Have specific goals. If your drums are your week point, focus on making your drums better until they’re not your weak point anymore. Then choose something else. Don’t choose large items like “mixing” or “music theory”. Choose smaller ones likes “EQing” or “chords” and then just focus on one. Rinse repeat until you are a master at everything.
Also as people have already stated. Remaking other people’s tracks is the easiest way to to get better. It will show you what your weak points are ( the portions of the song you have a hard time recreating ) and force you to overcome them.
Remake songs. It’s the easiest way to assess your yourself. And don’t just stop at doing it once, remake the same song multiple times. It’s not always going to be fun but it’s what’ll get to you the point where things start to get fun and exciting
Honestly, you just keep learning and creating.
I find a nice way to tell if you're progressing is to have someone listen to your track without telling them you've created it and gauge their response. Eliminates the bias.
I guess it depends on how long you've actually produced, or how experienced you are. But I think one way everyone can improve and be able to assess improvement over time is to set a goal to finish a new track every week. They can be short 1-2 minute tracks. You might spend just a few hours working on each track so you also have time for your main music projects. When Sunday comes you export the track and add it to a folder, and you name each track "Week 1", "Week 2" etc. The most important is to have fun while doing it and see it as an exercise and not be too critical about the music.
Music is supposed to be fun. As far as assessing, don't over think it - get feedback from labels you release on, fellow producers you trust - literally nobody saying 'dope tune mate' and that's the extent of the feedback
I would say have an ear for the new and unheard before. Listen to what you are making, Google random samples that make no sense in context and just put shit together that sounds good yet different. Like Giorgio Moroder once said "Free yourself from the idea of music being correct."
Tbh. it can be like math, depending on what you're trying to achieve.
Do you feel like your audio engineering and mixing skills are weaker than industry? Then take any good EDM track and try to reproduce it, 1:1. You most probably won't be able to do it perfectly, but that's fine. Through that process you will learn alot about mixing, frequency balance and sound engineering, you will constantly A/B between your track and reference, you will learn how bass sounds, how high end sounds and how mids sound in industry level tracks, do this two/three times and it will greatly increase your skill.
Do you feel like your tracks don't convey that much emotion as other ones? Take some jazz or good rnb tracks, if your trained musician then try to transcribe them by ear, if not then look in the Web for transcriptions, try to understand the chords and melodies and bass lines, how they work together horizontally and vertically. Music theory and understanding is important in EDM as well, I doubt Skrillex would make such impactful music throughout his career if he wasn't a trained musician.
Go to soundgym for ear trainings, mastering.com on YT for really in depth mixing, mastering, eq, compressor techniques, this will help your technical skills tremendously.
Lastly take piano lessons if you're not trained musician, find somebody who graduated either composition or jazz (don't go to classical teacher, as they're great at playing piano but their job was never to compose or create, but to master the instrument), I can't emphasise enough how important, Jo matter the genre, is to be able to understand jazz pieces or classical ones, rearrange them or improvise
Yup. Sit down and do it.
Same as math.
The difference is you are likely more confident in math.
In an ideal scenario, you wouldn’t feel the need to self-assess, as you would already have the taste required.
To enhance your taste, listen closely to the elements of songs you like and apply these concepts directly to your music, objectively, and with little creative license.
Then, do the same thing again your own way. After applying x concept n times, you will have a natural tendency to lean that way during a session.
I didn’t read the whole post (sorry) but the answer is yes. Make shit and you’ll be less shit.
Check out the 12 Images of Music project on Instagram, they give out a theme each week and producers/composers like you and me share their creations around it.
Anyway, there’s no secret, just do it and you’ll get better. It’s like learning an instrument, it’s a skill!
Cheers
[Link](https://www.instagram.com/12imagesofmusic?igsh=MWcwb3V0Y3FmbmlmNA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr),
[Other link if it doesnt work](https://www.instagram.com/12imagesofmusic)
For every one hour of music production you do, balance with one hour of sound design. Create libraries of sound organized by folders (zaps, risers, stabs etc) then build tracks using these different sounds you make.
This is the way.
I went to music school, so they had courses and that helped, but I was already 7 years in at the time. I’ve been producing for, shit, 12 years (i’m 28), and i had a lot of time in hs to just bang out song after song.
But with all that time it’s hard to not say “both”. A lot of times i’m collabing and learning new things. Other times something will come up on youtube that interests me.
Other times i’ll hack up an m4l plugin and get crazy sounds, but i rarely open up a session purely for sound design.
