If I would start from scratch now, having the knowledge, I do have now and the time I had back in 1998 (and following years): 1. Learn to play the piano 2. Learn to play the drums 3. Get some good headphones instead of trying to compensate for a bad sounding room with expensive speakers 4. Don't aim for a career in music, aim to love your music AND the stuff you do for living 5. Provide songs with the production time it needs. Sometimes that's one night, sometimes it's a month and more.
Having good studio monitors... Everybody is telling you this, but at the end of the day, you will probably be not able to realy treat your room and therefor there would be really not much difference between a pair for 150 Euro vs a pair for 5000 Euro
I think about 90% of all the views in K-Pop come from paid promotions. Their numbers are nothing to scoff at. That rapper Tom MacDonald (whatever you think of his videos) got all his clout from paid Facebook ads and RU-vid prerolls combined with a good viral marketing strategy. There's definitely something said to being business-oriented, especially when it comes to networking and marketing. As for "If you make money with it, you can have more time to make the music that you want," that's something I've often told people, but yes, they will reply with "I don't wanna be a sellout" or 'artist integrity' or w.e. I never felt like I gave up any integrity, I still make the music that I want, and I make more of it.
If you ever struggle with motivation, try finding some people who love music as much as you do, it doesn't even have to be the same genre, simply speaking about music production will make you want to return to the studio and finish that track you have been sitting on.
Thank you man. I also lost years with a bad attitude towards production, thinking I have to sound professional right at the beginning, and that I have to make every single sound I have be unique, which put an unreal amount of pressure on me, leading to dissapointment. If Id rather focused on making things, instead of scrutinizing every single sound obsessively, ending up never happy about any, Id have been much better off. Trying again many years later now, with a different attitude, and Ill see where it leads. Thanks again for this insight and sharing, you do amazing work!
“Try to do something with music production as often as you can even if it’s just a small task” that tip was from you and it did help me allot in growing as a producer.
If I wanted to learn to be a bricklayer, I could read and read and read, learn how to bricklay on RU-vid or from books, but until I start actually putting bricks down I’ll never build a house! Same with music. You can read read and RU-vid, but until you actually sit on a daw you’ll never compose a tune. Makes logical sense when you think about it 😂😁
Spot on on the personal relationships. The best bookings I've gotten have come down to meeting key people in real life and staying in touch with them. For damn sure, the biggest and best collabs I've done have also been a result of cultivating and nurturing relationships over a long period of time. It's so important, so much so that I now make it a point to dedicate at least 30 min/day every day on interacting with key people in my community (fans, other artists, friends who support my music and shows) in addition to at least 30 min every day in the studio making music.
The right DAW is the biggest problem... I like to use FL Studio, because i just know it for like 10 years now, but i had to took a long break from making music, but i still know the DAW, nowadays everyone tells u to use Ableton....
Solid advice. I'm a bit surprised that you did not brand your ten tips as "secrets" and then to offer what was #2 (no secrets) as #10 e.g. "and the final secret is... There are no secrets!" :D With respect to #10 (sound design is not important), yeah, check out the recent interview with DJIPE on the TTM website - seems as though he's not much of a sound designer, and I don't think that admission made TTM rip up his contract, nor did his DAW license expire... So yeah, I think one of the things that you're highlighting with this advice is that people sometimes conflate a number of discrete but related activities and that if they are to be goal-oriented then it is best to demystify, and to divide the labour in a pragmatic way. i.e. if you want to be a producer then produce! Focus on that. Promotions can be left to promoters; sound design can be left to sound designers - you can take on that work yourself but it will not improve your skills as a producer - irrespective of whether it is experimentation or the application of knowledge, this can only come through practice because music production is a practical skill. I suppose I could have been more concise in expressing my agreement but I think the algorithm likes it when I drone on... What's that you say? If I want to drone on and on then I should join the discord? I'll get there once my studio is up and running again (hopefully by end of this month).
I completely agree with things you say in this video , there are thing i wish too know i know early too , i guess we learning the houl life on mistakes , Alex you doing good job with this video here on youtube , telling people how to get better in things , you really deserve more attenction for your work . Keep the good work
Great Video as always, thank you! I think your 10 Tipps were on point. One thing wich I would give you as an advice is just don’t forget that people don’t just want to hear your music. They also want to know who you are to get connected with you on a kind of personal level. I think thats also an important point to take care of. Greetings to all of you and have a great time 😊
I wish I'd learnt a lot more about 1 genre and all the sound design around that. Instead of flitting about different genres. Once you learn 1 think as best you can it lends itself to everything else. Pisses me off how much I didn't know back then and I do now, that I COULD HAVE MADE AN EFFORT. Lazy bastard I am aye.
Man, Thanks for sharing wisdom of yours. Had a lot of guys who says that they make sounds of themselves. Don't know if its mistake, but tried to do same. But actually I like using samples or presets of sounds with tweaking. And playing some hardcore/terror on E-drums. If someday will have some feedback videos again, maybe will send you some video :) But still need to learn some mixing stuff by by myself to join my own sounds together. Again thanks for sharing wisdom.
I try to do a bit of sound design and sometimes it works but I will admit most of the time it sounds shit so I try to not waste to much time doing that. But I think doing a little bit of sound design on each track will still help you learn how to do it especially with kicks. But its not worth doing your own sound design through the all track it would just take to long. Once again great video Alex 👍👍👍👍
I wish I had all this info 5 years ago. Cuz now I feel burned out lol. But...it's never too late to begin everything kinda from scratch but with all those wise things. Thanks for sharing! #олегниколаевич :D
I have a mentality that i have to make everything by myself, if i use presets than I didn’t make everything myself, thats what i think of my production, maybe i should use presets because right now im struggling to make a different sound of some sort, do i think using presets is bad ? No totally not but its my mentality that tells me not to use presets, after watching this video i might consider using presets and sample packs
I know many people with this mentality, but I've never really related to it. Browsing presets is not gonna give me the right sounds, but it's going to give me insight into the type of sound I want. Modifying presets is eventually gonna make you able to make whatever you can think of. As for that mindset, I always answered when people said that to me with "Did Beethoven craft his own violins? Did he create an entirely new set of instruments to make good music?" Maybe that helps you.
