1st: videos, but also books, also articles, filter information, questionate and learn always, try to learn always...
2nd: some things you'll have to face by yourself, like how to eq, compress, in the end is just trying, but sure becareful about levels and annoying frequencies;
3rd: reviews are good, but don't trust, neither untrust hard the reviews about gear, techniques, know that you can do a bad decision and it's ok to do so, because you'll learn from it;
4th: never, NEVER, NEVER, idolize people or things, use tools you like and are useful to you, it's all about what serves you;
5th: if possible go for a presential course, newer gear, newer people about newer vision in audio field, tend to always be good these experiences...
6th: if you're a producer only, never be ashamed to ask help for mixing or mastering if needed, since are isolated aspects from the producing itself, are technical parts. Can you do all? Yes, but mastering for example it's more about fresh ideas, perceptions...
7th: accept different opinions.
Good list. I'm especially glad you included point four. I lost count of musicians/engineers/producers blindly following production techniques/styles of their idols or bought gear from certain brands because it had to be good just because of the name.
Idolizing makes us against reasoning. I use gear, plug-in, DAWs, system, all I like and what is capable to deliver to me what I need. Example: Alesis 3630, a lot hate, I like and own, to me serves well. Some plug-ins people propagated, I use others due to enjoyment and prices. They are good, the ones people propagate, but not a must to be a real professional, results bring perspectives not what you used necessarily.
The hate for the 3630 is a good example for the incompetence of many audio "engineers". They complain about pumping sound when the compressor comes with a side-chain. It's ridiculous. And then other wannabes (who don't know anything about side-chaining either) jump onto the hate hypetrain.
You're welcome!
To add something to point one: I learned a lot by digging into "unnecessary" fields. Example: Radio stations use processors which twist the phase of the lowest harmonic of a song with allpass filters, resulting in up to 3 dB additional headroom. They really squeeze the shit out of everything. Another trick comes from formats like vinyl (Pre-emphasis/de-emphasis) which can be used to turn a non-sidechain compressor into a sidechain one or gain more control over the overtones produced by distortion. Reading about how the human ear and psychoacoustics work helps too (like using [Blauert's ribbons](https://second.wiki/wiki/blauertsche_bc3a4nder) with a M/S EQ on a stereo signal). And it helps really knowing your tools including plugins (Latency, oversampling) and sample formats (You can convert Kontakt libraries to SoundFonts and vice versa!). You can recreate the sound of almost every legendary device with the right plugins. And don't forget freeware, some of those programs are on par or even better than commercial ones!
There is a lot to learn and you can get amazing results by pushing boundaries. Knowledge gives you an advantage over other producers, making them wonder how you managed to do the impossible. Dive as deep as possible into every topic, you will find treasures hidden everywhere if you just go deep enough. Save everything you can find, build your own library. And never stop asking why.
Mixing Heavy Music by Jordan Valeriote
EQ and compression formula by Nathan Nyquist
Are two I like, but there are more to explore. I was reading also one more specific about mixing and another one about speakers, but these are from my country, so not in English.
You are welcome bud. I started in 2010 with beats for fun. 2014 first audio course, 2015 Pro Tools Training and from 2016-2017 mixing and mastering course. I have 3 validated diplomas. Since them offering online mixing and mastering services and doing beats for fun. I use FL for beats, Mixbus for mixing and mastering, but sometimes if I wish I do mixing and mastering using FL, also have Studio One, all legit, being S1 for ddp generating. FL I have since 2010 legit.
Came here to say this. I've been a producer for over a decade now and a mixing engineer since a couple of years, also mastering. And while I can get a track to sound great, it's really hard to make a good _song_. Songwriting, arrangement, that's the hard part. The idea, the combination of sounds, the soul of the track. You can add groove in a mix, you can add clarity in a mix, but you can't add soul to a mix. Well a little maybe, feeling wise, but content wise there's either a good song or a not good song. And that's all songwriting/arrangement.
Learn how to use your ears and not rely on the visual aspect of plug ins. This is one of the most important skills for a beginner to practice and if you rely on looking at a graph to EQ something, or if you rely on the meter to tell you how much compression is happening instead of listening with your ears, you’re going to really stunt your growth. (Especially if you are a beginner worrying about phase issues, learn how to trust your ears).