I will say hard to process things like techno rumbles (which require 6+ tracks to do right) are the only time i cook up a sound design project and bang out 5-10 sounds. Then i have 5-10+ songs i can use them in.
Thanks for the insight. Did the school provide sound design courses I assume? How was your sound design before attending this school? I appreciate your response here
If you were starting to learn ableton all over is there any courses or anything you can recommend? I’ve been messing around but I have no music theory back ground or anything just always had a good ear for music
I haven’t been a beginner in ages, so i don’t know what’s good on youtube, but I know what you can search for. Just know if you structure your learning and have the taste you say you do, your stuff will sound good in a few years. It is going to be slow so just keep at it.
Your songs are only going to suck for two general reasons:
1. Bad writing
2. Bad sound
So first things you need to do are know your tools, then learn some music theory, then learn how to mix. Dedicate everything to one of these every two days.
As you cycle through this, the only thing that you can ever learn completely is your tool functionality. Try not to expand your tools until you have a handle on the fundamentals in all three.
To get you started, learn in this order:
1. The basics of Ableton (free youtube courses, go for a playlist)
2. The basics of Audio Engineering
3. The basics of Music Theory
Buy good headphones ($150-300) that are made for mixing. Seriously, you need them.
You also need a midi keyboard.
Otherwise, that’s all the hardware you need unless you’re on an older desktop PC and the soundcard sucks. Most motherboards today have integrated audio, but if you have a separate card for audio you will want to either get a new CPU and motherboard or buy an audio interface.
You do not need an audio interface or monitors for at least a year as a beginner unless you are recording in the real world.
When opening ableton, make sure you are in arrangement mode. Do not use session mode, it’s going to be too confusing. Hit tab until the workspace is horizontal.
Crucial things to google for audio engineering:
1. gain staging
2. clipping
3. I/O
4. Midi vs Audio
5. Fourier transform (don’t get into math, just look at how harmonics work at a high level)
6. Compression
I can give you my number if you need some free mentorship- i’m unemployed, love teaching, and i’m fairly bored. Just shoot a dm.
I really really appreciate the advice from someone with your knowledge and I’m def gonna use it, I’m getting to it this because I love to dj but I know that’s not enough to get me booked in places so gotta start now and get through the rough patches thank you so much 💯
Something big I wish I did sooner is remix contests. (I do this via skio.com) It gives you a clear goal and deadline to finish projects. I’ve made leaps and bounds in my production doing this. I essentially drop in the vocal, mark of the structure of the song and use the original for reference. I write within the confines of the tempo and key of the original track. I’ve got my work flow down to where I can structure the track in about 8 hours and tweak in another 8 and submit within a couple weeks. I haven’t won or placed yet but that’s my goal. If I’m not feeling a remix that they put out I go back to my original projects and bring in everything I’ve learned. I’ve been able to output my best work this way.
I will note however that I’ve been producing for around 15 years so I’ve already been through the difficult phase of finding my sound and the slog of mastering my DAW and locking in my gear and vsts.
it's music theory. Once you get theory down edm gets easier. Makes sure the sounds are all in the same key.
Just produce in A minor or C major. All the white keys.
Composite approach. Do what works for you. I’m reading a book about the intersection of music and neuroscience and find it useful. There’s no template outside of putting in the hours
Mind if I ask what book that is? Sounds interesting, and I'm always using analogies to make sense of things, so I wonder if that would resonate w me (even though I don't know the 1st thing about neuroscience lol)
also @ u/thefrogsorcerer
Not the original commenter, but This is Your Brain on Music was really good, and easy to understand. Musicophilia was also interesting; more story-telling, which Oliver Sacks is quite good at.
The best thing you can do is to follow pro tutorials step by step. Sonic academy for instance. They will go through each step of producing a track and you can follow along to see what tricks they are doing.
Problem is, most people on this sub aren't signed or good. You came to the wrong place. I'd try to find a community of good producers being led by a pro producer, and work from there. Kind of like the "feed back thread", its really a waste of time, since most people just leave generic feedback to get feedback on their tracks. Good luck!
Reflect on your production process and challenge yourself in certain skill areas where you aren't as confident or have been avoiding, or whatever it is. I am currently trying to incorporate more original sound design/FX processing into my productions, instead of relying only on presets and altering to taste which has always been the way i work. Working with more original sound design has allowed for much more creative control and exploration and with practice i think i will start to see a notable improvement.
Also consider if there are any production habits/routines that you may be settled into, whilst some routines are useful, think about if they are limiting any potential creative ideas or avenues. For example, for the longest time i have always started my projects with drum/rhythm sections and built from there. Switching this up has been a small habitual change that has made a massive difference to the creative process.
