5 Habits That Will Make You A Better Musician 

This episode powered by Diet Coke 🥤 My first course is out now! ► bit.ly/vtgamemusic

Dude, I really don’t say this lightly, you are one of my RU-vid faves. I value authenticity and you’re doing a great job here. Keep blessing us with your vids.

It’s my lucky day. Lazy habits are the only kind I have!

For the lazy amongst us ;) =] 0:00 (ain't nobody got time for that) INTRO 1:14 STOP MAKING MUSIC 2:22 STEAL IDEAS 3:33 STOP PRACTICING 4:57 PRODUCE LESS 7:40 JUST PLAY THE DAMN SONG 9:35 OUTRO (or "That's all got for today; go away now")

that thumbnail lol

I’m a 67 year old guy with a degree in Music Theory/Comp from Cal. St. Fullerton. I learned to write music before there were daws or you tube or sample libraries or internet or personal computers. The only electronic music i had ever heard was “Switched On Bach”. We had to write everything in our heads before we could get it down on paper. The only technology we had that the masters (Bach, Beethoven, etc) didn’t have was a pencil with an eraser. The production was done by someone else (the performers). Our focus was the foundation you talk about. We learned the difference between Creativity (the ability to stare into the dark and hear the music) and Craft (the ability to share it with someone else). Thanks for this great video. You hit the nail on the head.

There's always at least one phrase you say in every video that really cracks me up. "If there's one thing that I've learned so far in my thirty years of successfully not imploding from existential dread..." I love your honest and self-deprecating humor, far too many producer RU-vidrs take themselves far too seriously, and you always seem to artfully and humorously avoid that while also providing some great tips to think about.

I’ve been fortunate enough to make music while I’m working. I work from home and I do customer service. In between calls I start my process of findings sounds and as the day goes on I work on my track little by little. By the end of my shift I have the idea of the track and by the end of the day I have the bulk of the song done. It’s been working for me for about 2 and a half years. 😎👍🏽

One trick I have is to ALWAYS have a patch open in my DAW (usually an electric piano or some such thing) and play varying chord sequences while I watch a show (usually on RU-vid) on my TV, which is also my computer monitor. I keep the gain low enough that I don't drown out the video and if something interesting happens I'll pause the video and charge straight in. I start a lot of my work this way - no pressure, no rush - and I tend to crank out pieces left and right. My problem is when to STOP writing harmonic pieces (unless it's soundtrack work) and actually focus on lyrics and vocal melodies. I haven't found the magic elixir for THAT part, except for patiently waiting for some idea or snippet to jump into my brain.

Stop making music is such a cheat code. The intentionality behind creating is crazy. For "practicing" I think sometimes my "practice" is sitting down with an idea and learning to flesh it out to make it into something real but your so right. the application of your skills is the best. All of these tips are dope and reaffirming for what I like to do! I like the added context as well

What you said about using old school techniques and simpler mixing is so true. I see so much crap on social media with people getting into insane minutia with mixing when I keep saying "if your arranging and songwriting is good, mixing is a breeze".

7:24 is SUCH a GEM 💯 I try to get peers of mine to understand this when I critique them because they only seem to like something when it's produced to pristine quality when the song itself would not be NEARLY as good without production. The true test of a great song is if it still holds weight without the bells & whistles.

The beginning of video is just describing all of our lives… All the crazy multitasking, video, marketing, leaning, practicing… all that on top of having another regular job that pays the bills - and in the end no rewards haha oh well

I just love your videos. They are so filled with art, and good information on top of that. Just know your work is loved and respected, and appreciated by a lot of people! ❤

I'm fairly new to music production and your channel as well, and I gotta say you have the best balance of motivation/inspiration and reality checks of the online music production community and you have my ever lasting thanks for that. Due to my 9 to 5 and commute times, I can barely put in one or two hours of work into my music every day. Listening to your videos during working hours at the office has played a huge part on reminding me why I keep pushing to try and create music when I get home, and just wanted to share that with you. Never stop creating, man. You're awesome.

This is why I'm still subscribed to this channel. You just accurately portray what its like to make music. Even as a guy who has 5 or so videos on thier musician youtube account and countless unfinished tracks, i still relate to the guy whos doing this for a living. Excellent video, I'm glad I've stuck around.

Thank you mustache man. Billy Schu here. 40 plus years of recording, my go to is still to play live to my tracks. allows me to be "in the pocket". My down fall is having unlimited tracks to keep adding parts.

