Music is Life

Obsession

Is there a difference between addiction and obsession?

As I’ve been heavily involved in mixing and mastering for the past two months I find myself having dreams of dancing level meters. I’ve always said that I don’t have an addictive personality but rather an obsessive one. What exactly does that mean though? I think I was using one term in preference over the other because one of them has a negative connotation and the other one positive so I looked them up.

By definition addiction is a physical or mental dependency upon something whereas obsession means to preoccupy or fill the mind continually and intrusively. Hence the dreams of decibel meters, lolz.

As I awoke this morning I had this thought on my mind and wanted to set pen to paper but before I did I came across an interesting video of a man who creates caves in the deserts of New Mexico, Ra Paulette. In an interview he is asked the question, “Do you think you’re obsessed with cave digging?” to which he responded, “Would you call a child being ‘obsessed’ with playing? You wouldn’t use that word ‘obsessed’. When you’re doing something you love and are drawn to it you want to do it all the time.” Couldn’t have said it better myself!

I can spend hours in the studio only to come home and sit at my piano and play Beethoven and Chopin only to go sit on the couch and start reading about how to mix vocals properly or how the loudness wars are destroying music. I just want to constantly immerse myself in all the beauties Music has to offer.
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