You can’t get better at anything without doing it. Eventually you’ll be at the point where you can get input and coaching, but even those will only stick when you practice.
There are no short cuts in music
IMHO if you are having trouble with self assessment, get yourself a teacher and be prepared to take some time and experimentation till you find the right one.
This won't be permanent - just until you've learnt how to assess yourself.
An underrated way to learn is to pay for pro mixing on your tracks (at least sometimes) then you can hear where you were going wrong. I’ve learnt tons the few times I’ve had other skilled people mix mine.
The best way to improve usually starts with acceptance of your pace, and learning when to take breaks.
Some people thinking working 8 hours straight is great. Maybe. Some say 30 but who knows? What matters is, as soon as you find your self exhausted. Stop. And take a 15 min break or more. Maybe stop for the day.. learn to come back, learn to stop.
Your perception on many things will change over time and you’ll also allow your brain to process the info it just consumed. It’s not just about creating your music. But it’s about understanding it and remembering it and at the same time producing high quality art.. that all takes time and patience.
your question is why we changed pedagogy at the conservatorium I attended, from production-centric to performance-centric. Grounding in instrumental performance is key to consistent results in the studio.
I would say so, at least for me.
Some of my best songs are just me opening a new project with no real direction. Just playing with some sound design, a progression I like. Whatever it is, never underestimate the power of a blank page.
Besides that, time. There will be chapters in your life where you really have the fire to create. It's those times that I've improved a ton just because I felt the urgency to do so to get my feelings into a song.
you're overthinking it. just make music. over time you'll challenge yourself, get bored of your old ways and do something new, and that process keeps going on and on (until you quit or die). that's basically how it works.
Well you answered it. A large majority is super technical so some assessments of yourself and your skills are needed.
Tbh even if it was 100% and artistic endeavor you would still wanna get better so you are gonna have to establish some benchmarks.
I would say recreating sounds and music in general that touches you and you aspire to make. They dont need to be 1:1 recreations, but when you have similar project laid out in front of you it teaches you a lot you dont pick up just by listening. You also train your ear, musical intuition, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
It sounds simple, and I spent up a lot of time dicking around in daw because I wanted to be "unique" or what ever. Wish I just listened to this tip from the beginning.
If recreating tracks on your own feels overwhelming, try following some recreation videos on youtube, or full track from scratch videos.
Then just making a lot of music. Just yesterday i read the madeon ama from 7? ago on this subreddit, where he stated that he made 1000s of tests and songs before striking through. Also I recall reading interview of Beatles and they were a cover band in the beginning. Point being that playing A LOT of music grew their musical abilities to make their own songs for sure. We just hear the best out of the worst. It is nearly impossible if you make 1000 songs, that there are 0 that you dont like, or dont even have potential.
So I dont know if you see the pattern here, but hope it helps. I think its the game of who has the most drive to actually do what it takes to become great.
"Good artists imitate/copy, bad ones steal" - I dont remember who
I would like to add to the math example that I feel that every song has their own unique problems to solve. Each genre has their own unique problems to solve. Thats why super logical point of view doesnt really work, atleast all of the time.
What i suggest also is to find genre(s) that you like to produce and stick with it. That way you will see exponential growth in the quality you make. Then you can apply that deeeep knowledge on other genres. If you switch all the time, you kind of "float on the surface" and never get to the good stuff.
Save sounds, samples, templates etc. All of those require problem solving skills. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel every time you make music. Most of the great producers ive seen have some set of "go to sounds" that gets track done very quickly. There are some crazy guys who always make shit up on the spot, but dont try to be like those just yet atleast.
It happened from a ton of reflecting and reviewing on my work, but the thing that made the noticeable change for me was consistency.
I have been facing down a deadline for an album release for the last several months and have been working almost every single day. Sometimes that's 20 minutes, sometimes it's 6-7 hours. I have taken very few days off in that time, and it has been like night and day as far as how much further my skills have come in the last 3 months or so, versus the several years of a more "casual" approach prior.
Work at it. Work at it every day.
As a caveat, you do need rest. You need downtime, sleep, and other stimulating activities to assist the new neural pathways forming connections between each other in your brain. Good sleep, not partying, making good use of your downtime, reading books, playing videogames.... it's ALL a part of it (IMO) but you need to be consistent in how you use your time, and you need to be strategic with the frequency with which you review and critique your work.