As a “gentleman of a certain age” …I remember the dawn of the computer based sequencer, and its metamorphosis into today’s DAW. I’m way happier to do my music today because of the ease at which I can do it. Side note: your first time editing TAPE is frightening. But what I do like is that my “old timey” experience has made me better with today’s tools. Yes… all options are open and endless track counts await me. But being able to (mostly) play all my parts live, and get my ideas down efficiently is something I love… and I think is missing for some. Unfortunate. The quote that always stuck in my head was from a person I worked with who worked at a major music equipment company: “If your music takes more than 16 tracks… I don’t know if I want to hear it.” This has stuck with me and helps keep me on track. I’m going to go yell at some clouds now.

Once again, here comes Venus to tell me exactly what I need to hear at just the right moment. Been learning more and more about mixing, and now I'm kinda caught in that trap.

If you look at so many of the classic jazz albums, they recorded it live often direct to two tracks with no subsequent mixing. Mistakes happen and if the overall take was good, that's what you heard on the record. Your sound was your sound with minimal effects processing. Recording complete performances live tells you a lot about what does or doesn't sound good, etc. You can still record that way with a DAW.

Great video man - love this advice

so much love to your channel. its always inspiring. 💕

Really great point about the arranging and editing process. I definitely have found lately when I'm in that phase of things it tends to result in things being removed that aren't adding anything to the song or are just cluttering it up. Great video with some great thoughts

that thumbnail made me feel things I'm not sure I consented to

this video is incredible man, literally every point you made resonated with me so much, ive been producing for years, never released a song. have had a really rough few years, and have finally picked it up again and am going to give it my all. youve inspired me to just DO IT and not sit around waiting for it to happen. so thank you

Your videos are great! I love how you take a complex and potentially discouraging topic and make it both relatable and engaging. It never feels like I'm being lectured to, which is a real talent.

These videos keep getting better and better. Great story, amazing videography and editing. And there are not many RU-vidrs that actually make me laugh. Every vid is a must watch!

Well done!! As usual a great video!!!

Just stopping by cause that thumbnail is FIRE!!!!

Love your channel, man. Another great video. I've noticed your filming / editing / lighting in recent videos is just so fucking sick. Props.

Love your videos. This one really hit home.

I really appreciate what you do here on yt, thank you :)

You have no idea how much I like this genre of videos you make. Also you have no idea how much I actually needed to hear these tips. Thanks a lot!

As someone that started music very late in life and spending the last decade trying to get better at it, the notion of stopping practice just floored me.

This was beautiful. Thank you!

The hardest part of making music is the endless options and choices. So, I try to give myself only a few choices at each stage of creating. Not only does it make the process easier, but it also commits me to keep moving forward. I finish pieces because I "burn" most of my "bridges" behind me.

been trying to tell my clients this for 15 years - the source is so much more important than the mastering chain

Love your videos, Venus! Thanks man

Thank you, your channel is very inspiring and a goldmine...

Great stuff there man, thanks for the big smile on my face.

Love it, thanks.

This channel is a treasure and this video is pure gold! found this channel recently and every single video I watched helped me improve in production, the funny thing is:: none of them was showing any DAW or "technique" or whatever, it was pure and simple experience share, which is what music is really about, sharing your thoughts with others. I'm really thankful for you taking your time making this content. Bless! Greetings from Brasil also xD

Such great wisdom . . . after you carve out the cynicism. The biggest problem for me (and probably everyone else) is wanting to utilize the myriad exotic tools at our disposal. That is how you end up in trouble. So your point about simplifying is well taken. My solution is to make several versions of the same song. Each version has it's own set of plugins, arrangements, and production techniques. That way you get to experiment with many different sounds and have some creative fun.

Started making beats around 1999 on a MPC. It started with Drum N Bass and underground Hiphop, then experimental Synth, Industrial, and noise etc. After trying to learn multiple genres, I'm at the point where i take gaps of time off listening to other peoples work, and not sticking to a a particular genre when i create, for me that's when my best ideas come out, and new forms grow.

You definitely make some of the most engaging stuff I find on RU-vid. Thanks dude!

Gotta agree that it's much better to play the keyboard than push the DAW spreadsheet cells around. I am not a musician, but I play one when I work through a tune by memorizing where my fingers are on the piano keyboard. And while I'm doing that, sometimes my hand slips and my fingers land on much more interesting notes. "Okay. Change of plan." That simply doesn't happen when I go click, click, click on the piano roll window.

