Hello friends. I started making music at the age of 11 and as off May 19th 2017, I have been producing music for 5 years now I decided to list some of the things that I have learned over the years. I hope that newer producers find some of this stuff useful :)
1. When you first start producing, don't compare your music with your aspirations Some people will probably argue that you should compare your music with what you hope for it to become like in order to help encourage yourself to improve. For me personally, doing this made me feel disheartened and at one point made me want to quit. When you first start out you need to remember that you are still a beginner, all of the tracks that you wish yours sounded like most likely took years practice and learning to create by the artist. They didn't just download a cracked version of Ableton one day and create the track.
I recommend that you only start to compare your music with the best when you have sufficient experience. It took me 4 years to start creating tracks that I was very happy with and wanted to sound competitive in the genre I was creating.
2. Making sure that your mix isn't flooded is extremely important Some minimalist genres helped me realize this as I got better. You are going to want to make sure that your tracks aren't over compressed, giving off unnecessary muddiness and noise or competing with other tracks for head room. If you have ever heard a specific track on solo and thought that it sounds great but doesn't sound as good when all other tracks are playing, then you have too much stuff going on at once. Learn about what makes your song sound good and keep it like that.
3. Having an inspiration is also extremely important Inspirations are what made young 11 year old me want to start creating music. Having an inspiration helps you keep going. It makes you want to continue and improve upon your work. Having inspirations for me keeps my genres changing and experimenting. It helps me set a goal. Finding out what you enjoy listening too and wanting to create music like that will help you drive to improve and it will make you enjoy production a lot more. Without one, you will probably stick to one genre and experiment less which will stop you from improving faster. My personal inspirations over the years have been Skrillex, Porter Robinson, Daft Punk, Tchami, Oliver Heldens and Madeon. It's because of them that my style is like how it is today.
4. Once you learn the basics, spend more time practicing then researching As you start producing, you will hit a barrier at some point where you know how to use your DAW, know how the plugins work and you know how to finish a song. At this point, studio time is always going to be more important then research. Studio time is the best form of practicing. Studio time will help you realize what your strengths and weaknesses are and it will cause you to develop your style of music. I'm not saying that you should stop researching for tips and guidance all together, but I am saying that you will find that you will improve yourself at a faster rate simply by experimenting yourself.
5. Learn the importance of EQ and how to properly do it. I do not know what I would do without EQ! EQing is an art itself and learning how to do it properly will help you finish songs, remove unnecessary noise and improve as a producer. EQing is by far the most important audio effect your DAW has to offer you. Learn it. You will realize how important it is and grow to love it.
Okay if you made it this far, thanks, this took a while to write. I'll probably have some people disagreeing with me on some of the stuff that I have wrote above, which is fine, but I hope I helped some of the newer producers on Reddit with my tips. I apologize for the slopping English BTW. Below I have left a link of a track that I released a few days back. I would appreciate some feedback on improvement while you're reading if you get the chance too. I am 16 years old so please keep that in mind if you do leave feedback. https://soundcloud.com/yarnak/minae-instrumental
Thanks :)
Submitted May 20, 2017 at 05:21PM by void_mastery https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/6ccig2/yesterday_marked_my_5th_year_of_music_production/?utm_source=ifttt