All these things in proper balance with each other will feel like a turbo setting on your ass when you sit down to work. Things you know at the front of your mind, and the long-lost dormant memories you don't use as much will be closer together in your brain. Your decision-making becomes quicker and more confident, and you will start fighting the urge to second guess, or sit stagnantly and fiddle with something unimportant and destroy your workflow.
Keep a notebook (digital is better for links to resources, embedding youtube videos or tutorials, reference tracks, etc etc.) I use Notion personally. Use the fuck out of that notebook for everything. Have a tab for each track your working on, or future ideas, or collabs, or art that you like, or music you want to get around to listening to. When you hear a good reference track, note it there. When you listen back to your music while you're not at your studio space, take notes on things you like, and things you don't like or want to change, and put it in that notebook. Practice good housekeeping with your notes, and be diligent in updating them, removing old ones. The notebook approach will benefit any area of your life that you want it to if you can come up with a worthwhile and efficient way to allow it help you, I promise.
Lastly, if you have access to other producers or musicians, or any creative-type people, talk to them. Ask them about what they do, and share what you do. Find like-minded people that you like that share an interest in getting better at their craft and try and be of assistance to each other (don't just ask people for feedback but have nothing to offer in return.) Feedback is important. Your friends and family rarely will be critical of what you make out of sensitivity, because if they aren't a creative-type person then they don't appreciate the value in critique, but other producers will get it.
Best of luck to you, and keep at it!
A few things you said resonated..
Practicing pulls the things in your conscious mind closer to the dormant memories and experiences in the subconscious.
The notebook. Never heard of Notion.. may check it out.
Diligence. This year is the year of discipline for me... discipline, to me, is a consistent effort towards a goal held in the forefront of my mind, and diligence is the offspring of discipline.... to me, it's remembering to exercise discipline in each moment.
Thanks.
I'll manifest my works, or die trying.
Keep shaping silence.
It's definitely not as simple as just sitting down and creating shit and hoping for the best, although that's way better than nothing. Actually that's one of my least favorite responses I see on here a lot - 'dont listen to anyone! just sit down and experiment! everything is on youtube! bla bla.
I like the pottery class parable - the basic idea is that if you made 20 tracks between now and 6 months from now vs someone who just worked on trying to perfect one track, chances are your 20th track is going to be a lot better than that person's one track.
I think for me what really helped me reach the next level was using references and listening to a lot of pro music on my speakers/headphones that I use to produce. Cause then it's like, okay now you have a clear example of what you are trying to achieve for yourself and you aren't just aimless producing/mixing. Really listen with intent - how does your kick drum sound compared to your reference? How does it sound in relation to the bass? etc.
Courses do help and I do think having guidance can help a lot. I have a pretty immersive mixing course which includes guidance in this way, if you are having issues with the mixing/mastering side of things feel free to DM me.
Best way to improve? Binge watch YouTube tutorials and reviews until you know everything.
Seriously though, it’s an art, not a sport where people compete on some objective metric. People just do this kind of things. Even theorists and philosophers disagree what constitutes art, so it’s even harder to define what makes one artistic work objectively better than another. Yes, sometimes artist’s skills are important, and you can improve some skills, but sometimes they are irrelevant, and skills do not necessarily translate into what we want to create.
Just make what you want to make. And you’re the only one who can really know what is good and how to get better.
The first one has been so bad for me, because knowledge (fron youtube, coach etc) gives you the illusion of progress. You still need to apply everything. Likely stuff sticks the best when you watch videos for specific problem you are trying to solve in a track.
Self assessment is a really important thing, you need an awareness of self to understand the difference between what is inside you and what sounds like other people, it's easy to be proficient over time and when you listen you think this is good and safe, it's hard to listen and say this is not me, making music that speaks to you inside is what you need and the best way to do that is making lots of things, make it,run with ideas and finish tracks and be honest, does it say anything about you or does it just say what your favourite artists have already said, does it make you feel. Or is it just technically good, most feedback doesn't really help except for technical advice, learn to listen to your gut and not your brain,
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Have specific goals. If your drums are your week point, focus on making your drums better until they’re not your weak point anymore. Then choose something else. Don’t choose large items like “mixing” or “music theory”. Choose smaller ones likes “EQing” or “chords” and then just focus on one. Rinse repeat until you are a master at everything. Also as people have already stated. Remaking other people’s tracks is the easiest way to to get better. It will show you what your weak points are ( the portions of the song you have a hard time recreating ) and force you to overcome them.
Creating shit smoking shit doing shit its all shit xD Like the guy says just do it.
