1. Show up.

Put in the work everyday: The only way to get better is by doing. Don’t feel like it? Feeling the impending weight of writers block? Use the Pomodoro technique: i.e. Set yourself a timer for 45 minutes and work until it chimes. If you still don’t feel like continuing, give yourself permission to stop until tomorrow.

The fact is, if you dont put in the work, you dont get any product. Half the time spent producing isnt just making tracks, its producing to learn. What does an EQ do? What does this or that do to what signal? These may be things you can read about, but they are also things you NEED to do in order to actually produce, and learning all of this stuff takes time, which you have to put in everyday.

It is also important to note that Proffessional producers actually consider what they do their JOB. Although they may have endless loads of fun making music as a career, you can bet they spend eight to ten hours a day happily slaving away.

2. Use reference tracks

Continually compare your tracks to ones you admire and ask: What’s missing in my tracks that I hear in theirs? Throw your track and reference track to fellow producers to see if they can help you identify the gaps if need back.

Often, this is the best way to learn new techniques. Try this: listen to your reference track, and think of all the things that are similar in your track, then think of all the stuff you are missing, and work from there. You might find that all your favorite producer (Insert dead mouse here) is doing is looping an element with some extra fx on it and sidechaining for extra spice.

3. Solicit feedback

You don’t know what you don’t know: But your fellow producers do. Seek input like a masochist, but always trust your own creative interpretation over others input. That being said….if you hear a common criticism, maybe try heeding it.

Also, it might help yourself the favor of never being that impressed with what you do, hubris is never good. Jon Gooch, aka Spor aka Feed Me has said repeatedly that he is never pleased with his finished tracks, and also that he never actually ends up producing whats he wants to. This doesnt mean you have to trash your work, but simply strive towards a better sound, any fellow producer worth his/her salt will see that drive, and thusly those elements in your work, and should criticize thusly.

Article by Dj Veaux, Aka Collin Warn:

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