I have been implementing a monthly habit of producing something within 1 hour with my DAW. And it can be hot garbage but at least it helped me maintain or create stuff that I've been inspired by during my downtime. Plus it helps me pinpoint things that I need to do research or learn about once I'm done with my exercize. At the end I can also improve and polish whatever I made within that timespan.

always love your encouraging and funny videos :)

When you're scrolling through your phone, you are listening to others. when you are creating things, you are speaking for others. When you let silence or ambience take it's space, you are listening to yourself.

I think he makes the most quality and unique music production videos on RU-vid ❤❤

Most Excellent!!! Thank you!!!

Amazing and inspiring!

One of your best videos! Every artist needs to hear this in their life!

That's so true, sometimes I've tried too hard and it could have been done in a more relaxed way, because in the end you probably won't get millions of whatever out of it. If you do, then you're "kinda" lucky, but if not, at least you haven't beaten yourself up.

You and Bo Beats are the only RU-vidrs who I remember to check on when I haven't had a notification in a while.

Great to hear the Charlie Parker quote in there, love you for that! A huge benefit of not spending a lot of time editing, manipulating, fixing it... (this is just my experience) whatever it is the first or second pass is always the real essence of it. At least if you're trying to capture something "fresh" or spontaneous.

I love your ability to disrespect while also encouraging us. one love!

You've got the best music making videos on the internet brother. Seriously your videos are some of the only ones that I find truly inspiring for making music. Thanks for all your hard work and I'll keep watching as long as you keep putting these out.

The thumbnail, the video, all so good!

For someone new to all of this it's been tough trying to learn gear(need to stop watching geartube) but also the aspects necessary to actually create music that hopefully other can appreciate and enjoy. Love your short life lesson videos.

Didn't have to watch more than a minute to know I still love every video you do

Thank you for all the videos.

Love this content ❤

I find I'm most productive if I have a goal. For example, last year I said to myself "I've got two months of time, let's make an album", thought about a vibe, a theme for the whole thing for a while and then started pumping out tracks. I didn't end up having those 2 months, but I worked on it for almost a year in my free time and got it done this spring. I wrote 2 hours of music I'm really happy with in a year, after having basically nothing for the 3 years before that, where I just sat down to "make some music" 3 times a week.

I make my best music when I have no idea what I’m doing. If I’m lucky, I did hit record. And remember that Less is Paul, or however the saying goes😉 I totally agree that playing “live” is highly recommended. I worked as a semi-pro bass player for over thirty years and learned so much about playing economically, finding the pocket and fitting my part of the arrangements. Recently, I made my debut playing rock organ. I found the trick to be to, mostly, play as few notes as possible at the same time and to avoid fifths and thirds. And of course using my left hand to adjust draw bars, Leslie and volume. Another great video. Thank you 𝄢

You make the most weirdly motivating videos, thank you :)

This is life advice beyond just music production.

These are getting better and better. 🎉

Wow, this hits home. I just transferred a track I spent a considerable amount of time on, over from an old laptop to a shiny new modern computer (with upgraded ableton and 3rd party plugins ofc) All but the stock plugins loaded and hearing the mix sans the bulk of production I had done really opened my eyes, and ears, to the time wasted ‘overproducing’. Def gonna streamline my workflow to avoid this. Thanks so much for this 🤘

Your videos never fail to motivate me. Amazing work brother 🫡

Thank you for putting this up.

I love your intros.

Omg I needed this so much thank you ❤️🩷

Thank you for helping my confidence.

Great video! 💪😎👍Always very interesting and entertaining stuff! Love your style!!! Getting off RU-vid right now (my shift is ending lol)

I like that part about ''not mixing''. I get lots of comments on my channel like ''show how you mixed this or that'' but the truth is, I almost don't mix at all...I just design/choose well my sounds/samples. Like you said, in the end mixing is just polishing an almost finished product. And if I do use ''lots'' of plugins, it's for a sound design purpose and not mixing. If your EQ looks like a roller coaster, somethings wrong. lol great video as usual man, 👌

Dude you are becoming one of my favourites. you say it like it is.. I have now banned my self from scrolling RU-vid during productive hours. because of this exactly. I sendup watching more music making then I get done then I lost interesting go the track as its been to long since it really moved on & then I have hundreds of loops.. so this came at the right time!

Thanks! This video really resonated with me. I think I needed this perspective right now. Intentionality is the name of the game, after attaining a certain amount of knowledge about the craft.