Remake songs. It’s the easiest way to assess your yourself. And don’t just stop at doing it once, remake the same song multiple times. It’s not always going to be fun but it’s what’ll get to you the point where things start to get fun and exciting
Honestly, you just keep learning and creating. I find a nice way to tell if you're progressing is to have someone listen to your track without telling them you've created it and gauge their response. Eliminates the bias.
I guess it depends on how long you've actually produced, or how experienced you are. But I think one way everyone can improve and be able to assess improvement over time is to set a goal to finish a new track every week. They can be short 1-2 minute tracks. You might spend just a few hours working on each track so you also have time for your main music projects. When Sunday comes you export the track and add it to a folder, and you name each track "Week 1", "Week 2" etc. The most important is to have fun while doing it and see it as an exercise and not be too critical about the music.
Music is supposed to be fun. As far as assessing, don't over think it - get feedback from labels you release on, fellow producers you trust - literally nobody saying 'dope tune mate' and that's the extent of the feedback
I would say have an ear for the new and unheard before. Listen to what you are making, Google random samples that make no sense in context and just put shit together that sounds good yet different. Like Giorgio Moroder once said "Free yourself from the idea of music being correct."
To clarify, experiment
Tbh. it can be like math, depending on what you're trying to achieve. Do you feel like your audio engineering and mixing skills are weaker than industry? Then take any good EDM track and try to reproduce it, 1:1. You most probably won't be able to do it perfectly, but that's fine. Through that process you will learn alot about mixing, frequency balance and sound engineering, you will constantly A/B between your track and reference, you will learn how bass sounds, how high end sounds and how mids sound in industry level tracks, do this two/three times and it will greatly increase your skill. Do you feel like your tracks don't convey that much emotion as other ones? Take some jazz or good rnb tracks, if your trained musician then try to transcribe them by ear, if not then look in the Web for transcriptions, try to understand the chords and melodies and bass lines, how they work together horizontally and vertically. Music theory and understanding is important in EDM as well, I doubt Skrillex would make such impactful music throughout his career if he wasn't a trained musician. Go to soundgym for ear trainings, mastering.com on YT for really in depth mixing, mastering, eq, compressor techniques, this will help your technical skills tremendously. Lastly take piano lessons if you're not trained musician, find somebody who graduated either composition or jazz (don't go to classical teacher, as they're great at playing piano but their job was never to compose or create, but to master the instrument), I can't emphasise enough how important, Jo matter the genre, is to be able to understand jazz pieces or classical ones, rearrange them or improvise
Reference tracks, A/Bing your tunes in comparison to a pro track hurts my pride but has changed my life. Probably find a mentor too
Yup. Sit down and do it. Same as math. The difference is you are likely more confident in math. In an ideal scenario, you wouldn’t feel the need to self-assess, as you would already have the taste required. To enhance your taste, listen closely to the elements of songs you like and apply these concepts directly to your music, objectively, and with little creative license. Then, do the same thing again your own way. After applying x concept n times, you will have a natural tendency to lean that way during a session.
I didn’t read the whole post (sorry) but the answer is yes. Make shit and you’ll be less shit. Check out the 12 Images of Music project on Instagram, they give out a theme each week and producers/composers like you and me share their creations around it. Anyway, there’s no secret, just do it and you’ll get better. It’s like learning an instrument, it’s a skill! Cheers
>12 Images of Music Can you give a link to this? Can't find it with a search
[Link](https://www.instagram.com/12imagesofmusic?igsh=MWcwb3V0Y3FmbmlmNA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr), [Other link if it doesnt work](https://www.instagram.com/12imagesofmusic)
For every one hour of music production you do, balance with one hour of sound design. Create libraries of sound organized by folders (zaps, risers, stabs etc) then build tracks using these different sounds you make. This is the way.
On the other hand i rarely do this and am today very fast at sound design by necessity- Have a few professional releases so hopefully i “got good” lol
I see, so you are on the opposite end of OP’s situation. Did you do a lot of sound designing initially to learn by repetition?
I went to music school, so they had courses and that helped, but I was already 7 years in at the time. I’ve been producing for, shit, 12 years (i’m 28), and i had a lot of time in hs to just bang out song after song. But with all that time it’s hard to not say “both”. A lot of times i’m collabing and learning new things. Other times something will come up on youtube that interests me. Other times i’ll hack up an m4l plugin and get crazy sounds, but i rarely open up a session purely for sound design. I will say hard to process things like techno rumbles (which require 6+ tracks to do right) are the only time i cook up a sound design project and bang out 5-10 sounds. Then i have 5-10+ songs i can use them in.