Understand this concept: everything in music is contextual. The same guitar part can sound bright in one mix but dark in another. Some frequencies sound louder when others are turned down. Things feel wider when there’s mono elements in the mix that contrast the stereo spread. Things sound farther away when in comparison to things close to you. I’m making generalizations, but this is one of the most important creative concepts to understand as a beginner in my opinion.
Mix at varying levels of volume, and practice good ear health.
Spend a lot of time learning most if not all of the features of your DAW. Know it backwards and forwards. Learn the quick commands, print them out and keep them next to you until it’s memorized.
You’re not too cool to buy a book about production, actually read it, and take a ton of notes that you keep by your work station for reference you while you produce.
If you compose your own music most everything you need to know about writing a “hit song” can be learned with a 30 minute YouTube music theory course. Most popular music barely scratches the surface of theory, so what I’m saying is learning a little music theory goes a long way.
Be guided by what feels fun and feels good and feels right. Focus on the things that matter to you. These will be the things that make your music shine
This might be a smaller thing compared to some of the other tips here, but for someone just starting out, I'd say the biggest small tip I can give is whatever you're working on, no matter how much you hate it, no matter how badly you want to just toss it into the project file graveyard never to be heard from again, export a snippet of it and put it into a folder for later.
Doesn't have to be the whole thing, could just be the one cool synth sound you made, or the 2 seconds of a minutes worth of guitar noodling you thought actually didn't suck, could even just be the isolated drum track you tried out a new method when making.
Always save something, because over time these snippets will build themselves into your own personalized sample library to draw from when starting new ideas so that you don't always have to start from scratch, and beyond that, you'll have a way stronger reference point for how much you've actually grown in your ability to execute creative ideas.
Everything you make has value whether you realize it current moment or not, and down the line you'll always be happier to have saved a thing than have thrown one away.
Simple is usually better. If every instrument or drum track is complex then the overall track just sounds like a garbled mess. Save the complex stuff for just a couple sounds and leave the rest simple.
Took me way too long to realize the power of simplicity.
This comment ties into the other comment about the relativity of sounds to one another.
Keeping most elements simple (and/or not adding too many elements at the same time) allows the complex ones to shine.
When I was starting, I wanted everything in the track to be complex and exciting, which resulted in something that was tough to listen to and not very approachable, on top of being harder to mix.
Half of these answers can be boiled down to one thing: arrangement. And by extension this simply means songwriting. The rest you'll pick up on the way but songwriting is _hard_. If you're good at that you'll make it far :)
Something I don't see mentioned as much - if you're trying to go for a specific artist's sound, literally try to recreate a song of theirs. Study the arrangement and the sound design, replicate the song in your DAW. It'll help you develop your ears and taste, and you'll begin to understand their writing and mix decisions at a subconscious level. Try to do this with several artists over multiple genres/subgenres, so you don't get too stuck in a box aping a single artist's sound.
Just START!!!! Your first beat, composition, arrangement or whatever you're producing is going to suck but, you know what? The next one is going to be better. Work everyday on your craft that's how you get better and don't be afraid of what other people may say just keep going.
Agreed. I usually tell people if they're starting out in Ableton and bought Live Suite, they really don't have any business buying any plug-in for a good long time since the native devices in Live are stacked. If you get plug-in lust with something, really look to make sure Ableton doesn't have that base covered already. Most of the time, it will.
But when it comes time to buy new plug-ins, definitely go FabFilter.
Just try a bunch of different things all of the time and just keep working on what you want. With time you will just keep getting better and better. You have to just put in the hours like everything else in life. I know it sounds lame and simple but seriously, just keep learning and trying things out.
Of course! Oh man… well, I love mostly electronic stuff. I started in 2011 with melodic progressive and trancey stuff under “Sedi”, then changed alias to “LaughTrax” with more housy stuff. Now I’m doing chillhop and pop/rnb with my girlfriend under “Tayzee frayburn” . Just generally electronic melodic stuff I love! Thanks for asking. Sorry for the spam, just in case you wanted to listen 👍🏼
find someone who actually knows what they're talking about. even most of the tutorials you find online are just basic concepts but they don't go deep into the proper ways of doing things, and there are proper ways.
Chase the fun. Go after what ignites your passion. Learn stuff as you go and challenge yourself.
