Here’s a new post I wrote that seems to be getting quite a positive response. I originally shared the link just because the post iS kind of long, but I got slapped on the hand for doing that. No worries, I only wanted to make it easy for those who could benefit from this. With that said, I put the whole article below.
If you are new to music
production, or even if you’ve been poking around for a while, there are a
number of things that you haven’t been told about making music.
Depending on what angle you are taking to get into the music production
game, you are likely either over preparing or under preparing for what
lies ahead.Sadly, many suffer
from what they consider to be complete failure & thus give up. It is
my belief that if they had this information ahead of time, they
probably would have had the power to move through the rough spots. The
following are 10 things I certainly wish I had known when I started (or
even after 10 years in!)
1. Your first attempts at making music won’t be great, and that’s the way it should be.
One of the biggest mistakes
an aspiring producer can make is to think their next song is going to be
the song that not only changes their lives but changes music history.
Unfortunately, these are the high expectations and pressure they put on
themselves & this is the reason they never finish anything. Nothing
you make the first time around can compete with the producer’s who have
churned out 100′s or even thousands of songs.If
you sit there for a year or more struggling with making your first song
the hit of the century, you are missing the opportunity that creating
many imperfect songs can bring you. The truth is that you need to finish
a good 10-20 songs before you start to find your groove. This might
seem daunting for perfectionist, but if you can put aside perfection and
just call a project done when you’ve reached the tip of your current
skill level, you’ll find yourself improving at a dramatically faster
rate. Plus, as your production & listening skills get better, you
can always go back and revisit old songs for improvements that now seems
obvious to you.
2. Nobody creates in a constant peak state
Peak states of
consciousness, also called flow is considered to be the most desired
state of being a human can experience. Extreme athletes &
adventurists don’t risk their lives because they are crazy. It’s because
being on the edge is the only way to create these flow states. Nobody
can experience these states constantly.And
when I say nobody, I mean it. The reason for this is that peak states
of creativity follow a pattern which involves lulls & frustration.
It’s 2 sides of the same coin & you simply can’t have one without
the other. If you aren’t putting yourself at the edge of your
capabilities and risking failure, your level of focus simply won’t be
intense enough to put you into this peak state of mind.If
you are a multi-tasker or tend to surround yourself with distractions,
you will have no chance of reaching this state. Peak creativity states
make the whole world fade away and you experience “now” in a way that
can’t really be explained unless you have been there.Great
artists have taught themselves how to get into this state more often
than others, but still understand that 90% of the time, all artists have
to push themselves to do the work regardless of how they feel. In fact
as I write this, I was interrupted and brought into a whole conversation
that I had to politely exit. It will now take me a bit of time to get
back into my flow, even though it wasn’t a “peak” flow. Regardless the
show must go on, and so must you. Don’t wait for the right time. Peak
states only come to those who are willing to do the work regardless.
3. Most of what you think you need to know, doesn’t matter
So many artists have this
belief that they can’t start making music with what they know right now.
Because of this fear of creating, they over prepare. They end up
wasting 100′s of hours watching every tutorial outlining tips for every
style of music & diving deep into music theory.What
they don’t realize is that most of this information will fall right
back out of your head & never make it into your tool box. On top of
that, they are getting so many opposing pieces of advice, that all this
information causes more confusion than it does benefits.As
a rule, a new producer should be spending 80% of her time making music
& only 20% (at most) spent learning new techniques. I recommend you
take your own skills as far as you possibly can, and only then do you
search out the 1 or 2 tutorials that will get you over that creative
hump so you can reach the next level in your music making.This
is the only way you will retain what you have learned as well as the
only way you will keep yourself focused on actually music making. Don’t
get yourself caught up in the information trap for the wrong reasons.
4. Most of the tools you think you need, you don’t
Many producer’s new and old
join groups & forums related to their musical style or DAW of
choice. I believe it is smart to interact with likeminded people, but be
warned. The time people are spending in these forums is time they
probably should be making great music. This lack of focus on actually
working on your music can become addicted as everyone in the group lets
everyone else off the hook.Then
there are the “know it alls”. These are the people who are pissed off
their amazing talents haven’t boosted them into the stratosphere of fame
and glory. These people are better than you & want you to know it.“oh you’re using that
compressor? That thing sounds like dogshit! If you aren’t using xyz
plugin or this piece of hardware, you might as well pack it in”Pretty
soon you are spending all of your songwriting time searching other
forums discussing 100 different points of view on what compressor you need to have to be taken seriously by your peers.Stop it. stop it. STOP IT!Yes,
there are some amazing plugin’s out there, but the truth is, if you
learn how to use a certain tool inside & out, you can usually get
great results. I personally use mostly internal plugins from my daw of
choice (Ableton). I’ve heard many people tell me Logic effects are
better, and although I wouldn’t disagree, I’ve found a way to get the
job done quickly & efficiently with the tools I have and so far, the
type of plugin’s I use has not effected getting my tracks signed &
reaching the charts one single bit.At the end of the day, the person that finishes the most songs wins every time. Focus on that.