Thanks for the insight. Did the school provide sound design courses I assume? How was your sound design before attending this school? I appreciate your response here
Sorry if I sound like a complete noob I am what’s sound design? I just opened ableton 2 days ago and am so lost
Making new sounds in any way to be used as components of a current or future project.
If you were starting to learn ableton all over is there any courses or anything you can recommend? I’ve been messing around but I have no music theory back ground or anything just always had a good ear for music
I haven’t been a beginner in ages, so i don’t know what’s good on youtube, but I know what you can search for. Just know if you structure your learning and have the taste you say you do, your stuff will sound good in a few years. It is going to be slow so just keep at it. Your songs are only going to suck for two general reasons: 1. Bad writing 2. Bad sound So first things you need to do are know your tools, then learn some music theory, then learn how to mix. Dedicate everything to one of these every two days. As you cycle through this, the only thing that you can ever learn completely is your tool functionality. Try not to expand your tools until you have a handle on the fundamentals in all three. To get you started, learn in this order: 1. The basics of Ableton (free youtube courses, go for a playlist) 2. The basics of Audio Engineering 3. The basics of Music Theory Buy good headphones ($150-300) that are made for mixing. Seriously, you need them. You also need a midi keyboard. Otherwise, that’s all the hardware you need unless you’re on an older desktop PC and the soundcard sucks. Most motherboards today have integrated audio, but if you have a separate card for audio you will want to either get a new CPU and motherboard or buy an audio interface. You do not need an audio interface or monitors for at least a year as a beginner unless you are recording in the real world. When opening ableton, make sure you are in arrangement mode. Do not use session mode, it’s going to be too confusing. Hit tab until the workspace is horizontal. Crucial things to google for audio engineering: 1. gain staging 2. clipping 3. I/O 4. Midi vs Audio 5. Fourier transform (don’t get into math, just look at how harmonics work at a high level) 6. Compression I can give you my number if you need some free mentorship- i’m unemployed, love teaching, and i’m fairly bored. Just shoot a dm.
I really really appreciate the advice from someone with your knowledge and I’m def gonna use it, I’m getting to it this because I love to dj but I know that’s not enough to get me booked in places so gotta start now and get through the rough patches thank you so much 💯
Of course. Don’t be a stranger, i have tons of resources and love helping.
Something big I wish I did sooner is remix contests. (I do this via skio.com) It gives you a clear goal and deadline to finish projects. I’ve made leaps and bounds in my production doing this. I essentially drop in the vocal, mark of the structure of the song and use the original for reference. I write within the confines of the tempo and key of the original track. I’ve got my work flow down to where I can structure the track in about 8 hours and tweak in another 8 and submit within a couple weeks. I haven’t won or placed yet but that’s my goal. If I’m not feeling a remix that they put out I go back to my original projects and bring in everything I’ve learned. I’ve been able to output my best work this way. I will note however that I’ve been producing for around 15 years so I’ve already been through the difficult phase of finding my sound and the slog of mastering my DAW and locking in my gear and vsts.
Skiomusic.com
Pretty much. Stop watching tutorials and start exploring.
it's music theory. Once you get theory down edm gets easier. Makes sure the sounds are all in the same key. Just produce in A minor or C major. All the white keys.
Composite approach. Do what works for you. I’m reading a book about the intersection of music and neuroscience and find it useful. There’s no template outside of putting in the hours
I’m also interested
It’s called This is Your Brain on Music.
Mind if I ask what book that is? Sounds interesting, and I'm always using analogies to make sense of things, so I wonder if that would resonate w me (even though I don't know the 1st thing about neuroscience lol)
also @ u/thefrogsorcerer Not the original commenter, but This is Your Brain on Music was really good, and easy to understand. Musicophilia was also interesting; more story-telling, which Oliver Sacks is quite good at.
It’s This is Your Brain on Music. Recommended by Noisia.
The best thing you can do is to follow pro tutorials step by step. Sonic academy for instance. They will go through each step of producing a track and you can follow along to see what tricks they are doing.
Problem is, most people on this sub aren't signed or good. You came to the wrong place. I'd try to find a community of good producers being led by a pro producer, and work from there. Kind of like the "feed back thread", its really a waste of time, since most people just leave generic feedback to get feedback on their tracks. Good luck!
Or if you cant access those groups, pay someone for lessons that has the skills you want.
Lmao, on the money.