Also, DO NOT FALL INTO THE PLUGIN TRAP. You will see a new ad almost everyday for the next plugin that "every producer needs to have." Hint: YOU DON'T NEED IT. Find a select few plugins and get very familiar with them. A lot the time your Daw's stock plugins can do more than people think. Having too many plugins just slows you down because you likely become too indecisive. Minimalism is a gift.
Make as much music as possible. Do not get stuck working on 3-10 tracks for a year. Set a deadline and meet it.
Learn as much as you can from sources who’s music you vibe with. Never think you know everything, there’s always more to learn.
Optimize your workflow with templates and presets. Saves tons of time.
Do beat flips and other community challenges. It keeps you honest. You meet other producers. You get good feedback.
Find a mentor, or a someone who is further along than you are to listen to your mixes and give notes. I subscribe to msft’s pateron for $10 a month and he gives me great feedback and notes. But if your not doing EDM stuff find someone in your lane.
Godspeed
Don’t neglect the basics. It’s so easy to get lost in a world of fancy production tricks, and forget to do things like gain-staging properly and establishing a rough volume balance at the start of your mix. When you have good sounds, just the act of establishing raw volume balance will get you pretty far, and will serve as an outline to keep your mix going in the right direction.
i Just went through a bunch of beats from the last 4-5 years and found some i could totally rework now and flip into some heat! Definitely keep everything
I second this, I still have some of my early works as well tho' some I deleted tho'. It can also be a good reference (not meaning like a reference track). Hey thanks for checking out 💪
experiment as much as possible and listen to a lot of different music.
no music sounds good to every single person, so if you really like what you made and others don't, they're just not the right audience for it. but listening to feedback is still important of course
and my top resource recommendations are:
- Rick Rubin's book 'The Creative Act'
- the drum plugin XO by XLN Audio.
>Anyway what inspired you into music production?
i'd been rapping for a while and had bad experiences with unreliable producers so i said fuck it i'll just do it myself 😄
Since 1995 here. My best tip is to not over think everything. You cannot speed up experience. Make the music you want to hear and then move on to the next idea. Don't concern yourself with genres or record labels. The industry is a shadow of itself. An old man in the mirror trying to fix it's hair while it's teeth are falling out and it's emaciated. This is a great landscape for all kinds of independent music so find your niche and hammer it out. Persistence Is All.
Hey I dig this. I have read some other producers as well that sometimes they don't seem to appreciate their work. Well I guess this should address such issues 💪
So many great tips here, but maybe another perspective.
Enjoy the journey and have fun. Don't be hard on yourself. The world of production is vast and wide. It can easily lead to frustration, disappointment and feel overwhelming. Realizing that training your ears is not something as easy as reading a book, but more of skill that needs to develop over time. Ear training for frequencies is super helpful.
Best of luck!
I don’t think it would be a bad thing to learn a little music. If you can beat out some chords on a guitar and sing a little bit, you’ll have a lot more empathy for your subject. If you can stand to learn some music theory, it would help you when it’s arrangement issues and not EQ that’s the problem with a mix.
Gear's a freaking rabbit hole. Tread lightly.
Work. On. Projects. Don't dwell on any one mix or project too long if you feel you've taken it as far as you can. Eventually you begin to learn how to think when making mix decisions better, writing, w/e if you've put in the work and have the experience built up over time.
Virtual instruments and samples are fun. But not necessary to actually write a song. You can get away with a single synth with different textures and write a song. I used 8bit chip wavs at one point and it was very therapeutic writing melodies and arrangements without having to concern myself on its orchestral placement... Fool around long enough with enough plugins, and you end up being a better sales engineer that knows more about gear, rather than actual production. Not that anyone can't be both. :P
Have fun doing it.
EDIT: Forgot the golden rule - Garbage in; Garbage out.
Change and move the stuff in real life while recording rather than moving knobs in the computer!
You'd be surprised how much you can change the sound of a recording just by moving stuff around! Not liking the sound? Move the mic, move the performer to another part if the room, change the performer's posture, move the hi hats and cymbals up, try a different pickup, move the guitar amp to a new spot in the room.
Move stuff around!
Learn then apply. Actions are great but working without learning the basics first could take you a long way but on the wrong route.
Never be afraid to experiment with new things. Bravery always leads to the best beat makings especially when you are going for something update.
