40 Pieces of Advice for Beginner Music Producers

how to music produce

Just getting into producing music? This is a must read for you!

We recently asked the producers of the community “What’s one piece of advice would give yourself when you first started producing?”

The response was quite overwhelming, everyone was keen to share pieces of advice and give their two cents.

SO, we’ve complied everyones advice into this article and hopefully you can learn a thing or two to help with your productions, change your mindset, or prepare you for things that you can expect in the future!

GENERAL ADVICE

“Stop trying to be like “insert famous artist here” You need to do you! Make music that makes you happy, you’ll be a lot further along your journey if you just do you” – Aiydyn, Dylan

“Read manuals, practice & patience” – Austin, Blake, Balša, Rex

“Quality > Quantity and be ready for a long ride. Don’t waste time kissing ass, just get really good at what you love.” – Wesley

“Turn the feeling of jealousy into admiration.” – Zac “Don’t make WIP’s (Work in Progresses) public and don’t stop learning.” – Brendan

“Creative block is annoying but to get rid of it, try a) structuring a session b) trying something different c) set yourself limits d) just do something different!” – Sam

“Don’t give up!” – Josef

MIXING ADVICE

“Red is bad ….. oh and don’t put soundgoodizer on the main channel” – Ishmael

“Maybe not to waste as much time on other stuff and focus purely on music” – Katon

“Go easy on the highend boosts.” – Harry

“Learn about sidechain compression, clean mixes and that synthesisers are not necessary; record shit with a mic and piss about with effects and resampling.” – Michael

“Best advice I can give is that first understand your DSP properly. No use if you are just moving knobs without knowing your DSP and next piece of advice learn music theory as well.” – Kartik

“Proper phrasing” – Jamie

“Learn the ”right way” of mixing instead of trying to invent new methods by just doing.” – Sam

“Sidechainning is a must! If you don’t know it, learn it!” – Shelby

PLUGINS, DAWS, PRODUCTION ADVICE

“Choose the DAW that works best with your flow (they pretty much all do the same thing, transparency is a thing with output) always experiment and be as creative as possible … most of all have fun and don’t rush in like a mad man.” – Josh

“Learn the power of post processing so your sound design isn’t a basic b*tch.” – Tyler

“1. Learn 1 single vst but properly serum is good choice 
2. Learn your Daw (don’t waste time on tutorials just read manual)
3. Dsp (digital signal processing learn them)
4. Read books so that you know your shit. 95% people in EDM don’t know actually what they are doing even if they know a little bit that is not well enough. Half knowledge is way worst 
5. Learn music theory a little bit.”  – Kartik
 
“Go for an overall vibe, storytelling with music goes a long ways.”
 
“Get through arrangement first. drag a track onto an audio channel to get an idea of structure and add locators. DEFAULT LIVE SETS.” – Thomas
 
“CTRL+S EVERY 5 MINUTES!!!” – Bose
 
“Act on ideas immediately. Get them out, they’re fleeting” – Quirin
 
“Actually watch tutorials and use samples and stuff other than mainly the default.” – Trey
 
“Pay attention to the small details. Everything should compliment each other. If one thing is out of place it effects how the other things are going to be perceived.” – Matthias
 
“Stop trying to put 10,000 sounds in every track and just make simple but catchy sh*t” – Josef

CAREER ADVICE

“It’s a marathon not a sprint. Allow yourself to make shitty tracks because it’s part of the process. Everyone learns by listening to other people’s work and seeing how they can apply similar/ basic principles to their work (I. E. Mixing, layers, etc.)” – Chris
 
“Stop uploading everything””it dosent sound as good as you think it does” – Michael
 
“It’s gonna take fifteen years bud. But you’re going to be fought over..sought out…and you did right kid. You did right” – Hergenrader
 
“Don’t be so closed minded” – Chris
 
“You don’t need a label to get your music on iTunes & Spotify. Try services like Distrokid or Tunecore. But that doesn’t mean you should release your first ever track on those stores, wait a few years for your skills to increase” – Sam
 
“Have a routine, even if its only 1h per day it is better than once or twice per week. Practise, practise and practise. Use professional tracks as references when mastering or when making a song’s structure. Learn sound design or at least the basics, by reversing the presets. Ask for feedback but constructive. Not every sound needs to be compressed. Side chain everything to the kick and snare. Don’t send a track you’ve been working for hours to a label due to ear fatigue, what might sound good now cant sound good the next day.” – Deby
 
“People give you basic guidelines and they will say “you NEED to do this or that”, but those become a hinderance over time, and a lot of things that people tell you is absolute bullshit.” – Rex
 
“You suck rn but trust me you’ll get better. I know you can’t get past 1 min ideas but you’re gonna be fine. Don’t be so frustrated. You’re gonna go to one of the best production schools on earth it’s gonna be lit.” – Jonnah
 
“Don’t take bullshit shows just because you’re thirsty. Focus on making tunes. Bookings will come when the music is hot. Just focus on the music, music, music, not the dj sets.” – Tyler
 
“Just do you and put in the work doesn’t happen overnight it’s progress not perfection” – Casey
 
“Find ur way, if u like something it doesn’t mean you have to make the same stuff, listen to whatever ur heart says” – KaShan
 
“No one wants your vision more than you, so be pro active and don’t just sit and wait for it, go get it before it’s too late” – Sam

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