What was your most unlikely source of inspiration?

True story: A few years ago in Stockholm, a woman approached me on a bus asking if she could write a song about....my hair. She had a guitar in one hand and a notebook in the other. She asked if I could tell her the story behind it. I said yeah.
And so we spent one hour talking about my hair.
To this day I still wonder how she would turn any of those titbits into something musical. 😅
Inspiration comes in many shapes and forms. Whether you're on the receiving or the giving end, what was the most unlikely place you find inspiration for your music? Share your anecdotes about accidental inspiration, or the most random online sources you find sounds for your work here.
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Reading books like Art of War, The Bible, Physics textbooks and literature. Stuff like that gives me inspiration for lyrics. (I don't preach the bible lol). At first they were the unlikely places but now have become the likely places. Now I try to look for places that others would never look.
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On the topic of random sounds found on the internet, https://www.liveatc.net/ has an archive of air traffic controller recordings which are just perfect for ambient and drone
Also NASA's SoundCloud never disappoints.
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Death. As confronting as that sounds.
In my mid 20s (back in 2005) I was very outgoing and had a large close circle of friends many of which I had known from primary school, living in the country you form some pretty strong bonds for life.
I lost 2 of my friends from that group in a murder suicide under very tragic circumstances. They were a couple and things fell apart and he refused to let go. She had 2 young kids who weren't harmed (not his).
This was hard for me personally as I knew this guy and his brother for 10 years growing up together and he was a huge part of our group as he was always funny and joking with people and never a hint of this being possible. Makes you question a lot of things and he was not into drugs at all so even more of a mystery.
Now I was well into the clubbing scene as this was mid 2000 and could easily have been consumed by that world to forget everything that happened as a few of my friends were on the Friday to Sunday train for months but instead I spent weeks just writing my thoughts in musical form, no words just instrumental playing and managed to focus on something I felt was pretty beautiful as a tribute to the girl who had been taken which helped me though the initial hard times until I was stable enough to make better choices again.
So a very tragic and hard to deal with situation that still affects me now but I had music to turn to and I feel that helped save me from going down a very different path. That is why I still produce (not as much) after 20 years, sometimes inspiration from unlikely sources will hit capturing that in a capsule of sound helps me hold on to memories and feelings of the past, even the difficult ones.
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The military applied type (MAP)
You can see how school influenced my life decisions. January 19
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@Kaiwan @ NI On the topic of random sounds found on the internet, https://www.liveatc.net/ has an archive of air traffic controller recordings which are just perfect for ambient and drone
Thanks for the tip, will dig into this for more vocal sample packs 🎙
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A radio play by Alfred Jarry about pataphysics. Since that time, my Reaktor Monsters have become independent. Living pads.
@Kaiwan NI wrote
perfect for ambient and drone
Reaktor User Library, keyword: drone = 8 pages
specialist is OreKore
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@JesterMgee So a very tragic and hard to deal with situation that still affects me now but I had music to turn to and I feel that helped save me from going down a very different path.
Must have taken a lot of strength to turn things around and carve out your own path. Really goes to show how music interventions can have an impact on a person's life.
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A radio play by Alfred Jarry about pataphysics. Since that time, my Reaktor Monsters have become independent. Living pads.
Gotta look into this, sounds nifty!
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Minimalism - namely Steve Reich. And few months ago, when waiting for a piano lesson I have heard from behind the doors irresistive tune. I asked, what it was and it has captured me since then. It is a "structure" that inspired hundreds of composers/musicians in past several hundreds years. Maybe thosands, who knows....
La Folia.
It seems to me to be sort of fundamental thing for human beings. Maybe Feymann books would answer why....
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@Kubrak Minimalism - namely Steve Reich.
mhmmmm Electric Counterpoint has a special place in my heart.
Speaking of getting inspired by music heard from behind the doors, that's exactly how Eiffel 65's Blue got its piano melody from. 😆
Never thought I'd write about Steve Reich and Eiffel 65 in the same comment but here we are.
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Interesting. What fascinates me is that one never knows ahead what becomes the hit. Or how it will be accepted on dancefloor....
I Like most of Steve Reich's works, but this is my the most favorite.
Back to La Folia.
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Beautiful! Especially Variations on a Theme of Corelli
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The movie Dead Man directed by Jim Jamusch has been more of an inspiration to my music then I ever would have assumed when I first watched it.
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I was at a rave back in the 90's, and the way this one kid dances was like nothing I'd ever seen before or since. It had its own flow and rhythm that I was able to turn into a whole drum part on a song I made after the party was over.
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