Hi all,
I've been reading a lot of topics in /edmproduction over the years And first of all want to thank you all for the knowledge I've gained here.
I'm writing this because I think a lot of producers deal with this issue and I hope someone can help me/us on how to deal with this situation.
I began producing approximately 4/5 years ago. Started out in FL Studio creating some great ideas because I was not influenced yet by all techniques out there on the internet. I know myself, once I start a new hobby and I Like it I want to go the full 100% for it. Music was this kind of hobby for me. I liked So much that I spend almost all my free time learning New stuff about music and even marketing. I wanted to learn it to perfection.
So I started to learn how an eq works, how a compressor works, how to apply reverb and delay to your mixes.
It felt like it was not enough. Started to watch more.. about stereo enhancers, multiband compressors even complete mix tutorials and way more stuff I cant even remember right now. All kinds of stuff that seemed to make it more complicated for me than it was before. Even switched DAW to Ableton Which I absolutly dont regret But had, what I realised later, absolutly nothing to do with my productions. After a while I started to realise that I was thinking way to technical and I was not making music from the heart anymore. I started to understand that I didn't needed all these plugins for a great mix and that some simple gain staging, in combination with eq and maybe some compression could give great results already.
This insight still didnt bring me to a level I wanted to be. So I started to watch tutorials by people who made it in the industry. I mean, they made it so they should do something right. I watched So many of these, for example by future music magazine like the chainsmokers, (they showed me that it indeed can be simple)and avicii. killabytes, mr bill (amazing), nghtmre, virtual riot and so many more. While I think I learned So much from them I still didnt quite understand how to apply it in my own productions.
Analysing all this I realised I learned a lot about the mixing process. I mean If someone asked me how a compressor works, how to get rid of muddy mixes or even niche questions Like how to mix with pink noise for example I could explain it Almost perfectly to people. Still in my own situations I didnt quite know when to reach for an eq Or compressor or any other plugin. It felt Like I was copying all the tricks from the pro's Which of course Doesnt work in every situation. I learned all this information about a perfect mix but realised I didnt quite know what to put in the mix.
I mean, a lot of tutorials focus on creating that perfect mix. But the ingrediënts are already there. How to choose your ingredients wisely? I saw people create an epic breakdown with just one pad + vocal. But others felt Like they had to layer all there stuff even in the breakdowns. Writing this I realise I still dont quite understand this after all those years. When to tell If a mix is full or when it needs more. Is there any way to understand If you need to layer that extra piano sound with that pad. Or does that vocal chop need any support by a melody underneath? How to decide all this? I'm Reading the dance music manual right now And even though I want to finish it, it feels Like this is also not going to answer my questions. I decided to take it into my own hands And write my Story here. Hopefully one of you who struggled with this before could point us in the right direction again. <3
Cheers!
Dan
Submitted November 18, 2017 at 03:48PM by Nevelsofficial https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/7duuf3/feels_like_i_cant_apply_my_knowledge/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Saturday, November 18, 2017