You are the most inspiring dude out there thanks for these ❤

Recently I've taken a hyper focused approach to writing music. I come from a house / dubstep background where sound design was the most important part. Now I'm looking to write more thematic melodies and rich chord progressions. I've started challenging myself to just use piano or a sin wave patch to write out catchy songs without the pressure or distraction of synth tweaking or endless presets.

thx for your work man

@VenusTheory Thanks, I needed that! 👍

So damn good, Venus. Very validating to hear some of my own thoughts on topic from actually working composer)

love it ❤

Ennio Morricone made film scores taking here or there. The magic was, he make them sound like a unique, unforgettable thing called geinius... He once made a song based on the french police siren. It was "Se telefonando" by Mina!

Bro! LOVE THIS!

As someone who has maybe 30-60 minutes per night to do music, this really resonated with me. I think it's great that you acknowledge the reality of this for so many people. I don't have the luxury of sitting for 18 hours per day in front of my DAW. And I think - given these kind of constraints - it's useful to acknowledge that I don't have to completely reinvent music from scratch to come up with something worthwhile. Teenage Kicks wasn't breathtakingly original but it was still John Peel's favourite song. I struggle with this. After a heavy diet of Aphex Twin's intricate programming in esoterica software, it's dispiritingly easy to think there's no point in making music if any aspect of it has been done before. But I think of it like sitting down to a meal in a restaurant: I don't need this meal to completely reinvent food from the ground up to be incredibly entertained by what I'm eating; it's the tastefulness of the choices that have been made and that kitchen's unique combination of choices that are fun to experience. It doesn't have to be molecular gastronomy to be enjoyable. I'm here now, this is what's on the menu; am I enjoying it? Am I raving about it to my friends? So, by necessity, I've found the most inspiring ideas erupt out out of enagaging with music as a "play" activity. Some things I do that end up being most rewarding for me: - an hour of just noodling on the guitar, piano, or a really limited selection of electronic hardware (grooveboxes, synths, samplers) - without overthinking what I'm doing; take it into the DAW later and see what comes of it; no production, no finessing - on the flipside, sitting at the DAW thinking "I'm going to play with X idea"; like "make a heavy sounding electronic track in 6/8 time because I never do stuff like that" For me, it helps to remember it's not a calling or a job or an ambition, it's something I do for fun, so make sure it IS fun; whenever I do it like this, I come up with FAR more interesting stuff

Thank you!!!!

This is fantastic advice. I've been making music for years, primarily on software, and I just always felt overwhelmed. I would spend hours twiddling with knobs I didn't understand. I recently switched to fully DAWless, and while that word comes with a lot of baggage, it has helped my productivity tremendously. I've made more music in the last four months than the last decade combined as far as finished tracks. There's something about having to rehearse and record the whole track live onto a field recorder that makes it much easier to say, "that take was good enough. Let's move on." As a person new to the world of hardware, your voice shines through as a very rare voice of reason in the RU-vid music production space. So thank you. I'm turning RU-vid off now.

awesome stuff... as always. i go back to pre computer days and restrict what i can do. too easy to stare at the screen for every as you say. I like how Springsteen after he had a huge hit he stayed at home with a crappy 4 track tape machine and made his next albumn

loved this

I'm going to print a poster in my rehearsal/producing room with that Rick Rubin's quote. For real!

Thank you!

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT THANK YOU

There are quite a few reasons I luv your content. One-you use Reaper 🙂 and two-your talks are very inspiring. Thank you

I've been playing guitar for 45 years and writing songs for 40 years. I practice by writing songs. It always ends up happening. I honestly can't remember scales all the way through anyway. The knowledge is there and manifests itself when I'm working on a song.

Some of the best music I made, was created by me trying to copy a track I loved and completely failing at it. I tried one thing and ended up with something else that inspired me.

Love the last 30 seconds!

This is on point. What I'd like to add, if I'm allowed to, is the other issue that I'd completely forgotten about until earlier this month, when i bought a brand new hardware synth that had a lot of well crafted presets which sound great if you play them in isolation/ in a synth shop/ in your shed (well...) but don't sit well in a mix. You spend hours/ days / weeks (months?) Reprogramming as many sounds as possible, with a view to making the instrument more useable for you. That takes time. Especially if the U.I. isn't as friendly as you initially thought it'd be. I'm towards the end of that part of the journey. Hopefully, this means I'll have learned/learnt more useful synth programming techniques by the end of it. ✌️ 🌅

I'm glad I finished watching this video *AFTER* I finished my beat so that last callout doesn't affect me