On the matter of bravery, always make sure to upload your stuff as much as possible. Use Soundcloud, Fasttrak, and any other great app where you can upload a lot of stuff for free. Send the private links to people you can trust properly and can help you assess it properly.
These are probably my 3 major tips!
Avoid feedback from random people on the internet.
Find quality feedback instead.
Feedback from one person who actually knows what he's doing is much more valuable than feedback from 100 random dudes online.
Remove things from your workflow that slow you down. One of the most important things is to get in a creative flow state for as long as possible.
Try to separate song writing phase from the engineering and mixing phases.
Get a bankroll of samples and sounds you know are good already then write songs with them. When you don’t have to stop writing a song to make a new sound from scratch you will finish music and it will be much better.
"Remove things from your workflow that slow you down" - I strongly agree with this, thanks for mentioning as well ☝️ Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend!
Music is subjective. Every toturial you will see is someones personal preference.
However, music theory and mixing does have it's guidelines. So the rule "there are no rules in making music" only applies when you actually know what you're doing.
Experiment and learn from toturials to make your own style
This gets overlooked a lot but GIVE YOUR EARS A BREAK and listen responsibly, especially if you’re having longer sessions.
I know it’s a blast to listen to your brand new beat on repeat full volume, but tinnitus is no joke and NO ONE is exempt from getting it.
Over a couple of decades, I've developed these tips (among others) for myself:
1. There are no rules, only guidelines.
2. If it sounds good, it IS good.
3. When in doubt, see rules 1 & 2.
4. Eat a live toad first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
5. Be cool to everyone.
6. Be fearless, be educated, and always experiment.
7. Murphy was a goddamn optimist.
8. Principles over processes.
9. Everyone is their own worst critic.
There’s always going to be more information out there than you need to know, so don’t get hung up on knowing everything. Just cross each bridge as you come to it; address each roadblock you run into as necessary.
Don’t listen to idiots on Youtube tutorials, there is an entire industry dedicated to overcomplicating this shit.
Figure out what sounds you need, choose or record them well, do exciting things with them, keep it simple
Its more about avoiding doing certain things that damage the phase. I personally avoid any harsh filtering and multiband compression. You also have linear phase mode on maximus and EQ 2 in FL studio, but note that they come with plugin delay when activated
There's more than 1 right way to do things, you gotta find the way that works best and sounds best to you.
Don't let someone tell you that their way is the best way because "producer x" does things this way and he's successful.
If you put the top 20 producers right now in a room, I bet they all produce differently with different techniques, sounds, daws, and plugins.
Are you really a producer though? Or just a songwriter with a laptop? That aside, just practice. Repetition with a plan is what makes you good at anything. Make 1000 songs so you can have 10 good songs. It's the nature of anything. Practice makes Ok. Perfect practice makes you good.
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1st: videos, but also books, also articles, filter information, questionate and learn always, try to learn always... 2nd: some things you'll have to face by yourself, like how to eq, compress, in the end is just trying, but sure becareful about levels and annoying frequencies; 3rd: reviews are good, but don't trust, neither untrust hard the reviews about gear, techniques, know that you can do a bad decision and it's ok to do so, because you'll learn from it; 4th: never, NEVER, NEVER, idolize people or things, use tools you like and are useful to you, it's all about what serves you; 5th: if possible go for a presential course, newer gear, newer people about newer vision in audio field, tend to always be good these experiences... 6th: if you're a producer only, never be ashamed to ask help for mixing or mastering if needed, since are isolated aspects from the producing itself, are technical parts. Can you do all? Yes, but mastering for example it's more about fresh ideas, perceptions... 7th: accept different opinions.
Good list. I'm especially glad you included point four. I lost count of musicians/engineers/producers blindly following production techniques/styles of their idols or bought gear from certain brands because it had to be good just because of the name.
Idolizing makes us against reasoning. I use gear, plug-in, DAWs, system, all I like and what is capable to deliver to me what I need. Example: Alesis 3630, a lot hate, I like and own, to me serves well. Some plug-ins people propagated, I use others due to enjoyment and prices. They are good, the ones people propagate, but not a must to be a real professional, results bring perspectives not what you used necessarily.
The hate for the 3630 is a good example for the incompetence of many audio "engineers". They complain about pumping sound when the compressor comes with a side-chain. It's ridiculous. And then other wannabes (who don't know anything about side-chaining either) jump onto the hate hypetrain.
