Layering Guitars in a recording almost always throws up one part that it would have been impossible to have written before starting and which in turn glues the whole track together, making the whole flow of the music happen.
Always a surprise that this happens. It is like to final cog to make the engine fire up and turn, is obscured before a certain point. This window in the creative process only opens up for me generally when recording. I think it must be the act of hearing a complete picture of a composition developing.
In the writing process all elements are new & just as exciting as when recording. But writing is one creative process and is different to recording. When I record it feels like halfway between performing & writing. A slower unfolding of sound, like musical sculpture but more organic than writing down initial ideas.
This is one of the elements of the recording & composing process I love the most. After all how else would that musical element abstract itself in advance, instead choosing to reveal it’s importance, only when it is essential to the flow of a growing piece of music?
Although knowing music theory and arranging skills are always important, it is perhaps a true sense of adventure that can’t be categorised in advance, that brings the most joy in music.