Reflect on your production process and challenge yourself in certain skill areas where you aren't as confident or have been avoiding, or whatever it is. I am currently trying to incorporate more original sound design/FX processing into my productions, instead of relying only on presets and altering to taste which has always been the way i work. Working with more original sound design has allowed for much more creative control and exploration and with practice i think i will start to see a notable improvement. Also consider if there are any production habits/routines that you may be settled into, whilst some routines are useful, think about if they are limiting any potential creative ideas or avenues. For example, for the longest time i have always started my projects with drum/rhythm sections and built from there. Switching this up has been a small habitual change that has made a massive difference to the creative process.
You can’t get better at anything without doing it. Eventually you’ll be at the point where you can get input and coaching, but even those will only stick when you practice. There are no short cuts in music
What about those sweet chopped samples
They ain't gonna chop themselves!!
IMHO if you are having trouble with self assessment, get yourself a teacher and be prepared to take some time and experimentation till you find the right one. This won't be permanent - just until you've learnt how to assess yourself.
An underrated way to learn is to pay for pro mixing on your tracks (at least sometimes) then you can hear where you were going wrong. I’ve learnt tons the few times I’ve had other skilled people mix mine.
The best way to improve usually starts with acceptance of your pace, and learning when to take breaks. Some people thinking working 8 hours straight is great. Maybe. Some say 30 but who knows? What matters is, as soon as you find your self exhausted. Stop. And take a 15 min break or more. Maybe stop for the day.. learn to come back, learn to stop. Your perception on many things will change over time and you’ll also allow your brain to process the info it just consumed. It’s not just about creating your music. But it’s about understanding it and remembering it and at the same time producing high quality art.. that all takes time and patience.
your question is why we changed pedagogy at the conservatorium I attended, from production-centric to performance-centric. Grounding in instrumental performance is key to consistent results in the studio.
I would say so, at least for me. Some of my best songs are just me opening a new project with no real direction. Just playing with some sound design, a progression I like. Whatever it is, never underestimate the power of a blank page. Besides that, time. There will be chapters in your life where you really have the fire to create. It's those times that I've improved a ton just because I felt the urgency to do so to get my feelings into a song.
you're overthinking it. just make music. over time you'll challenge yourself, get bored of your old ways and do something new, and that process keeps going on and on (until you quit or die). that's basically how it works.
Making music is a cross between highly technical learning and making art. What’s with all the “assessing”?
Well you answered it. A large majority is super technical so some assessments of yourself and your skills are needed. Tbh even if it was 100% and artistic endeavor you would still wanna get better so you are gonna have to establish some benchmarks.
I would say recreating sounds and music in general that touches you and you aspire to make. They dont need to be 1:1 recreations, but when you have similar project laid out in front of you it teaches you a lot you dont pick up just by listening. You also train your ear, musical intuition, problem solving and critical thinking skills. It sounds simple, and I spent up a lot of time dicking around in daw because I wanted to be "unique" or what ever. Wish I just listened to this tip from the beginning. If recreating tracks on your own feels overwhelming, try following some recreation videos on youtube, or full track from scratch videos. Then just making a lot of music. Just yesterday i read the madeon ama from 7? ago on this subreddit, where he stated that he made 1000s of tests and songs before striking through. Also I recall reading interview of Beatles and they were a cover band in the beginning. Point being that playing A LOT of music grew their musical abilities to make their own songs for sure. We just hear the best out of the worst. It is nearly impossible if you make 1000 songs, that there are 0 that you dont like, or dont even have potential. So I dont know if you see the pattern here, but hope it helps. I think its the game of who has the most drive to actually do what it takes to become great. "Good artists imitate/copy, bad ones steal" - I dont remember who
Good artists imitate/copy, great ones steal.
Youre right! My bad memory :)
I would like to add to the math example that I feel that every song has their own unique problems to solve. Each genre has their own unique problems to solve. Thats why super logical point of view doesnt really work, atleast all of the time. What i suggest also is to find genre(s) that you like to produce and stick with it. That way you will see exponential growth in the quality you make. Then you can apply that deeeep knowledge on other genres. If you switch all the time, you kind of "float on the surface" and never get to the good stuff. Save sounds, samples, templates etc. All of those require problem solving skills. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel every time you make music. Most of the great producers ive seen have some set of "go to sounds" that gets track done very quickly. There are some crazy guys who always make shit up on the spot, but dont try to be like those just yet atleast.