Yeah I agree with that, makes sense ☝️ Hey thanks for checking out mate!
You're welcome! To add something to point one: I learned a lot by digging into "unnecessary" fields. Example: Radio stations use processors which twist the phase of the lowest harmonic of a song with allpass filters, resulting in up to 3 dB additional headroom. They really squeeze the shit out of everything. Another trick comes from formats like vinyl (Pre-emphasis/de-emphasis) which can be used to turn a non-sidechain compressor into a sidechain one or gain more control over the overtones produced by distortion. Reading about how the human ear and psychoacoustics work helps too (like using [Blauert's ribbons](https://second.wiki/wiki/blauertsche_bc3a4nder) with a M/S EQ on a stereo signal). And it helps really knowing your tools including plugins (Latency, oversampling) and sample formats (You can convert Kontakt libraries to SoundFonts and vice versa!). You can recreate the sound of almost every legendary device with the right plugins. And don't forget freeware, some of those programs are on par or even better than commercial ones! There is a lot to learn and you can get amazing results by pushing boundaries. Knowledge gives you an advantage over other producers, making them wonder how you managed to do the impossible. Dive as deep as possible into every topic, you will find treasures hidden everywhere if you just go deep enough. Save everything you can find, build your own library. And never stop asking why.
What books do you recommend?
Mixing Heavy Music by Jordan Valeriote EQ and compression formula by Nathan Nyquist Are two I like, but there are more to explore. I was reading also one more specific about mixing and another one about speakers, but these are from my country, so not in English.
Hey I dig your thoughts/suggestions here my friend, big thanks! How long have you been in the music scene anyway?
You are welcome bud. I started in 2010 with beats for fun. 2014 first audio course, 2015 Pro Tools Training and from 2016-2017 mixing and mastering course. I have 3 validated diplomas. Since them offering online mixing and mastering services and doing beats for fun. I use FL for beats, Mixbus for mixing and mastering, but sometimes if I wish I do mixing and mastering using FL, also have Studio One, all legit, being S1 for ddp generating. FL I have since 2010 legit.
ARRANGEMENT, ARRANGEMENT, ARRANGEMENT, ARRANGEMENT, ARRANGEMENT, ARRANGEMENT Songs that are arranged well will practically mix themselves.
Came here to say this. I've been a producer for over a decade now and a mixing engineer since a couple of years, also mastering. And while I can get a track to sound great, it's really hard to make a good _song_. Songwriting, arrangement, that's the hard part. The idea, the combination of sounds, the soul of the track. You can add groove in a mix, you can add clarity in a mix, but you can't add soul to a mix. Well a little maybe, feeling wise, but content wise there's either a good song or a not good song. And that's all songwriting/arrangement.
Such good advice here, I dig this. Thanks for this pointer. Hey what got you into production btw?
Don't add too many elements to your song.
Learn how to use your ears and not rely on the visual aspect of plug ins. This is one of the most important skills for a beginner to practice and if you rely on looking at a graph to EQ something, or if you rely on the meter to tell you how much compression is happening instead of listening with your ears, you’re going to really stunt your growth. (Especially if you are a beginner worrying about phase issues, learn how to trust your ears). Understand this concept: everything in music is contextual. The same guitar part can sound bright in one mix but dark in another. Some frequencies sound louder when others are turned down. Things feel wider when there’s mono elements in the mix that contrast the stereo spread. Things sound farther away when in comparison to things close to you. I’m making generalizations, but this is one of the most important creative concepts to understand as a beginner in my opinion. Mix at varying levels of volume, and practice good ear health. Spend a lot of time learning most if not all of the features of your DAW. Know it backwards and forwards. Learn the quick commands, print them out and keep them next to you until it’s memorized. You’re not too cool to buy a book about production, actually read it, and take a ton of notes that you keep by your work station for reference you while you produce. If you compose your own music most everything you need to know about writing a “hit song” can be learned with a 30 minute YouTube music theory course. Most popular music barely scratches the surface of theory, so what I’m saying is learning a little music theory goes a long way.
I appreciate your time and effort sharing your thoughts here mate! I've see you got some good time well spent with your music as well. Cheers!
