause confusion because now, they might attribute that awkward combination as something that wasn’t well thought out or they might even think that you’ve not put a lot of effort or attention into the video.
Another aspect about having a clear identity is that you’ll be able to seek out the advice of professionals that you know or come across or even YouTube videos (honestly, a big part of my learning process) more efficiently. Learning can be a long and drawn out process, especially when you want to learn something creative like music production or even graphic designing.
The last thing you want to end up doing is seeking advice or help for something that isn’t specific to what you’re aiming for. For example, if I want to hone my skills at learning collage art (like the cover art on my single), I should find out which software works best for that as well as learning the rudiments of doing collage art, rather than vector art, which would be irrelevant and a waste of limited time. Same goes for videos. For example, I shot my latest music video in “Super 8” film format. The format can be really limiting for someone who is only familiar with working with modern cameras. Hence, learning the basics of shooting in film as well as understanding how to treat film (like not putting it through airport X-rays when you intend to shoot your scenes abroad) is a specific learning point that you’ll only find out by looking the right way for advice.
Having hired a professional to direct a music video for you is always an advantage as their skill in videography will always make the process efficient without many mistakes as compared to when you try to do the same from a DIY standpoint. However, there’s always one particular privilege to being able to do it DIY, especially when the video you’re aiming to make isn’t technically challenging. That being that there wouldn’t be much compromise in translating a creative concept. Sometimes, we all struggle to interpret a particular vision to a professional when we want something specific, and unless you’ve found a match in someone that excels in that particular craft or has a similar vision to yours, there’s always going to be a compromise. For example, with my previous music video for “ICBM”, I wanted it to have animations at some point, and look, I could find the best videographer in town for the shoot but doing animation is something that is a completely different set of skills. So instead of hiring two professionals (a videographer and an animator, which I obviously don’t have the money for), or removing the animation bit completely as a videographer would suggest in that case, I took it upon myself to assume both roles because I personally feel that the song, and by extension the video, needs that scene to fully interpret the visual concepts behind the song.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that hiring someone is bad. In fact, if I had money, I would because doing it DIY will present other compromises in quality unless you’ve really sat down and taken it upon yourself to master the craft of video production, editing etc. And with that being said, and with references to all the points above, I move on to my final point.
Time and patience. Nothing can be learnt or made in a jiffy unless that particular craft is second nature to you. And unless you’re some kind of wunderkind, it’s always going to take time to learn something new or foreign to you. When I learnt music production, mixing etc., I didn’t know I still had much to improve on because when you’ve sat down to learn something for 5 hours, you’d assume that the 5 hours of skills you’ve learnt is the ceiling of what you’re able to provide. And unless you’ve sat yourself down for another 5, you wouldn’t know that potential. Which is why being patient and taking time is really important. I don’t like throwing away songs or videos I’ve created 3 years ago because I like going back to it and seeing how much I’ve improved since then, knowing that at the time, I definitely felt that I had already hit my creative pinnacle. And while I laugh at how I was able to think that way, it’s also a catalyst in informing me that the same could be said about my current works 3 years from now. If any perspective is to be had over that, it’s that if we allow ourselves to take time at our own pace and be patient with learning, you’ll always improve, even to a point that you may be eventually hired by others, being seen as a “professional” in that field. Just don’t allow yourself to think that you’ve learnt enough, and your DIY skills will truly hit pinnacles you’ve never thought of.
Hear more from Houg on Soundcloud.
