I compose the vast majority of my music on computer.  Using computer-based synths, effects, and modeling software (along with the attached audio interface, electric guitar, and microphones), I am basically a one-man orchestra.  The computer allows for versatility in instrumentation, creativity in experimentation, and flexibility in location…

The only problem is that it also allows me to watch videos of babies doing any number of adorable things.  There are babies laughing, babies eating, babies dancing.  One video of a baby laughing has 180,000,000 views.  And another one of has 40,000,000.  And one has 20,000,000.   That’s about 5,000,000 man-hours of baby-laugh-watching time.

And that’s only one tiny corner of the great big time-waster we call Youtube.  Don’t even get me started on children-going-to-the-dentist videos.  Or kittens-doing-cute-things videos.  It used to be you could only watch that for one half hour a week on America’s Funniest Home Videos.  Now you can watch it whenever you want.  Over and over.

So every time I sit down at my computer to work on music, I face the tremendous struggle to stay focused knowing that there is a whole world of unwatched kittens, babies, and Bachelorette episodes available at the click of a mouse.  Even if I don’t succumb to the temptation, it still distracts me from my music.  Which is why I spent all this money on a computerin the first place.

By: Jeremy Wimmer