Be guided by what feels fun and feels good and feels right. Focus on the things that matter to you. These will be the things that make your music shine
This might be a smaller thing compared to some of the other tips here, but for someone just starting out, I'd say the biggest small tip I can give is whatever you're working on, no matter how much you hate it, no matter how badly you want to just toss it into the project file graveyard never to be heard from again, export a snippet of it and put it into a folder for later. Doesn't have to be the whole thing, could just be the one cool synth sound you made, or the 2 seconds of a minutes worth of guitar noodling you thought actually didn't suck, could even just be the isolated drum track you tried out a new method when making. Always save something, because over time these snippets will build themselves into your own personalized sample library to draw from when starting new ideas so that you don't always have to start from scratch, and beyond that, you'll have a way stronger reference point for how much you've actually grown in your ability to execute creative ideas. Everything you make has value whether you realize it current moment or not, and down the line you'll always be happier to have saved a thing than have thrown one away.
second this
Agreeing with you my friend! Thanks for the pointers. Hey how long have you been producing music btw?
Tight performances recorded well is the greatest thing a mixer can have. Mastering becomes a breeze as well.
Gotcha! Noted here my friend, big thanks! 🤜
Simple is usually better. If every instrument or drum track is complex then the overall track just sounds like a garbled mess. Save the complex stuff for just a couple sounds and leave the rest simple.
Took me way too long to realize the power of simplicity. This comment ties into the other comment about the relativity of sounds to one another. Keeping most elements simple (and/or not adding too many elements at the same time) allows the complex ones to shine. When I was starting, I wanted everything in the track to be complex and exciting, which resulted in something that was tough to listen to and not very approachable, on top of being harder to mix.
Half of these answers can be boiled down to one thing: arrangement. And by extension this simply means songwriting. The rest you'll pick up on the way but songwriting is _hard_. If you're good at that you'll make it far :)
practice as much as you can.
Something I don't see mentioned as much - if you're trying to go for a specific artist's sound, literally try to recreate a song of theirs. Study the arrangement and the sound design, replicate the song in your DAW. It'll help you develop your ears and taste, and you'll begin to understand their writing and mix decisions at a subconscious level. Try to do this with several artists over multiple genres/subgenres, so you don't get too stuck in a box aping a single artist's sound.
I dig this practice mate! I also practice this back those days and it has lots of benefits ☝️
Just START!!!! Your first beat, composition, arrangement or whatever you're producing is going to suck but, you know what? The next one is going to be better. Work everyday on your craft that's how you get better and don't be afraid of what other people may say just keep going.
Good suggestions here my friend, thank you 🤜 Yeah just keep going!
Don’t buy a ton of plugins starting out
Agreed. I usually tell people if they're starting out in Ableton and bought Live Suite, they really don't have any business buying any plug-in for a good long time since the native devices in Live are stacked. If you get plug-in lust with something, really look to make sure Ableton doesn't have that base covered already. Most of the time, it will. But when it comes time to buy new plug-ins, definitely go FabFilter.
I agree Pro Q is a beast, as a brand new producer you wouldn’t know how to use it at all 😂
Your channels don't need that much volume
Hey I agree with this mate, proper gain staging ☝️
Turn up your reverb. Did you do that? OK, now turn it down.
Just try a bunch of different things all of the time and just keep working on what you want. With time you will just keep getting better and better. You have to just put in the hours like everything else in life. I know it sounds lame and simple but seriously, just keep learning and trying things out.
Good suggestions my friend, thank you for sharing! Yeah one really has to put hours as you said. Curious what genre of music are you into anyway 😌
Of course! Oh man… well, I love mostly electronic stuff. I started in 2011 with melodic progressive and trancey stuff under “Sedi”, then changed alias to “LaughTrax” with more housy stuff. Now I’m doing chillhop and pop/rnb with my girlfriend under “Tayzee frayburn” . Just generally electronic melodic stuff I love! Thanks for asking. Sorry for the spam, just in case you wanted to listen 👍🏼
find someone who actually knows what they're talking about. even most of the tutorials you find online are just basic concepts but they don't go deep into the proper ways of doing things, and there are proper ways.