5. Your habits count more than your knowledge
Once again, you need to stop
thinking you need to know everything. I’ve personally gone that route.
In the past, I was able to teach people how to use music software inside
and out & they would take a few chosen gems & run with them
while disregarding much of the information they didn’t need right now.
Good on them, they were finishing music, and at the time, I wasn’t.
Lesson learned.If you want to be
a successful songwriter or producer, you should first concentrate on
your habits far before your knowledge. If you haven’t instilled the
habits that will force you to work on music daily, your knowledge won’t
matter.Frankly it’s a bit stupid
to keep adding tools to your already oversized toolbox if you are never
going to sit your ass down and use them.You
will get FAR more benefit by creating the habit of sitting in from of
your DAW of choice for 15 minutes a day, even if you don’t write a
thing, than you will from force feeding your brain with more
“knowledge”.If you ever want to create a creative flow, it comes from clearing your mind, not stuffing it like that closet you don’t show any or your guests.
6. Everything you want comes through people
People are more important
than knowledge. Look around at all of those highly successful people.
Are they all there because they are geniuses? No way.Everything
you want (outside of your personal spiritual growth) is going to
require relationships. You simply can’t stay locked out from the world,
making great music & expect that to be enough. You are going to have
to interact, communicate & share your value in trade for the value
of others.If you think you are above promoting yourself (in the most ethical way of course) and sharing you
with the world, the world will never have the opportunity to appreciate
who you are & what it is you do so well. Anyone who tells you
otherwise, is lying to you.
7. You don’t have to be miserable to make good music
Man, if I hadn’t wasted all
those years with the “artist” mentality, I might have gotten more done
& enjoyed myself a whole lot more.You
don’t need to fabricate a difficult, dark & addicted lifestyle to
be great. If not saying that getting out of your head every once in a
while can’t be beneficial. It’s not popular to say this, but sometimes
the drugs do work, at least for a little bit. Gladly, I did my share & got out of it before doing myself much permanent damage.I
can reflect on those experiences from a sober state of mind & say
with complete conviction that I am 10 times more productive as a sober
person (who has the occasional beer). Don’t follow your fellow musicians
down the rabbit hole too far or you will **** yourself, your creativity
& your productivity.Have
experiences & make music, but always give your music top priority.
The “lifestyle” is largely bullshit anyway. Don’t believe the hype.
8. Musicianship is optional
I’ve spoken out many times
of my happiness in being a non-musician, or at least my happiness of not
letting it get in the way of creating things I am proud of. So many
great songwriters are not the best musicians & many of the best
electronic artists don’t have a big musical background and many of those
who do, found it a hinderance to creating outside the box at times.A
non-musician does not have a total lack of talent, it’s just coming
from another angle. The man who I consider to be the greatest engineer
& one of the most celebrated artists is Brian Eno. All the music
theory in the world wouldn’t put me at his level of talent. He’s
responsible for some of the best works of David Bowie, U2, David Bryne,
Coldplay (I know, I know), James & even Devo, not to mention his
incredible work with Roxy music.For
all of the incredible music he is responsible for, he still considers
himself a crap musician. If you have a music background, wonderful, use it. If you don’t, also wonderful, create from a different angle. You will never know your capabilities until you embrace them.
9. Time is the only difference from you & those who are now successful
Your musical heroes are not
really heroes, they are arrows pointing in the direction of your own
potential. Do not allow the thought that “some have it and some don’t”,
it’s simply not true. The truth is that some people work for
it(unfortunately very few) tirelessly & consistently until they get
it. Some of the best artists actually took longer to get there than you
would expect.The video below explains this concept better than my own words ever could, so please watch it and let it sink in.If you want to know whether you’ve got it in you or not, look at your daily habits, not your skill level.
10. Everybody steals
So many people are so
****ing paranoid that they just sit there staring at their computer
screen like me wandering aimlessly in a supermarket trying to put a meal
together. My god, if I couldn’t steal recipes from people much more
gifted in cooking than me, I’d be in even more trouble.The
truth is, that all of the music you hear is inspired by another
musician, artist, poet or some abstract thing someone recognized as
having a beauty that others might not have seen from that perspective.That
idea you are afraid to borrow was almost certainly inspired someone
else, if not completely stolen. Picasso, John Lennon & Steve Jobs,
all considered to be creative innovators all are famously quoted for
nicking ideas pretty blatantly. You think Led Zeppelin were innovators? I
did too & I still love them, but if you do some research, I’m sure
you’ll be shocked.Stealing ideas
is how artists constantly fuel their own creativity. Letting go of the
fear of being completely original will actually set you free & make
you more creative, not less. Use samples, presets, loops, quotes, or
even steal from your own past ideas. Nothing you can steal will be put
back together quite like the source you got it from.We
are all human filters. This means that no matter what we borrow or
steal, it still has to run through our unique set of parameters before
it gets spit back out as our own art. Drop the fear & use everything
around you when you create. It’s liberating.
Written by:- Jason from futureproducersforum
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