This is a subject that has fascinated me for a long time.

Is light a wave or a particle? Is it both? Or is it particles behaving in a wavelike manner? Or something else?

Does the mechanism that underpins this behaviour underpin any other phenomena?

The concept of a particle acting like a wave seems to make no sense until you realise that it appears there are no such things as absolutes, only ranges. Even gravity, which was originally thought of as a universal constant has been demonstrated to be a wave. It oscillates.

EvergreenThe same, but never constantIf you think of the colour of your favourite shade of green, you assume it is a constant green. Conceptually it is, but this depends on the scale at which you are looking at it. Every colour is a reflection of light at a particular frequency. An oscillation.

'Green' therefore is a range, not a constant in itself. But there is a constant range that defines 'green'. It's both precise and imprecise at the same time. Oscillation must be between two values. In the case of what we call 'green' it has a wavelenth of 550nm and frequency of 6 x 10(^14)Hz.

So while you can never precisely pinpoint where the photons bringing you 'green' are at any specific point, you know the range in which 'green' operates. Which for most things is constant enough for it to be able to be relied on for calculations - depending on the scale at which you are looking at it.

The image above is the first ever photograph to show light as both a wave and a particle which illustrates some of this thinking. It's a very new area so much of what I have said may turn out to be bollocks, but it's great to see the mechanisms of the world around us slowly being revealed and the thoughts and ideas that are generated from these new understandings generating new questions to answer.

In the work I do now I rarely worry about getting sounds very precisely aligned. Doing so actually ends up killing the 'vibe'. The life in a track comes from the tension of pulling sounds against or away from each other in fractions of a second - hip-hop delivery is often a bit late, pop choruses are often slightly sped up to create momentum. The casual listener is probably aware of neither - music just grabs them and takes them somewhere. It's the pulling against the grid that provides the power.

There's a rule in the music industry that you always keep the first take of a recording session. It often contains more vibrant delivery of words or notes. It's often slightly out of time or tune with more spontaneity than later takes because the muscle memory hasn't had time to 'set' and become more predictable - you're relying more on instinct than memory - but that's precisely why it has power. The more you repeat the takes, the more you iron out imperfections - some of which detract from the overall experience, but some of which really add magic to it.

As an experiment try running a metronome or putting a metronome beat to old classics, especially live takes. You'll find they often speed up and slow down way more than you realise, and are full of little imperfections that give character.

Thus music is its performance. It is both precise and imprecise. A range within a constant within a range within a constant.

Maybe understanding that light can be a wave and a particle, a duality, is more related to music than it first appears!