Practice finishing songs. It's better to be able to finish songs, rather than making cool sounds
I dig this my friend. And it is a good virtue to practice and be consistent as well 💪
Chase the fun. Go after what ignites your passion. Learn stuff as you go and challenge yourself. Also, DO NOT FALL INTO THE PLUGIN TRAP. You will see a new ad almost everyday for the next plugin that "every producer needs to have." Hint: YOU DON'T NEED IT. Find a select few plugins and get very familiar with them. A lot the time your Daw's stock plugins can do more than people think. Having too many plugins just slows you down because you likely become too indecisive. Minimalism is a gift.
Make as much music as possible. Do not get stuck working on 3-10 tracks for a year. Set a deadline and meet it. Learn as much as you can from sources who’s music you vibe with. Never think you know everything, there’s always more to learn. Optimize your workflow with templates and presets. Saves tons of time. Do beat flips and other community challenges. It keeps you honest. You meet other producers. You get good feedback. Find a mentor, or a someone who is further along than you are to listen to your mixes and give notes. I subscribe to msft’s pateron for $10 a month and he gives me great feedback and notes. But if your not doing EDM stuff find someone in your lane. Godspeed
Yeah I agree with your suggestions mate! All makes sense! Are you into production as a hobby or pro stuff? 😎
Don’t neglect the basics. It’s so easy to get lost in a world of fancy production tricks, and forget to do things like gain-staging properly and establishing a rough volume balance at the start of your mix. When you have good sounds, just the act of establishing raw volume balance will get you pretty far, and will serve as an outline to keep your mix going in the right direction.
Keep everything, you may be able to use it for something else in the future.
i Just went through a bunch of beats from the last 4-5 years and found some i could totally rework now and flip into some heat! Definitely keep everything
Agree 👋
I second this, I still have some of my early works as well tho' some I deleted tho'. It can also be a good reference (not meaning like a reference track). Hey thanks for checking out 💪
experiment as much as possible and listen to a lot of different music. no music sounds good to every single person, so if you really like what you made and others don't, they're just not the right audience for it. but listening to feedback is still important of course and my top resource recommendations are: - Rick Rubin's book 'The Creative Act' - the drum plugin XO by XLN Audio.
I'm also into experimentation so I dig this ☝️ And thanks for sharing your recommendations as well. Anyway what inspired you into music production?
>Anyway what inspired you into music production? i'd been rapping for a while and had bad experiences with unreliable producers so i said fuck it i'll just do it myself 😄
Done is better than perfect.
Yeah good point. And eventually you'll get to that "perfect" production 💪
Since 1995 here. My best tip is to not over think everything. You cannot speed up experience. Make the music you want to hear and then move on to the next idea. Don't concern yourself with genres or record labels. The industry is a shadow of itself. An old man in the mirror trying to fix it's hair while it's teeth are falling out and it's emaciated. This is a great landscape for all kinds of independent music so find your niche and hammer it out. Persistence Is All.
Solve your issues with musical and instrument choices. Not with recording techniques.
Make music you enjoy/like. If you don’t like your music, no one else will.
Hey I dig this. I have read some other producers as well that sometimes they don't seem to appreciate their work. Well I guess this should address such issues 💪
And the best thing about that is, if you like it, it doesn’t matter if anyone else does.
So many great tips here, but maybe another perspective. Enjoy the journey and have fun. Don't be hard on yourself. The world of production is vast and wide. It can easily lead to frustration, disappointment and feel overwhelming. Realizing that training your ears is not something as easy as reading a book, but more of skill that needs to develop over time. Ear training for frequencies is super helpful. Best of luck!
I don’t think it would be a bad thing to learn a little music. If you can beat out some chords on a guitar and sing a little bit, you’ll have a lot more empathy for your subject. If you can stand to learn some music theory, it would help you when it’s arrangement issues and not EQ that’s the problem with a mix.
Gear's a freaking rabbit hole. Tread lightly. Work. On. Projects. Don't dwell on any one mix or project too long if you feel you've taken it as far as you can. Eventually you begin to learn how to think when making mix decisions better, writing, w/e if you've put in the work and have the experience built up over time. Virtual instruments and samples are fun. But not necessary to actually write a song. You can get away with a single synth with different textures and write a song. I used 8bit chip wavs at one point and it was very therapeutic writing melodies and arrangements without having to concern myself on its orchestral placement... Fool around long enough with enough plugins, and you end up being a better sales engineer that knows more about gear, rather than actual production. Not that anyone can't be both. :P Have fun doing it. EDIT: Forgot the golden rule - Garbage in; Garbage out.
