 Ocean recorded his vocals alone for several months , striving intensively for high performance standards , before rejoining Malay for the album 's production . Ocean produced most of Channel Orange and was assisted by Malay , who also played guitar , bass , keyboards , and brass instruments . He described his own contributions as " behind the scenes " to Ocean 's " diligent " work ethic . Ocean wanted to experiment sonically and approach song structure differently than he had before . For inspiration , he and Malay listened to older records to either use as musical references or set a mood at the studio , listening to music by Stevie Wonder , Marvin Gaye , Sly and the Family Stone , Pink Floyd , and Jimi Hendrix . They also put up posters of Pink Floyd and Bruce Lee , and projected inaudible old movies in the studio 's background . 