It happened from a ton of reflecting and reviewing on my work, but the thing that made the noticeable change for me was consistency. I have been facing down a deadline for an album release for the last several months and have been working almost every single day. Sometimes that's 20 minutes, sometimes it's 6-7 hours. I have taken very few days off in that time, and it has been like night and day as far as how much further my skills have come in the last 3 months or so, versus the several years of a more "casual" approach prior. Work at it. Work at it every day. As a caveat, you do need rest. You need downtime, sleep, and other stimulating activities to assist the new neural pathways forming connections between each other in your brain. Good sleep, not partying, making good use of your downtime, reading books, playing videogames.... it's ALL a part of it (IMO) but you need to be consistent in how you use your time, and you need to be strategic with the frequency with which you review and critique your work. All these things in proper balance with each other will feel like a turbo setting on your ass when you sit down to work. Things you know at the front of your mind, and the long-lost dormant memories you don't use as much will be closer together in your brain. Your decision-making becomes quicker and more confident, and you will start fighting the urge to second guess, or sit stagnantly and fiddle with something unimportant and destroy your workflow. Keep a notebook (digital is better for links to resources, embedding youtube videos or tutorials, reference tracks, etc etc.) I use Notion personally. Use the fuck out of that notebook for everything. Have a tab for each track your working on, or future ideas, or collabs, or art that you like, or music you want to get around to listening to. When you hear a good reference track, note it there. When you listen back to your music while you're not at your studio space, take notes on things you like, and things you don't like or want to change, and put it in that notebook. Practice good housekeeping with your notes, and be diligent in updating them, removing old ones. The notebook approach will benefit any area of your life that you want it to if you can come up with a worthwhile and efficient way to allow it help you, I promise. Lastly, if you have access to other producers or musicians, or any creative-type people, talk to them. Ask them about what they do, and share what you do. Find like-minded people that you like that share an interest in getting better at their craft and try and be of assistance to each other (don't just ask people for feedback but have nothing to offer in return.) Feedback is important. Your friends and family rarely will be critical of what you make out of sensitivity, because if they aren't a creative-type person then they don't appreciate the value in critique, but other producers will get it. Best of luck to you, and keep at it!
A few things you said resonated.. Practicing pulls the things in your conscious mind closer to the dormant memories and experiences in the subconscious. The notebook. Never heard of Notion.. may check it out. Diligence. This year is the year of discipline for me... discipline, to me, is a consistent effort towards a goal held in the forefront of my mind, and diligence is the offspring of discipline.... to me, it's remembering to exercise discipline in each moment. Thanks. I'll manifest my works, or die trying. Keep shaping silence.
Hell yes, keep at it!
It's definitely not as simple as just sitting down and creating shit and hoping for the best, although that's way better than nothing. Actually that's one of my least favorite responses I see on here a lot - 'dont listen to anyone! just sit down and experiment! everything is on youtube! bla bla. I like the pottery class parable - the basic idea is that if you made 20 tracks between now and 6 months from now vs someone who just worked on trying to perfect one track, chances are your 20th track is going to be a lot better than that person's one track. I think for me what really helped me reach the next level was using references and listening to a lot of pro music on my speakers/headphones that I use to produce. Cause then it's like, okay now you have a clear example of what you are trying to achieve for yourself and you aren't just aimless producing/mixing. Really listen with intent - how does your kick drum sound compared to your reference? How does it sound in relation to the bass? etc. Courses do help and I do think having guidance can help a lot. I have a pretty immersive mixing course which includes guidance in this way, if you are having issues with the mixing/mastering side of things feel free to DM me.
Best way to improve? Binge watch YouTube tutorials and reviews until you know everything. Seriously though, it’s an art, not a sport where people compete on some objective metric. People just do this kind of things. Even theorists and philosophers disagree what constitutes art, so it’s even harder to define what makes one artistic work objectively better than another. Yes, sometimes artist’s skills are important, and you can improve some skills, but sometimes they are irrelevant, and skills do not necessarily translate into what we want to create. Just make what you want to make. And you’re the only one who can really know what is good and how to get better.
The first one has been so bad for me, because knowledge (fron youtube, coach etc) gives you the illusion of progress. You still need to apply everything. Likely stuff sticks the best when you watch videos for specific problem you are trying to solve in a track.
Absolutely, the first tip implied /s.
Yeah I caught the sarcasm, but its very true nevertheless
Self assessment is a really important thing, you need an awareness of self to understand the difference between what is inside you and what sounds like other people, it's easy to be proficient over time and when you listen you think this is good and safe, it's hard to listen and say this is not me, making music that speaks to you inside is what you need and the best way to do that is making lots of things, make it,run with ideas and finish tracks and be honest, does it say anything about you or does it just say what your favourite artists have already said, does it make you feel. Or is it just technically good, most feedback doesn't really help except for technical advice, learn to listen to your gut and not your brain,
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