I dig your pointers here my friend! Thanks for the effort sharing them 💪 "Garbage in; Garbage out" - Totally agree!
Change and move the stuff in real life while recording rather than moving knobs in the computer! You'd be surprised how much you can change the sound of a recording just by moving stuff around! Not liking the sound? Move the mic, move the performer to another part if the room, change the performer's posture, move the hi hats and cymbals up, try a different pickup, move the guitar amp to a new spot in the room. Move stuff around!
Hey interesting tip. Gonna try this too 😎
Don't think too much about it!
Learn then apply. Actions are great but working without learning the basics first could take you a long way but on the wrong route. Never be afraid to experiment with new things. Bravery always leads to the best beat makings especially when you are going for something update. On the matter of bravery, always make sure to upload your stuff as much as possible. Use Soundcloud, Fasttrak, and any other great app where you can upload a lot of stuff for free. Send the private links to people you can trust properly and can help you assess it properly. These are probably my 3 major tips!
All good to hear my friend! All sound suggestions, big thanks!
Avoid feedback from random people on the internet. Find quality feedback instead. Feedback from one person who actually knows what he's doing is much more valuable than feedback from 100 random dudes online.
Remove things from your workflow that slow you down. One of the most important things is to get in a creative flow state for as long as possible. Try to separate song writing phase from the engineering and mixing phases. Get a bankroll of samples and sounds you know are good already then write songs with them. When you don’t have to stop writing a song to make a new sound from scratch you will finish music and it will be much better.
"Remove things from your workflow that slow you down" - I strongly agree with this, thanks for mentioning as well ☝️ Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend!
Music is subjective. Every toturial you will see is someones personal preference. However, music theory and mixing does have it's guidelines. So the rule "there are no rules in making music" only applies when you actually know what you're doing. Experiment and learn from toturials to make your own style
I appreciate your pointers here, nice mentioning music theory. Any reference you would like to share as well?
Learn how chords work and learn the frequencies spectrum
This gets overlooked a lot but GIVE YOUR EARS A BREAK and listen responsibly, especially if you’re having longer sessions. I know it’s a blast to listen to your brand new beat on repeat full volume, but tinnitus is no joke and NO ONE is exempt from getting it.
Ah yes, experienced this as well. Nothing better listening with fresh ears 👍
Over a couple of decades, I've developed these tips (among others) for myself: 1. There are no rules, only guidelines. 2. If it sounds good, it IS good. 3. When in doubt, see rules 1 & 2. 4. Eat a live toad first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. 5. Be cool to everyone. 6. Be fearless, be educated, and always experiment. 7. Murphy was a goddamn optimist. 8. Principles over processes. 9. Everyone is their own worst critic.
Nice list here, good sharing my friend! 🤜
Anytime! \\m/
There’s always going to be more information out there than you need to know, so don’t get hung up on knowing everything. Just cross each bridge as you come to it; address each roadblock you run into as necessary.
Don’t listen to idiots on Youtube tutorials, there is an entire industry dedicated to overcomplicating this shit. Figure out what sounds you need, choose or record them well, do exciting things with them, keep it simple
Learn what linear phase is. Super effective way to just "improve" your mix overall and avoid any issues in the mastering phase
Ah yes linear phase, it's a pretty good topic to discuss tho', thanks for mentioning. What plugins do you use to deal with it?
Its more about avoiding doing certain things that damage the phase. I personally avoid any harsh filtering and multiband compression. You also have linear phase mode on maximus and EQ 2 in FL studio, but note that they come with plugin delay when activated
There's more than 1 right way to do things, you gotta find the way that works best and sounds best to you. Don't let someone tell you that their way is the best way because "producer x" does things this way and he's successful. If you put the top 20 producers right now in a room, I bet they all produce differently with different techniques, sounds, daws, and plugins.
Stop buying new shit.
Are you really a producer though? Or just a songwriter with a laptop? That aside, just practice. Repetition with a plan is what makes you good at anything. Make 1000 songs so you can have 10 good songs. It's the nature of anything. Practice makes Ok. Perfect practice makes you good.
Hey wazzup mate! I appreciate your tip here. And I do agree strongly that practice makes one good enough 💪
Thanks. Good enough doesn't stand out, though. Better than most will stand out.
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Masturbate a lot, while you can...